Quieting the Mind

"For the Eastern mystic, all things and events perceived by the senses are interrelated, connected and are but different aspects or manifestations of the same ultimate reality.  Our tendency to divide the perceived world into individual and separate things and to experience ourselves as isolated egos in this world is seen as an illusion which comes from our measuring and categorizing mentally.  It is called avidya, or ignorance, in Buddhist philosophy and is seen as the sate of a disturbed mind which has to be overcome:

'When the mind is disturbed, the multiplicity of things is produced, but when the mind is quieted, the multiplicity of things disappears.'

Although the various schools of Eastern mysticism differ in many details, they all emphasize the basic unity of the universe which is the central feature of their teachings.  The highest aim for their followers - whether they are Hindus, Buddhists or Taoists - is to become aware of the unity and mutual interdependence of all things, to transcend the notion of an isolated individual self and to identify themselves with the ultimate reality.  The emergence of this awareness - known as 'enlightenment'- is not only an intellectual act but is an experience which involves the whole person and is religious in its ultimate nature.  For this reason, most Eastern philosophies are essentially religious philosophies."

-  Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics, 25th Anniversary Edition, p. 24  

Nature Mysticism:  Resources, Quotes, Notes

Gardening and Mysticism

Taiji Sword

"The same principles of the basic t'ai chi ch'uan form are used with both the tao and chien: natural breathing, body upright, keeping the movements integrated, coordinated, and flowing smoothly, etc. The difference is in the focus. For the tao, the broadsword, the focus is on the blade. For the chien, the narrow, double-edged sword, the focus is on the tip. The chien is considered the higher art form, and is more difficult to learn. The tao is basically a chopping and slicing weapon; little skill is needed for that It was generally the weapon of the common soldier. The chien was used by the more scholarly and aristocratic Chinese. ... Sword tai chi is a very rewarding experience at any level. It’s movements, done correctly, develop one’s awareness, timing, grace, and continued good health"
- Dorothy A. Odsen, Tai Chi Chien

The Taijiquan broadsword (Tao, Dao) or sword (Jian, Chien) forms are frequently taught to intermediate level Taijiquan students. Each Taijiquan style (Yang, Sun, Wu, Chen, etc.) has their own sword movement forms.

"To practice the Tai Chi Sword correctly, the first thing a practitioner must be able to do is to have a flexible body and wrist so that the sword and the body will coordinate and move in unity. The second thing is that the intent should direct each movement so that all the movements have applications, speed and accuracy. The third thing is to have spirit and natural breathing in each movement. In usage, it also emphasizes the concepts of sticking and adhering, running and following. In summary, in order to practice the Tai Chi Sword correctly, a practitioner must execute all the movements in an even, soft, continuous and smooth manner. All the movements are initiated by the waist, controlled by the wrist, with the upper and lower parts of the body coordinated so that when one part of the body moves, all parts follow. When one part stops, all stop. Therefore, all the movements are very light, speedy, flexible, nimble and stable. People often describe these kinds of motions as
like a "swimming dragon and flying phoenix."
- Vincent Chu, Gin Soon Tai Chi Chuan Federation Tai Chi Sword Practice

Tai Chi Double Edged Sword (Jian): Bibliography, Links, Resources, Quotations, Instructions Research by Mike Garofalo.

Tai Chi Saber/Broadsword (Dao): Bibliography, Links, Resources, Quotations Research by Mike Garofalo.

