Kongming

I often find myself attracted by Buddhism, as mentioned, but simultaneously averse. For example, I have a respect for the ancient Vedic tradition and Hinduism generally...Buddhism tends to deny the former in most cases and is often antagonistic to the latter.

I personally find the "anatta" doctrine of Buddhism to be nonsensical at best and nihilistic at worst. The five skandhas are all that there are, they exhaust reality, and yet they are suffering and impermanent. Chan/Zen and much of East Asian Buddhism seems to resolve this issue with their focus on Mind/Buddha-Nature/Tathagatagarbha at least, but it doesn't stop a lot of confusion from arising (say with the whole Critical Buddhism in Japan.) Daoism, especially Quanzhen, doesn't have this issue as stated here in Eskildsen's book on Quanzhen:

 

However, as Hachiya has astutely observed, Wang Zhe did not abide by the thoroughgoing negation and non-assertion of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. Fond as he was of borrowing Buddhist language to preach detachment from this provisional, fleeting world of samsara, Wang Zhe ardently believed in the eternal, universal Real Nature/Radiant Spirit that is the ground and wellspring of consciousness (spirit [shen], Nature [xing]), and vitality (qi, Life [ming]) within all living beings. This to him was not “empty” (lacking inherent existence); it was fully Real (zhen).

I also dislike a certain Buddhist triumphalism or arrogance in regards to other paths I often see, especially since I generally agree with the propositions of the so-called Traditionalist School. In other words, only Buddhism is the right way and will lead to true enlightenment and everything else is inferior...this triumphalist attitude is especially pronounced in Tibetan Buddhism and Dzogchen. Contrast this with most Daoist writings which, especially after the Song Dynasty, fully embraced the "san jiao" theory and claimed that the three religions were after and guiding their adherents to the same goal.

That said I believe one of the advantages of Buddhism is that its literature, from the start, has been clear cut: it's about enlightenment and liberation. I personally believe that Daoism from earliest times was also a mystical/esoteric doctrine aimed toward transcendence and the production of sages/immortals/true men, but a greater vagueness in the early texts has lead to a sort of "Dude-ism" or "go with the flow" Daoism rather than a doctrine of transformation. Perhaps this is more of a Western Daoist phenomena, but it could spell trouble and confusion. That said, Buddhism is subject to plenty of distortions as well (Buddhism as secular liberalism plus meditation, Buddhism as atheistic humanism, etc.)

As to superior or inferior, I like Daoism's generally conciliatory attitude as mentioned, but I suppose seeing some more arguments in favor of Daoist praxis or doctrines would help some in being lead to Daoism. One primary example I can think of is some of the arguments neidan practitioners had in favor of their system over Buddhism, wherein the latter would only become yin ghosts rather than pure yang immortals due to only cultivating xing rather than both xing and ming.

I suppose in most regards I am more Daoist in outlook and more attracted to Daoism. It inspires me more generally. That said, the fact that Buddhism has been an international religion is more favorable for a potential convert like me, whereas as mentioned in a previous post Daoism has been primarily an ethnic religion for most of its history, aside from some Koreans and Sichuan minorities. I've heard from some people that even in modern Daoism some of the Chinese masters are unwilling to share the true methods with foreigners. This thread touches on the issue a bit:

http://www.thedaobums.com/topic/26139-the-most-influential-taoist-figure-in-last-century-chen-ying-ning/page-2

I've seen this mentioned elsewhere as well. I suppose I wouldn't want to be a perpetual outsider in my converted religious tradition is all. Though I am a firm believer in "where there is a will there is a way" so I wouldn't let something like that stop me, but something to keep in mind I suppose.

I prefer Dolpopa's take on these issues, which I know isn't the most popular position. Here's a quote I've seen floating around on the internet by him that agrees with my sentiment:

Therefore, the ultimate [reality] in all profound sutras and tantras which finely present thusness, and so forth, is empty of other, never empty of self-nature.

It is absolute, never relative.

It is the true nature, never the phenomena.

It is the middle, never the extreme.

It is nirvana, never samsara.

It is gnosis, never consciousness.

It is pure, never impure.

It is a sublime self, never a nothingness.

It is great bliss, never suffering.

It is permanent and stable, never impermanent.

It is self-arisen, never arisen due to another.

It is the fully established, never the imagined.

It is natural, never fabricated.

It is primordial, never incidental.

It is Buddha, never a sentient being.

It is the essence, never the husk.

It is definitive in meaning, never provisional in meaning.

