Overview Of Taoist Spiritual Development may as well share some...

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so as a disclaimer, i am not any form of official taoist, i have not been initiated into any tradions, i dont follow any specific tradition, but i do focus my studies of taoism in the area of herbology, excersize, and i try to understand the i ching. if i had to say i was anything i'd say i am a person who studies "holistic tao sciences". barely even a taoist really...

so with that aside, and the reader takeing this info with a grain of salt i'd like to start talking a bit on Spiritual Development in relation to taoism.

okay ready? lets go!

taosim is probably one of the best places to start in spiritual development for someone who knows nothing about it, and for just that kind of person im going to give this overview of sorts. taoism (fr the most part) unlike many religions doesnt claim very much. they dont claim very much about the history especialy, in religions like buddhism, christanity, ect. theres often the figure of a saviour or messaiah. with taoism the first thing you need to realize is that that position is held by YOU. you are the only person who can advance and develop who you are. scince things like the powers of buddha, jesus, heaven and angels still remain to be proven, it often times seems very foolish to hold on to a faith that advocates that you must do the will of an invisble god, or stand in fear of a cosmic force giving you a rebound of evil for actions or mistakes you may have made. so while it is difficult it does help for a person taking on the path of a taoist to relinquish their thoughts on divinity, hell and even a being like god, while this may not be neccessary it does provide a certain peace of mind, a sort of empty slate to work with in your own spiritual development.

taoism for the most part works on three different levels. these levels are Qi, Jing, and Shen. Qi is much like a current of energy or momentum. if you want evidence of qi look to the workings and interplay of sickness and helth. you'll notice that when your qi is good and balanced you are happy, energetic, and full of strength, and whn you are ill you become weak, cold (or hot, depending on the imbalance of qi) and generaly unhappy. Jing, is mainly represented by the workings of not only a healthy working body, but also the actions of the endocerine system, the network of glands throught the body that aid in many (unnoticed and unappreciated) functions of the body. The Endocrine system is an information signal system much like the nervous system. However, the nervous system uses nerves to conduct information, whereas the endocrine system mainly uses blood vessels as information channels. Glands located in many regions of the body release into the bloodstream specific chemical messengers called hormones. Hormones regulate the many and varied functions of an organism, e.g. mood, growth and development, tissue function, and metabolism, as well as sending messages and acting on them. these glands include the in the brain - hypothalamus, penial, pituitary - in the throat - thyroid. in the chest - thymus. and above the kidneys are the adrenal glands.

*note* - not all the glands in the endocerine system are listed here, for a compleate list check the wikipedia link i have posted below

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocrine_system

Shen, while meaning spirit and mental energy, is very much related to the effects and nature of a optimaly functioning human body. the area of shen also includes things like proper thinking and in some cases things lk philosophy. espcialy when the taoist is looking to remove mental barriers that limit their efficiantcy and proformance such as fear of death, hell or any social pressures that one finds present in our or their society.

in the start of spiritual development it is very important that the stressfull stimuli of reality be effectivly eliminated. if you are weak it is best to gain physical strength and confidence. if you are fearfull it is important to overcome your fears, if you live in a place that if dificult to survive in it is neccessary to build a safe way to interact with your enviornment. in essence this mundane world is the base that you must build apon to do any sort of development and without a steady base, without a deep level of comfort in you situation. without it it is very difficult to gain anysort of wisdom or insight.

once that base, that confidence and comfort in the face of this everchanging world has been built one can start to examine and scutinize the way they live, how they interact with people and everyother aspect of their lives. it takes very cautious and honest self perception to accomplish this. for most the best route is to find a master, or someone who can at least act as some form of teacher or even a friend who you can see as a temporary mentor on this matter. because from the inside it is very easy to overlook ones faults and shortcomings. but from the outside, with the help of a trusted perosn it while not the easiest thing you've ever done can at least be a lot simpler.

and so for a time, one should devote themselves to ataining a level of holistic living. theres plenty of info on how to get started on this, you'll find martial arts, teas, meditation even fung shui to be among the most common types of tao related information available. but with a bit of searching you can find very exact teachings in many different forms. one source that i found incredibly helpfull was the book "Scholar Warrior" by deng ming-dao. who was a student of a taoist master (who i belive is still aliv today) by the name of Kwan Sai Hung. the book provides information on excersize, meditation, elixer formulas and philosophy as well as providing a very diverse range of other books that cover many other areas and types of taoism.

Another book i found very enlightening was the Hua Hu Ching. you'll always hear people talking about the tao te ching. but the hua hu ching is almost completely unknown by many (even though you can buy it at almost any borders or barns and noble bookstore) unlike the tao te ching the hua hu ching is very direct in its teaching. it provides many key concepts and reference points in very plain terms.

*note* i just remmebered this book is available on the internet at:
http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

(just copy and paste that)

in additon there are also two more books that while seemingly childish in nature are very fine points of information and aid in ones spiritual development. oddly enough they focus around the 'whinney the pooh' children storys. the books are called "The Tao of Pooh" and "The Te of Piglet" the two books are incredible. with the aid of taoisms simplistic nature the book provides very clear insight on the workings of our society as reflected by the interactions of the characters featured in the story.

