deci belle

Those who wish to avoid "climaxing in power" are well advised to not use their power in the first place. The strategy used by adepts of spiritual alchemy is to recognize and intimately follow the inherent potential of any given situation they find themselves in. Doing so is elemental in providing the basis from which one can ride the energy of the situation itself without conjuring selfish modes of habit-patterned psychological projection for no reason at all. How this is accomplished is to "forget" to use the seat of the personality's psychologically habit-patterned energy before the first thought in the first place. I mentioned that "forgetting" mind is the most effective way to avoid screwing up in the face of psychological impacts in the course of situational evolution as opposed to suppressing the mental processes, because stopping thoughts is actually impossible. Attempting to do so is a form of insanity and insisting on doing so over a prolonged period of time contributes to and results in possible permanent psychological damage including mental illness. The famous (perhaps even obscurely so) French dramatist, Antonin Artaud, is one such tragic casualty illustrating the result of such prolonged and deliberately forced afore-mentioned self-abuse by virtue of the rational capacity of mind. Studying a biography of his life may prove beneficial, regarding what not to do. So, forgetting to think, or conceive views, before the first thought, is the most effective strategy of them all, in terms of self-refining practice. The giveaway is where to look, as in the practice of continuous subtle 24/7 observing and seeing thought arising; this is the place: just this is ground zero. This is the place formally imitated by beginners as well as so-called self-described meditation experts whose qualifications amount to decades of silent "illumination" in the course of wearing out pillows as a matter of distinction over a lifetime with no other perceptive accomplishment or development to speak of. It's not their fault, because it is impossible to apply enlightenment to reality on the zazen cushion. Practice, per se, is the real deal. Formal meditation regimens are like simulating peer-group rehearsals— far removed from and lacking the power to match creation. After a long time of such subtle accord in reality (not the zazen cushion) through practiced, continuous subtle observation in the midst of everyday ordinary situations, one achieves a stability of clarification at the incipient point of upwelling, in terms of the creative impulse— without going along with the creative. This accomplishment is a great reversal, wherein the conditioned karmic impulse remains unborn and the creative simply fails to arise as such at the incipience of the aperture of the Mysterious Female. The great Japanese Soto zen teacher Bankei, used the term "Unborn" exclusively in expressing authentic teaching during his tireless tenure as an exponent of the Dharma throughout all ranks of Japanese society. It must be noted that the karmic impulse changing as the creative at the point of incipient upwelling is none other than mind itself. At no time is it some other mind. There are no two minds. Observing mind as itself Unborn by Mind itself is effective immortality in terms of authentic practice. There is no other immortality anyone should ever consider worthwhile. Why? There is no such one to consider it so. In terms of the absolute, there has never been such buddha. It's your own mind right now. There is no other mind. Just this mind alone IS you. Who knew? Learning to see and develop an intimate accord with this potential without turning it into thought is how one "rests in the highest good." This is in effect the point of illumination where one turns the light around (before the first thought). There is actually no other place to "turn the light around." It's true, after you act, it's too late! Always come back to this incipient point of illumination in terms of observation, and you won't be far off. Otherwise, as ordinary people do, one will succumb to psychological momentum and will not be able to practice turning the light around. And will, instead, follow endless streams of thought unawares, going on to new thoughts before preceding thoughts have even developed. ed note: italicize "before the first thought" in 1st paragraph; change "stasis" to "stability", add "Soto" and swap two words for one in 5th paragraph

This thread, or this single post, as most of my topics remain, is a little different than others in that it has an inordinate number of cultural and technical references relying heavily and almost exclusively on the readers' familiarity with the Chinese buddhist lexicon throughout a prolonged period of various cultural shifts taking place in its long history between A.D. 500 and the 1800s. Of course, there are ancient taoist references to contend with as well. My apologies. I wrote this on four petite serviettes the other day at my café in town… there was one left. Five Serviettes Simply awakening is the selfless awakening to buddha-mind beyond the grasping mentality. It is knowledge of non-being’s open awareness constituting impersonal nonoriginated unification and clarification of the singular intent before the first thought. There are people who just fall into this without any intention of doing so as a result of a long-nurtured countenance of open sincerity. "Falling into this" is harmony with the Constant, after which It is then possible to return and share oneself fully. In the mean-time, they see their own unified mind as the fulfillment of its own desire. Since it is not oneself, not other~ unified mind being the fulfillment of its own desire is the meaning of taking the forward step with open hands meeting situations as arrow-points meet, with no remainder. Unity of primally open “intellect” is the properly incipient nature of one’s perpetually fulfilled desire. “Intellect” is the capacity for fulfillment where there is nothing to fill~ just openness. The attainment is one’s penetrating reversion as the Source. The application of the term “intellect” is the substance of Mind’s open serene clear light. Mind’s function is its intent: ever sensitive and effective. Sincere intent is Mind’s expression of oneself’s impersonal unity functioning through selfless desire passing through situations without lingering, without initiating. The expression of the function is in terms of harmony— selfless harmony~ adapting impersonally and effectively to situations without sticking to appearances; neither seeking praise nor avoiding censure. Affinity is the impersonal knowledge of harmony in terms of the Constant. It is not that there is anything to know… one's affinity is just the nature of the Constant, which is the application of an angelic harmony that can kill a buddha when it sees a buddha. It cuts right through in an instant with a precision that is equal to its appropriateness in terms of one’s inconceivable matching of potential to conditions which has never admitted one’s own strength. Not admitting one’s own strength that can kill a buddha is the Celestial in action. Its power is due to the clarity of the Constant being the nature of Mind. In one’s own gradual refinement, clarity being the nature of mind, it follows that its clarification is the effective harmony of the heaven and earth of the immaterial body of awareness whose heart is the Center. The Constant is the nature of this Center of open awareness being Mind mastering energy. This is not a matter of energy-work. It is not even energy being other than Mind. It is a description of the mystical source of the impulse of one’s own life, immaterial beyond location. Mind mastering energy being the Center having no location is the real totality of unity. Though it has no location, it is not apart from your pointed nose. There it is! Yet how could it be or have a place? Just this primordial Space with no inside or outside is not beyond this instant occasion. Ignorance of the Constant is energy mastering mind; when conditioned yang peaks, it wanes, and evolution inexorably goes along with a cycle of creation, which is bound to birth and death. The 55th chapter of the Tao te Ching concludes:

Don't worry~ that PM seemed to have run its course for me. You still have access to its contents, oui? You can still PM me, of course. I just shortened your address, that's all that was about. It took me the rest of the day to "Aha" about Mr E~ haha! You are a clever one, my dear… I might need to find out your Chinese horoscope. Yes, the first reference to the way of strategy in the ancient historical accounts of taoist Chinese hagiography is attributed to one of the Yellow Emperor's three female teachers. Only much later, did Master Sun document a concise compilation of tenets of effective conflict management. Several such effective and competing military strategists during the "Warring States" period did the same. Alchemic self-refinement is carried out by the strict application of such strategy as a means to save energy by learning to assess objectively and adapt impersonally, using the lessons of the Art of War (especially its chapter on Types of Ground) in terms of psychological terrain. You may have surmised that though I titled this thread "Five Serviettes", I admitted that though I had five, I only used four. I suppose if the slight you felt I had committed, had been let go (rather lose a piece than an advantage), you may have decided later that such was not the case (and no one would have been the wiser). It happens all the time, in terms of adapting to the timing of yin convergence. Bodhidharma said, "Don't know." It works wonders. Let this serve as a "teaching moment" for you. Waiting in darkness is properly a reference to innocence, no different than the applied meaning of not-knowing, in the face of psychological impacts during the course of situational evolution. It is perhaps possible to avoid the consequences of conceiving views by forgetting them sooner than later, yet, correct and circumspect innocence before the point of illumination arises is alone considered to be "faultlessly" resting in the highest good. ed note: add "(not-knowing)" in last (quote) paragraph; add "not-knowing" in penultimate and then add subsequent last sentence.

This is in terms of everyday ordinary cycles of yin and yang— not just a far-off glimmer of one's mortality. This is going along with creation and experiencing birth and death in terms of habitually following unconsciously arising thought unawares. This is going along with the habit energy of situations as if they exist— as if oneself exists in terms of ideas pertaining to an absolute identity of the personality. Believing such to be the case is being arbitrarily subject (bound) by mundanity. The teachings of all the authentic traditions make it perfectly clear that being satisfied with this is karmic bondage to the creative impulse. That may sound sexy, but when your true nature is inconceivable, nonoriginated enlightenment, such bondage is anything but sexy. The point of all the authentic traditions is emancipation from this. Seeing reality as is enables one to recognize potential in the midst of (polluted) mundanity. There is no where else to find potential but within the midst of ordinary situations. Seeing it is recognizing the real in the midst of the false. In terms of the created cycles of yin and yang, where one's life hangs in the balance with people acting as if their next breath was guaranteed, one should have a constant subtlety of observation over one's mind at all times in order to recognize the arising of yang. When yang subsequently peaks, and yin's influence arrives like clockwork, one should immediately withdraw the potential and store it void of intellectualism. When the killing energy of the natural yin convergence culminates, one should maintain one's subtle concentration. Do not be confused and do not act prematurely (if at all). This is guidance for those who are able to work with essence. These words may seem crackpot, but roughly .02% of a given population (by my estimate), is able to recognize the thrust of teaching such as this. I know there are a few who would benefit from these words, so I risk divulging the Celestial mechanism from time to time. ed note: typo, 2nd paragraph

This web-site's format has a vexing issue I would love to have remedied, because it prohibits writing poetry with single and double-spaced prose. Pooh!! Sans the abstracted poetry you'll never miss, the following tale which was its inspiration due to an event that took place this past winter in the midst of an ordinary public day-time situation, is as follows:. On a tall stool, situated with its fashionably teeny table, parlayed a thin non-fiction volume, breve ristretto, 85% Trader Joe's chocolate, some serviettes on which to write, and a few erotic bookmarks to amuse myself with whatever I happen to be reading (or not) …a young woman entered the urban café I was frequenting at the time. I did not see her enter the old glass and wood door, but upon reaching the point of my gaze, our eyes locked and I suddenly could not see the room, her body or even her eyes~ only a shimmering pulsating effect completely filling my whole field of vision, resembling a huge black and white focusing pattern that cinematographers have long used to ascertain lens focus marks when prepping a camera package before a film production. Upon regaining my ability to see, she had turned away, apparently— and already had made her way to the counter to order. As long as her gaze wasn’t on me I could see her plainly. She seemed a posh 20-something with perfect bangs and long black hair, a professional manner, and a clear, friendly voice. She seemed the Americano type. Her impeccable wardrobe was a whiff of NYC or Paris… her diamond-shape cape/shawl garment went just to the knee so the tops of her slim leather boots were hidden. The worsted wool textures, buttons, detail, colour, silhouette, everything about her look was fresh and daring, avant-garde even, but still lovely, perfect, really perfect. The line of the cape may have possibly been inspired by high-altitude Andes women's tribal-wear, but there wasn't a stitch that was notably attributable or suggestive of that, in terms of the unique design, texture, or boldness of hue. I turned my gaze out the very large plate glass window behind me onto the gray, snow-piled scene looking towards the State Capital building. At some point she must have gathered her order and when she approached the door to exit, I could feel the weight of her eyes once again upon me— but the light-show was not to be. It was with a sense of independent self-possession, an audacity unafraid to miss out in spite of her inconceivable gravitas, that I just kept observing the already cold mid-afternoon vista getting cooler in spite of the pressure I felt from her, simply willing me to s u b m i t . I also wouldn’t deign to follow her exit, but I did see her go by quite ordinarily in a très shiny black Stuttgart SUV and out the parking lot, where she turned onto the Paseo de Peralta and beyond my view. My gaze didn’t linger~ it was obvious that her garaged ride is absentee-owned, and perpetually under lock and key deep in the east-side of town… she had no doubt just flown in from the biG City~ And so I assessed (correctly, so far) that I will never see her again…❤ ed note: insert "had already made her way" in 4th paragraph; add "… , simply…" in penultimate paragraph

