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Category: Spiritual

  • Riding the wind Floating with Clouds

    Lieh-tzu had the immortal Old Shang for a teacher and the sage Pai-kao-tzu as a friend. After he had finished his training, he came home riding on the wind and floating on the clouds.

    A man named Yin-sheng heard about Lieh-tzu’s feat and wanted to learn this skill of riding on the wind. So he went to Lieh-tzu and asked to be his student. So intent was Yin-sheng on learning this skill that he stayed at Lieh-tzu’s home and kept pestering the teacher with questions. This went on for several months, but Lieh-tzu only ignored him.

    Yin-sheng began to get impatient and then angry that Lieh‐tzu was not teaching him. One day, he left in a huff.

    When Yin-sheng got home, he calmed down and realized he had been stupid and impulsive, so he went toLieh-tzu and asked to be his student again. Lieh-tzu simply said, Now why did you come and then leave and then return?”

    Yin-sheng said, “When I first came to ask you to teach me, you ignored me. So I got annoyed and left. Then I realized I was too impatient and reckless, so I came back to ask you to accept me as a student again.”

    Lieh-tzu said, “I had thought you were intelligent, but now I can see you are quite stupid. Listen to what I went through when I learned from my teachers.”

    Lieh-tzu said:

    “When I asked Old Shang to be my master and Pai-kao‐ tau to be my friend, I decided to work hard to discipline my body and mind. After three years, I was afraid to have notions of right and wrong and I did not dare to speak words that might offend or please. It was only then that my master glanced at me and acknowledged my presence. Five years later, I thought freely of right and wrong, and spoke freely of approval or disapproval. My master gave me a smile. Seven years later, my thoughts came naturally without any conceptions of right and wrong, and words came naturally without any intention of pleasing or offending. For the first time, my master invited me to sit by his side. Nine years later, no matter what came to my mind or what came out of my mouth, there was nothing that was right or wrong, pleasing or offending. I did not even entertain the idea that Old Shang was my master and Pai-kao‐tzu was my friend.

    “It was then I became aware that there was no barrier between what was inside and what was outside. My body was illuminated by a bright light. I heard with my eyes and saw with my ears. I used my nose as mouth and my mouth as nose. I experienced the world with the totality of my senses as my spirit gathered and my form dissolved. There was no distinction between muscles and bones. My body stopped being heavy and I felt like a floating leaf. Without knowing it, I was being carried by the wind. Drifting here and there, I did not know whether I rode on the wind or the wind rode on me.”

    He then looked at Yin-sheng and said, “You had only been here for less than an hour and you got dissatisfied that you were not taught. Look at your condition. The parts of your body do not cooperate; the vapors of the sky and earth do not enter your body; your joints and bones are so heavy that you can’t even move. And you want to learn how to ride on the wind?”

    When Yin-sheng heard these words he was ashamed and did not ask again about riding on the wind.

    Teachings of the Tao: Readings from the Taoist Spiritual Tradition by Eva Wong p. 46-48

  • The world is really great!

    The world is really great!

    There is room for

    the Sun, the Moon and the Stars,

    the Earth, its Mountains and Rivers, every Plant and Tree

    bad People and good People.

    All of this exists in space.

    The emptiness of our nature is also like this.

     

    Inspired by Hui-Neng

     

     

  • The 10 Tenets of Qigong

    1. Tranquility
    2. Experiencing
    3. Nothingness
    4. Emptiness
    5. Rootedness
    6. Openness
    7. Oneness
    8. Compassion
    9. Harmony
    10. The Way
    p. 53 – 63

  • Reaching the bright end

    as effortless as light
    and as certain as time’s passing

    we walk forward to a stillness
    we can never know

    with the clouds yawning in the distance
    and the sky, forever quiet

    we drift, less certain than foam
    reaching the bright end

    of the sea

    The Voice of the Sea: Poems of the Tao by Yu Jinghai

  • The Jade Tablet

    The Jade Pendant InscriptionTo guide the Qi, allow it to enter deeply and collect it. As it collects, it will expand. Once expanded, it will sink down. When it sinks down, it comes to rest. After it has come to rest, it becomes stable.

    When the Qi is stable, it begins to sprout. From sprouting, it begins to grow. As it grows, it can be pulled back upwards. When it is pulled back upwards, it reaches the crown of the head.

    It then touches above the crown of the head and below at the base of the spine. Who practices like this will attain long life. Who goes against this will die.

    Reference: Sitting in Oblivion – The Heart of Daoist Meditation by Livia Kohn 2010 Se also The Jade Tablet neigong.net

  • In the midst of Chaos I find Peace

    In the midst of chaos,
    I find peace.

    Not clinging to any thing,
    not obsessed by any thought.

    I seatle on a leaf,
    in mid air.

    Being calm for no reason whatsoever
    – happiness pervades all.

    I smile,
    leaving my self behind.

  • Fifty

    Between birth and death,
    Three in ten are followers of life,
    Three in ten are followers of death,
    And men just passing from birth to death also number three in ten.
    Why is this so?
    Because they live their lives on the gross level.

    He who knows how to live can walk abroad
    Without fear of rhinoceros or tiger.
    He will not be wounded in battle.
    For in him rhinoceroses can find no place to thrust their horn,
    Tigers no place to use their claws,
    And weapons no place to pierce.
    Why is this so?
    Because he has no place for death to enter.

    Lao Tzu Tao Te Ching translated by Gai-Fu Feng and Jane English

  • Looking for Wuji everywhere

    20130701-112316.jpg
    Looking for Wuji everywhere,
    In movement,
    In stillness
    Getting it, not getting it
    I let go,
    Finding Wuji.
    I forgot all about it!

