Birth of new stars

A photo from the Hubble Space Telescope published on 19 October 2006 in The Star newspaper.

Neidan practitioners may note the light, the dark, and the swirling golden and purple colours. I cannot recall when or if one had actually seen this birth of new stars during meditation, but if you have seen those colours before, it depicts a good aptitude.

Confirmation of the 2007 Yi chart (2)

After the indirect confirmation by a Daoist heavenly immortal recently, the Yi directly confirmed the validity of the annual chart for 2007 through a series of six oracles last week.

The annual Yi chart was drawn up in early March, a month after my investment consultations for the Chinese New Year. Since it was time to ask the Yi again, one chose six stocks among my favorites for the consultations - which provided occasions for the Yi to speak.

In the first oracle, the Yi used an unchanging Hexagram 34 Da Zhuang / The Power of the Great to tell me that it is a time (March - April) when inner worth mounts with great force and comes to power. But its strength has already passed beyond the median line, hence there is danger that one may rely entirely on one’s power and forget to ask what is right. There is danger too that, being intent on movement, we may not wait for the right time.
[W/B]

In the second oracle, the Yi indicated that the particular stock in question will ‘Return to the light’ shortly.

The third and fourth oracles indicated impending plunges after the expected rally with warnings to be careful and mindful of falls thereafter.

The fifth and sixth oracles indicate the worthiness of the remaining two stocks. Again, one of them will move up shortly.

On the assumption that my interpretation of the six oracles (no point elaborating all) is correct, the Yi spoke on a number of things last week:

1) Do not be a smart ass; even if you have the power, you still have to ask the Yi what is right!

2) Wait for the right timing.

3) Mixed signals on the KLSE, which explains why some stocks go up while others fall or drift.

4) Concern that this student may forget about the expected plunges after the next rally.

5) Prices of some selected stocks will go higher than others in the rally.

When the Yi speaks, like all great teachers, just one corner of the mat is lifted. If the student does not understand the depth of the answer or misinterpret the oracle, the true meaning remains hidden. Students may then think that the Yi did not tell them anything of significance. Or that the Book of Changes was wrong when the misinterpreted oracle (by self and/or others) if the Yi had spoken did not unfold accordingly.

Knowing the limited knowledge of this student and the temptations that come with a rising stock market, the teacher reminds him, with not one but two different oracles, of the expected pitfalls after the upcoming rally. The expected rally and plunges thereafter as regular readers may know are already depicted in my annual Yi chart for 2007. The Yi has spoken, the Daoist heavenly immortal has also spoken. Let us see if this student knows what is happening or will happen to the KLSE in 2007 as the year unfolds.

In case, investors in the KLSE stocks still has not figured out what has been said, look for the hints on how the stock market will perform over the next few months which has been or will be covered.

Missed by a day

Over the weekend, one had a long chat with my Daoist friend. After a brief discussion on Zhong LiQuan and neidan, I asked if he had made money this round in the KLSE. Some gains and losses, he replied.

We went on to discuss about luck. How he seemed to have sold out too early on various shares that later went sky high. He had recently devised a chart based on the five ‘elements’ – metal, wood, water, fire and earth – that just needed some fine tuning for it to work well in line with the stock market.

He enquired if I was using a past year’ Yi chart for 2007 and said that past track records of the KLSE performance may change. I assured him that the Yi chart is made for 2007; it has been indirectly confirmed by his ancestor master and just the other day, directly confirmed by none other than my teacher, the Yi! (That is for another story.)

My Daoist friend then revealed that he had sold his investments one day later than my stock clearance on or before Friday, March 2. I can understand his pain and those of others who hopefully waited for a rebound after the February 27 plunge. They had wanted to recover some losses or much of the paper gains seen prior to that plunge. However, those who waited lost another thirty percent more on their investments during the following Monday, March 5 rout, and as I understand it, quite a number who bought heavily through margin financing or 'longed' the Index Futures the week before, lost their fortunes.

