MY TAOWORLD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hallo,  I am Richard Bertschinger, an acupuncturist, translator and teacher in Somerset and this is my Tao world.  It tells of what I have gleaned from the Chinese world of Taoism.  Please do contact me to let me know your Tao world, that we might create a dialogue to celebrate our common humanity, our world in all its fragilities and strengths.

 

 

Scroll down for some fun.  Also check out the Archive, from the link on the left.

If you are looking for the text to the Wuzhen Bian (Awakening to Reality) by Zhang Boduan, scroll down the archive here.)

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tue 10th Jan

Twenty-five more minutes today, compared to 22nd December on the solstice, when the sun 'stands still'.  Sol-sticks.  Gettit?  The birds already seem to consider it Spring, what with a 10 min dawn chorus this am, despite the cloud.  Here is a shot from my window. 

Still dark, sorry.

It is the full moon setting by the way, not the sun.

Fri 6th Jan

Link to the Babe's Breathing exercise on this page.  This exercise has some pedigree.  I have formerly taught it as Tonggong, The Old Man's Breathing and Yin and Yang Recombined.  They all mean the same thing!

As promised here is Wangbi commentating on Chapter 16 of the Tao-te Ching. First the passage from the scripture.  Then the commentary:

All the ten-thousand things are created
While I watch their rise and fall...
All things flourish,
Each one returning to its root.
Returning to the root they are at peace.
This means they return to life.
Returning to life they are eternal.
Knowing the eternal they are shining.
Not knowing the eternal is to blunder into disaster,

Wangbi: The eternal is something neither partial nor prominent. It appears neither bright nor dark - it feels neither hot nor cold. So it is said, 'knowing the eternal they are shining'. Only through this 'returning to the root' can one reach out and embrace all myriad things, without missing one of them. If you lose this and act, duplicity enters your lot and things are separated from their fate. So then it is said, 'not knowing the eternal is to blunder into disaster.' When there is nothing in the whole world I do not universally embrace, I reach the point of forming a unity with Heaven.

This 'unity with Heaven' is the goal of Taoist practice - a merging of self and world, a distict Taoist ecstacy.  But hold, it does not have to be a big thing...it can just be a comfortable bed and pillow, a beautiful glance, a sky, and taste of fish and lemon, and so on.

Tue 3rd Jan

Pouring rain and gales outside my window.  Nice day to stay home.  I have been updating the Tao Booklets page.  So read on!  Also loading up my The Writings of Lao Tzu, as ebooks.  Here is Chapter Sixteen as an example.  I omit my commentary for now, perhaps tomorrow I will include it.

sixteen / returning to the root

OBTAINING UTTER EMPTINESS,
I guard this profound peace.
All the ten-thousand things are created
While I watch their rise and fall...
All things flourish,
Each one returning to its root.
Returning to the root they are at peace.
This means they return to life.
Returning to life they are eternal.
Knowing the eternal they are shining.
Not knowing the eternal is to blunder into disaster,
Knowing the eternal, I find forbearance,
With forbearance, I am openhearted,
Being openhearted, I act royally,
Acting royally, I communicate with Heaven,
Communicating with Heaven, I am one with the Tao.
One with the Tao, my life is everlasting.

Blessings to you all for 2012.

Sun 1st Jan

Today begins a re-write of these web-pages.  So I apologise that two purchases of my e-books have failed in the last 24hrs.  I am changing my payment methods.  More details later.  Please contact me if you have trouble with buying these books.  Thanks.

In passing, some of my web-readers have had trouble with the dark pictures below - it may be your browser, I know they are dark but, hey, the most important things are unseen, n'est-ce pas?  What!? Wwhat do we have the presumption to know!

Here is the Tao-te Ching (Daode Jing) Ch. 71 on knowledge.  This is from my Treasuries of the Tao e-book (see Tao Booklets), with commentaries by both Wangbi and Heshang Gong.  My summary follows at the end of the chapter.  Yes, folks, it stresses the unreliability of thinking that we know!  And it describes the font of all knowledge - the 'speechless realm'.  I think it can also be called 'primary processing' in Gestalt Therapy.  We might also say a 'hunch' - intuition, perhaps?

Have a nice day (!).

71. The Trouble in Knowing

    To know that you do not know is best; not to know and to think you know means trouble.

   If one can only take trouble over trouble, he is untroubled.
   The sage is untroubled, because he takes trouble over trouble. Therefore he is untroubled.

To know that you do not know is best;

    To know the Way means you do not know. This is to display the highest virtue.

Not to know and to think you know means trouble.

    Not to know the Way means you think you know. This is the kind of virtue that means trouble.
Courtier Wangbi says: Not to know the unreliability of thinking you know, means trouble.

If one can only take trouble over trouble, he is untroubled.

    If you can only take the trouble to be sensitive over others having the trouble of this knowledge forced upon them, you are untroubled.

The sage is untroubled, because he takes trouble over trouble.

    The sage escapes the trouble of this forced knowledge, because he is always sensitive to others having this trouble.

Therefore he is untroubled.

    Because of this, he is not like other people. He is untroubled. The sage holds an inner understanding within his heart. He justifies it through not knowing he knows. He wants to imbue all under Heaven with the qualities of the uncarved block - substance and simplicity, loyalty and truth. Then each one may protect the purity of their inner nature. Small people do not understand the significance of the Way. They apply themselves frantically using a forced knowledge, struggling to make it evident, damaging their mental vision, eroding their lives, as their years ebb away.

Truly, as Laozi states, when you know the Way, it is as if you did not know the Way. There is an alchemical saying concerning the transformation of the energy (qi) and essences (jing) into spirit: 'the spiritual which shows as the unspiritual is the most spiritual'.Laozi says: Those who know do not say, those who say do not know. And Laozi also states 'Great wisdom seems stupid.'

• If you do not know - but are under the illusion you do - this causes trouble. This is 'the trouble in knowing'.  The previous chapter (70) The Difficulty in Understanding states: 'My words have a direct cause, my actions have a master.' Both chapters outline Laozi's total engagement with the speechless realm from which all words and actions derive. If you do not understand this, you are only thinking about the Way! Feng Giafu said: 'What you are thinking, that is just not it!'  Wangbi identifies this chapter as concerned with the 'unreliability of thinking that we know'. This is the whole cause of the 'ills' of mankind. The character for 'trouble' (bing) means more specifically 'sickness' or 'disease'.  

   
 

Tue 27th Dec

 

The shortest day gone, the world on the pivot.  Here is a photo of a Quantock walk yestereday at dusk.  Editing the Yijing:Casting the Oracle video, at the moment.  Soon be up here. The second picture is wall, tree, door, sky - and then two pictures, one of St.Michael's hill at sunset, behind where we live and its18th-Century tower.  Then some crystals on Ham Hill, and view of Triagulation Point on Will's Neck, in Somerset. The crystal formations, embedded leaf and assorted natural stuffs were in Ham-Hill quarry.  Truely a mine of images , enjoy them!

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures are worth a thousand words!  All I hope is that these might depict li - principle.  The organic patterning, both within our hearts and within the natural world. 

 

 

 

 

A Hexagram is such a paltry thing - but it says it all - in its own way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mon 21st Nov

 

We went to the sea yesterday. Wondrous warm and sunny, it was.  Here is a small picture of my youngest on the cliff-tops, at Charmouth. It strikes me it is perhaps a suggestion of the light-body (Sambogakaya), which pervades our life.  This is in distinction to the physical body of the Buddha (Nirmanakaya) and the Dharma-kaya - the body of the law.  That's enough long words for now.  Let's enjoy these lovely late, dog-days of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 18th Nov

 

Dark days!  Sunlight and water...our heritage!  Yesterday the Yijing:Shamanic Oracle of China arrived.on our doorstep.  A strange feeling.  Stephen Fry talks about seeing your work in print - for the first time.  And just staring at it, touching it, walking round it, etc.  Certainly it is the most unusual feeling.  Something like showing your knickers in public.  When I have recovered (!) I will post the video of casting the oracle, as promised in the Introduction.

 

For now, if you wish a copy and cannot get to the Clinic in Yeovil you can email me here.  And I will respond asap.

 

Also there will be an opportunity to turn the pages of the book on this site!  Soon, soon. Here is a poem in passing - from Hexagram 24 (Returning) in the Book.

 

 Tearing apart, the Yang departs;
 Entering in, the Yang is restored.
 Although you are trapped and fallen,
 Your self-nature is permanently uneroded.
 Going out and coming back in,
 Ultimately there is no sickness.

The book is speaking of our original nature.  Even in sickness, our original nature is unblemished.  The Vimilakirti-nirdesa Sutra speaks of this is great detail.  Of course, this is also the diamond-body of the Buddha.  If I were feeling gracious I would also say, perhaps, that Jesus loves you.

 

 

Tue 1st Nov

 

The first day of November.  A great weight has lifted off - with the final sending off of the manuscript (plus corrections) of the Yijing.  Many apologies that I have been away from the blog.

 

What is happening?  Well my Tai-chi and Daoyin class is very active at Nine Springs Centre in Yeovil.  See on the right for the link.  We are completing the 24-move Form - as well as other associated 'silk-weaving' exercises.  In the next few days I wll be adding a movie about this.  There is of course some of my work on Youtube.  See here  for the Old Man's Breathing (tonggong).

