Vajradhara
One of Many
Namaste all,
this is another excerpt from the classic Chinese book of life. this one makes heavy use of symbolism and metaphor. i will, if i've not done so already, post something of a guide to help with the understanding of the classic symbols that are used and the metaphors that are repleat throughout the Taoist literature.
1. Jadelike purity has left a secret of freedom in the lower world:
Congeal the spirit in the lair of energy,
and you'll suddenly see
White snow flying in midsummer,
the Sun blazing in the water at midnight.
Going along harmoniously,
you roam the heavens
then return to absorb
the virtues of the receptive.
2. There is another line, a mystery within a mystery:
"The homeland of nothing whatsoever is the true abode."
The depths of mystery are all contained in a single measured verse.
3. The essence of the great Way is to act purposefully without striving. Because of nonstriving, one does not cling to local conventions, forms or images; but because of not striving yet acting purposefully, one does not fall into indifferent emptiness, dead voidness.
4. The function is all in the center, but the mechanism is all in the two eyes. The two eyes are the handle of the stars, which manages Creation and operates yin and yang.
5. The major medicinal ingredient beginning to end is only the "metal in the middle of primary water." The preceeding talk of turning the light around points out a method for beginners to control the inside from the outside, thus helping them to attain independence.
6. This is for middling and lesser people cultivating the lower two passes in order to penetrate the upper pass. Now as the Way gradually becomes clear and mastery of the device gradually matures, Heaven does not begrudge the Way but directly divulges the unsurpassed doctrine. Keep it confidential, and work it out.
7. Turning the light around is only the general term: with each level of progress in practice, the efflorescence of the light increases in magnitude, and the method of turning around becomes subtler. Previously one controlled the inside from the outside; now one abides in the center and controls the outside. Before, the assistant administered for the master; now one promulgates policy in the service of the master. There has manifestly been a great reversal.
8. When you want to enter quietude, first tune and concentrate the body and mind, so that they are free and peaceful. Let go of all objects, so that nothing whatsoever hangs on your mind, and the celestial mind takes its rightful place in this center.
9. After that, lower your eyelids and gaze inward at the chamber of water. Where the light reaches, true positive energy comes forth in response.
10. Fire is yang outside and yin inside, so it is in substance the creative, with one yin inside ruling it, arousing mind according to things, going along out into habitual routines.
11. Now when you turn the light around to shine inward, the mind is not aroused by things; negative energy then stops, and the flower of light radiates a concentrated glow, which is pure positive energy.
12. Correlates inevitably associate, so the positivity in water leaps up, whereupon it is not the positivity in water but just the positivity in the creative itself responding to the positivity in the creative. Once the two things meet, they join inextricably, the living movement of creative energy now coming, now going, now floating, now sinking. In the basic chamber in oneself there is an ungraspable sense of vast space, beyond measure; and the whole body feels wonderously light and bouyant. This is what is called "clouds filling the thousand mountains."
this is another excerpt from the classic Chinese book of life. this one makes heavy use of symbolism and metaphor. i will, if i've not done so already, post something of a guide to help with the understanding of the classic symbols that are used and the metaphors that are repleat throughout the Taoist literature.
1. Jadelike purity has left a secret of freedom in the lower world:
Congeal the spirit in the lair of energy,
and you'll suddenly see
White snow flying in midsummer,
the Sun blazing in the water at midnight.
Going along harmoniously,
you roam the heavens
then return to absorb
the virtues of the receptive.
2. There is another line, a mystery within a mystery:
"The homeland of nothing whatsoever is the true abode."
The depths of mystery are all contained in a single measured verse.
3. The essence of the great Way is to act purposefully without striving. Because of nonstriving, one does not cling to local conventions, forms or images; but because of not striving yet acting purposefully, one does not fall into indifferent emptiness, dead voidness.
4. The function is all in the center, but the mechanism is all in the two eyes. The two eyes are the handle of the stars, which manages Creation and operates yin and yang.
5. The major medicinal ingredient beginning to end is only the "metal in the middle of primary water." The preceeding talk of turning the light around points out a method for beginners to control the inside from the outside, thus helping them to attain independence.
6. This is for middling and lesser people cultivating the lower two passes in order to penetrate the upper pass. Now as the Way gradually becomes clear and mastery of the device gradually matures, Heaven does not begrudge the Way but directly divulges the unsurpassed doctrine. Keep it confidential, and work it out.
7. Turning the light around is only the general term: with each level of progress in practice, the efflorescence of the light increases in magnitude, and the method of turning around becomes subtler. Previously one controlled the inside from the outside; now one abides in the center and controls the outside. Before, the assistant administered for the master; now one promulgates policy in the service of the master. There has manifestly been a great reversal.
8. When you want to enter quietude, first tune and concentrate the body and mind, so that they are free and peaceful. Let go of all objects, so that nothing whatsoever hangs on your mind, and the celestial mind takes its rightful place in this center.
9. After that, lower your eyelids and gaze inward at the chamber of water. Where the light reaches, true positive energy comes forth in response.
10. Fire is yang outside and yin inside, so it is in substance the creative, with one yin inside ruling it, arousing mind according to things, going along out into habitual routines.
11. Now when you turn the light around to shine inward, the mind is not aroused by things; negative energy then stops, and the flower of light radiates a concentrated glow, which is pure positive energy.
12. Correlates inevitably associate, so the positivity in water leaps up, whereupon it is not the positivity in water but just the positivity in the creative itself responding to the positivity in the creative. Once the two things meet, they join inextricably, the living movement of creative energy now coming, now going, now floating, now sinking. In the basic chamber in oneself there is an ungraspable sense of vast space, beyond measure; and the whole body feels wonderously light and bouyant. This is what is called "clouds filling the thousand mountains."