32 Standard Sword Form: Bibliography, Links, List of Movements
Research by Mike Garofalo.

More Onions to Pull

Here are some excerpts from a collection of 771 one-liners from Pulling Onions by Mike Garofalo:

Mother Nature is always pregnant. 
Time creeps, walks, runs and flies - it is all about moving things. 
Chaos breaks its own rules to allow Order to play. 
Dogmatists are less useful than dogs. 
Take life with a grain of salt, and a icy margarita. 
The best things in life are more expensive than you think. 
Rather than "love mankind," I'd rather admire a few good people. 
Some flourish when crowded together, others don't. 
Garbage In, Compost Out. 
It is more about You and Now, rather than Them and Back Then. 
Hunting for tomato worms- no mercy. 
A pocket knife will be its dullest at just the right time. 
While gardening the borders between work and play become blurred.
When gardening, look up more often.
Just the right words can be worth more than a thousand pictures. 
Death's door is always unlocked. 
A flower needs roots; beauty a society of minds. 
A callused palm and dirty fingernails precede a Green Thumb. 
A working hypothesis is far better than a belief. 
Only two percent of all insects are harmful.  Why are they all in my garden? 
Create your own garden, the god's certainly won't. 
That something is eternal is unverifiable. 
Most laws of Gardening are merely local ordinances. 
Failures, disorder and death are the Grim Reaper of Entropy at work. 
Somehow, someway, everything gets eaten up, someday. 
The meaning is lost in the saying - a nature mystic's dilemma. 
Vigorous gardening might help more than a psychiatrist's couch. 
A gardener is no farmer, he is much too impractical. 
No garden lasts for long - neither will you. 
Shade, in the summer, is as precious as a glass of water. 
A wise gardener knows when to stop. 
Gardens are demanding pets. 
Unclench your fist to give a hand. 
The little choices day after day are the biggest issue. 
Gardening is but one battle against Chaos. 
When life gives you onions, you ain't making lemonade. 
Many friendships are sustained by a mutual hatred of another person or group.
Read until you go to seed. 
Death's door is always unlocked. 
Autumn Yellow, the mirror image of Spring Green. 
What you see depends on when you look. 
Beauty is the Mistress, the gardener her slave. 
One's "true self" is changing and elusive. 
A little of this and a little of that, and some exceptions - these are the facts. 
Does a plum tree with no fruit have Buddha Nature?  Whack! 

-   Pulling Onions by Mike Garofalo  (771 One Line Quips)  

 

Writing Software: Atlantis

Lately, I have been using the Atlantis word processor to work on Ebooks that my wife, Karen, and I are writing, and will be publishing online starting in December, 2013. 

The Atlantis Word Processor is full-featured, fast, compact, and inexpensive at $35.00. 

I use Microsoft Office at work and at home.  I use Word 2003 running on Windows XP on my home and work desktops, Karen uses Word 2007 running on Windows 7 on her desktop, and we use Word 2013 running on Windows 8 on our Toshiba Satellite laptop.  Most of our documents are in .doc format, backed up to an external hard drive, and easily imported into Atlantis.  Atlantis saves documents in a variety of formats.  I am most familiar and most comfortable with using Word 2003, and Atlantis is quite similar in appearance and functionality to Word 2003.  Since I also use Excel, Access, and PowerPoint at work, Microsoft Office is indispensable.  However, If all you need is a good word processor, then consider buying and using Atlantis.     

You can easily export the entire Atlantis word processing software to a USB flash drive, because the program is only 9.8 MB in size, and quickly use Atlantis on any Windows computer.  Kind of like a "Cloud" on a lanyard.  A great addition for my tiny Acer Netbook laptop. 

I really like how Atlantis exports to EPUB format.  Even Word 2013 can’t export to EPUB format. The Atlantis software even comes with an Ebook template. 

I read Ebook files with the Calibre Ebook Reader and with a Kindle Paperlight.  Both Karen and I use the Kindle Paperlight readers.  Calibre can convert any EPUB file into many Ebook formats other than EPUB.  Calibre is open source and free, and a donation is advised for this high quality product.  

As we are both now semi-retired, we are looking for more ways to generate income from our web publishing efforts at our Green Way Research business.  Our hope is to have a more successful home business, and too work more at our rural home office in the very near future. 