  • Effective altruism

    Peter Singer talks on TED about effective altruism

  • Always Already Free

    I sit here looking out, filled with an emptiness that spills over and keeps on spilling. There is no end to this boundlessness, this delicious thrill of Presence.

    Nothing can contain it, for everything is contained within it. The good and the bad, the black and the white, the harsh and the gentle——all simply flavors of Its passage.

    Here, here, always here. So simple, so immediate. This is always here. Call it whatever you will. In truth, This has no name.

    Too exquisite to speak of, too delicate to touch, delicious, tender, yet so very solid, vast, fathomless.

    All that exists comes out of This. All that exists returns to This.
    No-one owns This, yet everyone belongs to This.

    Enza Vita

  • The teaching of a Sage

    Someone who understands the teaching of sages is a sage. Someone who understands the teaching of mortals is a mortal. A mortal who can give up the teaching of mortals and follow the teaching of sages becomes a sage. But the fools of this world prefer to look for sages far away. They don’t believe that the wisdom of their own mind is the sage. The sutras say, “Among men of no understanding, don’t preach this sutra.” And the sutras say, “Mind is the teaching.” But people of no understanding don’t believe in their own mind or that by understanding this teaching they can become a sage. They prefer to look for distant knowledge and long for things in space, buddha—images, light, incense, and colors. They fall prey to falsehood and lose their minds to insanity.

    The most essential method, which includes all other methods, is beholding the mind.

    The mind is the root from which all things grow. If you can understand the mind, everything else is included. It’s like the root of a tree. All a tree’s fruit and flowers, branches and leaves depend on its root. If you nourish its root, a tree multiplies. If you cut its root, it dies. Those who understand the mind reach enlightenment with minimal effort. Those who don’t understand the mind practice in vain. Everything good and bad comes from your own mind. To find something beyond the mind is impossible.

    When a great bodhisattva delves deeply into perfect wisdom he realizes that the four elements and five shades are devoid of a personal self. And he realizes that the activity of his mind has two aspects: pure and impure.” By their very nature, these two mental states are always present. They alternate as cause or effect depending on conditions, the pure mind delighting in good deeds, the impure mind thinking of evil. Those who aren’t affected by impurity are sages. They transcend suffering and experience the bliss of nirvana. All others, trapped by the impure mind and entangled by their own karma, are mortals. They drift through the three realms and suffer countless afflictions, and all because their impure mind obscures their real self.

    If you can simply concentrate your mind’s inner light and behold its outer illumination, you’ll dispel the three poisons and drive away the six thieves once and for all. And without effort you’ll gain possession of an infinite number of virtues, perfections, and doors to the truth. Seeing through the mundane and witnessing the sublime is less than an eye-blink away. Realization is now. Why worry about gray hair? But the true door is hidden and can’t be revealed. I have only touched upon beholding the mind.

    The Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma Translated by Red Pine

  • Caterpillars and Polliwogs

    Caterpillars weave cocoons, polliwogs form from cells; eventually the cocoons break open to produce moths, the cells develop to produce frogs.

    What I realize as I observe this is the Tao of liberative transformation of the spiritual embryo.

    Those who cultivate reality assemble the five forces, join the hundred spirits, merge with the ultimate; one energy coalesces, whole and pure, not consciously cognized. Now the spiritual embryo has form, like when the caterpillar weaves its cocoon or the polliwog forms its cell.

    Store the spirit and energy away in mystical darkness, and the bit of spiritual root will grow from faintness to clarity,
    from softness to strength. When the process is complete, suddenly you will break through space to reveal the pure spiritual body, leaping beyond the worlds. This is like when the caterpillar, having transformed into a moth. Breaks out of its cocoon and flies away, or like when the polliwog becomes a frog and leaps. There is a body beyond the body, another world.

    Therefore the aftermath of accomplishment of the Way is sometimes referred to as developing the power of flight, and sometimes called shedding the shell and becoming real. These expressions mean that you reproduce a real body inside your physical body. This real body is inherent in everyone, but people are fooled by the objects of their senses, deluded by illusory appearances, so they do not recognize the real body, even though it is right there.

    Anyone who can recognize the real body and earnestly cultivate it can produce substance where there was none, produce form where there was none, undergo liberative transformation and become an immortal with an indestructible body.

    Awakening to the Tao Liu I-Ming translated by Thomas Cleary p. 76-77

  • The Crane and the Tortoise

    The crane is good at nurturing the spirit, so it lives for a thousand years. The tortoise is good at nurturing energy, so it can survive a century without food.

    What I realize as I observe this is the Tao of prolonging life. If people are able to humbly lower themselves, to be yielding, plain, and sincere, not wasting energy but always nurturing energy, then they will be full of energy. If people can be free from cogitation and rumination, have few desires and little ambition, not belabor their spirit but always maintain their spirit, then their spirit will be complete. When energy is full and the spirit is complete, the root is stable and the foundation is secure. Thus you can extend your life span, prolonging life without deterioration. The crane and the tortoise can live long, even though one only keeps its spirit complete and one only keeps its energy complete; how much the more so when both spirit and energy are kept complete – how could you fail to live long?

    Awakening to the Tao Liu I-Ming translated by Thomas Cleary p. 12

  • I am like the clear blue sky

    I am like the clear blue sky
    Standing on the earth
    I look up into the sky

    Suspended in mid air
    Time is of no importance
    My mother is always near

    Resting in the clear blue sky
    How can I loose heaven
    When we never depart.

  • The world according to me

    Me, me, me.. and puff I am gone!