exorcist_1699

In fact , we "degenerate" from the so-called pre-heavenly status into the present status in two steps : 1. soon after our birth , from dan tian breathing to lung breathing then 2. after we enter the adolescence

Dan Tian "in" body is as black hole in universe .

One of most regrettable things in life is when people reach middle age , although their ability and intelligence experiencing its utmost , their energy and appearance start to deteriorate. No matter how people argue or deny, aging is the most disgusting thing in life . So, coming across Taoism is , in fact, the biggest fortune a person can get in his middle age provided that he knows how to grasp it .

People who compare aging with other natural phenomena seems forget one crucial thing : The changing phenomena happen in non-human things are clearly different from what happen on human beings ; all things except human beings has consciousness or more precisely speaking : self-consciousness . No living things on this planet except humans can discover qi in their own bodies themselves , nourish it for years , and then upgrade it to a new , utmost level : SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS ( ENLIGHTENMENT ) an awakening in which we find ourselves not only as some poor , lonely , powerless individuals in this world ,but always linking with the whole world , our mind linking with other people's mind ; under that spiritual situation , we also know and manipulate the internal situation of our own bodies better , can even stop own breathing or heart beating with ease...a real unity of consciousness with body therefore realized . Eliminating the alienation between our consciousness and our physical body is one of the great achievements of Taoism ( even Marx did not dream of doing so ) . Of course, without having attained certain level of AWAKENING, never can you interfere the process of aging .

Please notice that my post says aging disgusting , not old man/women disgusting . Besides, having experienced the passing of years does not necessarily means aging or getting deteriorated .

To those who think that aging is natural and beautiful , therefore unstoppable , irreversible ..this may be your idea , however ,I have to say it is , unfortunately NOT Taoist idea ; instead , it likely be your own explanation of life or some concept from some chapters of Chuang Tzu , which always are misinterpreted to become the so-called Taoist idea of nature or life . As many people know, Chuang Tzu was a book written and composed by a guy called Chuang Zhou and his disciples more then 2,000 years ago, the content in it are complex and mixed , sometimes contradictory; for example, in some chapter , it mentions death as natural thing and men should comply with it , in other chapter it mentions an immortal who is extremely pretty , can survive just by assimilating wind, cloud and dew ; At other places , it talks about how to forget your body and go beyond it , those practical keys... ,it also once mentions the DU channel in our body and its relation with qi gong practice..etc However, what most people love is the so-called , so-explained Taoist philosophy of life as part of nature , succumbing to nature , is it true? Careful readers will find the difference between Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu :In Lao Tzu , Tao is a "metaphysical " ( just borrow a western philosophical term for convenience ) thing hidden among nature but govern all things , the point is it not explicitly tells people that qi , another important Taoist concept , is the embodiment of Tao in this world ,including our body. So, the question is : by means of qi, can we , humble humans , go upwards to grasp the much larger Tao and therefore overcome the said nature , the said destiny , the said beauty that I am repeatedly bombarded here ? By reading the most important classics of TCM , Huang Di Nei Jin ( which is also viewed by most Chinese Taoists as classics of Taoism and still intensively studied by most modern TCM and acupuncture doctors) ,written and composed during the same period of time , ie, the Han and pre-Han period, we get the answer , and , it is affirmative .

I live with a very old family member and take care of her , so , I know how horrible aging is ; I think you have not been old enough to give the correct judgement :-) Besides, "decay is beautiful " can only be some sort of aesthetic feeling , which , unfortunately, can't be used a dose of medicine like qi against the always coming up pains from different parts of body when you are old .

Although Zen is said to be influenced by Taoism , Zen , as a school of Buddhism , its methods and final goal, are different from Taoism, which we can't ignore. Comparing Buddhism ( or Zen) with Taoism is not because I want to belittle Buddhism , rather by pointing out their differences , so as to clarify the characteristics of Taoist cultivation . In the Chinese Taoist circle, most people know that it is a very old topic repeatedly argued for more than one thousand years . I just repeat the traditional standpoint I know here , as follows , which ,definitely is not meaningless for it lets people know more about the significance of the Taoist jing-qi-shen framework . For example , Taoism stresses both physical immortality and spiritual eternity because it does not think that our physical body is unreal ,some sort of illusion or any accidental combination of events, rather it thinks that our body is composed of jing and qi , which if well cultivated , can be transformed into a higher form : Shen ( a spiritual baby ) .So, trying to attain physical immortality is nothing wrong for such an achievement is an expression of our accomplishment at certain stage ,or is some sort of proof to verify our practice ...etc , provided that we do not stick to it ( in fact, we forget them , forget everything in practice ) and know that there is something higher awaiting us. Whether people choose Buddhism or Taoism or others is up to them ,however , if raising an old argument is beneficial to others , making people think deeper , why not doing it ?