There is something I would like to add that I constantly state regarding turning around the light and enlightening activity specifically. It should be obvious that the matter of one's subtle operation of the firing process spoken of in the alchemical classics has nothing to do with sudden realization. I say this over and over to make sure no one is confused. It is not only because there are those who are born knowing; whose experience of the sudden is immediately followed without years of struggle in its aftermath in emptying out openness before setting up the furnace and cauldron for advance practice. It is because we are already enlightened and have the full capacity of buddhas that selfless adaption to temporal circumstances is as natural as is. Enlightening practice is not a matter of necessarily having to fix something first— it's just how you do it. The function is innate, though some may need to invest years or even lifetimes refining the self. Nevertheless, self-refinement and that which potentiates subtle enlightening function are not different! So I want to stress that the subtle operation of freeing potential in the midst of ordinary affairs just is. This is Suchness in action. Sudden realization is just some harmonic resonance of one's self having reached a point of critical mass in terms of potential— which is why it is said that the object of alchemic refinement is in gathering it (potential). But it isn't really gathered, it's simply a matter of seeing it and NOT using it. Verily, sudden enlightenment is nothing more than a one-time spontaneous flash of cosmic proportions symptomatic of thoroughgoing foregone enlightening activity. So if you aren't willing to chew on an iron spike even when you're utterly stymied and are beside yourself suffering simultaneously with a severely terminal illness on death's doorstep, don't bother sitting around in anticipation wondering if you were born knowing. Why? Because there is absolutely nothing to know, first and foremost, and second, unless one has the mettle to rustle up the audacity to charge invincibly with single-mindedness into an army of ten thousand warriors~ you just don't have what it takes to realize the totality of your self. The significance of seeing the totality of yourself isn't a matter of intimate experience with the absolute, it is directly seeing reality as it is right now in everyday ordinary situations. Please don't imagine that it looks any different. I say, "Different than what? There is no other time or place. Temporal conditions are nothing less than inherent potential itself. Don't you have to wonder? I did. People just don't want to give up their lives ("…to enter heaven", paraphrasing Jesus). I only speak directly to those who have. S'body wrote (quoting me): Thank you for the "time" information. It's very helpful. Is "passing through" permanent? Because I think I was there a couple of times. I couldn't stay for I didn't have the wisdom to operate or the virtue to be safe. Ok, that sounds like a meditative state— and I don't blame you if that was the case! Otherwise, passing through is up to your fluidity in terms of seeing (absorbing) potential. This depends on the situation itself, so it happens over and over according to the timing of each and every (created) situational cycle. Certainly, some critical junctures are more critical than others, be that in terms of the absolute or within the context of created cycles, but the context of of passing through in terms of mutual response by the subtle operation of enlightening activity is based on one's quality of stillness in subtle observation (we're calling that waiting), then finally spontaneously releasing according to the potential dictated by the situation itself. The waiting is more or less perpetual, the critical junctures are momentary; what defines the turn of each time is sometimes just witnessing it, other times it requires a response in conventional or inconceivable terms. It doesn't really matter, as the process is as selflessly traversed as it is endlessly accrued. Sometimes one must go into the dragon's lair~ where the balance of success and failure is acute. But one knows the time of potential's spontaneous appearance must be met impersonally without anticipation, bias or inclination— and only then it is up to oneself alone when and how to release the creative's potential by acts of selfless mutual response in mundane and transmundane affairs. The rule is "in endless transformations one plants lotuses in fire". In responding to situations, each situation's cycle runs its course. There are cycles within cycles. Without hurrying or lagging, one watches single-mindedly at the gate and door of the Mysterious Female where change evolves incipiently. It is like a cat attentively watching a mouse-hole, or a tiger assessing an entire valley for the sign of a deer entering it. The analogy stops there, because potential isn't a thing. It's not people, per se, but rather vaguely the the naturally occurring karmic context of our relationships. Who knew. If one is truly, fearlessly vulnerable to real potential in this context, one cannot fail to recognize, and "grab" in each spontaneous mutual response, the "cubic centimeter of chance" as it appears and succeed in the timing of one's affair with power. Even so, as one becomes adept at recognizing the timing, one never knows what is going to pop out of the hat! The key is to rely on the spiritual power of one's clear essence unified in the inherent potential of the situation to guide oneself in terms of the Virtue of the Receptive. Relying on one's own power is tantamount to error and, to be sure, if that is the case, one actually has absolutely no business in this affair whatsoever, as illustrated in the I Ching by the third line of the seventh hexagram, The Army. ed note: add to 1st paragraph's last line; add last line in 2nd paragraph; add last line of 4th; add ("…to enter heaven", paraphrasing Jesus) in 6th

In terms of situational evolution, you know how it is— you just find yourself situated, as it is. There's nothing special in that regard. It's natural. When you find the road naturally empty, creation acts in concert. Settling into situations, one simply waits to find out what happened. The practice of finding out what happened in the end is the unbending intent of subtle awareness pervading thoroughgoing open clarity of impersonal observation. One simply shares oneself openly in selfless adaption. Waiting in stillness, one observes Return. Ordinarily, people forget what they're doing, and begin going along unawares. The 16th chapter of the Tao te Chings says: "East Mountain walking on water" is indicating that "neither yin nor yang" is impersonal function within movement and stillness. So simply waiting for something to happen isn't a matter of passive stillness while opportunistically awaiting inevitability's fulfillment (or else assuming personal ascendancy over others in moving along towards somewhere more important). This neither movement nor stillness is the living bestowal of one's inherent potential in the midst of affairs. This waiting is uncontrived, sincerely open vulnerability. Enlightening being isn't passive. It isn't a matter of acting either. Some people throw around the term wu wei as if it is some other thing. Such subtle radiating presence IS you. Wu wei is East Mountain walks on water. But adepts aren't metaphors, so they swim in Suchness. Wu wei isn't a thing, nor is it an event. It is a reference to the essential character of one's function of enlightening being. This is not some other reality. It is the aware totality of oneself, unborn; in perpetuity before the first thought. It is spontaneous selfless response: adapting in full knowledge of potential by not conceiving complacent opportunism in everyday ordinary situations. This virtue is a direct result and further development of not following personal dialog unawares (talking to yourself). Unconscious mental rumination is the habitual cultivation of delusion in terms of selfish karmic psychological momentum. Carrying out one's unbending intent of subtle 24/7 observation of mind is the cultivation of enlightening qualities. This is practical application of authentic teaching in terms of establishing the foundation of enlightening practice. All self-refining activity entering into inconceivability develops from this foundation, as well as advanced practice employing use of the Mysterious Female. As mentioned in the previous post, watching over the task and function of the aperture of the Mysterious Female, one witnesses changes. In recognizing changes, one does not go along with creation. So selfless adaption isn't a matter of accommodating phenomena, it is directly responding to the time by virtue of seeing potential. Creation is already one's self, but response to other is why the term sameness within difference is spoken of in terms of Suchness. The buddhist term, sameness within difference, is an analytical reference warming up to the real deal in the teaching of Suchness. Karma needs time, so adepts excel in waiting. Don Juan Matus said that warriors have only two advantages over ordinary people in their affair with Power: will and patience. Enlightening beings respond to the time and so they naturally absorb potential from within the conditioned. The temporal is inherently absolute, so in responding to the time, enlightening beings respond to situations effectively by an abstraction of perceptivity in that they see through phenomena without denying its characteristics to aid nonpsychological evolution without going along with created cycles of karmic momentum. Seeing this is the functioning of Suchness as it is. Those partaking of ineffable reality do so by virtue of seeing alone. So in partaking of reality, real humans go in reverse, opposite the flow of creation. This is all there is to turning the light around spoken of in The Secret of the Golden Flower. This is the meaning of the saying, "It is as easy as turning over your hand". ed note: typo in line one; add quote after 2nd paragraph; change 4th paragraph; add to 6th

With the assistance of Awayfarer (a windfall of sorts, from my perspective), some preliminary aspects of Taoist alchemy have been broached. Perhaps I should segue into the topic of the Mysterious Female and the Valley Spirit. The Tao te Ching is perhaps the only book in which most readers will have ever read the words Mysterious Female and Valley Spirit in print. The terms represent that which is of monumental significance in the capacities and expression of enlightening being by adepts of spiritual alchemy. Those who know the valley spirit by having penetrated the immaterial aperture of the mysterious female have no need of specific sexual identities in terms of the personality (self and other). The aperture of the mysterious female is immaterial; it has no location. Penetrating this, one sees the valley spirit in its singularity; a legacy void of substance and boundary. The Tao te Ching calls it gossamer, as such, continually, on the brink of existence. How does one describe that which has no location? The puzzle is without remainder, yet is only entertained by the doubts of the human mentality. The valley spirit is where potential is activated; where change originates. The mysterious female (in terms of the name) is metaphoric. Mystery is movement: yang. Female is stillness: yin. Being neither yin nor yang, standing in equipoise ready by the gate and door of the Mysterious Female, observe life and death (in terms of situational evolution). This is knowing the pivot of change. So it is not only in mystical experience. When one can be still, one can witness return in everyday ordinary cycles of yin and yang. This is seeing the arising of potential. Seeing, in either case, doesn't use the senses, organs, or intellectual functions of the person. Seeing this is immediate impersonal knowledge. No one knows. When one sees the Mysterious Female, one attains the power of the unchanging or causeless Center. Therefore, one observing the pivot of stillness and movement is not subject to changing Change. This is because the Mysterious Female is the locus of change where the physical and psychological elements do not adhere. It is where change originates, so this is where adepts await the time to steal potential at its upwelling incipient source. The saying goes, "Refine the self and await the time." By effective self-refinement, one is naturally situated to take over creation and steal its potential. Remember, this aperture is neither an aperture nor does it have a location. The Mysterious Female is real. It is the site of all wonders. When you actually see the the Mysterious Female and attain the pivot of creation, you attain it forever. When you stand ready by the gate and door of the aperture of the Mysterious Female, and see worldly elements being pulled through the inconceivable aperture by the self-centered gravity of collectively ignorant momenta, and see its projection by that karmic inertial momentum dissolve into space, it's kind of sad, in a way. But you're not~ hahahahhaaa❤!! The task is the "door". The gate is the opening and closing of the Mysterious Female. In terms of the task of self-refining adaption to conditions, The Art of War states that victory is up to the enemy and that one must choose the ground of death in order to live. Self-refinement is like finding the place of victory, and awaiting the enemy to fulfill its fate. You don't know what that is, but you know where it will be when you see it. The analogy is imperfect, in terms of positing "enemy" as the conditional asset of the natural arising of killing energy, because there is no punitive or prejudicial relationship to be had in adapting to others' conditioned self-serving intents and purposes in this context. It is another reference to the device of "Host and Guest" mentioned previously. It is one's bid with Power by virtue of enlightening subtle adaption to creation. Adepts have the knowledge of the gate and door of the Mysterious Female and await the inevitable's arrival. The pivot of awareness is where one awaits inevitability at the gate and door of the Mysterious Female at the time of the Yin Convergence, when yang culminates and the killing energy of yin arises. This is the inevitable. Like clockwork, as you wait at the "gate" at the right time, you show the inevitable the "door". When you show it the door, it dissolves, as it were, and the aperture revolves; opening and closing. "One yang, one yin; one opening, one closing: therein is change." This is the fate of the changeable. "Showing it the door" is not going along with it. Karma dissolves and you somehow stand aloof with potential intact. This is inconceivable accord in reality. It's just the way it is, and no one knows why. Here are two terms not customarily used: inner and outer Mysterious Female. This from Thomas Cleary's notes to his translation of ancient alchemic poems of female adepts in Immortal Sisters — Secret Teachings of Taoist Women. 1989, North Atlantic Books ed note: change sexual identity to sexual identities, and add next two sentences in 5th paragraph; change 2nd sentence in paragraph 7; add to 8th paragraph; typo in 9th; change "aspect" to "asset", add "…in adapting to others' conditioned self-serving intents and purposes…" in 10th; collapse bottom quote window; italicize "Immortal Sisters…" in last sentence

Here is a recent PM relative to this thread: haha~ hi mr "A"! I considered perhaps just for this thread, but who knows… Oh no~ zoze witches muzz be muuuch older than moi (I presume) heehee!! I'm certainly not La Catalina (from Carlos' first book). But then that witch wasn't ever indicated subsequently as being one of the Nagual's group (to my knowledge), as she was described as being perhaps one of Carlos' first "worthy opponents"— he had been "killing time" when he was attacked by her~ warriors don't have time— much less have any time to kill. As for the personality being a karmic result/function of the unknown/other/reality: it is karmic, and can be termed "other" in certain technical treatments, but is not strictly unknowable. In Don Juan Matus' parlance, everything that can be named is representable as being "on the table" and is therefore comprising the Tonal. The Tonal is all that which can comprise the rational description of anything by virtue of talking and reason— even in terms of describing the Nagual. The Nagual is the unknowable unnameable and completely surrounds the table and its contents (if a dualistic description temporarily suffices). The unnameable can be seen as such, in terms of true reality being unified selfless awareness. That's how one comes to see complete reality and its workings in terms of potential, not to mention the Absolute, in terms of knowledge of nonorigination. The personality is the valid but abused "false identity." Its use is universally habitual, therefore its abuse obscures its innate valid function. It is valid in that its original function/purpose is to assist the enlightening function in terms of facilitating ordinary spiritually transcendent operation in the course of everyday ordinary situations. Both the rational and the enlightening capacities of the being that is going to die are functions— not things. It's not the Way's fault that 100% of the human population isn't availing itself of innate spiritual functionality while abusing its rational aspect by a cloying habituation to reason and talking. I liked the rest of your analysis in that paragraph, mr A. Ceasing mental postures in the aftermath of such critical junctures is essential to sealing the unrefined potential away void of intellectualism. Entertaining mental postures is perpetuating the human mentality. Put another way, mental rumination in the aftermath of situational transformation is using concentration to produce insight and then failing to withdraw the fire. This is what people do all the time. It is possible for anyone to NOT-DO this as well. One needn't be a wizard. Failing to withdraw the fire destroys the foregone accomplishment of non-doing. Insight is fire; concentration is water: a balance of the two (8 ounces apiece in alchemic terms) is the unrefined elixir. Failing to withdraw the fire is turning non-being into being after already stealing non-being (potential) from the karmic matrix. That's like stealing defeat from the jaws of victory. So it won't do to turn essence back into (conditioned) accomplishment by ignorant malignance through habituation to leaking mental rumination!! A significant part of the maturation process in the aftermath of sealing away the medicines is in using lead (or rather in not using lead). Chang Po-tuan's alchemic tomes elucidate this. One uses lead to balance mercury, but after mercury and lead have produced the reverted elixir, one must draw off the lead and get rid of it. After subduing yin (false fire of the temperament) with lead (real knowledge/metal in water), one then gets rid of the lead (by withdrawing the fire of true insight and sealing its potential in the empty immaterial vessel of no-mind). That is, using nonpsychological awareness to seal potential away without letting so much as a spark of further use of insight leak out. The Tao te Ching says to "hide the light." In passing through situational karma according to the time, other is as selfless as one's own enlightening potential— maintaining that much is up to oneself alone. Having recognized and taken advantage of the conditional set-up of other, in terms of "host and guest" and having stolen the situational potential, one ceases further objectification of other (which was made possible by their conditioned situational doing). Then, one uses the non-thinking nonpsychological awareness to seal it away securely for all time (as in there is no before or after). There is no thing. What happened? Who knows? No one knows. Forget words and guard it. That's right out of the Yin Convergence Classic. As for "Host and Guest", I have written extensively on this subject on the Daobums forum. It is a taoist concept as used here, but there are significant parallels used in buddhist praxis as well. Look in deci belle's "topics" to find that. Yes, we are already the mystery. But until and unless one actually sees it for oneself, faith (acceptance) and intellectual understanding in terms of the description of the secret of complete reality, garners no participation and fruition in its power and subsequent transcendence. Until one gains mastery of the 3rd and 4th hexagrams (Difficulty and Darkness), one has no real perspective into the workings of Celestial design. It is actually necessary to master seeing potential and then ascertaining the timing of advancing the fire in real situations before one can gauge correct mastery in the timing of withdrawing the fire during the critical juncture when "one's life (literally potential), hangs in the balance" and one steals and hides the balance of the elixir in the wordless darkness of innocence. The Science of Life is seeing potential and effectively absorbing it by Real Knowledge. The Science of Essence is the effective clarification of Conscious Knowledge. Each aspect of self-refinement enhances the efficacious function of the other. In one such analytical pairing, one uses yang to purify yin while one uses yin to nurture yang. There are other such pairings relative to various aspects of self-refining activity to be studied in the overall praxis of Complete Reality Taoism. In Dogen's commentaries, he has said that before one knows, mountains are mountains. Then, when one enters the preliminary graces of the mystery through no fault (credit) of our own, other than by such conditions meeting in mutual accord, mountains begin to cease being mountains to the degree we cease conditional (habitual) use of mountains as conditional mountains. When we further ascertain absolute reality and realize there is absolutely nothing whatsoever constituting the realization body, the response body, or the transformation body, then we can naturally be free (liberated) and return from the heights, then through subsequent refinement eliminating the traces of enlightenment, mountains become mountains again. In terms of eliminating the traces of enlightenment, this parallels the aforementioned aspect of "getting rid of lead (real knowledge)." So getting rid of lead is carried out in the aftermath of both created karmic cycles as well as in experiencing the subsumption of the Great Cycle of the Macrocosm. Ultimately, as buddha said, "nothing whatsoever is gained from complete perfect enlightenment." If anything at all is gained, then it is not complete perfect enlightenment. All authentic teaching is based on the fact that delusion and enlightenment are selfless. All other teachings are provisional. Until one passes through the fire of realization void of self and then oversees the maturation of that experience in the aftermath of absolute Causelessness by forgetting all traces of enlightenment, one is not completely free of the extremes of either delusion or enlightenment. Spiritual adaption uses both delusion and enlightenment fluidly to function subtly in terms of Complete Reality or Suchness. This is called availing oneself of the Supreme Vehicle of Tathagatas, the Middle Way of Buddhas, the sublime path of saints, sages, wizards and all prior illuminates. As for the Lair of Tigers and Dragons: this is a euphemism for the critical juncture of any situation's yin convergence, expressed by the 23rd Hexagram, Stripping Away. It's neither good nor bad~ it just is. And what it is, is when "ones life hangs in the balance." If it weren't for the process of the killing energy, there would be no self-refinement. Such a time and place is perpetually activating and de-activating universally in all times and places. In terms of movement and stillness, there is no such place (thing), ultimately; just as there has, in terms of sudden enlightenment, never been such a buddha (in terms of "thing"). Buddha is not "thing", it just means the manifest quality of "awake." Adepts see the critical juncture in terms of the arising of the killing energy of yin at the moment yang begins to wane because they see potential. Such potential has no thing relative to it that exists, per se, beyond its ephemeral conditionality dependent on the situation itself— yet one can avail oneself of its nonoriginative power simply by seeing it as such. In the aftermath of such experience, one dares not act in terms of its timing, as it is solitary knowledge. It is for your eyes only. Only you know. No one else knows. If one is successful in sealing it away void of intellectualism, one eventually "collects" a grain of the refined elixir, that's all. It's cumulative over one's lifetime— no different than karma. In terms of karma, one accumulates debt (bondage to the creative). The payback for enlightening activity is personal power to see unfathomable entry into the inconceivable mysteries of the Way of nonorigination. As for the Magician and the World together with the King of Swords~ without looking up any kind of referential Tarot card analysis: the two major-arcana cards (Magician and World) together might denote conjuring the immaterially beatific, (or overseeing a refinement in terms of the highest good). The King of Swords is the highest incremental state of the Sword's aspect in the minor arcana, which is Air, or the Space/Mental/Aware aspect. So the situation I alluded to in casting the Tarot (which is potentially lying fallow at the moment) is thusly potentiated as a process of refinement in the spiritual realm~ but then we knew that~ heehee! ed note: add "(to my knowledge)" in the 1st paragraph of my response; italicize "Yin Convergence Classic in paragraph 8; typo in editorial notes~ haha!!

Awayfarer commented above: Momentum is due to mental conception, I did not say momentum is inconceivable. That which is conceivable is anything and everything that can be named. Eternity is conceivable in that it is another name for the endless multiplicity of creation and its multifarious incremental processes. The opening chapter of the Tao te Ching states that the (true) Way cannot be named. I have to admit that it does say such an unnamable way is eternal, but that is a translation issue. In technical terms, I say the eternal is relative to karma, existence, creation and its incremental aspect, whereas the inconceivable (Way) is Unborn, uncreated aware nonbeing; that is, the source of the essence of (potential) reality before it has fallen into the Creative. Uncreated cannot be a thing, and since the Creative aspect is attributable to its inconceivable nature, the existence of existence is spoken of by authentic teaching as essentially illusion. In terms of alchemic practice, one is cautioned to only work with what is unseen and to not work with what can be seen. This means spiritual transformation is accomplished by working with essence (the unborn) directly. If one works with energy (created), one will necessarily end up with accomplishment relative to the creative. The analogous phrase is: as above, so below. The inconceivable is unknowable (in terms of rational mentation). In terms of nonpsychological awareness, the inconceivable can be seen, in that knowledge is immediate. Thought processes relative to the personality are not applicable, therefore such knowledge is not relative to the person. That's why I say enlightening activity isn't the person— in addition, the working definition of enlightening response is that which is carried out in the midst of ordinary affairs without relying on one's own power. That's what makes such response a matter of spiritual adaption. Open clarity is the nature of the human mentality when its habit energy ceases. When habit energy comprising the human mentality ceases all at once, mind is as it was of yore: open, clear, untrammeled, sensitive, effective, un-perturbable. There are no two minds. The inconceivable is your own unborn mind right now in that it is not within the realm of rationalism. It is your own mind right now void of psychological patterning and self-reifying thoughts; in other words, it is void of habit energy. This is the meaning of the phrase, Mind is one. Conditioning is what one aims to get rid of in the endless process of self refinement. What is refined? The errant human mentality. When patterning is eradicated, the capacity of rationalism is left intact— only the habitual use of rational self-reifying pattern-awareness is absent. So the activation of one's innate enlightening being is the correlative absence of reliance on the personality's false identity. Without that crutch, ego is no longer needlessly active and nonpsychological awareness is ably sufficient to adapt spiritually (nonpsychologically) to conditional situations inconceivably, with the aid of the objective impersonal mode of rationalism. This is the meaning of spiritual adaption, in terms of self-refining activity: one's enlightening function is by virtue of spiritual and physical sublimation; the gradual process of going through endless situational transformations, whereby one enters the Tao in reality. This is not a reference to sudden enlightenment. So there is no intrinsic meaning to reality, conditioned or otherwise. It is what it is, and no one knows why. Either one gradually builds upon conditioned qualities, or one gradually builds upon enlightening qualities. Entering the mystery of mysteries is the option for those with the audacity and the will to discover human beings' innate enlightening function through the long process of self-refinement. Spiritual alchemy is the taoist name for a tradition effecting a range of teaching devices describing various aspects of the specific process in terms of phenomenal and inconceivable elements. The process itself is natural. No one invented it. Reality's innate enlightening quality is evidence of our inconceivable nature. Prior illuminates of all traditions have left the secret behind for those with the wherewithal to approach and apply the source of enlightenment in the midst of delusion by virtue of delusion due to the fact that our true identity being pure awareness is unified selfless consciousness. How wonderful is that! ed note: add 2nd and 3rd paragraph; typo 2nd paragraph

Awayfarer wrote: I will get to true spontaneity at some point, but to respond to what you said at the end of your post most definitely… Yes!! Failing to conceive is absolutely key. Taoism calls it "forgetting thoughts and feelings, preserving the fundamental." Buddhism calls this liberation. The punchline of the famous dialog between the Emperor of China and Bodhidharma is when the emperor (finally) asks, "Who is talking to me?" "Don't know.", is Bodhidharma's reply. The Emperor asked who, in terms of self and other. Bodhidharma's reply was likewise twofold, in terms of the personal, relative perspective, as well as in terms of absolute nature. In terms of the relative "who", Bodhidarma's response was a stern, but veiled rebuke face to face with the Emperor of China: he said, "Don't know.", as in don't conceive who in terms of self and other, when the context is enlightenment. Why? Because Enlightenment is already your own (impersonal selfless) mind right now. Bodhidharma might as well have responded to the Emperor's question (of who?), by saying, "Who wants to know.", which might be fine in some instances, but not this one. Or, in other words, "Do you know your own mind?" In certain contexts that might be taken to mean, "Are you crazy?" —Which is precisely what one does NOT say to an Emperor anywhere on this planet. But such a remark is as perfectly apropos in that conversation of long ago as it is in referencing the conditioned human mental processes today, because conditioned thought patterning (psychological momentum reifying the false identity of the conditioned personality of the being that is going to die) is the working definition of mental illness: mental dis-ease. That's why Buddhism's definition of liberation as being free of conceiving (thoughts) is the nature of enlightenment itself, as well as the personal power to avail oneself of the capacity to do so and be such a one to have impersonally ascertained experience oneself as the knowledge of pure awareness: the knowledge of no thing. There is no thing. There is nothing to know: don't know!, he said. Bodhidharma told the Emperor of China to "Stop it!" Bodhidharma left the Emperor immediately. Smart man. So the nature of enlightenment is what bodhidharma was referring to as well. In the context of his response to the Emperor, he said, "Don't know." He was speaking for himself as well, and in this aspect his response was again twofold in expressing both the absolute within the conditional as well as the absolute in itself. "Don't know" in terms of the absolute within the conditional is bodhidharma admitting that there is no such one to know nor is there such a one knowing (who). In terms of the Absolute exclusive of the conditional, his response is the open expression of enlightening accord in Reality, such that there is no who to speak of and no who speaking (to the Emperor). Bodhidharma didn't say "I don't know." He simply said, "Don't know." Such a terse and unspeakably brilliant response to anyone, much less while being on the spot with the Emperor of China who perhaps was the most powerful person on the planet at that time, could not have been planned. This case in point is a fortuitous example of blatant spontaneous subtle spiritual adaption getting one's ass out of a dilemma of monumental proportions. Yet not getting executed was not Bodhidharma's motive. Enlightened response has no motive. The Emperor was pissed— his was not a trick question. The Emperor simply didn't understand what Bodhidharma was talking about (and he knew as much). But what the Emperor didn't know was that Bodhidharma was giving the interview. Bodhidharma had called on the Emperor to ascertain his spiritual evolvement to see if sponsorship of authentic teaching in China 2000 years ago was possible. Who knew? The Emperor wasn't, so the Emperor didn't, so mr B. Dharma had to get the hell out of Dodge and made haste in a southerly direction for quite some time. Good thing too. At the time, Taoism had been established in China for millennia (since before China had been a glimmer in any emperors' eye), but Bodhidharma's high-altitude Kashmiri brand of Mind Only buddhism was just what effective (or not) taoist teaching and its esoteric/elitist traditions needed: a fire under its butt. By 1100~1300 AD, the Quantzhen (taoist) tradition had not only incorporated buddhist methods effectively, it was openly espousing the validity of the three main Chinese spiritual traditions of the era (buddhism, taoism and Confucianism) as direct expressions of the Source of all religion: which had long been expressed (by taoism) as Tao, or the Way; the way which cannot be named. Transcendent teaching is not religion, nor does it characterize itself in terms of a perpetuation of any specific teaching tradition. The source being none other than anyone's and everyone's true identity: impersonal, sellflessly awake, uncreated. In terms of transcendent teaching being the source of religion, the fact is that Mind is itself the true progenitor of enlightening being and its practical expression coming from within the karmic matrix of the Creative, in that there are no two minds: Mind is one. ed note: add "The punchline…" to 3rd paragraph; add the word "not" in 1st sentence of 8th paragraph

This is just a capping note to clarify that "saving power (energy) by relinquishing power", is the working definition of self-refinement within the rubric of "establishing the foundation" of taoist alchemic practice. In terms of Don Juan Matus' Toltec tradition of Nagual shamanism, this would be partly expressed by the notion of not-doing; for example, the entry-level practices of living as a warrior, such as erasing personal history or eliminating the habit of personal inner-dialog, ie: talking to yourself. Such elementary power-saving practices eventually accrue to the point of having the personal power to maintain unbending intent, or will, in the tasks already invoked and/or advance practices penetrating the Sorcerer's Explanation. This prime device of "saving energy" is identical to the taoist alchemic dictum where one "takes over creation and steals its potential." So if I drew in a few readers with my solicitation through the OP's title, please forgive me~ not that I haven't addressed critical aspects of BDSM succinctly. For those who wish to establish further inquiry into such matters, please don't hesitate to PM me❤︎

Awayfarer wrote: I have been practicing turning the light around throughout the day in real life situations. When you said above: "Going along with creation, one is bound by karma. In reverse, its transcendence is the use of karmic energy to access real (uncreated) potential, to match creation, whereby one functions transcendentally in the midst of delusion on delusion's terms." - Is this the same as "changing Change"? And the same as turning the light around? I really like your question, Awayfarer. Leaving "changing Change" aside for the moment, yes, it is all "turning the light around", as described in Thomas Cleary's translation of The Secret of the Golden Flower. The light is the same going along with creation or in going in reverse. Likewise, essence is karmic energy in terms of going along with the Creative as well as comprising potential when going in reverse, by "shining the light on its source". Wherever one shines the light by one's deluded or enlightening perspective, is the determining factor whether potential is "gathered" for the immortal elixir or lost by delusional perpetuation of the karmic matrix of all time. They are the same. Those who understand this, see this, and operate transcendentally by this are said to express the Virtue of Receptivity and know the nature of Suchness. Taoism refers to the knowledge and nature of innate being as Complete Reality. This is because knowledge of Complete Reality and being completely real oneself is identical. Knowledge is itself being. Suchness and Complete Reality refer to the same aspect of functional enlightening being. Just the world itself is it. Karma is itself the ground of enlightening being in terms of seeing essence (by having reversed the effect of conditioned awareness from the psychological momentum of habit energy to the point of perpetual upwelling of potential where one rests in the highest good). The term "seeing essence" used here is not a reference to sudden enlightenment, rather it denotes seeing complete reality as such. Seeing complete reality as such is impersonal accord in reality. Selflessness as such, is neither good nor bad, neither right nor wrong, neither self or other nor before or after. Enlightening accord within reality is the nature of selflessness, no different than the nature of awareness being selfless. Selflessness just is. It has nothing to do with arbitrary moral injunctions to guilt-trip yourself and others with. It's just your nature. Selflessness is the impersonal nature of reality. It's you! Your identity is as absolutely and selflessly aware as anything else. You are not the person, you are its aware quality. There is no thing. There are no explanations, only vague descriptions. It is beyond words. You are an inconceivable being. I say that delusion and reality look the same in everyday ordinary situations because it's true. Reality doesn't look any different than delusion. They really are the same. The point of real illumination is oneself alone whether one goes along or turns the light around. This point of illumination where essence either congeals as energy or remains unborn as potential is called the Mysterious Pass. It is none other than one's own mind right now. Neither ordinary nor holy, all wonders arise from this. It is possible to use the Mysterious Pass and its Valley Spirit inexhaustibly. The Tao te Ching says as much in chapters 4, 5 and 6 right off the top of my head. Laotse's document is a glossary and a codebook for immortalists. "Going along" is using the psychological apparatus habitually unawares. Appropriate application of conscious psychological awareness according to the time is not different than resting in the highest good in that the mind of Tao is none other than the human mentality void of unconscious habit energy in terms of unconsciously following psychological momentum of karmic self and other. The same can be said of having activated one's enlightening function by turning the light around, in that one can be said to "unconsciously follow the laws of god." This all means that adepts use karma to access potential, in that one is said to "pick out the real from within the false." But I have already described the fact that the two are the same essence without beginning. It's just a manner of speaking to help people avoid the mistake of grasping the one and rejecting the other. This refers to those who may be obstructed by provisional, reformative teachings by mistakenly clinging to ideas of renunciation and denial. Not that those with heavy karmic bonds haven't benefitted by such temporary remedies. When one sees potential in the midst of delusion, in terms of critical junctures of time and place set up by karma, deliberate action is eons away, as one does not rely on one's own power to respond to situations. One just knows to pass through as such. The situational aspect denotes a relativity to time, timing and audacity. Enlightening activity is not relative to conventions of avoidance strategies. One just passes through directly, sharing oneself with open hands. It's the darnedest thing. It sounds just like poofs ! hahahhahahhaa!! ed note: add 6th paragraph

hahahhaaa!! ~hi mr Apples, Thank you for putting in that effort, and for the reply too. That was so kind❤︎!! My post is partly an exposé on the subtle and not-so-subtle ways people engage in six overt aspects that comprise the advertised conventions of bdsm without even knowing it. So it's not like anyone in the last 5000 years came to invent the characteristics of behavioral expression typifying what has come to be crystalized in such rigid codes of protocol involving leather chaps, fishnet stockings and a veritable war-chest of signature fetish accoutrement. As for the thin margins of social deviance enjoyed by traditional adherents of "orthodox" leather (what Applegarden referred to as "homos are really into it…") In the shallowest terms, It isn't even necessarily sexually exclusive in terms of its objectives, per se~. Its most positive aspect (in my application) is in terms of exploring ranges of (relatively extreme) psychological terrain, by exploiting parameters of power-based relationship models. But such parameters aren't even my point— my application of such modes incorporates the second part of the original post for the purpose of describing general alchemic parameters in terms of application and technique. Nevertheless, the point I wouldn't want anyone to miss is that most of us don't see (much less explore) that which comprises our shadow-side (psychologically speaking). In terms of herd-like wisdom, it is only acceptable to express abhorrence (while projecting such imaginings onto whoever or whatever we castigate as "other"), without risking an instant to ponder how and why we actually have come to experience such visceral aversion… that is, how and why would we know? It would be very good to know~ but oh so dangerous! That's why I identified the two things in the drama portrayed as "willing victims and reluctant predators… it's mutual accord by subtle adaption." There are roughly two kinds: self-identified victims and actualized (self or otherwise motivated) predators. Victims either prefer identifying as such or they don't— but I know plenty whose preference as such is actually a veritable conceit. Hey, as they say~ it takes two to tango. For the few who are even remotely familiar, or otherwise have or will discover an innate affinity with my writings' subject matter, the second part of the original post is an outline of (spiritually) alchemic taoist relational organization in terms of the "two things", both observed and manipulated within the framework of the naturally occurring timing of all created cycles which esoteric taoism refers to as the yin convergence. I would have to say that observation and manipulation of the critical juncture (in terms of time) occurring in all created situations is older than sin itself— certainly, the science behind such observation and manipulation predates taoism, which is certainly proto-chinese, at any rate. My application of such timing and response is only a part (albeit critically important), of a general mode of adaption to situations that can be properly termed "therapeutic". Though my activity in such spheres isn't limited to relational metaphor and alchemic symbolism, it is its basis in fact. Why else does the stereotypical image of a dominatrix having her way at the expense ($$$) of a type-A personality who otherwise would normally operate at the helm of statesmanship, industry and commerce exist? Because it's as old as sin— not that I am. And to bring it closer to home, even the doyennes of certain "houses" (think posh), need an occasional break from domestic and societal dominance (where the spanking hand of a maid will do). Why else would one need so many rooms, hmmmm? ahhahahhahaaa!! It's partly the power transfer involved in such antics that bespeaks its utility. Those habituated to managing power need a break, because proximity to creative power saps created power. Learning to rest in, or being reminded of the joys of recreational powerlessness is a way to save power by actually relinquishing power. This is where the device of consensual power transfer comes in. In terms of its effective economy by therapeutic intervention, application of dominance-for-hire is a visit to the side-lines, it's the quick-fix— then it's back to the proverbial hamster-cage for those so driven. I'm not sure about the "homos" that Applegarden referred to, but evidently, it seems to be doing them good as well. Not that all such activity is effectively therapeutic, because for those with broken psyches, the sick-puppies in search of existential meaning and social belonging in the fractured, compartmentalized developed world, it's not a good thing at all. The closing statement of the original post sums up the application of alchemic method in terms of the discipline of selfless accord in reality. The "two things" aren't only external, relativist, or internal modes of elemental cataclysm, sundering, or fusion. It takes awareness of any mode's operational aspects to derive whole accord in reality, even in terms of the Absolute and the Creative. ed note: swap "application" and "technique" in 4th paragraph; add last half of the 5th; add "…the spanking hand…" in the 9th; add last paragraph

S'body wrote: Yes. This is good. Thank you. I feel that if too much karma is left not dealt with there is an inevitable descent back into personal consciousness to resume participation in the narrative of self. For me the personal consciousness became the object of meditation and the content of the narrative lost its magnetism. There was no longer much of an "I" in the events, just an impersonal stream of events unpopulated by a belief in doers. In a passive way, the consciousness contemplated the consciousness. Objects and obstacles disappeared. Things vanished and became fields of universal happening. The personal laws of cause-effect crumbled and were replaced by a holism that moved and helped further unwinding. Eventually a different critical mass was reached. A sickness took over and the personal consciousness found food with which to grow strong again. The narrative resumed with myself at the center as the thinker, schemer, doer, etc. I saw this happening and agreed with myself that a deeper integration and knowledge of the world was necessary. I had cast off the story before tying up important loose ends. Now I'm just tangled in all the loose ends and realizing there really is no tying things up without total courage, which I lack. Taking stock of one's current state of affairs is much to be admired, dear. That and the subsequent narrative are indicative of much honesty, not to mention insight, so I wouldn't give what you are referring to as courage a second thought, in my estimation. You have all you need to continue this. I dare say one's "tying up loose ends" is simply a matter of treading the gradual path of self-refinement. There is never any finality in this regard, as the sudden and the gradual are an open-ended singularity. Before and after in terms of realization are a formality. Reality is unborn~ it is mind. Just continue as you were. There is no one to accomplish this tying up. The world is unravelling as you meet it intimately; ultimately you will realize that nothing whatsoever as your primordial resting place is where nothing left to loosen or gather is in actuality your present condition. In going on, it is only creation itself fully displayed. In terms of Unity, essential stable awareness has no coming or going whether in holding firm or releasing in the midst of ordinary affairs. The quote I pasted from your post above is absolutely where it's at. This aspect has no end. With open hands, accept your function and take the forward step, forthwith to gather or release according to the time. Alternating thusly, is just cultivating the empty field without thought of loss or gain. Just this is going through endless transformations, sublimating the self spiritually and physically, planting lotuses in fire, entering the tao in reality. May I be so bold as to recommend a small thin volume called Cultivating the Empty Field, by Hongzi (1091~1157). Translated by Daniel Leighton ISBN: 0-86547-475-3 (pbk); 0-86547-474-5 (hdbk). Hongzi helped me a lot, in terms of "taking the forward step" in order to meet creation on its terms and selflessly integrate enlightenment in the aftermath of the sudden. Also, my response in some places has the unmistakable flavor of Hongzi's message. At any rate, before the sudden or after, it doesn't matter one iota in that recognizing adaption to the time is identical in terms of the application of potential. As such, enlightening activity does not depend on sudden realization. Chopping wood and gathering water is the perennial constant. All people are the same in this regard. ed note: failed to even out typographical spacing in the last few paragraphs for some reason~ pooh!

The secret brilliance of one's transcendent nature is an inherently robust and rustic capacity for impersonal acceptance of the impersonal reality of things consistent with karmically generative formal multiplicity. Unity isn't just the perspective of the absolute. But paying lip-service to reasonable and logical notions of Universal Good is just a matter of intellectualism. The power of inherent buddha-nature is literally your own eyes right now. It is a pity that people cannot wake up. Eternity is just this fathomless multiplicity in a word, in a thing, in a lifetime, in a universe. It is fascinating, but so what? The secret of one's inherent transcendent nature is awakening to reality as the authentically complete acceptance of what is as is regardless of circumstances. This does not admit of fascination rooted in the particular nor the vastness of space. Fascination in one is fascination in the totality. Why? There is no end to the one fascinated nor the one fascinating. They are the same. Ultimately, there is nothing to differentiate between self and other. Acceptance of the one is acceptance of totality. It's already you. There is no need to linger in fascinations comprising the nature and situational manifestations constituting eternity. This is the seductive quality of the killing energy of the karmic matrix. One's narcissistic relationship with its creative multiplicity cannot be rationalized romantically and emotionally as wonder because it is really paralyzing numbness compounding moment by moment. When you see reality as yourself objectively, impersonally, you transcend both at once. There is no way to transcend one or the other since both are the essential manifestation of Suchness. So it makes sense that subsequent to seeing reality, there is nothing to linger on. If you consider yourself awakened and you still find yourself lingering on phenomena, it would do well to reconsider your assessment of the nature of self-awakening. The habit of lusting after glinting potential in objects is the lure of one's own residual killing energy no different than the nature of creative evolution. No one has lost their aptitude for applying their tiger-eyes, but how many of us have the effective use of our buddha-eyes? This is due to acquired energy. Acquired energy IS our tiger-eyes. Arriving on the path of prior illuminates in actuality is in looking back to observe the aftermath of stepping over the whole of eternity. It's the description of presence being where you're at beyond the influence of karmic fascinations. Eternity is creation, not your nature. Seeing reality is the perspective of Unity perpetually awaiting the timing of evolution. Yes, this is the path of prior illuminates where the nature of the gradual has transformed from effort reversing the flow of going along to a spontaneous perpetual acceptance of the incipient upwelling at the pivot of awareness: this is the aperture of the Mysterious Female. It's not a place relative to anything. Aperture is a codeword for the perspective characteristic of the nature of its seeing. Its seeing is characteristic of Unity: mysterious/yang; female/yin. In stepping over eternity one assumes the characteristic of unified awareness. It does not depend on sudden enlightenment. In other words, the function of enlightening being is not dependent on awakening to its essential nature, which is already as it is. Even awakening isn't dependent on anything; it is just one's reaching a tipping-point in aggregating the critical mass of potential severing the root of the karmic compulsion to act. Your nature is the nature of awareness, which is not created. That which is not created comprises the path of prior illuminates having stepped over the whole of eternity. Eternity is about 100mm wide~ the distance between your own two eyes; it's just a trickle, really. REALLY. Just step over it. Ok, yes, easy to say, hard to do. But it is first necessary to see it as it is. In order to do that, one must be able to see reality in the first place. How? This is made possible by the breadth of the secret brilliance of one's transcendent nature being the inherently robust and rustic capacity for impersonal acceptance of the impersonal reality of things consistent with karmically generative formal multiplicity. It's already you, right now— forget it already— just be done with it for all time!! Be done with fascinations forever glinting in the unfathomable depth trickling at the juxtaposition of the end of the road of universal acceptance and the timing of letting go. When you yourself become the crossroads of before, after, acceptance and release presently and perpetually arising at its creative incipience, your perspective is the impersonal subtle observation witnessing the spark of the totality of fascination by virtue of each situation in its time without attachments. The taoist alchemical term, stealing potential, is witnessing this spark, over and over and over in actual everyday ordinary situations. This is not wonderful at all— it's just stepping over eternity— stepping over it means you do not entertain personal speculation in its multifarious permutations. In stepping over eternity, you have gathered the polluted unrefined elixir. Seal this away in secrecy void of intellectualism and rumination. This is the visage of the all-at-once perpetually in the midst of the gradual, embodied as the function of your own enlightening being. Don't make the mistake of thinking you do this. It is simply a matter of witnessing your having passed through a situational evolution that has no power to touch you. When the time arrives, it is not a matter of coming or going, movement or stillness. "Passing through" is just a figure of speech. When it arrives, there is already nothing left. Actually, in terms of arrival, the Unborn is refreshed. This is the spiritual power of one's subtle operation transcending yin and yang in terms of created cycles of karmic evolution. It is simply a matter of seeing the nature of sameness. As I said above, there is no end to the one fascinated nor to fascination itself. They are the same in terms of creation, which reflects eternity, not immortality. Ultimately, there is nothing to differentiate between self and other. If one can accept the totality (of creation) within nondifferentiation (the nonpsychological), "stealing potential" becomes the spontaneous transformation of energy from its subsequent state to its primal state within you in terms of your functional abiding in the nature of selfless Unity within the evolution of times, places, situations and events. Spiritual alchemy is just a label for no mean feat. Inconceivability is our nature. Humans being is inconceivable, but conditioning dumbs it down. By necessity, it requires work to awaken to our true self. It's a matter of seeing things as potential by not having complacent opportunistic relationships with potential as things. Ceasing to see things as objects of opportunism reverts things to potential. Not-doing in terms of potential saves energy (unrefined elixir, alchemy speaking). Energy saved as such is naturally transformed without effort (or knowledge). In taoist terms, properly transformed energy is refined elixir. Refined elixir is potential having been stolen from the Creative and restored to the Primal. This is the Real. The Creative is the storehouse of fascination, not reality. This is all accomplished by seeing potential and not doing anything with it to refine the self as opposed to seeing things to exploit (or reject) to gratify the person. Seeing is seeing before the first thought. I'm sorry if it sounds like spiritual mumbo-jumbo, but it's just how it is and no one knows why. If you know the way it really is, then (before the first thought) you partake of the transcendent nature of the real in the knowledge that there is nothing at all to know. And that is why you do not entertain fascinations: since there is, in fact, nothing to know, why on earth act in complicity with fascinations in the first place?!! poofs! Suddenly, it appears as it ever was, whatever it was …amounting to nothing. This is called going through endless transformations, planting lotuses in fire, entering the tao in reality. Just step over in one stride and abide in the illuminated as you were without beginning. Until this attainment is re-enacted for all eternity and becomes the perpetual alternation of one's practice, how can one be said to be free of mundanity while in its midst? The strange has no power over the August Way of perpetually refreshing primal Mind. That fact is not good or bad. Even so, it is by virtue of the formation of the strange that the August is manifest formlessly by the subtlety of enlightening observation. Seeing this is made possible by not tarrying over fascinations of the formal. Seeing reality as it is without attachment to objects, people, situations and events is dispensing with fascinations relative to the formal. Again, until this attainment is re-enacted for all eternity and becomes the perpetual alternation of one's practice, how can one be said to be free of mundanity while in its midst? Clearly, it is in fascination with the spark of strangenesses that one becomes enamored of bondage with its nature, which is karmic. See this sickness for what it is and wake up to its killing energy. Once you wake up to reality, and maintain a consistency of subtle observation over the aperture of awareness for a long, long time, you will find that the allure of the strange has no power over the August Way of perpetually refreshing primal Mind. What makes things seem strange and alluring is that personal ignorance of the essential nature of reality, which is neither different nor the same. Just this is already your nature. So it won't do to enact complicity with mundane fascination to personally create entanglements with objects, people, situations and events where they never existed to begin with.

