Complete Reality and Freedom

[deci belle]

Bobby wrote:

My buddhist related knowledge is fairly restricted. I have however spent years wading through much of the taoist information that is available in English (although, truth be told, the constant use of metaphor and symbolism in alchemical texts, and the various possible/Schools' interpretations, makes it quite difficult to profess any solid understanding).

I'm finally posting as discussions of Actual Freedom, and the Actual Freedom website have stood out, reminding me of much of what i've read in Taoist texts through the years. Now, it could easily be the case that, Taoist texts being as vague/metaphorical as they are, I am reading in Actual Freedom concepts, but I thought it would be worth the discussion nevertheless.

To start, this is a link to Chang-Po Tuan's Understanding Reality, translated by Thomas Cleary, with detailed commentary by Liu I Ming. Cleary's summary of the Complete Reality School's view of Yin Yang introduction (starting page 3).

Google books: Understanding Reality (specifically 'Yin Yang' pge 3)

Whilst this is definitely a brief summary by the translator, Thomas Cleary, it gives an idea of the sort of things that seemed to relate to Actual Freedom. Liu I ming's commentary in the main body of the text, is much more concerned with process.

Or am I way off?

Some snippets from the translator's summary of Chang Po-tuan's Understanding Reality, University of Hawaii Press ISBN 0-8248-1103-8:

Quote

 

"stillness is not an ends but a means, and the practice of emptiness and stillness is supposed to have a definitive climax and outcome."

 

"One advantage of being able to stand aside from the mundane and recover the awareness of the unconditioned primordial mind is that it allows a more objective assessment of the value or otherwise of particular habits or patterns of behaviour; and it allows leeway within which to modify behaviour."

 

"What the Complete Reality Taoist strives for is to attain autonomy, the freedom to be or not to be, to do or not do, according to the needs of the situation at hand."

 

“The effort here is to join sense and essence; this may be described as developing a sense of the real essence of mind, and sensing reality directly from the essence of consciousness rather than through the acquired psychological configurations of temperaments. This is said to involve keeping consciousness open and fluid while clearing sense of subjective feelings; this means transcendence of restrictive mental fixations through the greater perspective afforded by the mind of Tao.”

 

hi Bobby~

In terms of the title of this thread, actual freedom is the state of wallowing in complete reality right now.

Complete Reality taoist teaching calls this "jumping in and floating around in the center of the compass".

"Jumping in" is recognizing, realizing, acknowledging and accepting one's inherent enlightening function, and using it to adapt to conditions without relying on one's personalistic ego-reifying efforts while functioning within the context of situations unbeknownst to anyone.

This Center is the immaterial incipient presence of the real body of awareness, which has no location.

This "no location" is not somewhere else; it's nowhere else: it's already you before the first thought.

The freedom of inherent enlightening function can only be in terms of its relative, which is conditions. Enlightening aware being is free of conditions as is, yet there is no state of separation from conditions. It is not even different than the unattributble nature of conditions (creation), — as the nature of freedom (and conditions) is itself uncreated.

Complete Reality tradition exemplifies the thrust of all authentic teachings based on reality. Reality is the substance of conditions, not the trappings of conditions. Those who see reality see through the conditional and use its potential as the means to adapt impersonally to situational energy-cycles whereby they transform along with creation without experiencing Change unawares.

Where does freedom come in? It's freedom from karmic momentum. Karmic momentum is psychological. It's also dependent on one's ignorance of it's nature. Freedom is awakened to its nature. It's the same nature. Freedom is the capacity and will to function in the world, the eternity of creation, all time, in partnership with creation, meaning without being subject karmically to changes wrought by circumstantial process. Therefore, the Causeless, or unchanging nature of reality is its absolute nature only for the purpose of discussion. The word(s) cannot be confused with reality itself, as there is no thing.

Bobby wrote:

Quote

the constant use of metaphor and symbolism in alchemical texts, and the various possible/Schools' interpretations, makes it quite difficult to profess any solid understanding

The beauty of authentic alchemic devices is that there is nothing to understand. Therefore, it is just a way to facilitate "sneaking past" the barriers that ego has set up to maintain its arbitrary authority by the body's intellectual/emotional apparatus over the being that is going to die. This arbitrary authority's perspective is the "false" that perpetuates the illusion of separate selfhood. It's not necessarily a bad thing, yet as long as its ignorance of its real nature is maintained by an existential fear of other, the "pure" will not be accessible to the being that is going to die for the fulfillment of its enlightening purpose during its lifetime.

Spiritual alchemy is using the pure from within the false by not being subject to the false: that's the relativity of freedom, in terms of Complete Reality taoism.

Though we are none other than the totality of world-cycles (and beyond), who this is, is neither conditions nor their absolute nature. Who are those who actually know this, and can act on this knowledge? In taoist terms, the world is the sage. Sage is the embodiment of Suchness, the buddhist term to denote reality as is, neither conditional nor absolute. Sages, saints, buddhas, wizards, prior and present illuminates and all enlightening being(s) know the totality of the being that is going to die. This real knowledge is the potential of being, not created.

Relative to unity, what is there to be free of? Enlightening beings are comprized of the Virtue of the Receptive. The world comes to them naturally. Such is the nature of the Way, which is the nature of the true self which has no self. Freedom is a relative term denoting knowing better. "Better" is a relative term too. This is not philosophy. It is a description of the functional basis of adepts of Complete Reality. That's not taoism-- taoism is just a name. Reality is inconceivable. Most people go through their entire lives as this inconceivability without ever discovering it within themselves, much less carrying out its innate enlightening function.

Complete Reality taoism is a teaching of realization of primordial unity and its manifestation by subtle means through those who can act on nonpsychological awareness. Seeing reality is seeing potential. Seeing potential is the reality of nondifferentiation. Those who know the essence of conditions operate in terms of essence while in the midst of the incremental, that is, temporal existence.

Freedom is knowledge and actualization of selflessness (unity) adapted to ordinary situations unbeknownst to anyone which is the the purpose of enlightening being. Taoism calls those who are receptive to Virtue "real people". The Way has its Power, and those who carry it out do so without relying on their own power. This is why "the master carpenter does no cutting."

I have only responded to "actual freedom relative to complete reality"~ as for the "snippets" you provided by Thomas Cleary, those are sublimely self-evident of themselves. Even so, arriving at the functional edification of the words you recognized as significant enough to include in your post, is itself the purpose of all authentic teaching.

 

 

ed note: italicize "Understanding Reality" in 6th; add "The freedom of inherent enlightening function" in 16th; typo 17th; add "Freedom is the capacity and will to function" in 18th paragraph

Edited November 21, 2018 by deci belle