 

Thur 29th

 

The last day of September approaches.  A propos my little jaunt, here is a rhyme (traditional) from Medicine in the Mind:

Throw insults at heaven and earth
And you find misfortune,
Obey the edits of the season and weather
And you find good fortune.
Spring and summer climb the hills singing,
And stay somewhere high.
Autumn and winter dwell in the lowlands,
And keep yourself from harm.
Then good fortune smiles on you, happiness unbounded.
Long life is a gift and time seems to have no end.

For the Chinese we were inextricably linked in with nature.

 

 

 

Mon 26th Sept

 

Saturday I was abroad on the Quantock Hills, Somerset.  Here is a superlative little fellow, you might just see the Gnome's hat if you gaze long enough - he tried to jump off the toadstool as I took the picture...

 

 

 

Speaking of the Gnome people...here is a Chinese rhyme concerning the little people..who live long..

 

Old folk every hour of the day and night, whether walking, standing, sitting or lying, in all they do, they hold firm to the mind as if it were great Mount Taishan! Never wavering, neither shaking. Dutifully they guard its entrance -eyes, ears, nose and mouth - letting not one thing exit or enter in! This has been called 'nourishing longevity'. An urgent task indeed.

 

Again this is from Medicine for the Mind. See below.

 

 

 

 Thur 22nd Sept

 

Here is a poem entitled The Stillpoint.  It comes from the pamphlet Medicine for the Mind again, referred to below.  The crux is in the last four lines - very difficult to translate. 'Simply extinguish the quickening mind...'.  I have used the word 'extinguish' as a clue to the 'water controlling fire' idea (from the 5Elements).  The True Lead resides in Water, as does the eternal Gold.  More on this when I speak of the 400 Word Essay on the Golden Elixir by Zhang Boduan.  This poem is included in my Three Taoist Traces, Three Taoist Tracts, which some of you picked up at the conference, last week-end.  The opening verse is grandiose in spirit - 'true earth clasping true lead, true lead controlling true mercury, mercury and lead return to earth, the heart still and unbowed'.  This says it all.

 

Have a good day!

 

 

 

The Stillpoint

Only make the mind rest at the Stillpoint,
For in clear understanding there lives no gloom.
After your heart becomes settled,
It is far-seeing and uncomplicated.
Old crimes make one stumble like fetters.
Recent crimes may be slow to be forgot.
But when nothing is there to hinder you
The dust of illness is shaken from your feet.
Simply extinguish the quickening mind,
Never extinguish the brightening mind;
Bear down upon an emptying mind,
Never bear down on a settling mind.

 

 

 

Tue  20th Oct

 

A warmish morning...but windy.  The weather is teetering into Autumn here in Somerset, UK.  This is the time of Qian - see the trigram to the right.  He is the father, the one who 'adds up the score at the end of the game'.  Autumn is the time of reckoning and was, incidently a time for executions in Imperial China.  Needless to say, all you Five Element Acupuncturists know also it is the time of Metal.

 

And is here is a picture to represent Qian: also in larger format on Sensorium page.

 

 

(I am also reminded that Eric Fromm in his wonderful book The Art of Loving said that the love of the father is conditional - while the mother's love is unconditional.  Maybe he was a closet Taoist.  There is no telling.)

 

I had a rumbustious time at Windsor, meeting fellow practioners.  Several of you may be logging on this morning, so thank you for that - and here is a poem from the pamphlet Medicine of the Mind, which I sold there.  It will be available as soon as I get organised this end.  It  talks about taking a stand on the body, breath and mind - and the 'rule' of humankind.  Indeed the conservation of mental and physical health is quite natural.  We just need to DO it.

 

 

 

Three - The Rule of Humankind

Do not let the mind escape its boundaries
But find rest at its original source.
Do not let your feelings stray;
Guard them with the inner breath.
Do not let the concentration be led outward
And escape weariness and injury.
It is common knowledge that:
The mind commands the breath;
The breath is the root of the body’s strength;
The body is the place for the breath,
While the mind is a tool for the body.

If you can connect these three together - body, mind and breath - then it causes them all to stand. But any single one mistaken, and you cannot join with the Rule of Humankind. Then how can you stand up and be counted!

 

This is a translation of a poem from Li Zhong-zi’s Wuyao Xushi or ‘What should be Known about Health without Medicines’ (c.1640). Dr Li entitles this part of his book Model Sayings as Medicine for the Mind. Weaving new and traditional together, he describes the conservation of seed-essences, breath and mind (jing, qi and shen). A sober tone epitomises Chinese (Buddhist and Taoist) mental hygiene.

 

Another poem tomorrow.

 

 

Tue 13th Oct

 

Where does the time go?  As Sandy Denny would have it (Fairport Convention).  I will be at the British Acupuncture Conference at Beaumont House, Windsor this coming weekend.  There is a book-signing at 2pm Saturday of my Secret of Everlasting Life translation.  See here, for this book.

 

Also some booklets of mine on display and for sale.  Here is the gist of a publicty brochure.  It has cost some sweat and tears - but worth it in the end.  How is it that the sage works without doing, I would like to know!

 

Still, you might like to know that I left the bees alone 65 weeks.  They got a bit dozy.  Then opened them up, cleaned them up and fed white sugar syrup (yeugh!) and they are fine.  Looking towards the honey next year, now

 

Catalogue of Work (Sept 2011)

 

THEMES AND VARIATIONS in The Secret Of Everlasting Life (Neidan Available To Us All
A short paper written this year on why and how to read The Secret of Everlasting Life  (Singing Dragon 2011).
The Secret of Everlasting Life is the oldest of Qigong texts (2nd Century CE). I expound and illustrate themes within the text, taking my new translation as source.

 

THE EIGHTEEN THERAPIES
The 18 Therapies are a set of simple exercises which “limber up and heal”.
These easy stretches are constructed both to heal and prevent soft tissue injuries.  They most be performed purposely, slowly and surely.  Because of their graceful aspect they are ideally suited when we are less than 100%.  I learnt them in China in 1986.

EXCALIBUR:  A Short Paper on Arthurian Legend and Chinese Internal Alchemy

An extract of an interview with me telling of some links between the Arthurian legend and the Chinese art of Qigong or internal alchemy, whereby you brew an transformative Elixir of new life

 

MEDICINE FOR THE MIND
A first translation of some sober sayings from a Chinese ‘medicine book’.
These are poems and passages out of the Dr Li Zhong-zi’s Wuyao Xushi or ‘Health without Medicines’ (c.1640). Dr Li entitles this part of his book Model Sayings as Medicine for the Mind. Weaving the new and traditional, he describes the conservation of seed-essences, the breath and mind. A sober tone epitomises Buddhist and Taoist mental hygiene. He illustrates effectively how to self-heal – without using drugs or medicines, but the mind – has particular merit for our times.  

 

THE DAO-DE JING
The Daode Jing (Tao-te Ching) is unreservedly the most ancient and revered book of Chinese wisdom. 
Packed with enigmatic sayings which surprisingly have relevance in the modern world.  This is a new translation following the traditional commentaries, by Heshang Gong and Wangbi.

THREE  TAOIST  TRACTS, THREE TAOIST TRACES
These scriptures are entitled The Matching Shadow, Entering the Medical Mirror and the Four Hundred Word Elixir .
Three Ancient Scriptures teach us about man’s place in the universe, the opportunity to transform and better our lives, - in a quasi-magical way – thereby to bring peace to all. They come with an introduction and helpful notes.

 

THE TAOIST METHOD: Harmonising the Breath
A short leaflet reproducing the essay on softening and harmonising the breathing again from Dr Li Zhongzi’s 'Health Without Medicines '(c. 1640).
The theme of the single method of harmonising the breath runs through all three religions, Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. In its broadest aspect it enables you to enter on the Way or at the very least to nourish and care for your life. It is the very highest teaching of jinggong (Stillness Exercise).”  So says Dr Li in this short section on the internal method of Qigong.  Popular now in Chinese clinics and hospitals.

 
CHINESE YOGA For Home Use
This booklet was first published in 2006. Second augmented edition 2010
This small booklet summarizes a few of the exercises I have taught over the past twenty years in my clinic.  Sources are traditional, adjusted to suit the class.  This booklet aims to teach three things:  the regulation of the body, regulation of the breathing and the regulation of the mind.

 

RIVER HAWK! RIVER HAWK!
A new translation of the larger part of The Constant Pivot, of the Confucian school.  These passages are from the Book of Rites, before Confucius’ (b.551 BCE).
Confucian spirituality is, in essence, inseparable from reverence, deference to a superior; but its primary motive is jen, ‘human-heartedness’ or ‘love’ - a very animal or gut instinct.

 

These will all be for sale on the Conference.

 

Sat 25th June

 

Midsummer over.  Wet night, but woke yesterday and on walking into the garden found my hive all a-buzz with a new colony of bees.  This is the second swarm which has found the hive this year.  The first swarm I opened to check stores after five days and - somehow - they buzzed off!  I was left bee-less again.  This time I will not open them for six weeks, until the queen is laying and they have settled.  They gave me a welcome little flurry of attention when I approached.  Good to know that aggression is home again!  Aha - new life - green-dragon-wood frenzy!  Ain't it all about taming anger?  THen we get the honey! The young boars tusk!  SIX AT THE FIFTH - Hexgram 26 Great Cultivation will bring home the goods.