Hi Seraphim~ I apologize, but that cannot be accomplished. And it's not my teaching at all. It's just authentic teaching, in that self-refining enlightening activity isn't the person. It helps if readers of my writing are familiar with the ancient writings of Mahayana (Kashmiri/Indian) buddhism, Chan (Chinese) buddhism, Zen (Chan in Japanese) buddhism, the various Indo-European schools of transcendence through the last 2500 years, the various strains of Quanzhen (Complete Reality schools of) taoism and the lexicon of Toltec nagual shamanism. I have been writing about the practical application of appropriating potential in real terms since about 2008. It's not a matter of energy, it come down to the nature of awareness alone. I was silent about it for fifteen years prior to 2008. For me, the process started in this lifetime in the mid-70s. You can do the math. So you see that the process cannot be rushed, yet neither can one be lackadaisical. I don't blame you for wishing that a logical summary might be possible. If that were the case, it would not require entry into inconceivability, but it does— which is a good thing, besides no one has a choice in the matter of inconceivable knowledge. Though it is your own mind right now, it is not apparent, which is why it is necessary to refine the self. Self-refinement is a matter of clarifying the source of discriminatory conscious pattern-awareness over a very long period of time. But it doesn't really matter how long it takes. What is most important is that one develop a singularity of intent to arrive at the flowering of one's inherent open awareness. Such flowering is discovering and coming to terms with your own enlightening function. As errant ego-function wanes, in constance by its natural relationship with enlightening function, the two functions return to their original balance of proportion in terms of the sanity you are born with, only now discovering it for the first time. I hope your interest will grow. It's just a long process of subtle observation of mind by mind during the course of everyday ordinary situations. Eventually, something shifts and just that is the apparent absence of the need to perpetuate self-reflecting word-constructs (self-reifying thought). Why? Because reality is patternless in its inconceivability— it's our nature. Therein is our true affinity with our inconceivable nature. Over time, the rational mind gradually ceases to be arbitrarily despotic about it's falsely construed identity issues, and the faint strains of true objectivity begin to accrue. It's like a little flame ignites, and you know what to dispense with in your day to day dealings with all manner of things. It's not that everything falls into place— it's just that everything already has its place and you see that just as it is. So one thereby enables the saving of a tremendous amount of energy. Conditioned energy that one does not waste in terms of habit-consciousness, is "saved" in terms of potential, Obviously (for some), the fact that potential is not created is evidenced by the natural affinity some have for the work involved with dealing directly with essence, which is the inconceivable nature of true reality. It does not operate "behind the scenes", it is the very scene before your eyes at all times, only true knowledge of reality is not the person's sensual perception of phenomena. Real knowledge is seeing through phenomena without denying its characteristics, while simultaneously activating the mind without dwelling on its contents. Authentic practice is two-fold in this manner of saying in terms of various common ancient teaching traditions. That helps some people; other people don't need to tarry on such arbitrary distinctions. That's how one enables the saving of real energy. Seeing potential comes about when enough energy is saved to begin to dissolve the karmic bonds of habit energy. This isn't philosophy; it's science. Ancient science older than sin itself, which, by the way, is not a common cultural construct, to begin with. Authentic spiritual practice is a matter of using the world to refine the self instead of using the world to gratify the self. What is this self? It is the errant human mentality. Karmic energy (Psychological momentum or gravity) and real energy (potential) gradually come to a point of critical mass (balance) in terms of a quality of awareness, and there is a parting of the ways. It's not that karmic energy and enlightening intent are different though, it's just that the conditional obscures the liberating essence of the primal, which is your real body of awareness, which is immaterial and has no location. That's your true nature. How inconceivable is that? It is just the way it is, and nobody knows why.

L'homme sez Booms …(some) femme sez poofs ~haha!!

Awayfarer prompted this part of my response in a PM~ I hope it's ok that I publish an excerpt here: Perhaps the benefit of The Secret of the Golden Flower, translated by Thomas Cleary and published by HarperSanFrancisco (ISBN: 0-06-250193-3) is that it is a transcendent teaching based on "turning the light around." One works directly with essence with no intermediary. This is stated clearly in the introduction of Cleary's translation. It has nothing to do with energy work, per se, though it is possible to apply it in terms of energetics. Countless others have sought to do so, but doing so is not the purpose of the teaching. Why waste it on the dregs when using it appropriately will allow one to "ascend to heaven in broad daylight." Turning the light around is a matter of recognizing nonpsychological awareness and using conscious awareness to attend to it. This means using one's attention to observe non-discursive awareness. The nonpsychological is what the Complete Reality school calls real knowledge. Turning the light around is "using yin to nurture yang." Conscious knowledge is yin, and real knowledge is yang. Rank formal sitting meditation, comparable with strict energy work, are both temporary (provisional) derivative teachings parlayed into useful methodologies spun off the kind of transcendent teaching espoused by the various Chan (Zen) buddhist and Quanzhen (Complete Reality) taoist schools for those as yet unready to delve into "the center of the compass." Of course, neither buddhism nor taoism are source elements, nor are they the only authentic teaching traditions to make such derivative methodologies useful to those on the gradual path preceding the sudden. In the aftermath of the sudden, all teachings are unitary, yet still natural expressions of time and place adapting enlightenment to conditions. So here's where the terminology of alchemy starts getting screwy. It's because real knowledge, yang, is Water (yang surrounded by yin ☵). Conscious knowledge is yin, Fire (yin inside yang ☲). Get ready: yin/fire ☲ is originally body of heaven, now with the heart of earth; yang/water ☵ is originally earth, injected with the heart of heaven. These relationships giving clues to their true nature should get you up to speed coming to terms with the organization of the Elements, both in forward (conditioned) and in reverse (absolute) analysis. Note that the accomplishment of reversing the organization of elements is the same in terms of reversing the light. It's the same light (or elements), yet in reversing them from the conditioned norm, transcendence is the norm. Going along with creation, one is bound by karma. In reverse, its transcendence is the use of karmic energy to access real (uncreated) potential, to match creation, whereby one functions transcendentally in the midst of delusion on delusion's terms. It's seeing through phenomena without denying its characteristics; it's activating the mind without dwelling on its contents. So the basic organizational topology for spiritual study using the trigrams for taoist alchemy is: heaven ☰ is the cauldron; earth ☷ is the furnace; fire ☲ and water ☵ are the medicines to be joined to make the restored elixir. When the medicines of Fire ☲, and Water ☵, are subsequently refined and naturally fuse, they are said to revert to the inherent celestial (Heaven ☰) function lost through the elemental procession of conditioned habit energy. This means that the restoration of the elixir of immortality is so because fire and water (real and conscious knowledge) are actually now (and primordially) the same, in terms of unified awareness. In terms of delusion, they are said to be re-joined in the process of spiritual alchemy. It's not that they are originally separate or even separate at this moment. This illustration of spiritual alchemy mirrors the Judeo-Christian tenet of something needing to be "fixed", or found after having been "lost" in the distant past— only it's right now where it has never needed fixing. Be here now works wonders, in the final analysis. It is simply a matter of seeing the true habitually or the false habitually. Seeing is itself the key— not what. Delusion or Complete Reality is in the eye of the beholder— not the beheld. It's not "out there." The light is one. Go along in duality and you're lost; go in reverse, see unity, and you're done. Actually, delusion and reality look the same, in terms of the relative— because they are the same, so they're both false. In terms of the Absolute, neither exist, so they are both true, and thus the same in that regard as well. Adapting enlightenment to conditions is not a shallow relativism equivocating passivity with dereliction. Seeing sameness within differentiation; Suchness, or Complete Reality, or by any other name is the working definition of the Supreme Vehicle of buddhas and tathagatas, wizards, saints, sages and all prior illuminates. Who said it was so easy? Joining the two things (in terms of psychological and nonpsychological capacities) is the work of spiritual alchemy. Remember always that they are actually and essentially the same. It's just that habit energy, by virtue of the psychological apparatus, has conditionally obscured their unity of function. In terms of one's enlightening potential, the work of self-refinement is to bring real knowledge to the fore of one's conscious awareness (knowledge) and reverse one's habitual emphasis of attention from the psychological to the nonpsychological. That's "turning the light around." Any other usage of the term is erroneous application of authentic transcendent teaching. ed note: add "Delusion or", in the 2nd sentence of the 11th paragraph

You make me laugh …and the phrase ending in "mute" also stood out for me specifically, the first time I read your quote. Good eye, Awayfarer! Any acquaintance is already one (or no) mind, since before time. How familiar can that be~ and surely nothing whatsoever is fitting to be saying so. As for the roads to T'sao-chi or the clouds on Chiu-ling? Who knew? hhahahahahahaaa!!! ed note: add "(or no)" in 1st sentence

Thomas Cleary was definitely on a role for a good while; wasn't he "set up" splendidly to take full advantage of the source-work that was subsequently made available for us??!!! Motherlode, indeed. I too would like to know the ISBN of your volume of choice, Awayfarer— the emphasis of many versions of this ancient text are not worth wading through! Yes, I certainly have been a proponent of slicing deeply— if not all the way through, and, of course, that has actually been an issue with many, unfortunately, as you must have already surmised from your prior experience perusing the Daobums site. There are a few "meditation" experts in high places on this forum as well that I seem to have "set off" in terms of situational potential~ c'est la vie. And though who can't blame them, I also don't regret an aspect of unflinching rapport. Perhaps I can revive an old tune another way, if only to find out how high the note of antiquity resonates, now that a few years has elapsed. The lady's lucky, I must say. If you would like to, please PM me about those seemingly technical aspects of study in terms of the particular emphasis of Five Elements teaching, and try to touch on your practice in terms of its possible application in your situational milieu. That might be good for starters. For myself, only much later did I begin to see its analysis (in terms of situational contexts) to be a device for the purposes of an ever-widening complex of juggling (on multifarious levels) to maintain and build upon that which becomes an abstraction-in-suspension; in itself, an alchemic device of purification. If there is a particular aspect of the excerpt you quoted above that might have a poignant resonance with you at this time, please elucidate on that, if you will— either by PM or on this thread. If not, that's ok too.

Congratulations on your first post and thank you for your excellent content, Awayfarer! Please leave a short note with the ISBN number for the other readers— a good 90% of which are not registered members of this forum. Perhaps we can talk some more, some day❤︎!! ed note: soften up my response a bit…

Victor Mgazi recently started started a thread called What is ego, which seems to have begun to level off at 66 responses. I consider his and many of the responses to be of high quality. I'm putting my response (the fourth in his thread) here in Self-Actualization Journals, as it contains a general overview of practical concerns applicable to Victo Mgazi's original topic relative to defining the context of self-refinement in terms of ego-function, it's inherent limitations, as well as its true nature being the access-point by enlightening activity. My response to his OP: Dang, Victor [an excellent topic and OP]! Ego is the creative nexus of attach-ability, yes~ but to say it is attachment… or to say without ego, there is no attachment …ok, certainly we can arguably posit that, in a qualified sense (in terms of habitual use of ego) To be precise, ego is a modality. It's a type of pattern awareness, which can be sub-classified as everyday ordinary conditioned consciousness. So if ego is a modality of perceptive functionality, what constitutes its employment? Isn't ego in charge? If not, who is? What constitutes the person? Who, or what isn't the person? How about this: without awareness, there is no person, nor ego. Ego isn't a thing any more than enlightenment. The point is, and especially in terms of the nature of awareness (which is enlightenment), there is no ego. Creation is filled with points of illumination. Enlightenment is illumination. Ego is actually a point-source without a point (on a good day). Enlightenment is itself a selfless intention, yet it has no point. How wondrous is non-attachment? Our nature is awakeness. It would be a higher clarification of consciousness which brings to light an underlying non-psychological basis of identity which can eventually obviate the hopeless intellectualism caught in the broken record of rationalistic dualism that perpetuates the dead words constituting any kind of intellectual discourse encompassing ego-thought consciousness. What ego is, just isn't (so to speak). We really don't have egos, as ego has (is) the personality (function), without exception. Nevertheless, there is an underlying aspect that hardly ever makes it to the table (with good reason). Unless one actually knows ego's original and selfless function in terms of one's enlightening potential, one's strategic application of ego-functionality falls short of accomplishing inconceivable spiritual adaption and transformation by skillful means— or, rather (without getting all buddhist), as ego's tacit functionality (primal duty, really) reverts to its unified functional purpose as enlightening potential's corollary, is what taoist spiritual alchemy calls the efficacy of the sciences of essence and life. These are two, yet one. As well, psychological awareness and nonpsychological awareness are two, yet one. Ego's true purpose is in administratively aiding in truly selfless and spontaneous transcendent activity by virtue of one's innate enlightening potential. Therefore, enlightening activity isn't the person, but it isn't not the person. Either way no one knows. And who might that be? There, that didn't sound very buddhist. DLH presented a conclusive summary of the created psychological apparatus, without failing to omit the body, adding~ "neither good or bad." That kind of insight has no limit of application in terms of non-resistant penetration into the heart of the matter of life and death. Could habitual patterns of attachment being the matrix of webs of collective psychological momentum through eons of ego-consciousness be something that is being left out of the analysis? It stupefies statistical analysis, yet… "We're all one"— isn't that what we say in our altruistic (self-reflective) moments. Actually it's all one (the creative, karmic aspect we find ourselves in). It really doesn't have to be about us, at all, because, in terms of Reality, which isn't even created, much less subjective relativity (sorry, Einstein!), it's about IT. It's utterly a complete whole for those who actually see potential. In looking at it selflessly, (as it is, not as we are), what are we looking at? What are we getting at? It's us; we're not it. Now there's an ego-check. What constitutes ego-attachments? Ego per se, is pretty helpless, it seems, in terms of its own conditioning; it's own psychological momentum, utterly attached (bound, as it were) as a mere discriminatory point-source of the collective unity. How free is that? So what constitutes that which directs or binds ego to… creative process? Ego isn't a thing, actually. The person being the headlong evidence of a mystery unfolding until… one grasps the import of there being no intrinsic reason or causality underlying the created (or the uncreated, for that matter). How can one be so sure? One can't say— that's for sure, but it IS a mystery first and foremost. There is no explanation. Ultimately, there is no reason, as sure as there is no thing. Quote Ultimately, there is no reason, as sure as there is no thing. In terms of its function as the (creative's sameness within differentiation) nexus of attach-ability, you might conceive of ego as being naturally aspected of creative being in terms of its adherence to karmic law, law of the creative's realm… by virtue of the unitary aspect Creation itself, wholly becoming, as the conditional singularity it might be considered to be. Neither good not bad, it can be intentionally turned around and used as a tool (that's what it really is, after all). But I asked earlier, "who puts ego to use?" The true human with no status, is the taoist term. It is one's inherent enlightening potential that lies dormant mostly, yet, from time to time, arises of its own accord. Who doesn't know that much? The endless task of self-refinement is the process of "turning around the light" of creation (ego), that gradually results in the efficacious restoration and permanent stability of nonpsychological awareness as the true human with no status evidencing one's awakened enlightening potential realized as a partner of creation, never again to be bound by its former karmic affinity, now actualized as affinity with the primal aspect, as opposed to the conditional. "Turning around the light" is the teaching of reversal; the reversion of the conditioned and the restoration of the primal. Ego isn't what, it's rather that which is bound in creation and liberated in potential, that is, the Unborn, or the un-created. That's not so woo-woo. Why? Awareness isn't created. So ultimately, accessing potential is a matter of seeing. That's the essence of awareness. But there's a catch which I touched on above. That is to say, it's you; you're not it. When you see it, to the degree you see, it becomes you, as it were, all along, perpetually aglow. The aspect of ego being elemental in terms of its potential for self-transcendece is itself the "gateless gate", which anyone familiar with mind only teachings of buddhism has heard of. Ultimately, who knows?

Dang, Victor! Ego is the creative nexus of attach-ability, yes~ but to say it is attachment… or to say without ego, there is no attachment …ok, certainly we can arguably posit that, in a qualified sense (in terms of habitual use of ego) To be precise, ego is a modality. It's a type of pattern awareness, which can be sub-classified as everyday ordinary conditioned consciousness. So if ego is a modality of perceptive functionality, what constitutes its employment? Isn't ego in charge? If not, who is? What constitutes the person? Who, or what isn't the person? How about this: without awareness, there is no person, nor ego. Ego isn't a thing any more than enlightenment. The point is, and especially in terms of the nature of awareness (which is enlightenment), there is no ego. Creation is filled with points of illumination. Enlightenment is illumination. Ego is actually a point-source without a point (on a good day). Enlightenment is itself a selfless intention, yet it has no point. How wondrous is non-attachment? Our nature is awakeness. It would be a higher clarification of consciousness which brings to light an underlying non-psychological basis of identity which can eventually obviate the hopeless intellectualism caught in the broken record of rationalistic dualism that perpetuates the dead words constituting any kind of intellectual discourse encompassing ego-thought consciousness. What ego is, just isn't (so to speak). We really don't have egos, as ego has (is) the personality (function), without exception. Nevertheless, there is an underlying aspect that hardly ever makes it to the table (with good reason). Unless one actually knows ego's original and selfless function in terms of one's enlightening potential, one's strategic application of ego-functionality falls short of accomplishing inconceivable spiritual adaption and transformation by skillful means— or, rather (without getting all buddhist), as ego's tacit functionality (primal duty, really) reverts to its unified functional purpose as enlightening potential's corollary, is what taoist spiritual alchemy calls the efficacy of the sciences of essence and life. These are two, yet one. As well, psychological awareness and nonpsychological awareness are two, yet one. Ego's true purpose is in administratively aiding in truly selfless and spontaneous transcendent activity by virtue of one's innate enlightening potential. Therefore, enlightening activity isn't the person, but it isn't not the person. Either way no one knows. And who might that be? There, that didn't sound very buddhist. DLH presented a conclusive summary of the created psychological apparatus, without failing to omit the body, adding~ "neither good or bad." That kind of insight has no limit of application in terms of non-resistant penetration into the heart of the matter of life and death. Could habitual patterns of attachment being the matrix of webs of collective psychological momentum through eons of ego-consciousness be something that is being left out of the analysis? It stupefies statistical analysis, yet… "We're all one"— isn't that what we say in our altruistic (self-reflective) moments. Actually it's all one (the creative, karmic aspect we find ourselves in). It really doesn't have to be about us, at all, because, in terms of Reality, which isn't even created, much less subjective relativity (sorry, Einstein!), it's about IT. It's utterly a complete whole for those who actually see potential. In looking at it selflessly, (as it is, not as we are), what are we looking at? What are we getting at? It's us; we're not it. Now there's an ego-check. What constitutes ego-attachments? Ego per se, is pretty helpless, it seems, in terms of its own conditioning; it's own psychological momentum, utterly attached (bound, as it were) as a mere discriminatory point-source of the collective unity. How free is that? So what constitutes that which directs or binds ego to… creative process? Ego isn't a thing, actually. The person being the headlong evidence of a mystery unfolding until… one grasps the import of there being no intrinsic reason or causality underlying the created (or the uncreated, for that matter). How can one be so sure? One can't say— that's for sure, but it IS a mystery first and foremost. There is no explanation. Ultimately, there is no reason, as sure as there is no thing. In terms of its function as the (creative's sameness within differentiation) nexus of attach-ability, you might conceive of ego as being naturally aspected of creative being in terms of its adherence to karmic law, law of the creative's realm… by virtue of the unitary aspect Creation itself, wholly becoming, as the conditional singularity it might be considered to be. Neither good not bad, it can be intentionally turned around and used as a tool (that's what it really is, after all). But I asked earlier, "who puts ego to use?" The true human with no status, is the taoist term. It is one's inherent enlightening potential that lies dormant mostly, yet, from time to time, arises of its own accord. Who doesn't know that much? The endless task of self-refinement is the process of "turning around the light" of creation (ego), that gradually results in the efficacious restoration and permanent stability of nonpsychological awareness as the true human with no status evidencing one's awakened enlightening potential realized as a partner of creation, never again to be bound by its former karmic affinity, now actualized as affinity with the primal aspect, as opposed to the conditional. "Turning around the light" is the teaching of reversal; the reversion of the conditioned and the restoration of the primal. Ego isn't what, it's rather that which is bound in creation and liberated in potential, that is, the Unborn, or the un-created. That's not so woo-woo. Why? Awareness isn't created. So ultimately, accessing potential is a matter of seeing. That's the essence of awareness. But there's a catch which I touched on above. That is to say, it's you; you're not it. When you see it, to the degree you see, it becomes you, as it were, all along, perpetually aglow. The aspect of ego being elemental in terms of its potential for self-transcendece is itself the "gateless gate", which anyone familiar with mind only teachings of buddhism has heard of. Ultimately, who knows?