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, Chapter 13

Dao De Jing, Laozi
Chapter 13 

"Favor and disgrace would seem equally to be feared;
Honor and great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions of the same kind.
What is meant by speaking thus of favor and disgrace? 
Disgrace is being in a low position after the enjoyment of favor.
The getting that favor leads to the apprehension of losing it, and the losing it leads to the fear of still greater calamity.
This is what is meant by saying that favor and disgrace would seem equally to be feared. 
And what is meant by saying that honor and great calamity are to be similarly regarded as personal conditions?
What makes me liable to great calamity is my having the body which I call myself;
If I had not the body, what great calamity could come to me?
Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honoring it as he honors his own person, may be employed to govern it,
And he who would administer it with the love which he bears to his own person may be entrusted with it."
-  Translated by James Legge, 1891, Chapter 13 

"Favor bodes disgrace; it is like trembling.
Rank bodes great heartache.
It is like the body.
What does 'Favor bodes disgrace; it is like trembling' mean?
Favor humiliates.
Its acquisition causes trembling, its loss causes trembling.
This is what is meant by 'Favor bodes disgrace; it is like trembling.' 
What does 'Rank bodes great heartache, it is like the body' mean? 
I suffer great heartache because I have a body.
When I have no body, what heartache remains? 
Therefore who administers the empire as he takes care of his body can be entrusted with the empire."
-  Translated by D. T. Suzuki and Paul Carus, 1913, Chapter 13  

"Dread glory as you dread shame.
Prize great calamity as you prize your body.
What does this mean:
"Dread glory as you dread shame"?
Glory comes from below.
Obtain it, you are afraid of shame;
Lose it, you are still afraid of shame.
That is why it is said;
"Dread glory as you dread shame."
What does this mean:
"Prize great calamity as you prize your own body"?
We who meet with great calamities, meet them because we have a body.
If we had not a body what calamity could reach us?
Therefore he who honours the kingdom as his body can govern the kingdom.
He who loves the kingdom as his own body can be trusted with the kingdom."
-  Translated by Isabella Mears, 1916, Chapter 13  

"Favor and disgrace are things that startle;
High rank is, like one's body, a source of great trouble.
What is meant by saying favor and disgrace are things that startle?
Favor when it is bestowed on a subject serves to startle as much as when it is withdrawn.
This is what is meant by saying that favor and disgrace are things that startle.
What is meant by saying that high rank is, like one's body, a source of great trouble?
The reason I have great trouble is that I have a body.
When I no longer have a body, what trouble have I?
Hence he who values his body more than dominion over the empire can be entrusted with the empire.
He who loves his body more than dominion over the empire can be given the custody of the empire."
-  Translated by D. C. Lau, 1963, Chapter 13   

"Accept honors and disgraces as surprises,
Treasure great misfortunes as the body.
Why say: "Accept honors and disgraces as surprises"?
Honors elevate (shang),
Disgraces depress (hsia).
One receives them surprised,
Loses them surprised.
Thus: "Accept honors and disgraces as surprises."
Why say: "Treasure great misfortunes as the body"?
I have great misfortunes,
Because I have a body.
If I don't have a body,
What misfortunes do I have?
Therefore treasure the body as the world,
As if the body can be entrusted to the world.
Love the body as the world,
As if the body can be entrusted to the world."
-  Translated by Ellen Marie Chen, 2000, Chapter 13

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu: Introduction, Bibliography, Commentary, Chapter Index

Chapter 13 of the Dao De Jing by Laozi: Text and Commentaries
 

Index of English Language Translators of the Tao Te Ching

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices
 
Chapter and Thematic Index to the Tao Te Ching

 

 

Walking: A Practice of Heartiness

"The mere thought of walking outdoors on a brilliant golden-blue day causes fire-works of delight to go off in most people’s psyche.  It gives one an instant feeling of happiness and that is meditation!  We are not only in touch, at that moment, with the physical splendor of nature, but also with the beauty of merging our own spiritual nature with it." 
-  Karen Zebroff 

“The subject of walking is, in some sense, about how we invest universal acts with particular meanings. Like eating or breathing, it can be invested with wildly different cultural meanings, from the erotic to the spiritual, from the revolutionary to the artistic.”
-  Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking

“Walking in the morning takes you to beautiful places where light and shade make love.”
-  Mohamed Shareef 

The Ways of Walking Website  

Walking Quotations 1 
Walking Quotations 2  
Walking Quotations 3  
Walking Quotations 4  
Walking Quotations 5  

Walking Meditation  

"Walking is the great adventure, the first meditation, a practice of heartiness and soul primary to humankind.  Walking is the exact balance between spirit and humility." 
-  Gary Snyder, The Practice of the Wild

“Walking shares with making and working that crucial element of engagement of the body and the mind with the world, of knowing the world through the body and the body through the world.” -  Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking

Tai Chi Chikung Shibashi

The Tai Chi Qigong Shibashi Series was created by Professor Lin Hou Sheng from China.  Part 1, 18 movements (Shi Ba Shi) was created in 1979.  Part 2, 18 movements, was created in 1988.  Four more Tai Chi Qigong 18 movement sets were created in the 1990's.  Professor Lin's best selling book, Qi Gong is the Answer to Health, was first published in 1985 in China.  
The movements are done slowly, gently, and deliberately.  Deep breathing is coordinated carefully with each movement sequence.  There is little or no movement of the feet.  Suitable for persons of all ages.  A number of the hand movements are similar to those used in Yang style Taijiquan.   

Tai Chi Qigong Shibashi: Bibliography, Links, Videos, Lessons, Resources. 
By Mike Garofalo.
The Theory and Practice of Taiji Qigong.  By Chris Jarmey.  North Atlantic Books, 2005.  192 pages.

Part 1, Eighteen Movements (Shibashi) Qigong, Tai Chi Qigong

1.   Awakening the Qi
2.   Opening the Chest   
3.   Painting the Rainbow
4.   Separating the Clouds
5.   Cycling the Arms
6.   Paddle a Boat 
7.   Lifting the Sun  
8.   Turn the Body and Look at the Moon  
9.   Push the Palms  
10.  Rolling Tai Ji  
11.  Lift and Spray the Water  
12.  Push the Wave  
13.  Let the Dove Free  
14.  Punching the Mud  
15.  Flying Wild Goose  
16.  Hug and Swing the Sun  
17.  Bounce the Ball  
18.  Quieting the Qi  

Equinox Moonlight Shadows

"Under the harvest moon,
When the soft silver
Drips shimmering
Over the garden nights,
Death, the gray mocker,
Comes and whispers to you
As a beautiful friend
Who remembers."
-  Carl Sandburg, Under the Harvest Moon

 

"In that open field
If you do not come too close, if you do not come too close,
On a summer midnight, you can hear the music
Of the weak pipe and the little drum
And see them dancing around the bonfire
The association of man and woman
In daunsinge, signifying matrimonie—
A dignified and commodiois sacrament.
Two and two, necessarye coniunction,
Holding eche other by the hand or the arm
Whiche betokeneth concorde. Round and round the fire
Leaping through the flames, or joined in circles,
Rustically solemn or in rustic laughter
Lifting heavy feet in clumsy shoes,
Earth feet, loam feet, lifted in country mirth
Mirth of those long since under earth
Nourishing the corn. Keeping time,
Keeping the rhythm in their dancing
As in their living in the living seasons
The time of the seasons and the constellations
The time of milking and the time of harvest
The time of the coupling of man and woman
And that of beasts. Feet rising and falling.
Eating and drinking. Dung and death.
Dawn points, and another day
Prepares for heat and silence. Out at sea the dawn wind
Wrinkles and slides. I am here
Or there, or elsewhere. In my beginning."
-   T. S. Eliot,  Four Quartets, East Coker No. 2, 1, 1940

 

 

September Equinox in Redding, California, U.S.A. is on
Sunday, September 22, 2013 at 1:44 PM PDT

 

Full Moon, September 19, 2013

Autumn Equinox Celebrations, Mabon

 

 

Dao De Jing, Laozi, Chapter 14

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
Chapter 14

"We look at it, and do not see it; it is invisible.
We listen to it, and do not hear it; it is inaudible.
We touch it, and do not feel it; it is intangible.
These three elude our inquiries, and hence merge into one.
Not by its rising, is it bright,
nor by its sinking, is it dark.
Infinite and eternal, it cannot be defined.
It returns to nothingness.
This is the form of the formless, being in non-being.
It is nebulous and elusive.
Meet it, and you do not see its beginning.
Follow it, and you do not see its end.
Stay with the ancient Way
in order to master what is present.
Knowing the primeval beginning is the essence of the Way."
-  Translated by Sanderson Beck, 1996, Chapter 14  

"What is looked at but not (pu) seen,
Is named the extremely dim (yi).
What is listened to but not heard,
Is named the extremely faint (hsi).
What is grabbed but not caught,
Is named the extremely small (wei).
These three cannot be comprehended,
Thus they blend into one.
As to the one, its coming up is not light,
Its going down is not darkness.
Unceasing, unnameable,
Again it reverts to nothing.
Therefore it is called the formless form,
The image (hsiang) of nothing.
Therefore it is said to be illusive and evasive (hu-huang).
Come toward it one does not see its head,
Follow behind it one does not see its rear.
Holding on to the Tao of old (ku chih tao),
So as to steer in the world of now (chin chih yu).
To be able to know the beginning of old,
It is to know the thread of Tao."
-  Translated by Ellen Marie Chen, 2000, Chapter 14

"We look for it but do not see it:
    we name it "subtle."
We listen for it but do not hear it;
    we name it "rare."
We grope for it but do not grasp it;
    we name it "serene." 
These three cannot be fully fathomed,
Therefore,
They are bound together to make unity.
Of unity,
its top is not distant,
its bottom is not blurred.
Infinitely extended
and unnameable,
It returns to non-entity.
This is called
"the form of the formless,"
"the image of nonentity."
This is called "the amorphous."
Following behind it,
    you cannot see its back;
Approaching it from the front,
    you cannot see its head.
Hold to the Way of today
    to manage the actualities of today
    thereby understanding the primeval beginning.
This is called "the thread of the Way.""
-  Translated by Victor H. Mair, 1990, Chapter 14 

"When you look, it isn't there
Listen and you cannot hear it
It seems to be beyond your reach
Because you are so near it
This single source of everything
Appears to be an empty image
Though it cannot be understood
You can see its naked visage
Follow it to nothingness
Approach it where you have no face
From nowhere to infinity
This vacant image leaves no trace
From never to eternity
This naked face is what you are
An empty, vacant, open door
Forevermore ajar"
-  Translated by Jim Clatfelder, 2000, Chapter 14  

"Look, it cannot be seen,
So it is called invisible.
Listen, it cannot be heard,
So it is called soundless.
Touch, it cannot be caught,
So it is called elusive.
These three cannot be examined,
So they unite into one.  
Above it there is no light,  
Below it there is no darkness.
Endlessness beyond description.
It returns to non-existence.
It is called the shapeless shape,
The substance without form.
It is called obscurely evasive.
Meet it and you do not see its beginning,
Follow it and you do not see its end.
Hold on to the ancient Way to master the present,
And to learn the distant beginning.
This is called the unbroken strand of the Way."
-  Translated by Stefan Stenudd, Chapter 14

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu: Introduction, Bibliography, Commentary, Chapter Index 

Chapter 14 of the Dao De Jing by Laozi: Text and Commentaries  

Index of English Language Translators of the Tao Te Ching 

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices  

Chapter and Thematic Index to the Tao Te Ching

 

 
 

 

Spirituality and Experience

Spirituality

Taoist Studies and Practices

Spirituality and Gardening

Focusing the Spirit by Chang San Feng

Chang San Feng, Taoist Grandmaster, circa 1200 CE

Focusing Spirit Accumulating Energy Treatise in Grand Ultimate Practice 
Attributed to Grandmaster Zhang Sanfeng