 

 

 

The Yijing:Shamanic Oracle of Change is out on November 2011.  More details soon.  If you are keen you can preorder on that great river Amazon.

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 18th June

 

Too wet to talk about much this week.  England looks to be showered with late April showers.  We are all paying for a glorious, sunny Spring.  Washed out Wimbledon coming up and a truncated Third Test Match against Sri Lanka.  Nevertheless there is something splendid in playing in the damp, the ball weaves and dives about - the sense of subtlety and confusion abounds..ha-ha, very Taoist!  And all with a will to win.  Cricket (and maybe all team sports) embraces the Yin/Yang philosophy - two sides complement and confound each other, playing with a small, round, leather ball, no less - which the hurl around with abandon.  Then they dress themselves all in white (ironical!) while they seek to hammer the living daylights out of each other, defending themselves with a single stick of wood.  And, when that ball strikes the stumps and the little bails (another two fragments of wood) fly in to the air we are perhaps forgiven for thinking that all these men have just gotcaught up in a strange pagan rite of male potency and abandon.  This rout happens to all begin in the spring, damn it!

 

Needless to say I'm not a fan of women's cricket.

 

 

 

Tue 16th May

 

We have had some fun recently.  Just as May is a hive of activity in Southwest Britain, so our household seems to have been busy, busy.  But wait now, this is just an illusion.  For several months I have been wondering about this state so many of us seem to be in.  Of course it is not busi-ness, it is congestion.  To the Taoist there is a difference.  Primarily we are in love with the ...free-flow of energy-qi...this seems to be the Taoist hymn, as Zhuangzi says 'the fire goes out, but the flame goes on...'

 

So it is good old 'grasping' which arrests our flow, when we are so-called 'busy'.  Thus for us creative types (perhaps that's all of us?)  the art is in letting go - constantly!  After all nature teaches us, in April and May how to let it go, let it flow - let form occur and billow forth.  I have to say though, that it can be sometimes be a struggle.  Then the need to apply the shoulder!

 

Just an aside.  In acupuncture there is a distinction, when inserting the needle, between facing and following.  It is to do with how you angle the needle, up or down the energy flow of qi along the meridian.  I was taught it at college in the '70's, but it seems to have fallen out of favour recently.  Perhaps we should research it anew.  Facing or following is an art.  Any one who practices Tai-chi knows that - the turning of the waist is ALL.

 

Here's a nice green picture for you all.  The back side of Ham Hill, within a short walk of our abode.  I am reminded of Wordsworth's '...little lines of sportive wood, run wild...' (Tintern Abbey):

 

 

 

 

 

Fri Apr 15th

 

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day...well the news is that The Book of Change now has a contract with Singing Dragon (Jessica Kingsley).  Probably to be published in hardback in the Autumn.  This will be a fine event.  I am just garnering the main details of the book and calligraphy for the cover.  Hopefully this will be by Li Xiaobai.  Here is a link to his pictures.  A fine blend of East and West, much as our translation - but faithful to the core.  He lives in Plymouth.  So we keep the South-West connection.

 

At present Spring is sprung in our garden.  I woke at 6.16 and heard the cuckoo - a lovely clear, flutey tone.  He sung over the hill, then flew into near the park next to us.  This is the first time this year.

 

Sorry to those of you who couldn't view Wendy's picture below.  Reloaded now.

 

As to the 'undoing of the universe' and 'our task is to retie it'...those arcane phrases from Tuesday, I will try to explain a little more (and probably fail!).  In some sense (this is a rather strained attempt) the universe is in a state of entropy - for those of you in the know this is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, but never mind about that - this means it is 'untying', running down, in a sense.  The Chinese internal alchemists found out that each of use had, within us, the ability to retie this unravelling - and in that sense 'leave time behind'.  Such is the Secret of Everlasting Life.  To retie water and fire - is much like the checking of our passions and qi, the binding in and self-control needed in all society.  'Course it don't mean you can't still party!

 

Believe it or not, that's what all those funny squigglling line figures below are. Trigrams - three line figures.  Set in a circle.  Understanding, taking on board and 'drily' meditating on them we reach our calm centre.  THEN we can retie water and fire.  Got it!?

 

I'll try and explain it again some time.

 

Or just read my book!

 

 

Tue Apr 12th

 

Well, well, well.  There is pending news of great import!  Concerning the Book of Change. 'Fire with Water beneath...the undoing of the universe....its is our task to retie it...'  More tomorrow., when this phrase will be explained.....come back soon...

 

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But for now...how do you read yours?

 

 

 From Wendy, a pupil on the path...

 

 

Mon Mar 21st

 

News from Singing Dragon press!  A new video will soon be up on their site.  Come back in a few days for details.

 

Here is a great picture of the mistle thrush, by Sergey.  He has a site on Flickr, link here.  Too good pic. not to reproduce.  Many thanks to this ace shot. There is a mistle thrust singing, singing, every morning now opposite out house - it lodges higher in the parkland opposite, up a tree and repeats its song over and over again.  We have had a great mistletoe crop this winter, and perhaps he has been drawn by the berries.  Mistle thrushes eat mistletoe berries.  And here in Somerset, apple trees breed much mistle-toe! 

 

Obviously he is out for new territory.  Bird-song is such a beautiful thing, and its variability and suitability to all environments the epitome of the Tao.  The Tao-te Ching (8) has a passage which goes:

 

 

Thus all nature holds together - like water.  (Unless it envelopes itself into fury as a Tsunami, one has to say??).  But the Taoists were just being generous to Water here.  What has it to do with birds and birdsong?  Well all nature 'fits' - that's just it...things find a suitability to their environment - and that is kinda wonderful.  Isn't it a miracle that all holds together - somewhat.  The line above 'in work, it is able' contains a multitude of meanings...the Taoist commentators explained that water will stop at an obstacle and find a way around it, or else divert and turn aside.  Thus they thought we should confront obstacle in the world.

 

 

Thurs Mar 10th

 

Nesting into our garden seems to have begun.  Certainly the rooks opposite and jackdaws are extremely active.  With the south-westerly blowing now, they career up and up away into the air and back again.  I believe it is the old 'uns teaching the young 'uns where to catch the best gusts (there's a Chinese moral there somewhere).  Konran Lorenz in King Solomon's Ring says much about jackdaw culture and here, in England, we are very lucky to have some established colonies.

 

We can learn much from watching the birds.  So poignant that their lives are usually so short (apart from geese and swans, that is).  Our robins are always on the come and go...last winter one appeared on our lawn, dead.  Little feet sticking up in the air.  We blamed Anthony the cat - but I think it might have been the cold weather.  Truly that was the longest cold spell for nearly 20 years.  The statistics on wildbird deaths are just coming in.  Still that is the way with nature - it don't care!  (Straw Dogs and all that, see Tao-te Ching Ch.5.)

 

Tomorrow I am off to the publishers in London, Jessica Kingsley to record another promo-video.  Will let you know how it all works out.,..

 

I have an enquiry from a gentleman on my contact page, he hardly believed my book could help you find the Secret of Everlasting Life:  I replied thus..

"The message is simple, get alone and quiet, watch the breath, take your time and soon, peace comes...then we can get into the secret of the Golden Land..

Yes the book tells you how to do it..."

 

And Saturday 12th March, I will be at the Acupuncture Research Symposium in London.  Link here.  All welcome.

 

 

Sun Feb 27th

 

Hallo to a dull, struggling spring day!  Cold winds vie with a warmer sun;  air unstability makes for the English phenomenon of 'showers'.  The qi mounts and bursts open, discharging spurts of rain.  But weather maps seem to suggest we are in for a settled period of high pressure.  More on this later.

 

The whole Winter Brocade (taught in my Monday class, see opposite) is now on YouTube.

 

 

Wed Feb 23rd

 

The Arhat rises from the Earth!

 

 

Actually enjoying myself performing The Tonggong (aka: Winter Brocade) in a secret place near where I live.

 

 

 

 

 

Fri Feb 18th

 

Latest promovideo:

 

 

 

 

Web Feb 9th

 

A Chinese poem for you all:

The Great Pathway vaults the Sky,

Cold and Heat check each other's display,

A Hundred Winters, and half spent in sleep.

Of course the great pathway is the Tao.  As the Shadowy Tally says (Yinfu Jing):  Observe the circuit in the sky, that is all! Cold and Heat describe fire and water - the dance of YIn and Yang, up and down.  All nature - the falling of the dew and the rising clouds, heaven steams on down -  Heaven and earth combined (Hexagram 11 Flourishing).  A hundred winters and half spent in sleep.  What a miserable piece of work is man!

 

And all our petty schemes...

 

 

Tue Jan 25th

 

And a possible promotional video for The Secret of Everlasting Life.

 

 

 

Sat Jan 22nd

 

I promise I will not discuss the weather and cricket quite so much this year...but somehow they are often foremost in my mind (!).  Anyway enough of that business downunder (for you Ashes fans) - I want to talk about code today.

