manitou

What's your favorite current word for The Ineffable?

Recommended Posts

The Tao that can be spoken of is not the true Tao.

 

And yet we try to circle around this and grasp for definition. Must be hardwired into us. I thought it would be interesting to see what word we're all currently using to refer to the un-referable-to.

 

Sure, the Tao is a word that we all use, and we all know what we're talking about. But there are other words that contain little nuances that appeal to our individual experiences, outer and inner.

 

I like The Void, and yet this word has no nuance of action or design.

 

I think maybe my favorite word this week....is The Logos. (I just finished reading Marcus Aurelius Meditations, so that no doubt is a nuance I liked from that book). But my word seems to change weekly. Monthly, at least, lol.

 

So mine is....The Logos. Today.

 

How bout yours?

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

"Mystery" Always has been ever since I saw a translation of the TTC where the translator used Mystery as a translation for "Wu".

Edited by Marblehead
  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Fun topic. I don't like the Void that much, since it often confuses people.

 

I like "Mystery". It leaves one with the openness to experience the ineffable.

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites


Chi

炁, 炁(qì)也者,无火之谓炁。 通过呼吸导引等达到健身长寿乃至长生的目的。有胎息术,心斋,佛家六妙门数息等。古代的养生家认为,“炁”和“气“是两种不同的概念。通俗的讲,“炁”就是人体最初的先天能源,而“气”则是指通过后天的呼吸以及饮食所产生的能量。而气功锻炼主要是通过后天的呼吸等方法来接通先天的“炁”,从而达到养生健身、延年益寿的效果。

炁 has no fire. It is the prenatal source of energy, inside the human body, given by Nature. It become
energy(氣) after the postnatal breathing of 气(air) and eating the foods provided by Nature. Hence, the practice of Chi Kung(氣功) is to link the prenatal 炁 through the postnatal breathing methods to attain the state of homeostasis and the effect of longevity.

So, we have three kinds of Chi.
1. 炁 is the prenatal substance that makes up the human body.
2. 气 is the postnatal source of energy such as air/oxygen and nutrient from the foods we ate
3. 氣 is the energy produced by the interaction of 炁 and 气

Edited by ChiDragon

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I generally avoid trying to tie a word to "the ineffable" but, when I do, I often use a train of related terms from a variety of traditions to illustrate that the concept is found to varying degrees in many cultures & traditions throughout time. As a short-hand for myself, though, I sometimes use "Light" or "that-which-is."

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The Way, Dao... fairly unimaginative!

 

I like the Void too, but partly because of the Wheel of Time books. And I think the void is only one aspect of the Way..

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think maybe my favorite word this week....is The Logos. (I just finished reading Marcus Aurelius Meditations, so that no doubt is a nuance I liked from that book). But my word seems to change weekly. Monthly, at least, lol.

 

 

Amazing.

I discovered this book a few days ago and I'm in the process of reading it.

 

My word is Emptiness since it describes the object, the function and the experience. :-)

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Lately I've been liking Kuntuzangpo - literally translates as all good

It's the word the Tibetans use to described the primordially pure nature of mind

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Because they're in chants I do, Adonai and Elohaineu. You connect and impower what you repeat, especially when done wholeheartedly. Like many Hindu expressions they contain long vowel sounds and for kotodama (sacred sounds) they allow more play, with vibrational frequency and where they 'hit' and are expressed within the body.

 

Mystically (in my understanding), Adonai is everything within the universe, and Elohaineu is the essence and connection beyond and behind the universe.

Edited by thelerner
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

"What's your favorite current word for The Ineffable?"

 

Wrdlbrmpft

This is perhaps the most understandable of them all!!

Edited by manitou
  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

 

Amazing.

I discovered this book a few days ago and I'm in the process of reading it.

 

My word is Emptiness since it describes the object, the function and the experience. :-)

LOL. Joe is watching something on TV. At the precise moment I read the first word of your post, some man hollered AMAZING! Funny how often stuff like that happens. I mean, what are the odds?

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't like "way/path" because it implies there is somewhere to go

I don't like "void/space/emptiness" because it forms a nothing-something dualistic relationship

I don't like "light" because of the light/dark dualistic relationship

 

"Tao" is a good word for westerners. Nobody knows what it means. When you look up the meaning the meaning gets lost.

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't like "way/path" because it implies there is somewhere to go

I don't like "void/space/emptiness" because it forms a nothing-something dualistic relationship

I don't like "light" because of the light/dark dualistic relationship

 

"Tao" is a good word for westerners. Nobody knows what it means. When you look up the meaning the meaning gets lost.

 

Perhaps you don't know what Tao is but you know what Tao is not.

 

You are way ahead... :)

 

PS....

Tao is all of the above. However, Tao must be looked, individually, one entity at a time. Then, one will know what Tao really is/was. There is always a reason for Tao to be Tao. Tao is all there is to it.

Edited by ChiDragon
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Another one I've been using currently is The Tendency. I think that the Tendency is contained within the Dao, as a type of blueprint. But it has a subtle reference to action, which is the apparent physical world we are born into - again, as the Tendency of a plant to find the light. But the action is impelled from within the object or person, not from without.

 

(Soaring Crane - yes! I did search it! I found it in the Dictionary of the Ineffable. Right next to Wrqmzystpft).

Edited by manitou
  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I generally avoid trying to tie a word to "the ineffable" but, when I do, I often use a train of related terms from a variety of traditions to illustrate that the concept is found to varying degrees in many cultures & traditions throughout time. As a short-hand for myself, though, I sometimes use "Light" or "that-which-is."

 

Same here 'ineffable' isn't used much here in the UK in spoken conversation but you'll sometimes see it in print.

We've a thing about 'in' prefixes.

'Inflammable' was changed to 'flammable' because some folks thought inflammable meant fireproof.

Hence ''ineffable' might imply..

' cannot be effed'.

Many things are 'effed' in general colloquial English conversation.

'Effing' this, 'effing that'.

For example...

" I have effing rats in my kitchen."

 

:)

  • Like 7

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites