Hexagram 43 Guai / Breakthrough is made up of a broken (dark) line at the top with five non broken (light) lines below. It signifies that one weak line is sitting on top of five strong lines.
If in a prognostication, only the top line of Hexagram 1 Qian changes, the changed hexagram is Hexagram 43 Guai. It also means that the arrogant dragon in the top line of Hexagram 1 Qian becomes a weak line or inferior man sitting on top of the changed hexagram oppressing the five superior men below.
Remember my entries on the three types of men where a Junzi (superior man) or even a Da Ren (great man) can turn into a Xiao Ren (inferior man)? The arrogant dragon was once a Junzi or a Da Ren until he forgotten about the Way of Man.
The Judgment of Hexagram Guai says:
Breakthrough. One must resolutely make the matter known at the court of the king. It must be announced truthfully. Danger. It is necessary to notify one’s own city. It does not further to resort to arms. It furthers one to undertake something.
Readers may ask how this judgment leads to revolution. It seems not. But read on.
The announcement is of an inferior man occupying a ruling position and oppressing superior men. There is danger in this truthful announcement but it is the right thing to do at this time.
Pause and think of how the revolution started in Tunisia and in Egypt.
The people have had enough of their oppressor (s) after so long. And they made a truthful announcement. Whether citizens of other states will revolt or not, or will be successful or not depends on many other factors. But resoluteness is key here (another meaning of this Hexagram).
The five superior men representing the people have to be resolute to push out the inferior man oppressing them. If the pushed out oppressor happens to be a ruler of the state, then there will be a change of government as a result of a revolution.
If only the rulers of nations understand and follow what the Holy sages and the ancients taught about the Tao of Man, then they would not have to face such dire consequences now or in the foreseeable future. As always in the Book of Changes, there are depicted ways out but it is too late to do anything. The tension build up and accumulated through the decades has to be released.
In case the discerning still does not agree that Breakthrough leads to Revolution, read this recent prognostication given by the Yi (by coincidence as usual over the years):
Nine in the second place means:
A cry of alarm. Arms at evening and at night. Fear nothing.
With this one line change, Hexagram 43 Guai / Breakthrough changed to Hexagram 49 Ge / Revolution.
The Judgment of Hexagram Ge says:
Revolution. On your own day you are believed. Supreme success, furthering through perseverance. Remorse disappears.
Good luck to the revolutionaries and the peoples oppressed by ruler(s) of their nation(s).
Meanwhile the Junzi and the able have to be watchful at all times. Since the great light has only just returned to Earth (refer earlier entry on ‘The returning great light’).
Cheerio!
Friday, February 25, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Second wind
It is noted in the Wikipedia that long distance or marathon runners would love to get a second wind where possible when they run out of breath during the distance running. The second wind, if any, would allow out-of- breath athletes “to continue the run at top performance with less exertion”.
Such athletes would probably be in their prime and have trained very hard for this second wind phenomenon.
Neidan practitioners practising the ancient Chinese meditation may find, without initially realizing it, that they also possess second wind. Only when they test it would they realize this phenomenon.
A year or two, after practising the neidan (inner alchemy) meditation, my son who was attending primary school then wanted to race me up two flights of stairs at a public park. Fearing he would fall, I quickly chased after him as he ran up the forty over steps of stairs while my wife holding my few years old daughter watched. After climbing the stairs in haste, instead of panting as usual, I found a second wind as if the lungs were filled with a sudden burst of fresh air, it felt good, and my breathing reverted to normal.
Since the classics and Daoist texts do not deal with this second wind phenomenon, and lest I forget, I record it down with this blog entry.
When neidan practitioners learn how to breathe like a baby through their abdomen and via the backward flow, the Light circulates together with the Qi (breath) up to the mind and down again, there are many health benefits (some unrecorded) for them and through them, possibly for mankind.
Cheerio!
Such athletes would probably be in their prime and have trained very hard for this second wind phenomenon.
Neidan practitioners practising the ancient Chinese meditation may find, without initially realizing it, that they also possess second wind. Only when they test it would they realize this phenomenon.
A year or two, after practising the neidan (inner alchemy) meditation, my son who was attending primary school then wanted to race me up two flights of stairs at a public park. Fearing he would fall, I quickly chased after him as he ran up the forty over steps of stairs while my wife holding my few years old daughter watched. After climbing the stairs in haste, instead of panting as usual, I found a second wind as if the lungs were filled with a sudden burst of fresh air, it felt good, and my breathing reverted to normal.
Since the classics and Daoist texts do not deal with this second wind phenomenon, and lest I forget, I record it down with this blog entry.
When neidan practitioners learn how to breathe like a baby through their abdomen and via the backward flow, the Light circulates together with the Qi (breath) up to the mind and down again, there are many health benefits (some unrecorded) for them and through them, possibly for mankind.
Cheerio!
Friday, February 04, 2011
The returning great light
The holy sages and the ancient sages (Laozi, Confucius, and Mencius) advise the able to go into hiding whenever there is no Tao on earth. Those who did not hide or were too late to do so suffered the consequences. And history keeps repeating itself down the millennia.
The great wealth destruction from September 2008 onwards brought financial ruin to many across the world. Natural disasters like earthquakes and floods, and wind borne diseases which turned into worldwide epidemics killed many people.
That was why in early 2008 the Book of Changes warned this student, there was going to be no Tao on earth.
Of late, the I Ching has told me times are changing.
For Heaven is sending down the light for the sake of the people.
The returning great light and the accompanying wind will penetrate and disperse the darkness which had hurt so many people on earth over the past few years.
During this change, it is advisable for the able to remain cautious since it is a transition from disorder to order and such change takes time. Just do not miss this return of the great light, or they may have to wait for ten years.
With this heaven sent great light, it is time to cross the great waters, and achieve supreme success. What should I do? Practise charioting! Or write a book?
The great wealth destruction from September 2008 onwards brought financial ruin to many across the world. Natural disasters like earthquakes and floods, and wind borne diseases which turned into worldwide epidemics killed many people.
That was why in early 2008 the Book of Changes warned this student, there was going to be no Tao on earth.
Of late, the I Ching has told me times are changing.
For Heaven is sending down the light for the sake of the people.
The returning great light and the accompanying wind will penetrate and disperse the darkness which had hurt so many people on earth over the past few years.
During this change, it is advisable for the able to remain cautious since it is a transition from disorder to order and such change takes time. Just do not miss this return of the great light, or they may have to wait for ten years.
With this heaven sent great light, it is time to cross the great waters, and achieve supreme success. What should I do? Practise charioting! Or write a book?
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Keep it simple and easy
The first time when I saw how a neidan student relate yin yang to his practice and the Book of Changes but fumbled, I had wanted to comment but I said nothing. Later the same student perhaps after checking with his teacher from a lineage in China tried to tie up the relationship between yin yang, earth and heaven but still could not convinced the audience (some discerning or skeptical Tao Bums) why a neidan practitioner cultivates towards yang instead of yin.
A few months after that, I see Yi aficionados discussing yin yang in relation to interpretations of prognostications in an I Ching Forum.
Nothing wrong with that too, except that it could complicate our studies and our explanations to self and others, if we try to be sophisticated instead of keeping it simple and easy.
The holy sages who made the Book of Changes also made it simple and easy. That is why they determined the Tao of Heaven to be the dark and the light. And they determined the Tao of Earth to be yielding and firm.
We can easily substitute yin yang for the dark and the light, yielding and firm, earth and heaven respectively. But is that what the ancients taught? And can we or others see yin yang or understand the concept with ease?
If the particular neidan student or his teacher had given it a deeper thought, it could have made understanding for both the transmitter and the receiver(s) a bit easier.
Is it not easier for the audience to understand that a neidan practitioner cultivates Tao to become a light being (an immortal, a divinity), instead of a yang being (even though the term light is often substituted by the term yang by Daoist adepts)?
If we learn to keep our Yi and/or neidan studies and practices simple and easy, we may one day emulate earth and heaven. But how would I know?
A few months after that, I see Yi aficionados discussing yin yang in relation to interpretations of prognostications in an I Ching Forum.
Nothing wrong with that too, except that it could complicate our studies and our explanations to self and others, if we try to be sophisticated instead of keeping it simple and easy.
The holy sages who made the Book of Changes also made it simple and easy. That is why they determined the Tao of Heaven to be the dark and the light. And they determined the Tao of Earth to be yielding and firm.
We can easily substitute yin yang for the dark and the light, yielding and firm, earth and heaven respectively. But is that what the ancients taught? And can we or others see yin yang or understand the concept with ease?
If the particular neidan student or his teacher had given it a deeper thought, it could have made understanding for both the transmitter and the receiver(s) a bit easier.
Is it not easier for the audience to understand that a neidan practitioner cultivates Tao to become a light being (an immortal, a divinity), instead of a yang being (even though the term light is often substituted by the term yang by Daoist adepts)?
If we learn to keep our Yi and/or neidan studies and practices simple and easy, we may one day emulate earth and heaven. But how would I know?
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Too deep for many
What the two great sages, Laozi and Confucius, know about the Book of Changes can be too deep for many Yi students. Therefore their thoughts on this ancient Chinese classic are often missed even by those who considered themselves scholars of ancient Chinese philosophy.
Over the years, Yi students have tried linking up the Tao Te Ching to the Book of Changes without much success. It will be difficult if we do not know both the profound classics well. Another drawback would be the lack of neidan knowledge and practice.
If we are discerning enough, we may find several chapters in the Tao Te Ching relating to neidan and the Zhouyi. This means that the Book of Changes also contains layers on neidan practice which Laozi and some renowned Neo Daoists know about. But many down the ages do not.
If we look clearly at Confucius’ commentaries on certain lines of hexagrams, we may understand how deep his knowledge on the Book of Changes was. But then if we are not earnest in our Yi studies, we may not know why he interpreted those lines as he did.
As to whether he consulted the Book of Changes on occasions is another story altogether. So far I have not come across any evidence of his Yi consultation(s) in the four Confucian books.
Yet I read of a modern scholar, a fellow Malaysian, claiming that Confucius do not use the nuclear trigrams and the changed hexagram for interpretations. And that those who used them, do not or did not know their Yi studies well.
While I verily agree with the scholar that Confucius’s interpretations of the lines are based on the trigrams, we cannot conclusively determine that nuclear trigrams and changed hexagrams cannot be used for interpretations of Yi consultations, unless we have examples of consultations performed by the great sage, Confucius and his interpretation of them to form such an opinion.
Though my knowledge of the Yi is minimal compared to the two great sages, I do use the nuclear trigrams on occasions to provide more clarity to the prognostications or omens. And I use the changed hexagrams more often than not.
But does this mean that the particular modern scholar know the Yi better than me? Nope. Since down the ages, the Yi has been too deep for many.
Over the years, Yi students have tried linking up the Tao Te Ching to the Book of Changes without much success. It will be difficult if we do not know both the profound classics well. Another drawback would be the lack of neidan knowledge and practice.
If we are discerning enough, we may find several chapters in the Tao Te Ching relating to neidan and the Zhouyi. This means that the Book of Changes also contains layers on neidan practice which Laozi and some renowned Neo Daoists know about. But many down the ages do not.
If we look clearly at Confucius’ commentaries on certain lines of hexagrams, we may understand how deep his knowledge on the Book of Changes was. But then if we are not earnest in our Yi studies, we may not know why he interpreted those lines as he did.
As to whether he consulted the Book of Changes on occasions is another story altogether. So far I have not come across any evidence of his Yi consultation(s) in the four Confucian books.
Yet I read of a modern scholar, a fellow Malaysian, claiming that Confucius do not use the nuclear trigrams and the changed hexagram for interpretations. And that those who used them, do not or did not know their Yi studies well.
While I verily agree with the scholar that Confucius’s interpretations of the lines are based on the trigrams, we cannot conclusively determine that nuclear trigrams and changed hexagrams cannot be used for interpretations of Yi consultations, unless we have examples of consultations performed by the great sage, Confucius and his interpretation of them to form such an opinion.
Though my knowledge of the Yi is minimal compared to the two great sages, I do use the nuclear trigrams on occasions to provide more clarity to the prognostications or omens. And I use the changed hexagrams more often than not.
But does this mean that the particular modern scholar know the Yi better than me? Nope. Since down the ages, the Yi has been too deep for many.
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Immortality
For thousands of years, people have searched for immortality.
The best recorded example of such a search was that of Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty. According to Sima Qian, the Grand Historian of the Han Dynasty, this emperor sent large groups of young girls and young boys to accompany the Daoists on two separate occasions in search for the mythical Peng Lai Island where immortals are rumored to live, and to bring back the elixir (of immortality or life) for him to drink.
For many including the Chinese, immortality means long life and not getting old, for others, immortality means having their (good) names etched into history or legacy.
Immortality conveys a deeper meaning to those who cultivate Tao and/or practise neidan (inner alchemy). It is not only about having a long life and not getting old, it is also about living on forever.
To live on forever is a difficult concept for people to understand and accept. Since everyone will eventually die, how can anyone live on forever, they wonder or ask?
To have a better understanding of this living forever, we turn to a definition of immortality and how one can achieve it by the great sage, Laozi in Chapter 16 of his Tao Te Ching and my simple translation follows:
Tao Te Ching Chapter 16
Achieve utmost emptiness, guard assured stillness.
(Even if) myriad things no longer active, I continue to observe return.
Man and things flourish, each will return to its root.
To return to the root require stillness, stillness brings return to destiny.
Returning to destiny is the principle; knowledge of this principle means understanding.
Not knowing this principle, delusions and disasters arise.
Know and accept the principle, upon acceptance one can be impartial, impartiality accords with completeness. Completion accords with Heaven. Heaven accords with Dao.
Dao last forever, without body, no death.
[Allan Lian]
In case, some readers still do not get it, Laozi defined celestial immortality in the final verse of Chapter 16.
The best recorded example of such a search was that of Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty. According to Sima Qian, the Grand Historian of the Han Dynasty, this emperor sent large groups of young girls and young boys to accompany the Daoists on two separate occasions in search for the mythical Peng Lai Island where immortals are rumored to live, and to bring back the elixir (of immortality or life) for him to drink.