 

[AND while we are talking about code, here is a link to my first Youtube video]

 

The Taoist business is really all about transmitting that which cannot really very easily be transmitted.  Viz. that title, in the right hand pane here.  Lao Tsu talked about The Tao that Cannot be Told.  So there's me having the absolute affrontery to speak ( no, not even that but write) of that which cannot be told.  Well, there's a contradition!

 

So it can easily be made too simple - yes, and also too complicated.  Mostly too complicated for that matter.  Perhaps, that is why Taoists tend to be such apologetic people.  What a hopeless task it is trying to understand.  And that is why we need code.

 

The Chienese world is choc-a-bloc full of code.  To begin here are a few code names for the 'inner depths in man'  from my Secret of Everlasting Life....The Taoist commentator Yuyan is talking...

 

…the Mud-Ball Palace, the Unstable-Pearl Palace, the Jade-Pure Palace, the Purple-Pure Palace, the Supreme-Single Palace;  the  Supreme-Hidden Gateway, the Hidden Gate, the Hidden Palace, the Hidden Room, the Hidden Valley, the Hidden Field, the Gravel Field, the Number-One Gateway, the Hidden Gate, the Hidden Palace, the Hidden Room, the Hidden Valley, the Hidden Field, the Gravel Field, the Number-One Gateway, the City Gate, the Heavenly Gateway, the Heavenly Gate, the Heavenly Valley, the Heavenly Field, the Heavenly Heart, the Heavenly Wheel, the Heavenly Hub, the Heavenly Spring, the Heavenly Pond, the Heavenly Root, the Heavenly Hall, the Heavenly Palace, the Qian Palace, the Qian Family , the Loving-Union Palace...

 

I think that's enough code for now.  Cold and frosty outside;  nice day for a walk.

 

Wed Jan 12th

 

To continue from the New Year post (Jan 2nd):  the Trikaya are the three bodies possessed by the Buddha (tri=three, interestingly, entymological dictionaries show clearly the common roots of the Indo-European languages;  but this is not the case in China - as we step over into China, across the Himalaya, we enter another world).

 

The three bodies of the Buddha are the Dharmakaya, the Sambogakaya and the Nirmanakaya.  The Dharmakaya is the truth body, and in the realm of healing it might be seen as medical knowledge, the natural laws, the indestructible;  the Sambogakaya is the bliss body and may be seen as illustrating the teachings of the Buddhas, and through their compassion the distribution of blessings on the earth;  while the Nirmanakaya is the projection (existence? rather corporeal being) in this world of the many Buddhas.  If you like it is 'the word made flesh' of St.John's gospel.  But in the realm of healing it is the transformation of the individual, both soul and body.  Most importantly, the nirmanakaya is the application of the truth-body and bliss-body in treating the patient - who, if we are blessed, will be changed from sick into healthy people.

 

Many thanks to all my friends, both past and present who have helped me sort this out.  How it clarifies Taoist practice and personal transformation will, I hope, soon become clear.

 

 

 

Mon Jan 10th

 

For those of you who like links here is a link to the Jessica Kingsley newsletter I appear in (Singing Dragon imprint) - click here.

 

Sun Jan 9th

 

The news is that I have produced a new set of booklets, nine in all entitled The Writings of Lao Tsu.

 

These will follow my translation of the Daode Jing (Tao-te Ching) available on the Tao Booklets page as an e-book.  But in addition I have added photoes and commentary.  This commentary is based on the Heshang Gong and Wangbi commentaries which are available opposite.  I make no apology for further promoting Lao Tsu!  The first booklet is entitled The Tao that can be told is not the Eternal Tao.  It should be available as e-book, downloadable very soon from this site. 

 

This is the whole set of booklets, soon available.:

 

1. The Tao that can be told is not the Eternal Tao

2. The Sky is Broad, the Earth Endures

3. The Best Rulers are but Barely Known by their People

4. To Know the Male, but to Guard the Female

5. The One of Highest Virtue does not Pretend to Any Virtue

6. Not Going out the Door, You Can Know the Whole World

7. Those who Know do not Speak, Those who Speak do not Know

8. Those of Old well-versed in the Tao did not use it to Enlighten People

9. When the People do not fear Dearth, how can I Threaten them with Death

 

This about sums it up.

 

 

 Jan 2nd 2011

 

I cannot believe we are already into the New Year!  And this website has not been running even 11 month yet.  Time is the strangest thing.  All Xmas time I have been immesed in contemplation on the Trikaya of Buddhism, the three holy bodies of the Buddha - the Dharmakaya, the Sambogakaya and the Nirmanakaya.  The Dharmakaya is the one most of us have heard about - the absolute truth, the pure white light;  the Sambogakaya might be called the 'bliss body', when the Dharmakaya is seen as the 'truth body';  lastly the Nirmanakaya is the physical, corporal body, that is, Sakyamuni himself.  Nirmana kaya is the 'transformation body', also.  There is more to say on this.  I cannot really say I have much knowledge - but somehow it's really charismatic and meaningful.

 

But I find the fact that a) we are a body of light, fascinating.  Such an obvious truth, to both Christian and Buddhism philosophies.  Secondly b)  the flexible logic of the three in one, also seems intricsic to both religions.  But the sensitivity of Buddhism wins, in my opinion - its decentralised aspect, its depth of psychology - its innate, meditative skills.  Seems quietism wins again!

 

Body of Truth, Body of Bliss and Body of Transformation.  Nice.  Also the emphasis on Buddha-nature.

 

We'll get back to Taoism, eventually.

 

 

Dec 19th

 

Winter weather continues apace. 

Dark on Light, the elder cold on a still older earth,

Fierce branches tear open our members. 

Confusion is pretty much typical...

So let's see, how to solstice celebrate...?

 

 

 

Dec 11th

Ten-thousand Scrolls of Fairy Books and Sayings - all the same!
The Golden Elixir has only one Root and Foundation:
It depends upon a Perfect Substance begat at Kun,
Sown at the Home of Ch'ien in friendship and warm affection.

Nothing uncanny here but the Secret of Life which I divulge.
It follows that the Scholars themselves are to blame for being misled...
If someone clearly gets to grips with the Meaning in this poem
Immediately he stands in view of the Most Honourable Three Pure Ones, above.

 

 

 

The Honourable Three Pure Ones (Bruton Forest Dec 2010)

 

 

Hallo and Welcome to the December 1st 2010!

 

My new book is reprinting and will be in the shops on or around December 15th.  This is translation into English of the oldest book on Alchemy in the the world - from China.  It describes the age-old methods of inner transformation and meditation, as practised by the Sages of China.  Around 200 AD, external and internal alchemy were not strictly separate, we believe.

 

Much use is made of I Ching symbolism and trigrams.  Animal characters, directions, family dynamics, power struggles, colours, stars and musical sounds, sexual orientations - all are grist for the mill of alchemy.  The Chinese were the first to realise that we, as human beings, had the skill (innate) of producing an internal elixir - or macrobiogen - enchynoma (as Joseph Needham calls it).

 

If you search on this term ENCHYNOMA on Google, there is not much.  This site mytaoworld.com is the third entry of three!

But an ENCHYNOMA is an internal medicine which can transform our lifes and spirits.  This is of course the goal of Qi Gong. Physiological scientific research is beating down the door to explain this, as we speak!

 

Its all in the book.  Here is the link to Jessica's Kingsley's site - on Singing Dragon.  This is the cover blurb.

 

 

The Secret of Everlasting Life is the first translation from the Chinese of the second-century Can Tong Qi. This ancient work, the earliest known text on alehmy and immortality, echoes the wisdom and poetry of both the Tao Te Ching and I Ching. The Can Tong Qi is also the ancestral text of all Qi Gong exercises in China. This translation reveals for the first time the meditation methods practised for thousands of years by Taoist sages.

Presented here with its original Chinese commentaries, the Can Tong Qi is full of practical information and advice about the process of human transformation and how to nurture and develop the natural life-energy within us. Richard Bertschinger's additional commentary explains the intricacies of Chinese allegory and symbolism for the Western reader.

This book is an insightful read for anyone interested in Taoist thought, Chinese philosophy and culture, or Chinese medicine.

 

I will be selling this book from the Clinic in Yeovil, (£15.99) if you want a personally signed copy!  Otherwise it is also available by post (+£3.50 p&p) from myself.  Just email, rberts@btinternet.com You don't have to go to Amazon (but we all do, don't we!?)

 

 

 

Oct 13th

 

Such a pressing high with grey cloud laps our shore,

Fumbling people, segmented from life...

An economy spent...failing fast...

Time to return to the root!

 

More on returning to the root in the Treasuries of the Tao, opposite.  Which is available as an ebook, to read on screen.  You are also free to print it out if you wish.  Here is part of a page...sorry the picture does not really do the text justice, I'm working on the quality...

 

(The above little poem was promoted by the dismal politicians in England at this time.  Miserable lot!  In thrall to computers and accountants...)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sept 14th

 

Thanks to you all for making the 2010 Conference such a success.  

 

 

 

 

Sept 10th

 

Off down the A303 in an hour to the conference, see below.  Here is a sample of what will be on offer.  An new translation of the points and channels of classical Acupuncture.