The ‘one day late’ phenomena had caused me to lose out on hundreds of thousands worth of profits back in 1995. Instead of following the annual Yi chart, one had waited for an important announcement by the then Prime Minister. A lesson well learned. Therefore whenever the time is ripe, I wait for no one or any announcements to take profits. (Remember, while not a rabbit, I am easily frightened!) Just like the profit taking a few days before the April 19 plunge.

Why wait for one more day until the wisp of smoke disappear with your profits? In a Bull Run, it is not wrong to trade. Buy low; sell high is the key to successful trading. Much money is made if you can get into the right timing mode. There is a time to buy and/or hold and a time to take profits. You do not have to believe me, just ask the Yi.

Knowing the Yi

After the continuous study of a decade, one knew nothing much about the Yi. Another decade goes by, reading the Ten Wings allowed one to have some inkling. The continued analysis and pondering of Yi wisdoms and the words of the sages began to go deeper. Still one would not have learned much if not for the prolific divinations and later the discussions in Yi forums with like minded fellows.

If we do not have a hobby, important work to do, a scientific experiment to research, would we spend most of our adult life divining about love and marriage? What if we got married, would we create a crisis with extra marital affairs, just for occasions to ask the Yi? Except for the belligerent and incompetent rulers of today, there are no wars to fight, no major promises to keep! What else can we ask of the Yi?

In this time and age, would it not be better to consult the Yi on something meaningful and useful for self, others, and/or for the world? Putting into good use, the tools and wisdoms left behind by sage kings and the ancients for posterity. Sharing and interpreting Yi answers allow others to learn and teach while helping to promote its profoundness and wisdom. This very action helps us to know more about the Yi.

If the Yi objects to our lines of questioning, it may not speak. At times, we may even get a reprimand or so to speak, a knock on the head. If we fool around with the Classic or our lives, and act with improper conduct like that of a Xiao Ren instead of a Junzi, the Yi could make ‘a monkey out of us’ with the oracles.

But as usual, Yi aficionados still question the correctness of what can be asked of the Yi. Who determines the rights and wrongs on the line of questioning? Who else but the Oracle that is if the Yi speaks!

A wisp of smoke

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index finally broke its all time high of 1,332 set in the first week of January 1994. The KLCI reached an intra day high of 1,334.44 yesterday. Hurray! Slow coach! Most of the Asian and South East Asian stock markets had already broken their all time highs a year or two ago. There is still a lot of catching up to do before the KLSE is at par with the other Asian markets. The big US funds have just started to take notice, which underpin my expectations of a super bull run in 2007.

As indicated last week, while the KLCI has broken its all time high, profit taking and stale bull selling have also taken place. Traders and retailers for whatever reasons who chose to wait for higher gains or had chased shares saw prices of their speculative (low and second liner) stocks fall 15 to 20% from their twelve months highs, some registered last week. The wisp of smoke had disappeared with some money forgone, if they had not taken profits. If they had not treaded with caution as advised, those who chased shares may now be caught at higher levels.

The battle between the bulls and the bears in the KLSE has just begun.

The dragon will just watch from the sidelines as always, waiting for the right time to join in the fray. For the Yi cautions in the third line of Qian :

“All day long the superior man is creatively active. At nightfall his mind is still beset with cares. Danger. No blame.”

Is there ever no concern that the shares sold will go sky high? Is there no temptation to buy back the shares at a lower price? Is there no necessity to do homework and watch the battles? Of course there is. It is proper conduct of a Junzi to be beset with cares. But since the annual Yi chart has been and is accurate, there is no reason not to follow its timing to ride the ups and downs of shares in the KLSE.

A word of advice to Malaysians who follow the annual chart(s) of a Buddhist monk based in the south of peninsular Malaysia. While his chart written in Chinese seems based on the Yi and other methods of divination, the predictions on market timing are usually accurate for the first few months of the calendar year. Do not rely too heavily on his predictions on good and bad trading days for the market. You can get burn. However his predictions on which sectors to buy can be worth looking at from time to time especially during a bull run, if you have run out of ideas on what stocks to invest in.