Another small yet valuable book is called "唱道真言 ", written in the Ching Dynasty about 150 years ago. Although the prolog of each chapter of it looks strange due to full of weird taoist spells, the book boasts of no strange terms or sayings in order to catch people's eyes as we always find in many books nowadays ; most of what it preach are decent , in-depth taoist truths .

The Japanese absorb Zen from China well ; they even absorb the TCM ( traditional Chinese Medicine ) very well to an extent that some ideas from the Japanese TCM doctors are quoted by their Chinese counterparts. Some Japanese TCM ( in fact, they call it Eastern Medicine) books are even published in China in recent years. However, the level of their practice seems limits their grasp of Taoist ideas ..I am afraid . Maybe it is due to no high, magnificent mountains and immense rivers on those islands...( no offense , the relation is real)

Although some people have doubts on " 鍾呂傳道集 " , asking whether it really is a dialogue between Masters Ru and Zhong , I think the writing is quite good , at least , it preaches nothing evil or trivial .

YMWong , thank you for telling me this . I only know that " 伍柳仙踪 " was once translated into Japanese and" 鍾呂傳道集" once into English; By the way , it is strange that although the Japanese aways learn and manipulate the Chinese cultural elements well , for example in their absorbing Zen Buddhism , they seems never understand Taoism .

As I explained in previous posts that Taoism is a system in many respects so different from Science ,people should not expect that by means of science , they can grasp the essence of Taoism ; insist on doing so will only belittle Taoism . It is also the reason why with so many advanced technology at hands nowadays ,up to this moment , we still can't fully understand the secret of the meridian system . If there are different types of intelligence in this universe , then Science and Taoism are just subsets of that category ; for Science , it is futile trying to analyze another arena with so different characteristics . For example ,in case of Science ,we can't affect external objects directly by our mind; right in the middle , there always exist some things : our hands , wire , apparatus, magnetic field , a series of things.... ; our mind , precisely speaking , only affects outside world indirectly ; in case of Taoism , everything is qi in different forms , at different levels, which enables the possibility of our spirit (shen) interfere objects directly.

Same as a marathon runner who deliberately trains himself on a plateau ,a Taoist can put himself under a situation with most hardships and temptations , so as to polish and upgrade qi in his body . But where ? In fact , the ideal place is in our society , not some place to where you want to retreat. This is the reason why Tao and De (virtue ) is said to be just the two faces of the same coin .Believe it or not ,upgrading your morality does have effect on your capacity of manipulating qi , and does deepen your understanding of Tao . Qi , as a Chinese word, besides being used in medical area with specific meaning , in most cases in daily life , refers to something moral or spiritual . Every time you are looked down by some guy, every time your girlfriend leaving you , your creditor chasing after you for money, or your having not enough money to buy a loaf of bread..all these are stuff for polishing qi in your body... As Tao and qi exist everywhere , so any moment in your life can be an interval for cultivation , not necessarily when you are sitting in a cave: for instances, any moment when you are waiting for an elevator coming, sitting on a bus on the way home , queuing for buying a ticket... all are good moments for cultivation. As a Taoist master once asked: With your body equipped with qi, a portable , multifunctional stuff ( as food, air, medicine..)supporting your life , what do you worry about?

Buddhists and Taoists are like two different groups of people who try to climb up a very ,very high mountain from its different slopes by using different methods . To those who , seeing the height and steepness of the mountain , stay at the bottom and never climb , or climb to the middle of the mountain but unable to proceed , will argue among themselves or with other group about what the scenery they see on their way , the correct methods of climbing , and the possible view on the top of the mountain.... However, to those who have already reached the top or near top, and , have got the overlooking panorama , any further arguments seem not necessary .

Skipping jing and qi means that Buddhist masters can only make use of shen (spirit) as the arena and point of cutting in, try leading people from there towards its end: Enlightenment .However, the hope of bringing up our daily mind , a mind so trivial , always-in-trouble ,making it into a great MIND , an omnipotent MIND , is really difficult and it experiences severe challenge in modern society. The followings are some of the methods: 1) Analyze the stream of our consciousness , chopping it into a past mind, present mind, future mind, and ask : After the end of the past mind, and before the rise of the present mind , what mind we have... 2) Read aloud repeatedly the texts of some Buddhist classics , ten or even hundreds times a day, even in dreaming ,until an state of mindlessness attained.. 3) Pay attention to our breath and think about the upheaval of breathing's effect on our mind... 4) Analyze our mind's relation with its environment, try finding out causes which generate our sufferings and annoyances, and ask : If l want to get a peaceful mind , what should be got rid of : the causes/status or the mind itself ? Or,both? Since causes of annoyances in our life keep coming up , try getting rid of them seems futile ....if there is no mind, to where the annoyances can cling ? 5) Zen's methods: asking strange questions such as : when you neither think of evil nor good, what kind of mind you have ? Or, looking into "silly " cases, say : " In case a cow-cart not moving, which one should you hit , the cow or the cart?"