 

 

Sept 6th

 

Alchemy, medicine and religion.  That about says it all.

 

Sept 5th

 

A week from today, Monday morning 13th September we begin again my Tai-chi, Daoyin and Meditation classes at Yeovil Nine Springs Clinic, Hendford, Yeovil.  They begin at 9.30 (an hour) and all are welcome.  Tai-chi will be represented in its simplest form, easy to learn;  Daoyin means 'to guide and lead' (the qi-energy) - sometimes called 'to conduct qi' - the true art of any Taoist;  and meditation is of course 'where we are at' - coming into the present.  We will explore and learn some standing, sitting and walking forms.

 

Although it is billed as 'Tai-chi for Seniors'  it is open to all.  I go slow - and its nice to have a mix!  After all, ain't that alchemy!  Stir it all up together.

 

Here is a simple rhyme to get you going:

Loose, relaxed and natural,

Body and mind as one.

Empty above, full below,

Movement and stillness 

     combined.

Tracing forms from

      antiquity,

In practice, every day.

 

Indeed we are in debt to a great tradition.  My teacher (among others) can be read about here

 

and Gia-fu Feng.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aug 30th

 

The British Acupuncture Council has its conference next weekend at Egham Surrey.  See link here.

 

I will be talking on Unfurling the Banner:  the use of point names in treatment.  Actually the main thrust of the talk will be on 'heaven in the body'...how the Yang -qi-spirit-light-body progress.  Look forward to seeing you there!

 

 

 

August 15th

 

Summer rolls on.  Somerset pippid at the post in the cricket final 20twenty in Southampton Rosebowl, last night.  Thrilling finish!  It must be good for cricket.  Pure pantomine - infused with passion.

 

New pictures from my jaunt to the Alps in June.  Pure 'magic in matter'.

...the Essence, Energy, Spirit and Trigrams,
Only the beginning of beginnings...
 
Once finished, just Pure Magic in Matter,
Which most have trouble remembering -

This is from the Wuzhen Bian or Awakening to Reality..Indeed this is nothing less than reality, in fact everyrthing else is less!  When I go walking or camping, or just journeying in the wild I do have this feeling that I am touching something...which has a greater reality than most of my humdrum, mundane life.  I guess this is why we all go on holidays to the mountains, sea and woods, etc. etc.

 

...tiger posture...

 

The original headless man.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 28th

 

And if you can not get enough of me, then both Webinar's are available now as FREE viewing, at

 

http://medigogy.com//product/acu-points-and-their-message
http://medigogy.com/product/flavor-i-ching-heaven-and-earth-and-change-between

Happy Viewing!

I'm now preparing for the British Acupuncture Conference in September.  Link here.

Also my biography here.

 

July 14th

 

Thanks to all of you who watched the Webinar.  I think it was well received.  They commentaries to the Tao-te Ching are available opposite as an ebook, as I promised.  Happy reading.  And send me your questions!

 

July 13th

 

Life streams on...talking of stream, Healthstream TV is producing another weblecture, or webinar, if you prefer tomorrow.  Around 1pm Pacific Time, which is in the evening if you are in Europe.  This time I am introducing the use of the I CHing in the treatment room - A Flavour of the I Ching. 

 

It is free to watch!  And you simply have to log in 20 mins early to make sure you machine is fast enough to stream my lecture.  Here is the link:

 

http://www.healthstream.tv/tv/flavor-i-ching-heaven-and-earth-and-change-between

 

(Actually this and the abov elink may be broken.  Please report if you have trouble)

 

Look forward to seeing you there.

Another picture on the sensorium page...

 

May 28th

 

Just a note to say thank you to those who watched my webinar on Wednesday night/midday, on healthstream.tv  An interesting thing talking to the web - but many kind comments were made, texted in by students, listening and watching.  Much wisdom lies in the point-names, the trigram/hexagram symbolism - we can dig and dig and never come to an end.  And this is just how it was intended!

 

Apologies that the Saying of the Day opposite, has rather become the saying of the month!  Will update as soon as I get organised.  Lovely summer days here in UK, and we have a sport filled month, cricket and such like..so I'll see what time I got.  But thanks again all of you who watched.

 

 

And before I go, someone asked about 'fire' and its attributes.  Fire is warmth, colour, desire and light, burning and transformative - strangely beautiful and attractive.  It is the middle daughter and the pheasant.  It is also the mouth, talking, chatting and weapons.  So handle it carefully!  Good luck.

 

 

May 26th

 

 

Here is the link to the promised Confucian text.....River Hawk! River Hawk! Free to download for the moment.

 

A River Hawk, A River Hawk!.doc  Print it out two-sided, landscape if you can, or read on line.

 

Also another booklet free here, The Eighteen Therapies.

 

It is a new translation of the larger part of The Constant Pivot, a scripture of the Confucian school. Dated perhaps 500 B.C.E. (Confucius was born 551 B.C.E.) Full of pithy sayings, these were the first texts I studied. The Constant Pivot supplied any young people, aspiring to the role of government; the moral rule against which they were to be measured, that of ‘integrity’ (cheng); also it supplied that which was not meant to exist - a Confucian metaphysic - the ‘realms beyond’, or the numinous.

 

Confucius also embraced the Taoist idea of a ‘primal energy’ (yuanqi): untamed, unborn, unnamed and unarmed. But I’ll leave discussion of Taoist and Confucian merging to another time! I commend this tiny scripture. It was the first Chinese text I ever worked on.

 

 

May 24th

 

This stunning sun has knocked out all my plans! Confucius on hold until after weblecture on Wednesday.

Link:  http://healthstream.tv/tv/nestling-heaven-within-body-acu-points-and-their-message-us-all As it says on heaven nestling within the body...here's some poetry for you:

 

SIX AT THE FOURTH:
Fluttering, fluttering.
Not using your wealth to woo your neighbours.
Do not feel threatened, have faith.

   In a position of power, you act as among a flock of birds fluttering down to roost. The three Yin lines flutter down, to return back within. This is to disregard any influence you might have over others and to come down and mingle with the Yang beneath.

Not using your acquired wealth,
Is to ignore rank and position.
Seeking friendship, with an empty heart,
Will certainly bring aid and assistance.

   So do not feel threatened or doubtful. But use openness to establish faith with others and there will come mutual trust.
 Where there is mutual trust, there is mutual forgetting.  Therefore, at a time of change, how valuable is faith!

 

This is from the Hexagram Peace/Flourishing (11) in the I Ching.  The technical stuff is as follows:  The three Yin lines ignore their influential position to come down and mingle with the Yang beneath. Through mutual faith you forget your differences. When the fourth and fifth lines in Cultivating the Small (9) find mutual faith, their cultivation is complete. When the third and fourth in Flourishing find mutual faith, the state of flourishing is attained. This is why The Book of Changes values faith.

 

This actually is the script to the Summer Brocade Qigong I teach at Nine Springs, 9.30 Monday morning.  See about clinic on this page.

 

 

 

May 20th

 

A walk yesterday:  beooootiful.....bluebells....come back tomorrow, should be Confucius to download...free for a couple of days

 

 

 

May 19th

 

Here is the link to my weblecture, next Wednesday.  http://healthstream.tv/tv/nestling-heaven-within-body-acu-points-and-their-message-us-all

 

 

 

May 9th

 

The news now is that I have arranged a webcast lecture with West Tcm TV. Here is link http://westtcm.com/content/healthstreamtv-tcm-tv.

 

They will be presenting my lecture some time in May, a Wednesday, so clear your diaries. 

 

More news, discussion are underway to reprint my earlier translation of the Cantong Qi (the foundation text of Qigong).  More news on this soon. 

 

Also while you are at it check out http://www.chinesemedicinetimes.com/product/675/1/treasures_of_the_tao_ebook 

where my Heshang Gong and Wangbi commentaries are up as an ebook.  This is the extensive translation with commentary on the Lao Tzu (Laozi) classic.

 

Phew!

 

Been a busy few months.  I'm going to lie down and cool my forehead...under our appleblossom here in somerset.  New pictures on the sensorium, now!

See link Sensory World, Awareness, Sensation, Taoist Fun.

 

I have to apologies, with this all on, for the lapse on online translation.  But great things are afoot.  Thunder in the air!  We have to ....pause....in awe, and not drop the sacrificial spoon.  

 

Best wishes to all my readers!

 

 

Tues Feb 9th

 

There is that tiny rustle in the air, which betokens spring.  But cold winds still haunt us, snow in the air..witness the combat of the heated and cooling masses of air which make up our climate and, ultimately, our seasons.  What else is there for a Taoist to think/talk about?  Answers please on a postcard - or by contacting me here.

 

Thanks.

 

Mon Jan 18th

 

A great morning's class at Nine Springs Natural Health Center were I work.  Getting back into The Winter Brocade, twenty move exercise.   To day we rested after to let the qi bubble down - found our space/place/position/posture on the carpeted floor.  Truly, just wher nothing seems to be happening...great things are going one...The Day is a Wood day (Zhen and Sun in the I Jing, that is 'stirring seeds and small things to you', mister..).

 

Hope to continue the Great Appendix when I find the book.  My study in a 'bit of a mess' to say the least!