"The beginning of Grand Ultimate is Limitless Void. Nebulous as one energy. No separation. Thus, Limitless Void is the mother of Grand Ultimate. Thus the origin of myriad of things.
    Two energies separate. Heaven and earth judge. Grand Ultimate results. Two energies are yin and yang. Yin quiescent and yang dynamic. Yin terminates yang generates.
    Heaven and earth are separated into pure and impure. Pure floats impure sinks. Pure high impure low. Yin and yang combine, pure and impure unite. Interact and generate, result in myriad things. 
    Life of man originally possesses Limitless Void. This is the prenatal mechanics. Creation of man is post-natal, thus Grand Ultimate. Thus myriad things not without Limitless Void. Also not without Grand Ultimate. 
    The function of man. When there is movement, there must be quiescence. Extreme quiescence there must be movement. Movement and quiescence mutually operate, that is yin-yang. United become one Grand Ultimate. 
    Life of man is all dependent on spirit and energy. Pure energy rises up. Doubtless to heaven. Focus spirit internally. Doubtless to earth. Spirit and energy unit. Result in one Grand Ultimate.
    Hence, the transmission of my Art of Grand Ultimate. First, understand the marvelous way of the Grand Ultimate. Not understand this, not my students.
    Art of Grand Ultimate, movement is like quiescence. Quiescence is like movement. Movement and quiescence interact. Mutually connected without break. Two energies unite. Signals the attainment of the Grand Ultimate. Internally focus spirit. Externally accumulate energy. Before form arrives, intention first arrives. Form has not arrived, intention has already arrived. What is intention? The agent of spirit.
    Spirit and energy unite, the seat of Grand Ultimate is decided. Its sign is settled. Its seat is settled. Continuously interact. The number seventy two. Thirteen techniques in Art of Grand Ultimate. Ward off, roll back, press in, in contact, take, spread, elbow, anchor. Forward, backward, to the left, to the right, remain at center. According to creation and reaction of Eight Symbols and Five Processes. 
    Also empty spirit, ignore pull, loosen waist, settle false-real, sink and press, use intention and not use strength. Top and bottom coordinated, internal and external united. Continuously linked without break. Quiescence found in movement. The ten essentials in Art of Grand Ultimate. No-two-gate for those who learn the art. Fundamental for entering the way. 
    Entering the way nourish heart stabilize nature; accumulate energy focus spirit be main path. Practice this art must follow thus. Heart not peaceful, nature disturbed. Energy not accumulated, spirit disordered. 
    Heart and nature not united, spirit and energy not coordinated, four limbs and hundred meridians of body lifeless, and functions useless. To pacify heart and stabilize nature, focus spirit and accumulate energy. Not miss hit-sitting. Not neglect techniques of training. Search within movement and quiescence the benefits of Grand Ultimate. 
    From Eight Symbols and Five Processes find principles of creation and reaction. Use seventy two number to achieve heart and nature, spirit and energy of the Grand Ultimate. Mutually function. Thus heart peaceful nature stabilized, spirit focused energy accumulated. Achieve attainment of Grand Ultimate in body. Yin-yang unite, movement and quiescence become one. Four limbs and hundred meridians of body flow smoothly. Without stagnation without wastage. Hence receive my transmission."

-   Focusing Spirit Accumulating Energy Treatise in Grand Ultimate Practice
    Attributed to Master Zhang San Feng
    A literal translation by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit, 2012, at Flowing Zen

Five Senses or Thirty One Senses?

From Guy Murchie’s The Seven Mysteries of Life, An Exploration in Science & Philosophy.  Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, c1978.  Pages 178-180.  Guy Murchie, 1907- 1997.   
 
"A lot of people seem to think there can be none but the five traditional senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. In a way they are right, I suppose, if you assume that only the ones most obvious to humans are to be included. But surely there are more senses in Heaven and Earth than you or I have dreamed of. And I have increasingly had the feeling that the time has come when someone should pioneer into the subject as a whole with a fresh, untrammeled outlook. So, out of more than idle curiosity, I've jotted down a list of all I could think of and it came to 48, not even counting the "stage-in-space sense" previously described. Then, by combining the most closely related ones, I trimmed the number to 32. Of course a lot depends on how one defines a sense, and on arbitrary choices, like whether you decide to lump the sense of warmth and coolness or the sense of dryness and dampness in with the sense of feeling, and whether you want to include the senses (or are they instincts?) that animals, plants and (conceivably) rocks have but most humans evidently don't.

