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AugustLeo

The Germinal Vesicle

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What are your thoughts about the germinal vesicle?

 

:)

 

I think it's irrelevant. There are an infinite number of unconventional manifestations that are possible during spiritual/inner transformation. To fixate on any one of them is a mistake. Further, the meaning of these varies between being completely unknown to being known solely to the practitioner. So for example, if I have a red spot on my arm, no one knows what it is except me. I can impute traditional meaning onto the spot, but it's me who is consenting to such and no one else. A lot of times tradition can be wrong too. Tradition is not always in-tune with the individual manifestation.

 

It's possible to get any number of symptoms, like bumps, losing one's shadow, unable to see one's reflection, able to hear from 10 miles away, hair and eyes change color, body parts disappear and reappear, skin has electrical current in it, blah blah blah, etc. All of these are irrelevant. The meaning of these things will be obvious to the person they occur to, and if it's not obvious, it's irrelevant as well.

 

These are just outward signs, or what I like to call "the shrapnel of consciousness". What you really have to pay attention to is the root of consciousness and not the shrapnel that blasts out from its daily operation.

 

That's what I think about it. But I know very well that it's hard to restrain one's curiosity. Human beings are naturally curious and often they are curious about irrelevant things. If you investigate the root of consciousness, the root of your own day to day mind, then all your curiosity and question will be answered. Otherwise you're on a goose chase that never ends.

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This is an odd sychronicity--- I was reading allan's old post today on the germinal vesicle. He mentioned it was alluded in the Shurangama Sutra which caught my attention.

 

I don't think it's physical-- but by association I thought of JJ Semple's place where you feel the breath flowing front to back.

Edited by forestofsouls

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Found this comment about the Hui Ming Ching on Akrishi's Home of Taoist Classics (emphasis is mine):

 

Don't know what 'NB.' means.

Why is it not a good source for Inner Alchemy? Does Akrishi site any reasons? (Who is Akrishi by the way? :lol: )

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AugustLeo:

 

NB = nota bene = note well.

 

From the descriptions given, the germinal vesticle sounds to me like a different name for the mysterious pass.

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Don't know what 'NB.' means.
Its an abbreviation of the latin phrase 'nota bene' - note well.

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I read a little Golden Flower today, and it referred to the "dark pass" in the head. I wonder if this has anything to do with it.

 

The Book of the Yellow Castle says: "In the square inch field of the square foot house, life can be regulated". The square foot house is the face. The square inch field in the face: what could that be other than the heavenly heart? In the middle of the square inch dwells the splendour. In the purple hall of the city of jade dwells the God of Utmost Emptiness and Life. The Confucians call it the center of emptiness; the Buddhist, the terrace of living; the Taoists, the ancestral land, or the yellow castle, or the dark pass, or the space of former heaven. The heavenly heart is like the dwelling place, the light is the master.

 

It seems clear that the square inch refers to the third eye or upper dan tien.

 

I started to read the Shurangama Sutra (it kept coming up, and I can take a hint). It certainly clears up the splendor/center of emptiness. In the beginning of the SS, the Buddha is clearing up all sorts of misconceptions about the nature of the mind. If this is the germinal vesicle, it indeed has no form or image. But it has no location either...

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Reading more of the GF, it's Buddhist roots are clear:

 

 

 

If the GF is talking about what I think it might be, and if heaven and earth are what I think they might be, this whole operation: 1) appears quite impossible and 2) is much deeper than anything discussed about it on this or any other website I've come across.

I wonder how the Golden Flower fits in terms of Jing/Qi/Shen.

From what I understand, Alchemy acends the natural order. That is myriad things, five elements, chien and kun, Tai-chi, and Wu-chi. If the primal spirit is beyond polar differences, we'd have to be talking about directly penetrating Wu-chi, essentially skipping everything before... Maybe the Golden Flower is a capstone technique, one to complete the Alchemy process? No, it mentions Kan and Li somewhere doesn't it? That's the Chien and Kun stage. Oh no, I've gone crosseyed... :blink:

 

Perhaps my understanding of Alchemy is skewed. I can't wait to get my copies of this book when I go home!

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