For many including the Chinese, immortality means long life and not getting old, for others, immortality means having their (good) names etched into history or legacy.
Immortality conveys a deeper meaning to those who cultivate Tao and/or practise neidan (inner alchemy). It is not only about having a long life and not getting old, it is also about living on forever.
To live on forever is a difficult concept for people to understand and accept. Since everyone will eventually die, how can anyone live on forever, they wonder or ask?
To have a better understanding of this living forever, we turn to a definition of immortality and how one can achieve it by the great sage, Laozi in Chapter 16 of his Tao Te Ching and my simple translation follows:
Tao Te Ching Chapter 16
Achieve utmost emptiness, guard assured stillness.
(Even if) myriad things no longer active, I continue to observe return.
Man and things flourish, each will return to its root.
To return to the root require stillness, stillness brings return to destiny.
Returning to destiny is the principle; knowledge of this principle means understanding.
Not knowing this principle, delusions and disasters arise.
Know and accept the principle, upon acceptance one can be impartial, impartiality accords with completeness. Completion accords with Heaven. Heaven accords with Dao.
Dao last forever, without body, no death.
[Allan Lian]
In case, some readers still do not get it, Laozi defined celestial immortality in the final verse of Chapter 16.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Of students and masters (11)
It could be worthwhile for those who cultivate Tao or practise neidan to spend some time to read the Taobums forum. Especially on threads started by those taught by real masters in China, and where readers may pick up some knowledge on what cultivation or neidan entails. At times, although rare, what is written therein can provide a confirmation of various minor signposts of the Way.
For example, in a recent questions and answers session in Nov / Dec 2010 between Wang LiPing and some students in the West, he was asked what the first signs of success were for an average normal practitioner of his practice. Wang LiPing of Quanzhen is a real neidan teacher recognized by the Chinese government and has gained quite a number of students in China and recently in the West.
According to his official website in English and copied over to the Taobums forum by his students, this was what he said (extracts):
“The first thing following this practice is health improvement. Your energy level increases steadily. This sign is important but is not the most important.
The most important thing is when you transform your XIN LING, when you change your soul, so that you have more wisdom and more faith.....
In a next phase the practice will change your body internals, your organs and internal functions so that your immunity will increase. You'll never get the flu again. “
While it is good that a well respected teacher like Wang Liping confirms in public that a neidan practitioner will have his or her immunity increased in the next phase; from experience, it could be circumspect to say that never to get the flu again is conditional upon continual meditation practice.
Of course if neidan practitioners still have 24/7 Qi flows even without continual meditation over a period of time, they can cure the oncoming flu with heat from their palms before the flu gets full blown. Those so interested can refer to my older entries on Thermal healing [in 2005]; and on how the Shi (masters) can help cure Swine Flu or H1N1 posted both in this blog and in the Taobums forum in 2009, to gain a better perspective on the matter.
Even if we managed to get our immunity up in this next phase and not likely to get flu again one way or other, it can be considered only a minor achievement for neidan practitioners since the ancient classics, the great masters and the Zhen Ren did not mention the immunity to Flu in their teachings. But how would I know?
For example, in a recent questions and answers session in Nov / Dec 2010 between Wang LiPing and some students in the West, he was asked what the first signs of success were for an average normal practitioner of his practice. Wang LiPing of Quanzhen is a real neidan teacher recognized by the Chinese government and has gained quite a number of students in China and recently in the West.
According to his official website in English and copied over to the Taobums forum by his students, this was what he said (extracts):
“The first thing following this practice is health improvement. Your energy level increases steadily. This sign is important but is not the most important.
The most important thing is when you transform your XIN LING, when you change your soul, so that you have more wisdom and more faith.....
In a next phase the practice will change your body internals, your organs and internal functions so that your immunity will increase. You'll never get the flu again. “
While it is good that a well respected teacher like Wang Liping confirms in public that a neidan practitioner will have his or her immunity increased in the next phase; from experience, it could be circumspect to say that never to get the flu again is conditional upon continual meditation practice.
Of course if neidan practitioners still have 24/7 Qi flows even without continual meditation over a period of time, they can cure the oncoming flu with heat from their palms before the flu gets full blown. Those so interested can refer to my older entries on Thermal healing [in 2005]; and on how the Shi (masters) can help cure Swine Flu or H1N1 posted both in this blog and in the Taobums forum in 2009, to gain a better perspective on the matter.
Even if we managed to get our immunity up in this next phase and not likely to get flu again one way or other, it can be considered only a minor achievement for neidan practitioners since the ancient classics, the great masters and the Zhen Ren did not mention the immunity to Flu in their teachings. But how would I know?
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