It is ultimate, never transient.

It is the ground and result, never the Truth of the Path.

It is the ground of purification, never the object of purification.

It is the mode of reality, never the mode of delusion.

It is the sublime other, never the outer and inner.

It is true, never false.

It is perfect, never perverse.

It is the ground of emptiness, never just empty.

It is the ground of separation, never just a separation.

It is the ground of absence, never just an absence.

It is an established phenomenon, never an absolute negation.

It is virtue, never nonvirtue.

It is authentic, never inauthentic.

It is correct, never incorrect.

It is immaculate, never stain.

You could comb the many threads here using "Kunlun" as a search word, and you might get a usable description somewhere, but if you´re really interested I´d spring for Sifu Jenny Lambs self-healing dvd through easterninternalarts.com.  She includes several practices before and afterwards that you won´t find workably described here, practices that make it worth the buy, imo.

 

So, I guess...short answer: no. (Not that I know of anyway.) You´ll find oodles of commentary from people who like the practice and those who don´t, but if you really want to learn the most cost-effective approach is a dvd.

Thanks, I may have to purchase the DVD if the practices are as good as I hear.

I created the thread mainly because I find myself bouncing back and forth between the two. I know one might answer that one can theoretically be both, but I feel in the end a certain tradition, path, and form of praxis should be committed to. Hence I was hoping to find some decisive arguments or positions for why people preferred Daoism over Buddhism.

Regarding Buddhism, my attraction is primarily East Asian esoteric Buddhism (Shingon, Mikkyo, Shugendo, Hanmi/Tangmi, etc.) or in other words mantra/dharani practice, along with Chan's insights and an interest in the Avatamsaka Sutra and Huayan philosophy. My main qualm with Buddhism is dealing with what I feel is a strong nihilistic element that permeates Buddhism, namely denial of any eternal Absolute reality by some Buddhists, though this problem is lessened in East Asian Buddhism which puts Tathagatagarbha Buddhism at the forefront. Another problem with Buddhism for me is that while I am non-violent, I can't force myself to not admire heroes, warriors, martial artists, etc. or adopt the fashionable pacifism of modern Buddhism.

On Daoism, for the most part I quite like everything I've encountered and am especially interested in neidan, neigong, and general Daoist mysticism (say what may be left of Maoshan/Shangqing practices and of course the Lao-Zhuang material), but my main fear is how "closed" Daoism might be since it has primarily been an ethnic religion throughout history and I am a Western foreigner. To alleviate that I have been learning Mandarin and hopefully when I go abroad I will be able to find my path.

Anyone else in a similar situation or was in a similar situation and if so how did you resolve it?

I still like Kunlun/Yi Gung.  Also primordial qi gong, aka "tai chi for enlightenment", as taught by Michael Winn.

Me too. So simple, and it's rare to find a practice that has such a profound effect.

Aside from attending a seminar or purchasing a book/DVD, any resources for this practice available online, either in video or descriptive form?

I've gradually lost my two best friends due in part to my devotion to cultivation, but also just the fact that we've become different men. We've been great friends, more like brothers, since we were 12 years old, but by the age of 18 the seeds of our divergence began to become clear. My friends became interested in drinking, clubbing, partying, and had no intellectual or spiritual interests, whereas I wasn't interested in the former and had many of the latter. Surprisingly despite our differences we remained friends until about a year or so ago and now we no longer see each other and rarely speak. At first this distressed me only because I was used to seeing them often and had been such good friends for so long, but now I more or less am content being alone.

As to family, for the most part no one in my family understands me. My mother is supportive to a degree but probably thinks I am strange, whereas my father is a skeptic-atheist and really an anti-religious person and so mutual understanding between us in this area is nonexistent. My other family members either are unaware of my interests and focus on cultivation or else uninterested.

So yes, the spiritual path can be a lonely one which isn't surprising given that we are in Kali Yuga/the Dharma Ending Age. That said I've never had qualms being a loner and never actually feel lonely or in need of company, so this isn't a problem for me. That said it would be nice if there were other people who "get" you, but I suppose online comradery is sufficient. 

Thanks for the replies.

So besides specifically Buddhist forms of qigong, how does qigong fit into the context of the Buddhist path or as means of spiritual cultivation? In a specifically Chinese or East Asian Buddhist sphere is there a long history or history at all of qigong being used for those purposes? Would Daoist or otherwise non-Buddhist forms qigong fit into a Buddhist cultivation regimen?