 

...what is greatness, when endures, what is virtue and what is wisdom...wow!

 

 

Jan 17th  2010

 

The wheel moves, heaven turns.  We are in January again, I have held back from my weblog so many days....promoting other stuff.

 

A wet day, but finally the snow has gone.  Fed the bees, gentle thin syrup.  When there is warming they come out to look for food...and stores where a bit thin this autumn.  Now we hang on Feb and March to see what will out...our uncertain Spring, as usual.  I have another web prescence today.  Check out http://www.chinesemedicinetimes.com/section/247/1/ebooks

 

 

 

NOW BACK FROM HOLIDAY!

Fir Oct 16th  2009

A wonderful ballon flight yesterday, in the greying dawn over Ilminster and south Somerset.  Pictures to follow!
I interuppt this commentary on the Wu Chien Pian to insert the opening passage to the commentary on the Book of Change.  The sky above and the earth beneath.  Yesterday I floated 2,000 feet up into the sky.  For a Taoist this is something quite joyful!  One with the air, one the vapours and elements.  Nuff said!


Tue Oct 13th

Hi Folks!  I have returned!  One day later than the Westminster MP's anyway.  What a summer we had here in UK,  and I tiny ridge of high pressure now lingering with a last taste of warm sun and slight winds.

The big news is that I am set for a balloon flight to celebrate my 60th (Idon't believe it!) birthday.  The take off is planned for Thursday 6 am, weather permitting.  Will keep you informed.

'Within the body is felt a substance moving, as sweet as toffee'.  With the words we finished last July.  Now we can begin again.  Qi-flow is the most fundamental concept in traditional Chinese medicine.  We need to take it fully on board.  Not quite spiritual, not quite material.  Infused with both of these.  One without the other...leads to problems!

Other news, I will soon have my books on another site, full of informative stuff , and an ejournal on Chinese medicine and philosophy.  News next week.

More tomorrow.




Mon 27th July

Sorry, I've been absent, involved.  So, missing that feeling
'as sweet as toffee'.

In these next three stanzas Chang Potuan quite clearly gifts us these few alchemical terms - ideas we could spend a life with.  Perhaps the most important idea in today's is this felt body feeling - as sweet as toffee.  Well, did they have toffee in China?  I'll have to look into this, but the implication is a sense of comfort, in the very cells, in every pore.  Viz.  the sensorium.

What a blast of rain we have today!  Next week is my official holiday, so it explains the tentative entries the last few days....I'll be back when I can.

Sat 18th July

The Path proceeds out of the Unified Field.  The merging of modern physics and Taoism.

Carrying on with the Wu Chen P'ien today.  From nothing comes something.  Indeed ultimate being is a teeming void...in Chinese science, a paradoxical state indeed.  So King Lear was wrong to say 'nothing shall come of nothing'...and Shakespeare (and Cordilia) was right!



Fri 17th July

It is now two hundred days since I started this diary or blog, what y'will.  So we HAVE to celebrate.  We interrupt Chang Potuan's poem to bring you an important announcement:

Here are the opening lines to a brilliant little number - Ch'u Huaku's commentary on the Ts'an Tung Chi.  I make no apology for abstruseness.  You gotta dig at these trigrams!  (My comments are in brackets.  I hope they help.)

This is the first chapter of the text said to be put together by Xu Congshi, disciple of Wei Boyang,  It illustrates how the method of refining an Elixir possesses a definate form, with its own constituent markers, or 'tokens' - the hexagrams, (or trigrams).  Managing to refine an Elixir is like managing 'a team of horses' - phenomena in the natural world echo phenomena in the human world.

Master Ch'u comments:  Change is made by the united bodies of Qian and Kun (father and mother), coming and going, opening and closing.  Thus the text speaks of them as the 'door and gateway to Change'.  Their various lines then give birth to the sixty-four hexagrams.  This is why they are 'father and mother'. Kan is contained in Kun (his mother) and Li contained in Qian (her father).  Thus they are 'greatly assisting' (as children help their parents).  Kan and Li are found at home with Qian and Kun.  Their central lines rotate about like a hub turning on its axis.  (A nice image).

More tomorrow.

Only Wood pigeons singing today, early am.  Such a restful sound.  Damp morning.




Thu 16th July

Dropped in on Moish Sokal's wondrous exhibition, at East Lambrook yesterday, following the Parrett Trail.  The light of India blessed by a Somerset long barn ceiling - you have two days to catch this exhibition.  Don't miss it.

Chang Potuan clearly tells us in the stanza opposite about the revelation which led to him writing the Wu Chen Pien.
Lead and mercury, Yin and Yang, hard and soft, dialogue, nesting, linking, communication, give and take, this and another, sky and heaven, earth and ground...and so it goes on.

In the next few stanzas Master Change wil explain the way into these Hidden Writings.  Three things are needed for a whole understanding:  the initial principles (I can give you), instruction by a teacher (I leave this to you, it should be personal) and lastly many months of practice (this involves YOU).  Good luck.


Wed 15th July

Today a walk to East Lambrook.

Now the verse from the Wu Chen Pien opposite concerns our true nature, being manifest in an 'empty heart'.  Empty Mind implies the same - being without plans, schemes or desires.  Again quietitude is to be preserved.

Lao Tzu's maxim occurs in Chapter 3 of the Taote Ching on Bringing the People Peace:

    Do not value the wise, and the people will not dispute. Do not praise objects which are hard to get, and the people will not thieve them. Do not look on desirable things, and the heart will not be thrown into disarray.
    Therefore the sages governed, by emptying the people's minds and filling their bellies. They weakened ambitions and strengthened bones. Always keep the people ignorant and content, and the clever will not dare to act.
    Acting through non-action, the people are always at peace.

Wangbi comments:  The mind harbors cleverness; the belly harbors food. An empty heart encourages wisdom while fullness implies ignorance.  Here Wangbi is despising all clever scheming, planning and desiring.  Truly he honours an empty mind (= One Mind).

Trully it simply means simplicity and openness with people.  So difficult to achieve.


Tue 14th July

The chapter from the Taote Ching (29) on Non-action goes:

    Do you want to take the Empire and change it? I do not believe it can be done.
   The Empire is a sacred vessel, you cannot change it. If you try to change it, you will destroy it; if you try and grasp it, you will lose it.
    Thus everything is either leading or following, blowing hardly or softly, either strengthening or weakening, welcoming or rejecting.
    So the sage turns away from excesses, from extremes and extravagances.

Truly the task of the Taoist alchemist is to embrace non-action.  Quiet, stillness - in which is found light and verisimilitude.  This is the True Lead.  It has a solidity and certain inertia.  But is in no way dead!  Roll on the Tao!.

How to contain and maintain the Lead?  We will soon be told, in the next few stanzas.



Mon 13th July

Smile, breath and bend your knees!
Smile, breath and bend your knees!

People say I'm so busy, etc. etc.  But get up a little early, find a sunny spot and stand quite a moment.  Take a breath, smile and open out your arms to the sunshine.  Feel its warmth on your face and body...stretch, gently.

For us, of Northern climes, the benefit of the sun, morn and even, when it is not too strong is well-known. 

Then take that warmth into your heart, break it into a smile, bend your knees to return your qi to the earth and go on with your daily chores of life.

After all, the True Lead is (dark), inert - and heavy, and out of it appears the Yellow Shoot .,..where Water and Fire entwine.  f(rom the first poem in the Wu Chen Pien)

Tomorrow we talk about non-action...using lead is not to use it...



Sun 12 July

Quieter morn. outside, the rain recedes.

In this stanza we have the message of the Ts'an Tung Chi, which can be loosely translated as 'combining similars gtogether' -  combining (ts'an) ,similars (tung) together (qi).  Now this is a subtle idea - again close to the motto of 'closeness without disrespect' that we mentioned before.  Just look at man and woman, similar and disimilar at the same time!  Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

In other words you need something akin to an inner wisdom in order to prolong your life and reach eternity...yes?  Well something like that.  It is not easy to gloss - except that the True Lead, the Sunken Silver - the single central line of Kan - is involved.

We are off to the Ashes today, at Cardiff.  A tricky finish to an frastrating match.

Sat 11th July

We continue our poem.  Chang Potuan makes it quite clear it is alchemy he is concerned with.  To subdue the dragon and harness the tiger....crouching tiger, hidden dragon.

It is a common exhortation of the internal alchemist that your own home and garden contain the Magical Elixir.

If you missed the blog, with the site being down, it is now restored below.  Read on.


Fri 10th July

Tentatively I begin my blog again.  The last two days I have lost my home page.  Virtual life is fragile indeed!  Indeed all life.  This is a teaching of Taoism, the shimmering reality.

Witness the Taote Ching  (Ch.29)

29 : Non-action
    
If you want to take the empire and change it,
I do not believe it can be done.
The empire is a sacred vessel.
You cannot change it.
If you try to change it you will destroy it,
If you try to grasp it you will lose it.

Hence everything is either leading or following,
Either blowing hard or softly,
Either strengthening or weakening,
Either welcoming or rejecting. 

The sage avoids excess, extremes, and
        extravagances.