"Here is my list of the principal senses of all creatures:

The Radiation Senses
1.  Sight, which, I should think, would include seeing polarized light and seeing without eyes, such as the heliotropism or sun sense of plants.
2.  The sense of awareness of one’s own visibility or invisibility and the consequent competence to advertise or to camouflage via pigmentation control, luminescence, transparency, screening, behavior, etc.
3.  Sensitivity to radiation other than visible light, including radio waves, x-rays, gamma rays, etc., but omitting most of the temperature and electromagnetic senses.
4. Temperature sense, including ability to insulate, hibernate, estivate, etc. This sense is known to have its own separate nerve networks.
5.  Electromagnetic sense, which includes the ability to generate current (as in the electric eel), awareness of magnetic polarity (possessed by many insects) and a general sensitivity to electromagnetic fields.

The Feeling Senses 

6. Hearing, including sonar and the detection of infra- and ultrasonic frequencies beyond ears.
7. Awareness of pressure, particularly underground and underwater, as through the lateral line organ of fish, the earth tremor sense of burrowers, the barometric sense, etc.
8. Feel, particularly touch on the skin and the proprioceptive awareness of intra- and intermuscular motion, tickling, vibration sense (such as the spider feels), cognition of heartbeat, blood circulation, breathing, etc.
9. The sense of weight and balance.
10. Space or proximity sense.
11. Coriolis sense, or awareness of effects of the rotation of the earth.

The Chemical Senses

12. Smell, with and beyond the nose.
13. Taste, with and beyond the tongue or mouth.
14. Appetite, hunger and the urge to hunt, kill or otherwise obtain food.
15. Humidity sense, including thirst, evaporation control and the acumen to find water or evade a flood.
 

The Mental Senses

16. Pain: external, internal, mental or spiritual distress, or any combination of these, including the impulse and capacity to weep.
17. The sense of fear, the dread of injury or death, of attack by vicious enemies, of suffocation, falling, bleeding, disease and other dangers.
18. The procreative urge, which includes sex awareness, courting (perhaps involving love), mating, nesting, brooding, parturition, maternity, paternity and raising the young.
19. The sense of play, sport, humor, pleasure and laughter.
20. Time sense and, most specifically, the so-called biological clock.
21. Navigation sense, including the detailed awareness of land- and seascapes, of the positions of sun, moon and stars, of time, of electromagnetic fields, proximity to objects, probably Coriolis and other sensitivities still undefined.
22. Domineering and territorial sense, including the capacity to repel, intimidate or exploit other creatures by fighting, predation, parasitism, domestication or slavery.
23. Colonizing sense, including the receptive awareness of one's fellow creatures, of parasites, slaves, hosts, symbionts and congregating with them, sometimes to the degree of being absorbed into a super-organism.
24. Horticultural sense and the ability to cultivate crops, as is done by ants who grow fungus, or by fungus that farms algae.
25. Language and articulation sense, used to express feelings and convey information in every medium from the bees' dance to human literature.
26. Reasoning, including memory and the capacity for logic and science.
27. Intuition or subconscious deduction.
28. Esthetic sense, including creativity and appreciation of music, literature, drama, of graphic and other arts.
29. Psychic capacity, such as foreknowledge, clairvoyance, clairaudience, psychokinesis, astral projection and possibly certain animal instincts and plant sensitivities.
30. Hypnotic power: the capacity to hypnotize other creatures.
31. Relaxation and sleep, including dreaming, meditation, brainwave awareness and other less-than-conscious states of mind like pupation, which involves cocoon building, metamorphoses and, from some viewpoints, dying.