What is Buddhist qigong? In what context does qigong function within a Buddhist framework? What are some well known examples of Buddhist qigong? Are there any particular Buddhist sects more likely to employ qigong like practices, such as Mijiao/Mikkyo/East Asian tantra?

Does anyone know any good works which discuss specifically Buddhist qigong or qigong's employment in a Buddhist context?

In short, answer any of the above questions or post any information you feel is relevant to the topic of Buddhist qigong here in this thread.

Speaking of qi/chi, I was going to ask, does anyone know if there is an equivalent to qi (or prana, etc.) in the Western esoteric tradition?

Again, coming from an area of very limited knowledge on Western esotericism, how does Hermetic Qabalah fit in relation to Daoism? I know I've heard comparisons between Ein Sof and the Dao before, but is there anything else which really fits? 

This article seems to have some good information relevant to the topic:

http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/VolumeVI/Dao.htm

In particular this bit I found useful:

 

 

 The Five Agents are a product of the deeper Yin-Yang dynamics which originated as a relationship between Yang (light, breath, movement, male heaven) and Yin (darkness, bodily stillness, female earth) in the midst of which emerged the Human (jen) realm of mediation and synthesis. This tripart division of Heaven, Humanity, and Earth each have their correspondent rulers, spirits, and powers. The interactive dynamics of Yin-Yang integration emerges from the Primordial Breath (yuanqi or taiji), the creative energy of Being, which is itself is born of wuqi (Highest Non-Energy). These correlations, which are many and highly diverse within various Daoist systems, were further correlated with the eight trigrams and the sixty four hexagrams of the Yijing, accompanied by multiple Daoist commentaries, associated with many diverse deities, and strong emphasis on astral influences of the Big Dipper constellation (Thunder Magic). All of these associations were tied to ritual and magical practices carried out by trained Daoist masters who were experts in the esoteric lore and visualization techniques of Daoist alchemy and ceremonial invocation. [32]This correlative approach is highly congruent with the western Hermetic tradition rooted in a similar correlative cosmology based in early Greco-Roman alchemy, based on five elements (earth, water, air, fire and aether) transmitted through Islamic alchemical traditions in the form of alchemical and Hermetic cosmological texts which were translated into European languages during the Italian Renaissance. The Hermetic texts were primary sources for western esoteric theories of the prisca theologia and the philosophia perennis and were clearly an early, comparative resource for the esoteric reading of translated Daoist texts. [33]

 

Renaissance correlative cosmology was highly visual (graphic arts) and imagistic in mapping the body, for example Robert Fludd’s microcosmic “atmospheric” depiction of the body or various Kabbalistic theories of the body, in ways more detailed and elaborate but similar to Daoist theories of the “landscape of the body” which contains a multitude of sacred beings, astrological energies, and a tripart division of upper, middle and lower chambers, each with its ruling spirits and cosmological correlations. [34] Renaissance esotericists also used number schemas to elaborate their cosmological symbolism encoded in archetypal patterns of three, seven, nine and twelve, as do many of the Daoist masters, particularly using schemas of three, five, nine, and twelve. Western esotericism has many hierarchical systems in organizing its cosmology as do the many Daoist schools where various planes correspond to specific orders or powers or deities, linked through correlative relationships forming a “chain of being” between the different orders, as illustrated in ~Cornelius Agrippa’s De Occulta Philosophia (1533) and similar to many Yuan dynasty Daoist texts. [35]   However, Daoists have tended toward a less rigidly structured hierarchy and have been tolerant of diversity among the various Daoist esoteric schools. [36]

 

Many texts on Daoist alchemy share resonances with Western esoteric, hermetic practices including the refinement of material substances through various stages of transformation, a search for an immortal elixir or “cinnabar pill”, use of an hermetic vessel or cauldron, occult animal and talismanic (fu) symbolism including special magical scripts, the use of mineral, vegetable and pharmacological substances, secret or orally transmitted instructions (later written down), the use of esoteric visualization (tsun), breath and movement techniques,  reclusive withdrawal from the world, fasting and asceticism, the significance of dreams and a general visionary epistemology, as well as the elusive search for varying degrees of immortality, a particular goal of Daoist practice. Magical practices, with invocations, sacred circles, geomantic inscriptions, carried out with magical implements like the staff or sword, with incense, bells, and chanting are also common aspects of both Daoist and Western esoteric techniques. [37] It was the religious and magical techniques of Daoism that strongly attracted the interests of certain western esotericists, much more than the strictly philosophical texts of early classical Daoism. Mythical stories and imagery, dragon bones and water fairies, the golden peaches of immortality from the gardens of Hsi Wang Mu (Queen of Heaven), as well as the reputed occult powers and abilities of the Daoist masters or “immortals” (xien), both embodied and disembodied, resonate well with the imaginative worlds of western esoteric, magical thought. The Daoist emphasis on “internal” (neidan) alchemy or the distillation of the "Golden Elixir" (jindan) based on ritual, meditation and breath techniques for personal spiritual transformation, as compared to the more “external” (waidan) laboratory practices, also resonated well with late 19th century magical society practices that emphasized personal transformation while the mingling of both alchemical aspects was common in western esoteric traditions. [38] 

