Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Influence

Mencius said,

‘Po-i, that he might avoid Chou, was dwelling on the coast of the northern sea. When he heard the rise of king Wen, he roused himself, and said, “Why should I not go and follow him? I have heard that the chief of the West knows well how to nourish the old.”

Tai-kung, that he might avoid Chou, was dwelling on the coast of the eastern sea. When he heard of the rise of king Wen, he roused himself, and said,
“Why should I not go and follow him? I have heard that the chief of the West knows well how to nourish the old.”

Those two old men were the greatest old men of the kingdom. When they came to follow king Wen, it was the fathers of the kingdom coming to follow him. When the fathers of the kingdom joined him, how could the sons go to any other?

Were any of the princes to practise the government of king Wen, within seven years he would be sure to be giving laws to the kingdom.’


[The Works of Mencius Book 4, Part 1. 13 Legge]

Friday, March 26, 2010

The Ancient Tao

The Ancient Tao is something like this:

You cannot see, hear, or grasp it.

By sitting and forgetting, you can feel the heat and see the mystical light.

At higher levels, you can see forms and emptiness interchanging like what Laozi and the Buddha indicated.

Without Te or virtues, you are not the right person.

If pure, still, and empty, you can enter the gates and see galaxies or lands of the thousand Buddhas.

Without going out of the door, you can know what is happening all under heaven and whether there is Tao or not. Without looking out of the window, you can see the Way of heaven.

Once you locate the germinal vesicle, the space between Heaven and Earth, you are on the right path to Tao.

The fire from the germinal vesicle can scorch. If not intense, the fire cannot melt the medicine.

At times, you can hear celestial immortals and Buddhas sing.

Face the eight trigrams and know the ancestor.

Experience Wu Wei, and you will know what you are preparing for.

The Golden Flower shines brilliantly.

You see the original self.

The embryo grows……

Final aim, climb up heaven’s ladder.


Most if not all of the above have been referred to either in the Tao Te Ching, the Zhouyi, the Shurangama, the Zhuangzi (refer Xinzhai and Guangchenzi’s teachings to Huangdi), the Hui Ming Ching, the Hundred Character Stele, the Secret of the Golden Flower, and/or other important Quanzhen texts by Zhong LiQuan and Zhang Boduan.

If we have not experienced some or most of the above possible experiences indicated by the ancients, Daoist celestial immortals, and the Zhen Ren, can we venture to talk about Tao?

Would our discussions constitute the constant or eternal Tao?

As long as the inexperienced or the charlatans do not venture forth to teach Tao, there is goodwill on earth.


Cheerio!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Art and Science of Yi divination

According to The American Heritage Dictionaries:

Art is a skill that is attained by study, practice or observation.

And Science is the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena etc. which can be tested.

For more definitions of Art and Science, please check online via thefreedictionary.com

Yi aficionados would be very familiar with the art of divination obtainable through the study of the Book of Changes (I Ching / Yijing / the Yi), practising divination by consulting the Oracle and observing the results. They will learn to master this art of Yi divination over the years or decades of study eventually to reach the highest stage ever recorded in ancient books – that is divining like a spirit. (Refer the Doctrine of the Mean)

Yi aficionados can also improve their divination skills by testing their ability in the interpretation of prognostications.

When the Yi speaks, the prognostication is true and if its interpretation is correctly done, the results can be foreseen, thereby making it clear as day. As long as the Yi speaks, a good interpreter of the Oracle could interpret the prognostication correctly whether he or she is next to or oceans apart from the diviner. This means that this theory can be ‘scientifically’ tested many times, and proven.

However, sad to say, many have yet to reach that requisite level and I am still on the lookout for some over the past ten years on the World Wide Web. Not surprising since the Yi has only spoken to a remarkable few diviners who blog their prognostications or posted them on I Ching websites, some of whom I have previously named.

If aficionados do not rise to the occasion, how could they know about the science of Yi divination and test their skills and the theory?