The Spiritual Sense
32.  Spiritual sense, including conscience, capacity for sublime love, ecstasy, a sense of sin, profound sorrow, sacrifice and, in rare cases, cosmic consciousness."

Facing the Precious Mirror

Song of the Precious Mirror Samadhi
By Dongshan Liangjie (807-869)

The Dharma of Thusness
is intimately transmitted by Buddhas and ancestors.
Now you have it;
preserve it well.

A silver bowl filled with snow,
a heron hidden in the moon.
Taken as similar, they are not the same;
Not distinguished, their places are known.

The meaning does not reside in the words,
but a pivotal moment brings it forth.
Move and you are trapped,
miss and you fall into doubt and vacillation.

Turning away and touching are both wrong,
for it is like a massive fire.
Just to portray it in literary form
is to stain it with defilement.

In darkest night it is perfectly clear;
in the light of dawn it is hidden.
It is a standard for all things;
its use removes all suffering.

Although it is not constructed,
it is not beyond words.
Like facing a precious mirror;
form and reflection behold each other.

You are not it,
but in truth it is you.
Like a newborn child,
it is fully endowed with five aspects.

No going, no coming, no arising, no abiding;
“Monkey Mind”– is anything said or not?
In the end it says nothing,
for the words are not yet right.

In the hexagram “double fire,”
when main and subsidiary lines are transposed,
Piled up they become three;
the permutations make five.

Like the taste of the five-flavored herb,
like the five-pronged vajra.
Wondrously embraced within the complete,
drumming and singing begin together.

Penetrate the source and travel the pathways,
embrace the territory and treasure the roads.
You would do well to respect this;
do not neglect it.

Natural and wondrous,
it is not a matter of delusion or enlightenment.
Within causes and conditions, time and season,
it is serene and illuminating.

So minute it enters where there is no gap,
so vast it transcends dimension.
A hairsbreadth’s deviation,
and you are out tune.

Now there are sudden and gradual,
in which teachings and approaches arise.
With teachings and approaches distinguished,
each has its standard.

Whether teachings and approaches are mastered or not,
reality constantly flows.
Outside still and inside trembling,
like tethered colts or cowering rats.

The ancient sages grieved for them,
and offered them the dharma.
Led by their inverted views,
they take black for white.

When inverted thinking stops,
the affirming mind naturally accords.
If you want to follow in the ancient tracks,
please observe the sages of the past.

One on the verge of realizing the Buddha Way
contemplated a tree for ten kalpas.
Like a battle-scarred tiger,
like a horse with shanks gone grey.

Because some are vulgar,
jeweled tables and ornate robes.
Because others are wide-eyed,
cats and white oxen.

With his archer’s skill,
Yi hit the mark at a hundred paces.
But when arrows meet head-on,
how could it be a matter of skill?

The wooden man starts to sing,
the stone woman gets up dancing.
It is not reached by feelings or consciousness,
how could it involve deliberation?

Ministers serve their lords,
children obey their parents.
Not obeying is not filial,
Failure to serve is no help.

With practice hidden, function secretly,
like a fool, like an idiot.
Just to continue in this way
is call the host within the host.

- Dongshan Liangjie (807-869 CE, China)
Tozan Ryokai Daiosho (Japanese Name)

"Narcissus by an Open Window" by Stephen J. Darbishire.

You Cannot Call it Deep

"The Way has its reality and its signs
but is without action or form.
You can hand it down but you cannot receive it,
you can ignore it but you cannot see it.
It is its own source, its own root.
Before heaven and earth existed it was there,
from the ancient times.
It gave spirituality to the spirits and to God,
it gave birth to heaven and to earth.
It exists beyond the highest point,
and yet you cannot call it lofty;
it exists beneath the limit of the six directions,
and yet you cannot call it deep.
It was born before heaven and earth,
and yet you cannot say it has been there for long,
it is earlier than the earliest time,
and yet you cannot call it old."

- The Crookbacked Woman and the Sage
Chuang Tzu, Translated by Burton Watson, 1964