Because TCM's (Traditional Chinese Medicine's )roots is in Taoism, as long as Taoism exists, TCM will persist; similarly, as long as qi really exists, Acupuncture as a method of healing will never perish. The difference is : TCM is a medicine which mainly pays attention to the healing of people's diseases while Taoism is a dose for individual emancipation .Although in most cases only a small group of people are resolute to take it,the preaching of it is Taoist's responsibility . Taoism persists because there are great works like Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Yin Fu Jin...(sadly only part of them are translated into English) , and those Taoist masters who, despite of all political upheavals , devastating wars, natural disasters ..., keep coming in human history whenever the times they find suitable for preaching Taoist truth .

Sometimes even Science can be a blockade against us ; people are accustomed to thinking that all things are under the study of Science , and sooner or later , be solved by it ; they are entangled by its terms, its way of seeing phenomena , its means of handling things ; they can't imagine that the social relations and cultural environment around them can sometimes become so blinding . For example, regarding how to solving the troublesome issue : aging , the western medical science forces people to look into the cell, or something they call it basic , something observable , something measurable , try finding what mechanism , what substance initiates the process ... , they never think that the jing-qi-shen framework coming from other culture , can be much more powerful in solving the issue.

Of course, Taoism is the legacy of human beings, so generally speaking, it should be shared by all people . However , because it is somehow different from science and has similar moral implication , there should be some limitations . Such limitation is not similar to keeping the secret of some critical technology in some industry ,say nuclear technology, but in the sense that you should never let person like Hitler /Stalin know what you are really saying , at least , at critical point .

Regarding "Laying the Foundation" , there are not too many different sayings, the most common three are as follows: 1) The stage where release of jing is stopped or 2) When you are able to stop breathing as usual .... or 3) The Magic Gateway opens ... "Laying the Foundation" is an achievement nothing trivial , it is said ,but something great ; some people even think that it physically implies ,say " from now on forever getting no disease" , " stop aging ", " no need to eat for weeks"..etc.

Quite a lot of people can understand and complete ,to some degree, the process of " refining jing into qi ". In fact, only those having completed it , can they start understanding Taoism , and, comprehend why Taoists repeatedly emphasize the importance of praxis . If you only finish reading Lao Tzu , then most likely you will think that it is just another good , interesting system of philosophy . And, only those having made some progress in " refining qi into shen " , do they start understanding , to some extent , the meaning of Enlightenment in Buddhism.

The traditional taoist saying , which at least has a history of around one thousand years from the period of Tang Dynasty , is : Refining jing into qi, refining qi into shen , refining shen back to nothingness. As most of people are stuck at the 1st stage, of course, people are seldom told about the final stage. * Why saying "back to " , I think , it is because all originally come from it .

I think Science is part of the Truth , but how large a part it occupies, I do not know ;Taoism is another part at another level ...in fact , I prefer seeing whether a theory works or not . Science ,including Maths, is a study of being ; it does not view nothingness/ emptiness as its target . A particle , some form of energy, some dimension of space , no matter how small it is , how short life it exists, how strange a spatial characteristic it possesses , is the target of Science . On the other hand , Taoism ( or Buddhism ) clearly says that emptiness/ nothingness, without any forms/ characteristics , is its target , is what it wants to accomplish. Nothingness without any characteristics strangely gives us the most information and energy . By what means? It says, by no means. How can we handle "by no means ". Yeah , only spiritual power of human beings can handle thing like " by no means" . You grasp it, it is no Mysticism ; you do not grasp it , it is always a troublesome Mysticism.

The Buddhist methods , in most cases, do have preconditions untold , ie, they assume that people who practice them are monks living in temple on top mountain. Because of that , it is not necessary to mention the importance of reserving jing . Skipping the jing and qi issues does make attaining Enlightenment very difficult for ordinary people .Without having an experience of Enlightenment or something close to it , the Buddhist key idea can never be understand by the mass, even by those well educated , for it is nothing related to how much knowledge and experience you have . The taoist jing-qi-shen framework makes thing clearer and easier provided that at every stage of your practice , whatever you get and no matter how precious it is , you do not stick to it , otherwise your path climbing up is forever finished .

Never can you open the third eye by any scientific ways . It is always there in us ,there is no need to search for it ; it hides because our daily-life mind covers it up , our senses disperse it ,make it unseen . The more you search , the deeper it hides. You can't rely on a small mind to search and find a much bigger Mind. When you are in a forest, what you see and find are trees , not the forest . The third eye is the power of something consolidated and unified....