 

On the topic of neidan, for those who have studied both neidan and Western alchemy, how comparable are the two in their goals, methodologies, etc.? 

Does anyone here think there is any benefit to the combined study and/or practice of Western esoteric and occult traditions and Daoism? Is there anyone here who does just that? If so what has been your experience in this area?

I have very limited knowledge of the Western esoteric traditions but have always had a slight fascination with the topic. From what I know, the Western esoteric tradition is often couched in or based on Christian and Kabbalistic terms/foundations, and thus this may a conflict with Daoism which works from a different perspective. Though it seems to me that Hermeticism with its notion of "as above so below" and Western alchemy might have some parallels to Daoism and hence be compatible. I also know very little about the figure of Aleister Crowley or his system of Thelema, but I do know that he praised Daoism highly.

So in short, what are your thoughts and/or experiences on the relationship between Daoism and Western esoteric traditions?

Miracles in the Tao are not impossibilities resulting from supernatural intervention. Instead, they are achievements within reach of human beings who understand how to work with nature rather than against it.

In Thomas Cleary's anthology of Daoist teachings under the title Vitality, Energy, and Spirit, there is a work attributed to Lu Dongbin (the name of which escapes me at the moment) but in that work the same truth is expressed in this way:

THE MYSTERY OF NATURAL LAW

 

The mystery of natural law is learned from a teacher, but it is based on the celestial order, which circulates throughout the earth. Once the Great Way is accomplished, then miracles, at the extreme end of natural law, are manifested at will, and supernatural powers are unfathomable. Then sky and earth are like a pouch, sun and moon are in a pot, the minuscule is gigantic, the macrocosm is minute; you can manipulate the cosmos at will, looking upon the universe as a mote of dust. Now integrating, now vanishing, now detached, now present, you enter the hidden and emerge in the evident; space itself disappears. You can even employ spirits and ghosts and make thunder and lightning. You might call this emptiness, but there is nothing it doesn't contain; you might call this substantiality, but nothing in it really exists. When you attain it in the mind, activity corresponds; mind and activity reflect each other. The mind has no such mind; nothing is added by action. It is not attained in action, but operates in accord with the mind, changing unpredictably like a dream. Heaven and earth are the witnesses; it is most subtle, endlessly creative. Only when you penetrate the mystery of the Way do you then arrive at this essence; thereby you penetrate the mystery of natural law, and then the Way is completed.

Those who embrace the darker narcissistic side of YOLO tend to live shorter, often unhappier lives.  Life tends to echo your character around you.  

 

We're not God, but we build our lives around us.  We can choose to give it meaning and live our ideals.  And along the way I postulate, kindness, helping others, sharing.. kindergarten stuff is way more important and leads to greater satisfaction then shiny toys and ego puffery.  

 

So even if the truth is less then merging with dao, if our existence is a light switch turning off and our bodies merely worm food, even then a life well lived has meaning.  Imo, we can't ever really be sure, the universe may be kinder and multidimensional then we know. 

Yes, but I am talking about from the perspective of Daoism, why is there a huge gamut practices (from self-discipline to ethics to dietetics to seated meditation to daoyin/neigong to visualization to ritual to magic to neidan, etc.) and why is there the ideal of the sage, the zhenren, or the immortal? That these elements exist and were central to Daoism tells us that Daoism believed that through cultivation and refinement man could transcend that which is "merely human" and become a celestial immortal, a perfected person, etc. that is united with the Dao.

Now, that this is possible and requires effort tells us that automatically becoming an immortal or uniting with the Dao wasn't a given and that there is a qualitative difference between the sage/zhenren and the normal person tells us we all don't have the same end. Furthermore, the Daoist ideal of transcending death and immortality also tells us that death isn't just a nihilistic eternal sleep or else the former wouldn't be possible.