One also like this sentence from the analyst who writes for The Star on the KLCI Futures Market today after the spot month futures touched an all time high of 1,338.50 yesterday:
“The cautious bulls are usually nervous on a technically overbought ‘new-moon’ day.”

Does it not show that he knows a bit of Chinese culture? One wonders if he knows the significance of new moons and full moons that can at times affect markets, but he is definitely discerning. If we want to learn the Yi and the Tao, we need to know the timing for firmness and flexibility as they play an important part in major Chinese businesses; deals; trades; and cycles.

For those who had taken their profits and sitting on a huge pile of cash, the timing is entirely up to you on when you want to buyback or buy other low and second liner shares. You can start to buy if you think the shares are cheap enough. Do not look for me to tell you when it is the cheapest. I truly do not know. From my limited experience of thirty odd years in shares trading with the Yi, no one really knows the lowest or highest possible price of a share, unless they have seen it, or have a ‘third eye’.

But one can tell readers in a later entry, based on the Yi chart, when the low and second liners will start to rebound after the falls.

Cheerio!

The Art of Wu Wei

Daoists often dispute over what actually constitutes ‘Wu Wei’ which can be translated as ‘without doing anything’, ‘non action’ or ‘no need for action’. Free thinkers like to think that with Wu Wei there is no need for any action, a reason why they are attracted to Tao in the first place, while the better informed say there is required action before non action can arise.

Laozi first discussed Wu Wei in Chapter 2 of his Tao Te Ching. He indicated that ‘being’ and ‘non being’ produces each other. Just as difficult and easy complement each other; long and short contrast each other; back and front follow each other. Therefore the sage manages affairs without doing anything -Wu Wei- and conveys his instructions without the use of speech.

Whence can sages manage affairs without doing anything (Wu Wei), and convey instructions without the use of speech?

Probably you may already know the answer to the question. However few including translators of the TTC seemed to have the necessary experience and aptitude to know the answer. Otherwise they would have the clarity to tell us where and how to achieve the state of ‘Wu Wei’.

If people use their intellect to try to understand what Laozi wrote in Chapter 2 on Wu Wei, they may take forever and yet get no nearer to the truth of what the great sage had indicated. At such times, Daoists could better understand Wu Wei if they rely on what Daoist heavenly immortals – true representatives of Tao as compared to humans - had pointed to. And Buddhists can rely on Buddha if they do not want to follow the pointing of Daoist immortals.

In his Secret of the Golden Flower, Lu Dongbin said :
When the light is made to move in a circle, all the energies of heaven and earth, of the light and the dark, are crystallized. When one begins to apply this magic it is as if, in the middle of being, there were non being. When in the course of time the work is completed, and beyond the body there is a body, it is as if, in the middle of non being, there were being.

The book Leng Yen (Shurangama Sutra) says:
By collecting the thoughts one can fly and will be born in heaven. If one keeps this up for a long time there develops quite naturally, in addition to the body, yet another spirit-body.
[Secret of the Golden Flower – W/B]

Now that is Wu Wei but how many people down the ages understood it?

For those who sit and forget, movement of the wondrous breath (Qi) may one day enable them to develop non being from being. Upon reaching such a state, they may come to realize that the sage can manage affairs without doing anything – Wu Wei.

Did Laozi and Buddha really give direct instructions on how to achieve the Art of Wu Wei? No. Just like the Daoist heavenly immortals that came later, heaven’s secrets cannot simply be revealed. That is why both ancients, who knew heaven and earth well, are great sages!

If ardent followers of Wang Bi disagree to what is written, do not shoot the messenger. If only he had lived longer than his twenty four years of life and practiced neidan, perhaps Wang Bi may have cause to agree on what is written in this entry on non being, being, and Wu Wei. How would I know?

Cheerio!