There are several instances of interpretation of other diviners’ prognostications in this blog over the past five years – those whom the Yi spoke to. Their prognostications were true and therefore reliable. The interpretations and the predicted outcomes unfolded – many times to a T.

Take for example, the interpretation of a prognostication on a stock investment given by the Book of Changes to a fellow Malaysian by way of Hexagram 29 Kan / The Abysmal. (Refer February 19, 2008 entry, ‘An interpretation of Kan / The Abysmal’ and the result in December 27, 2008 entry, ‘Few can alter Yi prognostications’)

The stock, Transmile, has recently fallen to its lowest price, 32.5 sen, after it became designated a PN 17 stock because its share capital and reserves had fallen below the threshold due to continual huge losses. (Have earnest Yi aficionados taken note of the continuous unfolding and the time?)

In the entries, I had mentioned that from experiences and observations, Kan is a bad hexagram for investments. The same emphasis on good and bad hexagrams was also made on the March 26, 2007 entry on ‘When the Yi speaks’. This theory of good and bad hexagrams have also been tested.

If some so called Yi experts or scholars still insist there are no good and bad hexagrams in divination, let them be. Just like those modern scholars who claim that Confucius has never read the Yi, or those who believe that real Daoist teachings do not touch on good and evil, they do not know what they are missing or learning.
If we do not improve our own art of Yi divination, it could prove difficult to understand the science of Yi divination. Without a sound knowledge of the art and science of divination, how can we ever hope to divine like a spirit and later to assist the gods?

Saturday, March 06, 2010

Real masters will get it right

Just like those of Tao and the Yi, real masters whether they are practitioners of neidan, art, martial arts, fengshui, or fortune telling, they will get it right most if not all of the time. Since real masters would know what they are doing.

If they have come down or sent down from the mountain with their teachers’ blessings, they would be ready to face the world. Unfortunately, if we really observe their words and actions, there are fewer real masters than many students think.

For example, real I Ching masters do not read fortunes even if they know how to since it is not their specialty or forte. These real masters may have a higher call in life and according to the Great Treatise, if they are really skilled in divination, they can even assist the gods.

Yet we see so called I Ching masters or scholars trying to predict the fortunes of the country they live in, year in year out, giving out wrong predictions most of the time. And still they try.

Would it not have been better to leave the predictions to those – the fortune tellers and fengshui masters - who specialized in it? What is there to compete unless the best fortune tellers and/or fengshui masters in your country give out wrong predictions year in year out? But two wrongs do not make a right!

Therefore if you want to become a real I Ching master, go back up the mountain. And stay there until you get it right most if not all the time.

In this Tiger year of 2010, and unlike the last three years, there seem to be a dearth of annual predictions. In Hong Kong, the news reports say that the fengshui masters are keeping a low profile fearing a public backlash from previous wrong predictions and/or the high profile court case of one from their own profession who challenged a valid will of his dead multi billionaire client. The Judge said in passing that the wealthy fengshui master created a false will to claim the billions of his dead benefactor.

In Malaysia, there were few published predictions on her economy and the stock market for 2010. It could be that those who were getting it wrong over the past few years are being circumspect, it is a moral thing to feel shame, or these masters were possibly slammed by their fees-paying clients for failing them yet again. (If you are interested in what they had predicted over the past three crucial years, read my blog entries during the first quarter of those years.)

Unlike 2009 where one did not side with any of the fortune tellers, fengshui masters, I Ching scholars or masters, I would recommend Malaysians to follow the predictions of the young fengshui master for 2010. He could be right in that the first half year is better than the second half.

And that differs from the CLSA fengshui index 2010 for Hong Kong, in case you are following it for the KLSE stocks trading. But how would I know?

Unless I tell readers something different later this year, be very careful with your investments. Investors could get burned if they take on too much risk. Hope they know what a metal or white tiger can sometimes do to people. (Not much imagination required!)

Cheerio!