Hence we can conclude that there is post-mortem survival in some form (which doesn't necessarily entail the individual person, the little "I" or ego surviving) and that it neither included everyone uniting with the Dao automatically nor some Abrahamic model of eternal heaven for some and eternal hell for others.

I ask, aside from the scenario described in the first post of mine in this thread, what else is there?

There are two schools you can be a hermit or you can live in society get married have kids, drink. The wudang clan of the latter like to party in moderation. No belief systems or reincarnation in either school you choose. 

My point is less about lifestyle (such as hermit vs. being in society) so much as the difference between the zhenren 真人 or "true man" "perfected man", the sage, the immortal, etc. and the ordinary man. Now, at the Absolute level it may be said that they are the same, but at the relative level there is certainly a difference. For example, the Daodejing 15 says of the former:

The masters of this ancient path are mysterious and profound

Their inner states baffle all inquiry

Their depths go beyond all knowing

Zhuangzi says of them:

There must first be a True Man before there can be true knowledge. What do I mean by a True Man? The True Man of ancient times did not rebel against want, did not grow proud in plenty, and did not plan his affairs. A man like this could commit an error and not regret it, could meet with success and not make a show. A man like this could climb the high places and not be frightened, could enter the water and not get wet, could enter the fire and not get burned. His knowledge was able to climb all the way up to the Way like this.

Other early Daoist material states that their minds are so perfectly calm and unmoving that if a mountain were to crumble in front of them they wouldn't lose their composure in the least. The Huainanzi states of these perfected men:

Life and death make no difference to him; that is why he is called supremely spiritual (shen, divine).

The one who is called the True Man (chen-jen) is naturally one with Tao; he has as if not having; he is full as if empty; he dwells in unity without knowing duality, governs his inner person and ignores the external. He clearly knows Grand Simplicity (t'ai-su); and without ado, he returns to the uncarved block(p'u); he incorporates the Root, embraces the divine, and frolics between heaven and earth. Radiant, he roams beyond the dust and impurities, and goes hither and yon in aimless wandering. Immense and vast! 

Without learning, he knows; without looking, he sees; without acting, he achieves; without any effort, he discerns. He responds impulsively, he moves when solicited; without willing, he goes as a light shines or like a [lightning] flash. Having the Tao for himself, he waits and conforms. Embracing the Root of Great Purity (T'ai-ch'ing), there is nothing which delights or disturbs him. Vast and grand, he is empty; pure and quiet, he is without thought or worry. Burning marshes would not warm him; the freezing Yellow or Han rivers would not cool him; a formidable thunderclap striking a mountain would not frighten him; a formidable wind obscuring the sun would not trouble him.

In short, there is a qualitative difference between the sage and the ordinary man, indeed an ontological difference. The question is, does this true or perfected man have the exact same end as the ordinary man? It seems unlikely. If that were the case, why should one aim to become a zhenren when all one has to do is wait a very short time before death comes and one can also unite with the Dao and become immortal?

Hence why I personally believe my first post in this thread to be the best way of looking at the issue.

Early Daoism is more at immortality than reincarnation.  But yes, today's Religious Daoists are mostly connected with Buddhism therefore it would include reincarnation.

Read the citation I posted in my first post on this thread. This is one way of viewing how early Daoism viewed transmigration or metamorphosis, and incidentally the exegesis given in that citation is how many of the Daoists who accept transmigration also read the early material.

Immortality, i.e. timelessness and the attainment of the Dao, was the goal of early and all Daoism, but that doesn't mean that everyone united with the Dao and became an immortal after death. 

You looking for human morality within the De of Dao?  Good luck with that one.

No, I used morality as one example among others (such as those who actual pursued Daoist practices and way of life vs. those who didn't) to show how there is a qualitative difference in different people and therefore not everyone will have the same postmortem situation. If such were the case, why bother with anything (certainly not Daoist discipline, praxis, or asceticism) since we are all assured of the same end? Might as well embrace the YOLO lifestyle and do whatever you want since uniting with the Dao after death is guaranteed.

Reincarnation is a buddhist thing.If that is your truth go for it.

It's also been a Daoist thing among a wide array of Daoists throughout history and is the viewpoint of Quanzhen Daoists, the primary living form of Daoism in China today.

The Tao is simply logical. There’s no mysticism or need for invisible sky gods or some weird belief that you’re important enough to be reincarnated – you simply return to the Tao when you die. And you’re already there anyway, so what’s the big deal?