Three types of Daoist immortals

Quite a number of Daoists in the West do not understand the term, ‘Daoist immortals’ or ‘Dao Xian’, possibly confused by various explanations given in Western books and/or in forums which largely depend on the knowledge of each author. It is alright, nothing to worry about. After praying to Daoist deities for a few decades, one had only understood the real difference between a Daoist deity (Shen) and a Daoist immortal (Xian) about fifteen years ago.

A learned individual needs to cultivate both essence and life to become an immortal. Deities need not go through the same process – a candidate may not be as learned, he or she may not have cultivated both essence and life – they could have led an exemplary life or had done something great for the people. And the people at the time build temple(s) in their honor and started to pray for the deity’s blessings. (Think Guan Gong – the God of War.)

For those with a passing interest in Taoism and want to know a bit more about immortals, reading what a renowned Daoist has to say is better than gleaning from Western books and Tao forums.

According to Zhong LiQuan, one of the eight Daoist immortals (Baxian), there are three types of immortals. In his text, the Secretly Transmitted Complete Numinous Treasure Skills of Perfect Man Zhengyang, he indicated that there are human immortals, earthly immortals, and heavenly immortals depending on their attainments. Apparently the text was transmitted by his student, Lu Dongbin, and comprised of three volumes each depicting what can be achieved by man (ren):

“If students can accomplish the “Four small vehicle ways for happiness and prolonged life”, they can become human immortals.

If students can step up to accomplish the “Three middle vehicle ways for immortality”, they become earthly immortals.

Finally if they can accomplish the “Three great vehicle ways for attaining sainthood”, they become heavenly immortals.”

[Source: Taoist Culture and Information Centre, Hong Kong. Click ‘Quanzhen/Taoism’ under Resources for website link, if you wish to read the details and the Chinese in ‘the Daoist Scriptures’ section.]

I had first heard about earthly immortals (DiXian) from my Daoist friend several years ago. He learned about them from his ancestor master, a heavenly immortal (TianXian). Probably human immortals (RenXian) are those who have reached the Center, who are happier and live longer than others. (Think Sages and the wise.)

In the Shurangama Sutra (Leng Yen), Buddha had indicated a few more types of immortals which include Buddhas, various deities, and ghost kings.

Over the decades, through mediums, one had opportunities to speak to Daoist deities, a heavenly immortal, and Buddhas. If you have the opportunity, do not miss the chance to ask any of these divinities, it is good for experience and knowledge. Just do not ask frivolous questions. You may get a knock on the head by the Daoist immortal – immortals are a bit sterner than the others. Like the Yi, if you know what I mean. (Think Hexagram 4 Meng / Youthful Folly.)

Daoist heavenly immortals certainly know more of the Yi than you and me. A reason why they are in heaven!

Tread with caution

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index closed above 1,300 points, a thirteen year high on April 10, last seen on Jan 5 1994. Back then, fate had it that one was stranded in Perth, Australia with an open air ticket and no available flights to KL. Lucky! The day after my return, the KLSE plunged heavily. The then finance minister had warned the general public that foreign funds were selling down the market. Instead of appreciating his warning, those who lost lots of money blamed him for triggering the plunge. Some one literally sent him a coffin. (Truly, remaining blameless is the highest good.)

The naïve had taken to heart that foreign funds invest for the long term – between a three to five years time frame, their managers had indicated in earlier interviews. But the general public did not quite understand that foreign funds were looking for a reasonable steady growth of say 10 to 20% a year for their investments. The funds sold out their investments because they achieved their ‘three to five years’ objective within a year. The KLCI had doubled in early 1994!

If Malaysian investors are mystified as to why the prices of some blue chips are still comparatively lower than those achieved in 1993/94, it is because the KLCI component stocks had been changed over the years.

The KLCI is about 20+ points away from its all time high. 1,300+ points represent a 30% increase from November 2006 when foreign funds, mainly hedge funds, started to invest in the KLSE in earnest – the KLCI was about 1,000 points then. As expected, quite a number of stocks had topped their 12 months high the past two weeks. Coupled with the rising ringgit against US dollars, I wonder whether these funds have made enough for this six months period – giving an annualized 60 to 70% return.

