In Daoism, a person as a whole, can get in the way of his own existence, by becoming too aware of himself, and then he lacks this quality of "Te" (Dao Te Ching). The Daoists propose that there be some thing to help people get back to "Dao" to be able to be in a state of "Te", so that they wouldn't get in their own way, and this is connected with the idea of being "empty", which I described earlier as "death". "Emptyness", being somehow "vacant", is the secret of the thing. The highest kind of knowledge, is not (kn)ow-how, but no-how, to be able to do it no-how, without any method, kind of reminiscent of Ra's "It is absolutely necessary that an entity consciously realize it does not understand in order for it to be harvestable. Understanding is not of this density."
To achieve this, something is practised which is called "fasting the heart". The "heart" in Chinese is a word which doesn't mean heart in the physiological sense, it's part of the "Te" character. Their word is "xin" It means "heart/mind", it is translated as "mind", and in all the Zen texts where the word "mind" is used, "no mind" - "mushin", shortened to "shin" (無心の心), mind without mind, also referred to as the state of "no-mindness" - the psychic center. The best kind of "heart", is absence of heart. In English the word "heartless" has a very bad connotation, as does the word "mindless". A "heartless" person is an inconsiderate, unfeeling person, and a "mindless" person is an idiot, but a person who has "mushin", or "no-mind" "no-heart" in Chinese, is a very high order of person. It means that his psychic center doesn't get in its own way, it operates as if it wasn't there. Zhuangzi says that the highest form of man, uses his "shin" like a mirror, it grasps nothing, it refuses nothing, it receives but does not keep, reminiscent of Ra's "Things come not to those positively oriented but through such beings." It's what Christianity means with "dying to the self", "empty your cup"... The Upanishads also speaks extensively on this.
When Carl Jung read The Secret of the Golden Flower (if I remember correctly, you're a fan of his... someone gave a Carl Jung presentation at some homecoming...), he said "this method of meditation is wholly unsuited to any Westerner, the translation is useless". It simply cannot be conveyed in words. It makes me think of Ra's words "the neccesity and near hopelessness of attempting to teach", or Lao Tzu's "He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know"... he spoke those words... And so... "the energies of our Wanderers, our teachers, and our adepts at this time are all bent upon increasing the harvest. However, there are few to harvest"...
You see how interesting skin rashes can become? :-) Don't you love this? It's like the riddle of riddles. The secret is in the seeker... "closer than your breath"... I suspect it's what the alchemists cloaked in language like "elixir of life", "holy grail", "philosopher's stone"... And what Carla called "cracking this cosmic code"... I do love Ra's "different slant upon the information which is always and ever the same".
To achieve this, something is practised which is called "fasting the heart". The "heart" in Chinese is a word which doesn't mean heart in the physiological sense, it's part of the "Te" character. Their word is "xin" It means "heart/mind", it is translated as "mind", and in all the Zen texts where the word "mind" is used, "no mind" - "mushin", shortened to "shin" (無心の心), mind without mind, also referred to as the state of "no-mindness" - the psychic center. The best kind of "heart", is absence of heart. In English the word "heartless" has a very bad connotation, as does the word "mindless". A "heartless" person is an inconsiderate, unfeeling person, and a "mindless" person is an idiot, but a person who has "mushin", or "no-mind" "no-heart" in Chinese, is a very high order of person. It means that his psychic center doesn't get in its own way, it operates as if it wasn't there. Zhuangzi says that the highest form of man, uses his "shin" like a mirror, it grasps nothing, it refuses nothing, it receives but does not keep, reminiscent of Ra's "Things come not to those positively oriented but through such beings." It's what Christianity means with "dying to the self", "empty your cup"... The Upanishads also speaks extensively on this.
When Carl Jung read The Secret of the Golden Flower (if I remember correctly, you're a fan of his... someone gave a Carl Jung presentation at some homecoming...), he said "this method of meditation is wholly unsuited to any Westerner, the translation is useless". It simply cannot be conveyed in words. It makes me think of Ra's words "the neccesity and near hopelessness of attempting to teach", or Lao Tzu's "He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know"... he spoke those words... And so... "the energies of our Wanderers, our teachers, and our adepts at this time are all bent upon increasing the harvest. However, there are few to harvest"...
Austin Wrote:Ra equated faith and intelligent infinity, and it is that contact with intelligent infinity that I think we, as spiritual seekers, are really seeking.
You see how interesting skin rashes can become? :-) Don't you love this? It's like the riddle of riddles. The secret is in the seeker... "closer than your breath"... I suspect it's what the alchemists cloaked in language like "elixir of life", "holy grail", "philosopher's stone"... And what Carla called "cracking this cosmic code"... I do love Ra's "different slant upon the information which is always and ever the same".