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well, here i am again up late and needing hosting credits, so you get to learn more about the fundamentals of taoist spiritual development. ready? here we go!one thing i really didnt get into in the above post is taoist alchemy. its seriously one of the most intresting things about taoism. at least in my opinion. theres quite a few books on taoist alechemy, but the main reoccuring theme is centered around developing and refining the body, the spirit and the mind. chi, jing, and shen if you read the above post. now just about all of the taoist alchemy practices start with a grounding in chi. as i stated above chi is much like a form of energy that fills reality. and it manefests its self in many different ways. the easiest way to manefest chi within yourself is with breathing practice. or pranayama. for the sake of makeing an intresting post i'll out line a basic pranayama excersise.start by doing abdominal breathing. that is to say breathe not by useing your upper diaphram but the lower one, if you dont know what im talking about just simply relax, to the point where you dont hold in your stomach, then as you inhale breath deep into your belly and expand it. as you exhale simply pull back in your gut. make sure to keep you back straight with good sitting posture, or by laying comfortably on your back flat on a bed.once you've got the technique down, do about 20 abdominal breaths or stop when your belly begins to warm up.then forget all the pressures of your life and let you mind, your point of awareness sink down into the warmth. you should feel a very deep level of relaxation. try doing this as a way to fall asleep. now if you want something even more intresting. try this, follow the details above up to the falling asleep part. BUT DO NOT FALL ASLEEP. this may take over 15 mins to do, maybe even 30 but sit and try to focus at that point of warmth, focus everything you are there. use whatever works for you, vizualizations, mantras, mudras whatever. but as you lay in bed try to bring yourself to the point where you feel like you are inside of your own belly. make it your home, find a deep level of comfort there. SERIOUS SUGGESTION: dont open your eyes at this point! i did this once and i opened my eyes, i remember looking at something i couldnt understand, which actualy just turned out to be the ceiling, but! seriously if you scare easily dont open your eyes suddenly, its a pretty big shock. rool your eyes in your head several times and move various parts of your body. until you feel normal.in taoist alchemy excersizes like this are a used as a tool to manipulate the endocrine system. for health, longevity and boosts in physical performance.more on this later

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alright guys im back. and i need credits so once more you get to learn more about taoist spiritual development. today im going to be summarizeing some of the things i learned from the book scholar warrior, by deng ming dao. great book, its a very info pact books that gives great insight on how to go about your own spiritual development.

Beginings:

in order for anything to start it needs a start. and with taoism as well as spirituality in general. it is very important to have a good start, or base. and with scholar warrior taoism, which is a sect of taoism that started out not as taoism but as a highly elite class of warriors who sought to maximize their versitility. eventualy came the area of spirituality... and years later came a highly effective and well known form of taoism. however the base that these people used for their own spiritual development was still present.

that base for the most part was physical activity. it made sense really, in order to develop yourself on a higher level you need the lower levels to be in order and stable. much like how it is always advised that a person do meditation in a quite place where they wont be disturbed.

once this was achived, a person could start working on the 'three tresures' which is basicly their own balance of jing, qi, and shen. i've already talked about those in posts above. if anyone wants i can expand apon each of those. but as a basic summary qi/chi was the basic thing that made up the universe (much like prana, much like split atoms) chi however through the human body can b utilized and refined. once that base is stable you end up on the level of jing. which though commonly refered to as sperm can actualy relate to any of the chemicals present in the body and the balance they are in. if one had a bad jing they had an imbalance of chemicals in their body, which can result in bad tempers, depresion and even death. it was belived by ataining a perfect blance of jing shen and qi one could atain immortality.

however ataining this required great amounts of concentration. as well as regular practice of meditation, excersize, diet, quigong and self control.

to cultivate jing a comon technique was a very simple one. diet. through use of herbs and medicines people could change their natural body type to fit them better. amazingly one of the big ones was to drink water. secondly was sexual conservation. not celibacy but rather understanding that sex can be harmful to your body if overdone or done at times when your body is weak.

over time several systems of excersize were developed to increase ones jing balance. the most famous was 'marrow washing classic" a large set of meditative movements, much like qi gong. additonaly many wepon styles were used in this same manner. things like scemitars, staffs, swords. theres over 108 different wepons used in the conventional chinese arsonal. each of which was said to give some unique health benefit.

once a practioner was sufficient in martial arts they would move on to calisthenics. these were sets like the 'marow washing clasics' mentioned earlier. this was very much a bridge between the phisical and getting into meditation. im rather hesitant about getting into the whole meditation part mostaly because of how important it is to be healthy, fit, and ready for meditation. a wide array of physical activity after long periods begins to open the mind in a way that doesnt happen normaly to people who say... just sit at their computer all day.

but once this gap was bridged, a practioner would begin to find many curious things happening to their body and mind. a higher level of perception and concentration, a messure of intrest in material possesions was lost, as well as concerns with problems that arise when a person has too big of an ego. for that person things were made a bit simpler.

as one gets into meditation you will have a new vantage point on your life and eventualy you'll be gin to see things not imediatly liked to your survival start to seem less and less important. luckily its not permannent. lol.

once all this is done, and the base is built, the practiotioner would start working on the cultivation of their mind. this was pretty serious business. because it was at this point that ones perspectives on life start to change dramaticly. it is suggested that one have some guidance in this area, and belive me, in most cases you will want if not need it. if for nothing else than a place to start. but for that i will give you a meditation here and now. you can do this all you want, and you will run liittle risk of running into anyform of danger.

start off with abdominal breathing, the same breathing the teach in chior and to kids using inhalers.
do that 20 times. get a warm feeling in you body and practice moving it around.

what you're actualy doing is learning to move and control your blood circulation. practice moving it in loops down the from of your body and up the back. once again this may make you sleepy, but concentrate and keep going.

once i find the apropriate place for it i'll put up more meditations for you all.