The stock market looks lethargic even with the high volume churned. For the past two days, one has been locking in profits of stocks bought early last month, quite happy with some of the 50 to 100% returns. Stocks cannot go up for ever; bulls still has to take a breather. Therefore it is time to tread with caution. Heavy profit taking and stale bulls selling (those caught in the February 27 plunge) may set in.

April is a month where investors have to be wary. There could be a few bear traps for the unwary and the exuberant. One did not cast away friends and kin when I told them to stop buying and to take profits. If they had followed, fine and good, if they want to be contrary and traded, it is also fine by me. Their gains and losses is no longer my concern.

A good friend asked the reason for my selling when he expects the stock market to rally this Friday with the expected announcement of better policy changes by the Prime Minister. He understood me perfectly when I told him there were no reasons why the market will fall. Perhaps after putting down the phone in a jiffy, he had started to take profits on Tuesday and today.

Yi students not understanding the wisdoms contained in the Book of Changes tend to lightly dismiss this Chinese classic as non philosophic and/or only good for divinations. No matter how many years they have spent reading the Yi, a number still do not quite get it. Earnest and sincere students may understand this third line of Tai / Peace in terms of philosophy and changes:

No plain not followed by a slope. No going not followed by a return. He who remains persevering in danger is without blame. Do not complain about this truth; enjoy the good fortune you still possess.

If Yi students still do not understand the philosophy and wisdom contained in the line, think in terms of the rise and fall of the KLSE, or of the US property market – discussed in a previous entry on ‘Three types of Change’ in 2005.

Cycles do not need divinations – what goes up will come down - but we may divine when we want to know their timing. Unless you have learned to read the annual Yi chart for investments accurately! (Joke)

Human nature is good

About 2,400 years ago, because Mencius clearly understood that people have a mind which cannot bear to see the sufferings of others, he gave a (by now) well known example to demonstrate that human nature (Ren Xing) is good, followed by an exhortation to develop its goodness:

What would people feel if they suddenly see a very young child about to fall into a well?

The people will without exception experience a feeling of alarm and distress. They will feel so, not as a ground on which they may gain the favour of the child’s parents, nor as a ground on which they may seek the praise of their neighbours and friends, nor from a dislike to the reputation of having been unmoved by such a thing.

From this case we may perceive that the feeling of commiseration is essential to man, that the feeling of shame and dislike is essential to man, that the feeling of modesty and complaisance is essential to man, and that the feeling of approving and disapproving is essential to man.

He then went on to explain how these feelings generate the four cardinal virtues or ethics:

The feeling of commiseration is the principle of benevolence (ren). The feeling of shame and dislike is the principle of righteousness (yi). The feeling of modesty and complaisance is the principle of propriety (li). The feeling of approving and disapproving is the principle of knowledge (zhi).

According to Mencius, these virtues form parts of human nature, yet people say that they cannot develop (or cultivate) them. Therefore such people play the thief with themselves. If only they can develop and complete the four virtues, they will suffice to love and protect all within the four seas (the world). Without that development, they will not suffice for a man to serve his parents with.
[Book II, Part 1. 5 – Legge]

More than two millennia later, man still do not quite understand the difference between good and evil. And what forms human nature.

Renowned Neo Confucians rejected the doctrines of Mohists and Xunzi (who propounded that human nature is evil) for the same reason, yet intellects from time to time questioned their very motive for the rejection.

Some Daoist and Yi students reject Confucian studies possibly following Zhuangzi because these students think it is hip and philosophical to do so. Female students at times reject the studies because Confucius and Mencius only talked about ‘man’ (Ren - people) occasionally translated as ‘men’; probably giving rise to a misconception that Confucians hated women!

