Wayfarer

Do Immortals exist? There are two types of 'Immortal' in Taoism (at least in my experience) they are:

1) A belief people have that due to a high level of practice their bodies can stop deteriorating and therefore not die - and the best we often get is evidence of people living over one hundred years.

2) That being Immortal has nothing to do with the physical body or the spirit; it simply means that once a person 'awakens' or 'realises the Tao' they understand that nothing is born or dies. The Tao is noticed within us as a settled presence and we start to be aware of it by becoming still however, the same presence is outside of us too and is exactly the same. A person who has noticed this, is awakened and therefore knows that nothing changes, all is permanent because there is only a single holy presence that in itself is neither holy nor present. To not be Immortal is to be ignorant and think that there are 'things' and that they change.

Hope this helps!!!

Heath

Hi, I hope this answer helps:

Firstly Wuji cannot be entered as such because what it is trying to describe is nonduality. For one to 'enter' something there must be 'other'. Hope you don't think I'm picking at words.

Yin and Yang does not exist - it might help to view the black and white symbol as something to remind us that what we consider to be black and white or light and shade are a single whole (i.e. the circle). This I feel is the true teaching of the symbol - not that light contains dark but that light is suchness expressed as light and dark is suchness expressed as dark; where is there difference.

To 'Awaken' or 'merge with the Tao' is to notice something before our eyes that we mostly overlook - what is inside is what is outside. Buddha noticed it while glancing at Venus, Moses saw its presence alight in the bush, Bodhidharma in the cave wall and so on.

Hope this helps a little!

Heath

Had the thought the other day that maybe what people think of as "enlightenment" or the non-experience of non-duality is really the same thing as the end point of taoist alchemy. What do people think?

 

When yin and yang are "cooked" by putting various fiery essences under a big pot of yin essence is the steam that emerges the same "thing" as non-duality?

 

Are "merging with the tao" and the recognition of "self" as pure awareness just different ways of talking about the same thing?

Just a quick hello! I first became aware of Taosim through Tai Chi in 1992 but didn't know of any other Taoist books other than the Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tzu until last year when I joined the British Taoist Association.

From 2007 to 2011 I had set up a Buddhist Sangha in the tradition of Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. I left that Sangha in February 2011 after much deliberation but decided that to deepen my practice I needed to observe nature more as all my 'breakthroughs' had come from such a practice. Taoism seems to keep finding me so I have give myself to it, to see where it takes me.

I look forward to some interesting talks.

Many thanks,

Heath