If everyone returns to the Dao when they die, what is the point of any effort toward the Dao such as all the various practices Daoists have engaged in throughout history? Why do the early Daoist texts speak of attaining or realizing the Dao (dedao 得道)? If everyone returns to the Dao regardless of how they lived their life, doesn't that in turn mean that there is no ultimate qualitative difference in how one lives ones life and that a murderer, rapist, buffoon, who is addicted to desires will have the same end as the sage?

"nondual" is still a mind comparative based on reasoning and reading.

 

How do you directly experience Dao?

Of course, words fall short of being able to describe that which precedes all words and conceptual categories. Words such as nondual are, like the famous Chan saying, "fingers pointing to the moon" and will not allow one to directly apprehend anything, or as the DDJ has it "The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao, The name that can be named is not the eternal Name."

That said, certain words are more suitable than others in attempting to describe the indescribable, and nondual fits better than duality since, again, the Dao at the Absolute level is the source of all things and prior to differentiation.

So what would be a practical first step? Memorizing the bagua and the 64 hexagrams?

Also, for one working within a Daoist framework and pursuing Daoist goals, which would be the best way to approach the Yijing? Alfred Huang in the work previously mentioned in the thread states that the School of Symbol and Number is the "Daoist" school of the Yijing and if that's the case I imagine that would be worth focusing on, but what about the Yijing's relationship to neidan?

I have not found one book that could productively explain any of it to a western reader.

 

But this book linked below might be seen as having some basic info:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Ching-The-Book-Changes-Unchanging/dp/0937064815

 

 

 

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus

Thanks, I've had this one on my wishlist for a while now but haven't gotten around to purchasing it. Since I found it for cheap I recently purchased Alfred Huang's The Numerology of the I Ching but have not read it yet so cannot comment on the content. It's a shame that English sources of some of the more esoteric or in depth looks at the Yijing are scarce and often expensive.

I don't mean to be facetious, but consult the Yijing for a response! 

 

Disclaimer <not a master of anything!!!!!!!!>

I was anticipating this response, just surprised it was soon soon haha.

Kongming, your reasoning is logical and clever, but it is your own. It is not what the chinese canonical sources  say.

The Daodejing is the source of the view of the Dao preceding the One, which produced the Two, etc. I am pretty sure the sources for wu and pu also are to be found in the DDJ, Zhuangzi, Huainanzi, etc. 

And while I can't recall exactly which texts and masters I've read state it, I know I've read the Dao described as nondual in my readings in the past; I'll have to see if I can find where.

Says who?

Since the Dao is the source of all reality, it precedes and transcends all relative categories, and is prior to the "Two" or differentiation into various polarities such as male/female, etc. Furthermore the Dao at the Absolute level is often described as wu or empty and pu or primordial simplicity, i.e. without differentiation and nondual.

The Dao itself is beyond distinctions of good and evil, moral and immoral, etc. since it is, at the Absolute level, transcendent and nondual. That said Daoism certainly has a moral or ethical dimension, which can be read about in titles such as Livia Kohn's "Cosmos and Community: The Ethical Dimension of Daoism":

http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-4211-9781931483025.aspx

How would one traditionally become a master of the Yijing? I am sure to become a master would be no easy task, but what would be involved?

For example, I am sure part of mastering the Yijing would be to memorize the hexagrams and their relations, meanings, etc. so when one casts (coins, yarrow stalks, etc.) one wouldn't have to reference the text to understand the outcome, being able to just look at the hexagrams and know, especially through the training of one's intuition.

This of course is mastering the divinatory aspect of the Yijing, but what about the metaphysical, spiritual, or magical/occult aspects of the Yijing? What would mastery of these areas involve?

Does anyone have any good book recommendations on these topics?

Thanks in advance.

Depends on which Daoists you ask. Historically there have been plenty of Daoists who have professed the Indic vision of transmigration, and as far as I am aware this is the view held by Quanzhen and hence most Daoists in China. Even prior to the influence of Buddhism there was a Daoist notion of transmigration under the concept of bianhua 變化 or metamorphosis, such as in the 2nd century Laozi bianhua jing 老子變化經 "Scripture of the Transformations of Laozi", though here applied to the many incarnations of a deity.

Personally I am in agreement with Julius Evola's viewpoint that this concept also existed in the early Daoism as explained by him from his introduction to an Italian translation of the Daodejing, in turn translated into English as a pamphlet entitled "Taoism: The Magic, the Mysticism" (sorry had to use a screen capture to post this):