The way of love is not a subtle argument. The door there is devastation. Birds make great sky-circles of their freedom. How do they learn it? They fall, and falling, they're given wings. ~ Rumi (trans. Coleman Barks) * * * I don't often suggest specific yoga asana or qigong sequences, but here's one—which I have explored and greatly appreciated—that aligns beautifully with …
Taoism
Fasting Of The Heart-Mind
The Whole Being Listens Here's an interpretive rendering—via Christian mystic Thomas Merton—of a passage from the Chuang Tzu that describes a Taoist practice known as "fasting of the heart-mind." The basic idea is to notice the difference between three levels of hearing: (1) hearing with the ears; (3) hearing with the heart-mind (i.e. intellectual and/or emotional understanding); and (3) …
Distinction & Transformation
"Once upon a time, I, Zhuangzi, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Zhuangzi. Soon I awakened, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. …
The Tenth Man
There’s a lovely story – known as the parable of the tenth man – used to illustrate our propensity to overlook what’s most obvious. The inimitable Wei Wu Wei has even used it as the title of one of his books: The Tenth Man. The tale is typically attributed to the Upanishads, though I’ve yet to find a specific citation, so perhaps this part of it is apocryphal? In any case, for those who aren’t …
Like The Living
Meditation on the Wen-Fu When the Heavenly Arrow is at its fleetest and sharpest, what confusion is there that cannot be brought to order? Lu Chi speaks of the heavenly arrow and the sky parts. Quietly: not with the flourish of trumpets, nor with the clang of bronze doors thrown back, nor with the velvet pomp of the lifting curtain -- but with the almost invisible shift of a cloud that …
Pure Thought = Pure Action
This from Wei Wu Wei (via The Tenth Man - The Great Joke Which Made Lazarus Laugh): Thought as Action Action is a demonstration of thought. Action, being the exterioration of thought, Dualistic thought demonstrates as volitional action. Action that is the exterioration of thought is volitional action. Such thought, and its demonstration in action, are effects of split-mind and they …