On this chapter Wangbi comments: The ten-thousand things have an inborn ability to follow their nature. Therefore this should be relied upon, one should not try to change it. One should try to merge with them, not grasp hold of them. Things have an eternal aspect to their nature, if we tamper with them we will destroy them. They come into being and pass away - if we try to grasp hold of them, we lose them.

And also Chapter 40.  Famous chapter!  Most translations give 'returning' for 'homeward'.  But it is much more alchemical to say 'homeward'.

40 : The Function of Detachment

Homeward is the movement of the Tao,
Gentle is the power of her rule.
All creatures under Heaven are born from being,
And being born from non-being.

As I have stressed before I have not made this titles up.,  They are from Heshang Gong's commentary, woefully neglected.

On Ch.40 Wangbi comments: Being functions as non-being. This is it turning homeward. In movement, if all recognise their own nothingness, they are identical. Hence homeward is the movement of the Way.

Truly he embraces the nothingness at the heart of the Tao and the emptiness fundamental to Buddhism here!  Empty out and empty out again!  It says in the alchemical Wu Chen Pien.  More tomorrow.  (IF Microsoft love me)Wed 8th July

Hate to say it, but Microsoft f***ed up again!  And I lost my home page so here you have a restored version.  Witness the differnet typography.

The Saying of the Day is to accompany the verse from the Wu Chen Pien which I appended yesterday.  I repeat it here:

Blend as one the Lead and Mercury,
If you want to form an Elixir -
"When neither great nor small suffer,
Both kingdoms stay entire".
If you ask me, "What is this thing,
The True Lead?"
I reply - "Like moonlight...
At the end of the day on Western River".

       If you want to form the Elixir simply blend together as one the Lead and Mercury. To blend together is the secret. When neither great nor small suffer, there is mutual respect; and mutual respect creates the condition for life.
       If you ask me, “What is this thing, the True Lead?”  I can only reply - “Silver Moonlight ... shining at the end of the day on Western River”. This is the True Gold, the Sunken Silver, immersed deep within the watery Pool of Kan.

The ...'as moonlight in western river'...is the shimmering truth of all Buddhist and Taoist practice.

The verse opposite is from the Taote Ching (Ch.61).  It exalts the feminine principle.

From Wu Chen Pien


Tue 7th July

     As you come to the west of the Sichuan plain, about forty miles from the provincial capital of Chengdu, where the Himalayas tumble down into China, you reach 'Green-City Mountain'.  I w as working on this translation in 1985 and then in the autumn of 1986, I got the chance to study at Chengdu Colege of Traditional Chinese Medicine .  I had no idea at that time I would be barely 60 mls from the area which supposedly was where Chang Potuan received his instruction in internal alchemy.  Some synchronicity!  Chang Po-tuan says he met his teacher when he entered the town of Chengdu, accom-panying the General Lu in 1069 AD.

    Much surrounding Po-tuan's life is legend - and perhaps must remain so, even after the scholars have brought their skills to bear upon the records of that era - but all biographies agree that it was in a chance encounter of Po-tuan's, when he was well over eighty years old, that the seed for writing the Essay on Awakening to the Truth (Wu Chen P'ien) was born.

  In his own (reputed) introduction Po-tuan records their meeting:

               "...for the first time my true intent, perhaps or even more likely my reverential attitude towards him, influenced this Realised Fellow to impart to me the Medicine of the Golden Elixir and the secret of Timing its Firing.
      His words, they could be said to 'point to the current, so I understood the source.'
      He hinted at one thing and I understand a hundred! The fogs opened up, the sun shone through! The dust wiped clean off the mirror! It was as if all alchemical books I had ever read suddenly agreed together!"

  We now know that this magnificent 'Old Fellow' came from Green-City Mountain - Po-tuan's very first commentator Weng Pao-kuang says as much. But whether he really was the famous Liu Hai-ch'an - celebrated Taoist of former times, founder of the 'Southern School' and disciple in the Art of Immortality - we cannot say for sure. Po-tuan never alludes to him by name.
  Another interesting point raises itself here. If the accepted date of Po-tuan's birth (984 AD.) is taken as correct this would make him around eighty-five at the meeting, and over ninety when he wrote Awakening to the Truth. Even with a lee-way of ten years this is still a magnificent achievement! I am inclined to doubt the chronologies1.


Mon 6th July

To the sea yesterday.  Lyme Bay resplendent in the glittering sunlight, beach full of holiday-makers, ho-hum...water and sun, the delight of Perfection (Hexagram 63, compare Imperfection, Hexagram 64).

I've put out the whole of the four stanzas of this passage from Chang Potuan, introducing two new ones today.  They finish with his famous phrase ' moonlight on western river'.  We'll deconstruct this tomorrow.  Suffice to say that he stands decidedly in the philosophical psychological tradition here - he has no truck with Yogic or chemical practice.

In this regard there is much Ch'an (Zen) influence.

A new diagram on The Arts of Health page.  Still needs tidying up.



Sat 4th July

Continuing on from yesterday, when Chang Potuan eschews all outer, chemical means of creating immortality, we here are introduced to the 'princely pistil' and 'yellow shoot'  They are the ripening Yang.  The central Yang line within Kan trigram.  

The Silvery Water is the Yin within the Yang (the Yang must still retain  softness and fluidity, not be rigid).  It may be shown in  the central Yin line of Li trigram.  Ok.  Got it?

Tomorrow Chang Potuan will turn against Yogic practices.


Fri 3rd July

July rolls on.  A glorious out pouring of Yang, with blended Yin soft warmth,  Franka asked me about seasonal aspects of acupuncture treatment yesterday.  I replied as best I could - but feel I only scratched the surface.  The whole is a vast mechanism - heavenly clockwork - of inter-relating and reflecting sources and actions, hubs and peripheries.  Now put that in your pipe and smoke it!  (As Confucius said:  I give the student one corner of the square, and expect him to bring back the other three.)

Today in the Wu Chien Pien we start four stanzas in which the point is to delinate exactly the point of Chang Potuan's approach.  He is decidedly speaking about internal alchemy - not outer chemical means of brewing a Elixial Potion.  The Crescent-Shaped Furnance stands for the new moon, which, at many latitudes in Chna appears on its back, like a fine crucible.


Wed.1st July

Sat 30 mins this morn.  Soft, warm dawn.  Much bird life.  Still the furnace and position the cauldron...yes, that just about sums it up.

The still warm shrouds of life..as we awake each morn.

Tue 30th Jun

The last day of June.  We begin the sixty-four verses of Chang Potuan's long poem from the Wu Chien Pien.  This is a tour-de-force, in two parts, summarising the creation of the Golden Elixir of life.  A transformative process occuring within the world of sense, partial sense, words, trigrams and meaning, inner and outer.

The first lines of the poem identify the markers - Ch'ien and Kun, Heaven above and the earth beneath our feet.  Within this cauldron are placed the Sun and moon, crow and rabbit. They are balanced within the Earth-soil element.

The only way to grasp the meaning here is to let it all wash over you.  It is poetic after all.

The diagram to the right is the inner-world diagram.  Heaven all Yang above and Earth all Yin beneath.  Fire and Water lie side by side.  More tomorrow.


Mon 29th Jun

Great weekend away, meeting family.  But my mind so full this morning.  Getting up with a thick head, and tired in the afternoons.  This is a full (shi) situation.  As we might say medically.  This tiredness is not relieved by rest or sleep.

Midsummer.  The Yang at its peak;  and a heatwave in the offing...the hottest weather, we've had for some years.  So the Yang rises and, also, the head fills...

But seriously folks, its time for meditation.  Found myself sitting again...sitting, listening, to the stringless lyre...

But why stringless?  It is obvious.  Because the music plays itself...can you see the universe as a dance, a melody, a harmony of spheres (Pythagoras et al).  There is much also in the opening phrases of the Ts'an Tung Chi (see below in my blog) about the sounds of the pitch pipes (pipes of different lengths) and how they correspond to the different seasons and weathers.

Now hang on, this is quite a big subject...!...

What the ancient Chinese (and this is probably about 100. C.E.) were saying is that the sounds of the musical octave, the natural resonances when an open pipe is blown also correspond to the tenor/feel/experience of the seasons...,obviously a blend/mix of Yin and Yang, heat and cold, above and below...

Yin and Yang, correspondances and a weak sense of difference (the phrase is from Martin Jacques, listen to him talking here on Andrew Marr's Start the Week) imbue the whole of the traditional Chinese world view...

So...I sat again this morning, and I will do now for a few weeks.  To empty my head.  Legs complained...and then the pain turned in and cleared my head...indeed the breath returned, and the Elixir itself wasformed - in a pot, matching Li and Kan!  See opposite.

We'll get back to the Wu Chien Pien soon.


Sat 27th Jun

What can we say about such phrases....white clouds encircle the mountain peak...sweet dew-wine filled to overflowing...well to the cognescenti they are clear.  When you read enough of Chinese poetry and literature you begin to see a common thread.  But it is not usually made terribly specific...many ideas are alluded to,  terms change and interchange.  They almost seem to delight in being non-specific...because the Chinese were almost too ready to admit the difficulty in retaining the essence of communicate person to person.

How to get the true meaning over....