If translators, professors, teachers, and ‘experts’ hold to wrong concepts and their pointing are not ‘corrected’, then their so called ‘wisdom’ get passed on to yet another generation. The reason I rant at their misleading statements and for providing inept translations for students. Perhaps, raising a cry of alarm to announce the danger!

Since people have a mind which cannot bear to see the sufferings of others (commiseration) which explains why human nature is good, perhaps Yi students, Daoists, Buddhists, and Confucians can understand why it is important to cultivate (develop) the four cardinal virtues to become a Junzi. After all, did the ancients not say as much in the Zhouyi, Tao Te Ching, Confucian books and the Buddhist scriptures?

Commiseration if expressed leads to compassion. Is original human nature, that of a baby or an innocent, not kind? Is human nature not therefore good?

If rulers of countries can lead by good example to display benevolence (ren) and justice (yi) in their every action for the people, perhaps then there can be lasting peace on earth.

Peace and prosperity have always been the top most wish of the ancients for the people of the world. Because these ancient sages and holy men cannot bear to see the sufferings of others!

Blue heaven

“A cotton candy-like cloud of simple sugar drifts in the unspeakable cold centre of the Milky Way about 26,000 light years away, offering a remote, yet tantalizing, hint of how building blocks of life may have reached Earth billion of years ago. A four man team of NASA used Green Bank’s 105-metre-diameter parabolic reflector to examine Sagittarius B2, a cloud of dust and gas several light-years wide at the heart of the Milky Way.”
[SundayStar 3 Oct 2004]

When you sit and forget regularly, in time, you may get to see blue heaven. Without the help of science and pictures of galaxies in the Milky Way, perhaps the ancients could not pass down to posterity what they had seen. If neidan practitioners have seen the clouds formations, true colors of the galaxies, and lovely sunsets as well, welcome. You are on the right track, no kidding.

If you have already obtained confirmations like those revealed by Daoist Immortal Lu Dongbin in his Secret of the Golden Flower, do drop me a line. The revealed confirmations are real, in case fellows of the Way have any doubts.

Meanwhile enjoy your walk on the true path and do not forget about the cultivation of life (virtues).

When the Yi speaks (2)

Later generation Chinese invariably liked to claim that their newly found divination methods are better than those of the Yi. They also claim that their methods can determine more about time and space than the classic. There is no real point to enter into discussions with proponents of such derivative methods. Lovers of the Yi usually let the results speak for themselves. Because when the Yi speaks, what is really time and space?

Readers may recall the entry on Hexagram 51 Zhen / The Arousing made around the last quarter of 2006. In it, one mentioned that the prognostic hexagram can also announce forthcoming thunderstorms and earthquakes. Since then thunderstorms and earthquakes have struck many parts of the world and still continues till today. One had thought that the 4.0 plus Richter scale after shocks tremor in Japan recently would be the last but it was not to be. What with the tsunami that struck Solomon Island yesterday. According to news reports, the tsunami was brought on by a bone-rattling undersea earthquake with a scale measure of 8.0.

Before skeptics and some Yi aficionados pooh-pooh such pronouncements of the Yi, one submits old records of a similar prognostication for all to see. In August 1999, one asked about the KLSE and the Yi answered with Zhen / The Arousing. These were the recorded events thereafter:

Aug 17 Devastating earthquake in Turkey – 14,000 died; 27,000 injured

Sept 7 Earthquake in Athens, Greece

Sept 8 Very loud thunder heard

Sept 13 Several earthquakes hit NE and Eastern Japan

Sept 14 Heaviest typhoons hit HK, and the day after

Sept 15 Heavy thunderstorms hit Florida US from East Coast

Sept 21 Earthquake of RS 7.6 hit Central Taiwan – 2,000 killed and several thousands injured

Yi students should remember this in your Yi studies. Just because the Yi does not speak in this way to you, never think that other Yi aficionados cannot get divine messages as indicated by ancients and the wise. If the Yi speaks and when the Yi really speaks can be two different things. Take note of that.

Let others boast of their derivative divination methods; this entry provides a reason why one just follows the Yi.