These are a couple comments I've transferred from a thread about attachment to desire where someone made some good points. Desire is a wonderful thing. But attachment to desire is something else altogether. Attachment to anything is conditioned and dependent. I would have to say either you are or aren't mired by dependent habitual conditioned energies. But mostly it is a matter of gravity and degree. In terms of the most basic necessity, observing the disease of the mind entails suffering. This is an habitual relationship not with the world, but with oneself. It is neurosis. This neurosis is a mental crutch. This is dependency one must acknowledge and cut away from one's life. Keying one's attention to externals without being sidetracked, without abandoning oneself to craving, one learns to deliberately manage following the heart's desire without stepping over the line. The most subtle veils of delusion are of your own making and must be swept away until there is nothing left of your habits. When you don't crave, personal issues of self and other turn into a matter of mutual response because now the situation becomes the context. Sure, no one else knows that— but when you do, you are not at issue with conditions, and you don't get swept away by emotional craving or selfish psychological patterns. So when others seek to manipulate or cling psychologically or emotionally, you detach from their issue, not the situation. The situation may very well go on, but you don’t perpetuate issues relative to self and other and right or wrong. This is itself an expression of compassion, even should it be ruthless. Who can start and end here without further deliberations? Not sidetracked by externals in this regard, one follows the heart's desire without stepping over the line. It is a most curious affair, because, in terms of clarity, you do not go along with the world's momentum— but then you find that the world must have you without exceptions. It is relentless. This is where (the buddhist image of) Mara comes into play. She is relentless. She never goes away …only temporarily recedes from time to time. Even sudden enlightenment only severs the compulsion to follow conditions; stopping without rejecting is always in your power, so harmonizing enlightenment does not depend on the sudden. Whereas creation is fecund— endless manifestations material and mental; enlightening activity is endless transformations according to the time without unknowingly changing along with creation’s phantasmagoria. You have the power to choose going along or not, whereas the norm is going along with Change unawares. As it so often happens, something comes in from left field and one's flow is obstructed, and one naturally stops. Ordinarily, one’s psychological momentum, characteristic of insistence, might seek to push through obstacles— or even assign self-reifying definitions without benefit of objective knowledge. That is stepping over the line— merely seeking definitions relative to self and other is entertaining intellectualism, which perpetuates habit-energies fueling the personality’s psychological momentum bound to creation. Should one admit objective impersonal analysis, the only measure is mutual accord in reality. Beyond the fact that creation is already oneself without beginning, being the partial aspect in the real meaning of unity, mutual accord is the affair of subtle response carried out by virtue of the nature of reality. Working with potential is possible because it is inherent in situations themselves. Admitting objective analysis is really just immediate impersonal knowledge. As one gradually stops using the selfish perspective relative to self and other, the immediate objective knowledge of potential relative to situations gradually becomes apparent. This is mentioned further on as the Dharma Eye. Seeing potential actualizes immediate acquiescence, or virtuous accord in reality, also known as nonresistance or the virtue of the receptive. Just different names to express the arising of enlightening potential. To the degree one follows the heart's desire within unknowing (innocence, that is— not ignorance or cunning rationales), situations are naturally self-refining. This is all made possible because effective self-refinement enables immediate acquiescence. By selfless mutual accord, conditioned situational gravities stop; it's not that you have to stop outside of stopping. It's a matter of seeing reality. Real seeing is spontaneous transcendent seeing. It comes about by not exercising the personality's psychological apparatus habitually. In terms of physics, it is simply an absence of momentum, so one is not carried over into arbitrary action and one stays within the response-body. Enlightening being is the innate quality of subtle response, which is to affirm that sudden realization is not a necessary consideration in terms of expressing effective enlightened qualities. Why? Enlightening being is the quality of being so— it's self-refining, and is therefore selfless action in the world, Using the world's situations for self-refinement, instead of self-gratification, one begins to see reality— not that self-refinement and self-gratification are mutually exclusive, because they’re not. Reality is inconceivable; good or bad is not the criteria of enlightening being(s). This is the means to develop authentic practice. Wielding potential without thoughts of good or bad, enlightening activity is open and sincere unminding response in meeting the created energy of ordinary events. Sudden enlightenment is just waking up to the fact that the light shines (or not) as creation radiates the causeless. The light is like spontaneous enlightening activity adapting to conditions by one who is awake to the activation of innate spiritual function. Subtle spiritual response is natural because Creation and Nonorigination are not different. I've noticed a certain reluctance and trepidation in some to personally own up to the term enlightening. At the risk of appearing glib, I only mention it because people need to know that sudden and gradual are two rails on the same track. They are one continuum. Don't be misled by the analogy of the two rails. The light is one substance and so are its inconceivable functions. It’s like Blues and Country (being music) are Rock&Roll. It’s the Mystery Train and no one knows why. Getting back to momentum, or even further— back to some good points someone made regarding "now." The exquisite realm of now is effortlessness, whereas the perpetually creative realm is beginningless arbitrary ideas arising out of nowhere to upset the weak balance and harmony of those clinging to personal conditions: that's karmically bound evolution. Creative evolution is Karmic. Self refinement is the long process of ridding the aware being of clinging bias and inclination to arbitrary psychological stimulus whereby one’s autonomy in the midst of worldly situations is gradually stabilized. Enlightening being is not a matter of insularity, it is unity coming from within differentiation. Creation evolves by virtue of its conditioned potential. After a long time of gradual practice, seeing reality is recognized as such, but one still loses this again and again when seduced by phenomena. Unbending intent is single-minded determination to avoid following externals unawares. Beginners use renunciatory discipline or precepts; adepts plunge fully into delusion, without differentiating. In practice, one develops discipline first (symbolized by the 3rd I Ching hexagram, Difficulty), then deflects externals (symbolized by the 4th hexagram, Darkness or Innocence). First stopping conditioned stimulus; then seeing situational potential void of one's self-reflective psychological patterning. Stopping is not static and seeing is not relative to the person. Stopping sees the relative (movement), whereas seeing is just awake without bias or inclination. Secure in one's dedication to now, presence is basically being ultimately natural, without hangups. From this vantage, it is easy to see momentum (or conditioned potential) in situations. That's why I say either one is or isn't attached to kinetic (karmic) momentum. One only sees the real by virtue of stillness; conditioned energy is its mass times momentum squared. Not that it matters~ what matters is that in seeing the real from within the false, one gradually enters the inconceivable. One uses delusion to enter reality. This is possible because enlightenment is not different than karma. Enlightening being sees this. Spiritual illuminates match creation by its inherent potential and use it to partner with creation according to the time. Partners of creation do not go along with its karmic evolution, while ever gathering its potential. That's why some have been known to "ascend to heaven in broad daylight." Jesus isn't the only one by a long shot. In many respects, desire is complete in and of itself. Attention is mutual, in terms of self and other in the sense that one necessarily attracts when another is attracted. That much doesn't require deliberation. In terms of application, desire and bliss are coeval. The timing depends of their arising (or their arousal). The point is, it's mutual. This is the direct relationship we have right now within the heart of nonorigination. Relative to the essence of the creative, enlightenment isn't different. When one follows desire with openness and sincerity presently, without anticipatory momentum, one is activating the tao in reality without intermediary. This is enlightening being, but don’t expect the world to cooperate, so don't mention it. If it did, adapting enlightenment to conditions wouldn't be exceptional, and buddhas becoming people wouldn't be a secret— even though it has always come and gone without saying. This is because selfless movement doesn't have mass, only potential, therefore it can't be said to be still or moving. Subtle adaption is like that. The inconceivability just is without any body knowing better or being the wiser. Since it's already your own mind right now, immediate acquiescence is like taking over creation and stealing its potential. Poof. The ancient taoist alchemical classics all tell us to refine the self and await the time. They also say neither rushing ahead nor lagging behind, like a cat watching a mouse-hole, ever vigilant, ever careful not to miss the timing: when the celestial time arrives, human energy is responsive. It's not a matter of helping the tao, it is just in an ever-ready equipoise in mutual respond to situations fearlessly, honestly and without cupidity. Obviously, the timing arises in the situational context. The whole point of this kind of subtle intensity is to follow the breath of creation, which waxes and wanes in intimate accord with the celestial design. Only enlightening beings see this. This is an affair of transcendent living whereby one has no mind in going along with creation which is literally neither here nor there. One clings neither to the falsity of the conditioned matrix nor to the reality of the mystery, because they are not different. It is just as is and no one knows why. The ancients have left this teaching for those who have the affinity to follow in their footsteps to carry out the open secret, and go on …beyond. In the final analysis, the benefit is this: taoism calls it stealing potential. Such is that the spiritually aware potential energy that makes manifestation possible can be gathered by any individual not going along with the karmic matrix of creation. This gathering of potential is real, yet one doesn't actually gather anything. It goes back to following the heart's desire within unknowing: innocence following the heart's desire naturally steps over no line. It is all a matter of seeing. One last thing… it is like the story of the monkeys who do not want 3 nuts in the morning and 4 nuts at night. So the monkey feeder says, "Ok, I'll give you 4 in the morning and 3 at night"— at this the monkeys are very pleased. One doesn’t seek to please because that’s the monkeys’ business. First of all, you adapt to the situation selflessly and respond impersonally to give the universe its arbitrary causeless requirement in each situation as it arises. It is not a matter of logic, but of strategy. Secondly, one uses the current situation as a means to master the 3rd and 4th hexagrams in order to transcend the conditional aspect (without anybody knowing). Since you don't speculate on the conditional manifestation, you naturally cull its essential potential and seal it away void of intellectualism. You see, the way of the world is to get it all backwards— and keep it that way! So the way of all prior illuminates is to foment subtle audacious reversal within the course of creation in order to take it over and steal its potential (back) unbeknownst to anyone. Actually, it is a matter of freeing unrefined potential from its conditioned matrix simply by seeing reality as it really is, as it is. In terms of alchemy, those of you who know the I Ching, know that the 3rd hexagram Difficulty is done before, i.e., in the morning. This is advancing the yang fire. This is effort. This is following desires. This is entering the tiger's lair. The 4th hexagram Innocence should be done after. This is withdrawing the fire when the killing energy of the yin convergence first arises, in order to gather potential and seal it within innocence void of intellectualism. This is non-doing. This is only a possibility by virtue of following real desire without stepping over the line, so to not act on arbitrary ideas relative to the personality. Just the not-doing of intellectual activity is itself stealing potential. Having done so is gathering the medicines of the spiritual elixir. Guard this in the wordless. Spiritual release is spontaneous awakening. Having directly divulged the secret, who can put it to use? ed note: add "without rejecting" in 5th paragraph; put a little in the middle; put "acting on arbitrary ideas" in parentheses in last paragraph