Ancient method of the Holy Sages

[Guest allan]

Recently I have written a short poem on the ancient method of the Holy Sages for my blog. Since this poem contained more terms taken from the Tao Te Ching than my usual ones on neidan, it could be appropriate to post it here.

 

After all, most Taobums are more familiar with this ancient classic than the Book of Changes and/or the Daoist texts. Also quite a number of members intend to practise neidan or think that they are really practising it.

 

If people think that neidan is only about meditation, then they have missed the mark. (Refer to the poem on what are required.)

 

Neidan is deep and profound. Real teachers if found may not be able to teach the entire practice to students. Students have to put in their sincere efforts and there is much to study and learn.

 

If you happen to be a disciple of a major Daoist sect, you can present the poem to the elders for further clarification. They may either smile or frown after reading it. But do not ask the Celestial immortals to explain. You may get a knock on the head. The punishment is for not doing your homework after so many reminders over the years. Ha!

 

The only other explanation required is that the Holy Sages are the ones who wrote the Book of Changes. Keep in mind that Laozi and the Zhen Ren in their respective writings have made references to this foremost ancient classic. Here goes the poem:

 

 

Superior virtue

Inferior virtue

Non doing

And doing

 

Heaven

And Earth

Round

And Square

 

Respectively for the pure

And the impure,

Yet both need to complete

The inside out and the outside in

 

With utmost emptiness

And guarding assured stillness

Qi circulates with the light

All day and night

 

The talented, having a gift from Heaven, will see the mystical light

In Xin Zhai, Zhuangzi described the same light

But by getting too engrossed with this text

Daoist history has shown that they were lax

 

While important it is, to see the light

Providing many a delight

It is just a start to tread the Way

A baby step in the far journey which sway(s)

 

Witness the mysterious gate(s)

If one knows what is good, of late

By keeping the dark at bay

Catch glimpses of the vast and profound Way

 

Sages tell of this wondrous Way

Of stars and galaxies billion light years away

That can be within sight

One ingredient is the mystical light

 

Hearing gods in the valley

Shows good aptitude

Just do not be misled by yin forces into a dark alley

Otherwise one could lose the rectitude

 

An important signpost in the ancient classics

Is the space between Heaven and Earth!

Stretch and shrink, the space is like elastics

It stores yang qi and real fire with no dirt

 

Adepts need to find this bellows

Otherwise, the medicine will not be cooked

In search of excellence, practise until it mellows

With gifts from heaven, this they cannot overlook

 

Since it encompasses the Ways of Heaven, Earth and Man

Tao adepts witness eternal signposts of the Promised Land (Way)

By following this method of the holy sages

They returned to destiny, down the ages

Allan

 

 

 

 

 

A link is provided if readers wish to read the accompanying footnote to the poem:

 

http://atouchofancientszhouyi.blogspot.com/2012/05/ancient-method-of-holy-sages.html

[idiot_stimpy]

cool

[fizix]

Not as cryptic as your introduction led me to believe it would be, but very nice poem on nei-dan foundation.

[Guest allan]

The temple elders will probably smile when they recognize that their cultivation is based on the same foundation as the ancient method of the Holy Sages.

 

They will probably frown for not having reached the higher levels of neidan practice also depicted in the poem.

 

How would I know?

[hagar]

The temple elders will probably smile when they recognize that their cultivation is based on the same foundation as the ancient method of the Holy Sages.

 

They will probably frown for not having reached the higher levels of neidan practice also depicted in the poem.

 

How would I know?

 

Nice poem!

 

In your own experience, how to these transformations feel like?

 

h

[Guest allan]

Nice poem!

 

In your own experience, how to these transformations feel like?

 

h

 

 

I have not claimed, in this forum or in my blog, that I have experienced the transformations (?), whatever they are. The poem is just another self taught attempt to improve my skills to compose such poems. So how would I know what these transformations feel like?

 

But the adepts say that sometimes they feel light, the heat during meditation can scorch, some experiences are intense, and some very intense. On what experiences, they do not reveal.

 

Quanzhen Patriarch Lu Dongbin mentioned in the Secret of the Golden Flower that confirmatory experiences are like drinking water. The one who drinks it would know whether the water is hot or cold.

 

If the answers are not to your satisfaction, perhaps you should ask the female from China, the one that you have spoken about in the forum. She may be able to answer some of your questions. You could be underestimating her knowledge on neidan?

[Guest allan]

Perhaps these two previous articles on a simple circle and the concept of duality respectively can further assist members in understanding the poem:

 

http://atouchofancientszhouyi.blogspot.com/2006/04/simple-circle.html

 

http://atouchofancientszhouyi.blogspot.com/2007/12/concept-of-duality.html