This is why Richard Goodman's site here is so interesting.  His view is that Chinese medicine could well be rooted more in Legalism (as a philosophy) than Daoism (Taoism).  At least he's opening up the debate...

I might say, yes, rooted in Legalism which is pretty wildly fraying at the edges....the whole tradition being so nebulous and fragmentary when you consider the voluminous literature (another good point he makes) which somehow defies all gravity to hold together as a coherent system.  Well, look fo rexample at the pulse quality system;  although terms such as slippery, rapid, deep can be given nice poetic scans and technical glosses, there is much dispute about what the qualities really are...

But actually they hold together in practice!  That is the wonderful thing.

To come back to .....white clouds encircle the mountain peak...sweet dew-wine filled to overflowing.....the' white clouds' are pretty close to Buddhist enlightenment (the phrase much occurs in Wang Wei's poetry (?699-?761 C.E.), the 'sweet dew-wine' is probably a variant on the 'jade fluid' of the Taoists - the outpouring of saliva which occurs, often, during Taoist meditation, as the autonomic nervous system is brought into tune.  It is no mystery that Taoist were/are well able to change the chemical composition of their bodies on a long-term basis.  Thus Meditation for Health.

I sometimes think all complementary medicine works purely through the relaxation response.  See this classic by Benson noted here from the seventies.


Fri 26th Jun

As the Changes says:  Storm-clouds and thunder fill the air.  We had dark clouds and thunderstorms last night - as often interrupts an early English summer...I sat by the door, sitting, listening, to the stringless lyre, touching upon the seed of all creation...

Summer rain falls constantly and almost noiselessly out of a stubborn grey sky; there is little wind, and the leaves just bob gently to the drop, dropping drops..

In Hexagram 3, The Hesitant, the text says.. not useful to take action, favourable to establish  feudal-lords....this, indeed is a time for sitting still and waiting...

The lines speak of...rocks and pillars...this is to imply the firmness of holding-back and devotion.  It says...hunting a deer without a guide,y ou only get lost in the forest....meaning to be aware.  It goes on to say...a junzi spies the seeds, it is better to give up, going ahead, regret.

Certainly it is a time for watchful waiting. Wilhelm calls the hexagram Difficulty at the Beginning.  No wonder we need to subdue the mind through non-action.  I have changed the second line in the Hundred Character Stone Tablet now to subdue the mind through watchful waiting.


Thur 25th Jun

Before we proceed with the Wu Chien Pien here is a translation of the Hundred-Character Stone-Tablet inscription.  I made this in the summer of 1992, from a contemporary Qigong magazine from China.  They have a complete set of this magazine, going back to 1987, in the British Library.  The text is in Qi Gong (1989:12).

It is a famous verse, probably over a thousand years old.  Cleary has a translation in Vitality, Energy, Spirit: A Taoist Sourcebook (Shambhala 1991).  It is most usually presented as authored by the legendary Taoist Lu Dong Bin with the commentary by Zhang San Feng (supposed originator of Tai-chi Chuan).

I hope I have given  the text  vibrancy and life.  I have put 'breath' for qi.  Instead of 'source progenitor' (!) I have put 'ancestor'.  And substituted 'here and now' for Cleary's 'people'.  Both these actually are good.  I am very tempted to put 'crown of creation' for 'seed of all creation' - Cleary has 'mechanism of creation'.  Actually, it is very certainly not 'crown of creation'. 'Seed' is actually the same as 'trigger' in my former translation of the Yinfu Ching.  See download on Archive.

There are some telling criticisms of Cleary's approach here.  I'll talk more about this verse tomorrow.

I got half the stump out.  Next week to finish the remainder of the roots...



Wed 24th Jun

Lovely warm day.  I discovered three wasp's nests at the week-end in the garden, one hidden under an old Walnut stump.  Disposed off carefully.  So now I am left with the old stump.  That will be my task today.  The whole corner of the garden faces east-northeast and would be a famous site for a morning meditation hall.  I am thinking of a hut to be build there.

There is a good site of Qi Gong texts here.  It shows the range of early work, especially.  But we must remember that Taoists can be disgustingly prolific in their writings - it makes me spit!  How something so simple could be rendered so worthless.  Unbelievable.  This is the struggle we all have with communication.  It has to be face-to-face.  Oral.  And then, we have all the problems of authenticity and power.  Perhaps simpliest to say, take it slowly and don't try too much in a single day!

Well, we swim in a media sea - as we do in the sensorium.
By the way, I have a new picture in the sensorium, celebrating our family, yesterday evening,  winning the cup at the village rounders!  2009 champions!

Good luck.


Tue 23rd Jan

Here follows the commentary.  The process of the Golden Elixir can happen anywhere, nowhere, here and there, willy-nilly; in the space of the inner-world of spirit and seed.

For inner and outer worlds see diagrams below.

The merging of Yin and Yang, in closeness, without disrespect  - it ain't much more than that...now, if you find it difficult to understand, and work out, you are not the only one.  Take it step by step, ken the diagrams and trigrams, they are only stating one small truth...

Lovely small ridge of high pressure building - July is on our doorstep, the fullness of an English Summer.

Mon 22nd Jun

The year begins its slow slide winterwards.  But the heat increases - this is the Yang within the Yin, the lagging torsion of the round of Yin and Yang.

Here is Single Stanza from the Wu Chien Pien.  Good luck!  Tomorrow I'll 'explain' it. At least give you access to the code book.  Any attempts email me here.

As you can see I have retained yesterday's quote from Taote Ching 1.  Unbelievable that now the whole reads as a tractatus on sexual yoga - on the importance of restraint.  Without doubt the encounter of Yin and Yang,  the Girldchild and Young Lord is seen as romantic (in the narrow sense) and sexual (in a broad sense).  The Ts'an Tung Chi is frank in its references to the mating of animals.  This intertwining of sexual and spiritual is difficult for the West to appreciate, where sex has become such a trumpeted force, at least in the visual  media.


Sun 21st Jun

Midsummer's day.  Here is a piece of Heshang Gong:  his passages commentating on the central two lines of the opening chapter to the Taote ching. They point to a very clear asceticism.  He believes in curbing desire and reining in the passions.

Here is the whole of the tricky verse:

The Tao which can be told
Is not the constant Tao,
The name which can be named
Is not the constant name.

Nameless is the beginning of Heaven and earth,
Named is the Mother to the ten thousand things.

Ever without desire, we gaze into the mysteries,
Ever desiring, we gaze at the manifestations.

These two came from the same source
But appear having different names.
Having the same source implies darkness.
Darkness within darkness,
The gate to all mysteries.

It simply confirms the Yin-yang aspect of our existence.  The dialogue between internal and external, outer sensation and inner mind.  They come from the same source - the born and unborn.  Now work that one out!

Without desire we see into the very heart of the Tao.  The oneness of all things.  I suppose Buddhism might talk of the illusory nature of all existence, the samsara.

Allowing desire, caught in the sensorium, we motor on into the world...caught in our habitual responses. 

Heshang lacked the subtle logics of Wangpi (the later commentaor on the Taote Ching).  For him it was a very clear divide.  We curb our desire, rein in the passions and thereby live long.  Viz.  Getting Older, getter Stronger.






Fri  19th Jun 2009

A taster from the Taote Ching, Heshang Gong's commentary.

This is Chapter Thirty-Four which speaks of trusting in the Way to succeed. As the Way spreads freely throughout the universe, there is nothing so small it does not contain it, nor anything so large to exceed it. All things depend upon he Way for life, yet it works without making any claim. It never acts as master . In fact it never seems to do much at all. In emulating the Way the sage remains anonymous and in the background.

Never considering himself great, he can be truly great.

When Heshang speaks of the sages considering their own selves to be their own teachers, he actually is speaking of the body.  The character sheng literally means 'physical body'.  Your own body is your teacher.

In the extract the original text is marked in italics, Heshang's commentary in normal case.


First Archive of the Diary Feb- May 2009 downloadable here.

For clinical acupuncture and other visits contact the this link.

 BOOKLET TASTERS  scroll on down.......

 ...and down..and down..

 The Taoist Method of Harmonising the Breath
Introductory Price

 

A fine eBooklet of a few pages on Harmonising the Breath.
Original translation from a Ming document.  The author was the Chinese physician Li Zhongzi, 8 pp. £1.50.

Click this link to go to the Tao Booklets page to buy this work...or search for the free link (surprise)...

 

Try reading my documents with Adobe Reader, available free here.

 

Three Ancient Chinese Scriptures which teach us about our place in the universe, the opportunity to transform and better our lives - in a quasi-magical way – so to bring peace to all.

• The Matching Shadow,
• Entering the Medical Mirror
• Four Hundred Word Elixir

with commentary and introduction by myself.

This is now available from the Tao Booklets page  I can send it as ebook or pamphlet format (plus P&P).  

News

For clinical acupuncture and other visits contact the this link.

Tai-chi classes now weekly at Nine Springs, Monday 9.30 am.  Drop in as and when  See address for these classes on this page.

The Treasures of the Tao with my commentary, is now ready to download on  the Tao Booklets page. 

NOTE.  I Ching No Longer Available. but....

Now published as Yijing:Shamanic Oracle of China by Singing Dragon 2012.  See my blog, on the left.

Past Sayings of the Day in Archive here.