forestofclarity

Ba hui opening?

Welcome!

I agree with what Luke said, it depends on the relationship between therapist and patient. A lot of traditional teachers have discovered that Western psychological treatments can be helpful to forming a healthy ego which, ironically, is often considered a prerequisite to transcending it. A lot of traditional teachings were developed in much different circumstances.

That makes sense. That is how I generally started to familiarize myself with the Tarot back in the day.

I'd be interested. I'm starting to think that the Yijing is more foundational than the Dao De Jing. Also, how would one approach it? Would it make more sense to familiarize with the foundational hexagrams first?

Welcome!

Welcome!

I'm not sure the Abhidharma covers it. I think the pre-celestial has more in common with Mahayana and especially Chan teachings (the original face before you were born, the one mind of Huangbo, etc.). The way I see it, is if it has form, shape, texture, color, taste, etc., if you can get ahold of it in any way, you're already into the creation side of things and so it should be let go of. I find it useful because the mind seems to find an endless supply of subtler and subtler objects it likes to try to cling to. It reminds me of the Chan story: Huineng: "I have something which has no head or tail. It is nameless and can't be described. It has no back and no front. Do any of you know what this is?" Shenhui then said, "It is the source of all things. It is the Buddhanature of Shenhui." Huineng responds, "I said it has no name and no description. How can you say it is the source of Buddha Nature?" But maybe I'm distorting Daoism via a Buddhist lens. TBD.

In many ways.

Huang Yuanji, from Taoist Internal Alchemy, trans Mattias Daly, p.35 Fabrizio Pregadio, Introduction to Awakening to Reality, p.6 Wang Mu, foundations of Internal Alchemy, trans. Fabrizio Pregadio, p.45-46 This last one is interesting because it distinguishes the term as used in medical texts, such as saliva.

This sounds like a self-perpetuating feedback loop, which is common in my experience in unhealthy mental states (anxiety, addiction, etc.). In other words, the mind (the habitual, egoic mind) says X and we believe it because the mind says so. Spiritual practice, in my experience, involves disempowering and becoming free from these loops with external feedback from realized teachers and the teachings that contain the experiences of many practitioners.

If you want to communicate and be understood, especially on a forum where everything is in words. Living in one's own head and following spiritual techniques that pop up in one's mind seems to me to be both unhealthy and unwise.

Mod Note: Discussion with Lairg moved here. Sorry, I botched the title, so it has the same title but I moved it to General. Please remember this is the Daoist section: A focus on Daoist teachings and practices as expressed through such as Taiji, Qigong, Bagua, Neigong, Zuowang with sub-forums to cover textual studies.

I don't do astrology or typically consult external readings, but if I did, I would probably reach out to Christopher Warnock. https://www.renaissanceastrology.com

Mod Note: split Eric Isen discussion here: