Sitting in meditation does not simply mean to sit with the body erect and the eyes closed. This is superficial sitting. To sit authentically, you must maintain a clear heart-mind like Mount Tai, remaining unmovable and unshakable throughout the entire day. Maintain this practice rather standing, sitting, or lying down, whether in movement or stillness. Restrain and seal the four Gates – namely the eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Do not allow the external world to enter in. If there is even the slightest trace of a thought about movement and stillness, this cannot be called quiet sitting. If you can practice like this, although your body exists in the world of dust, your name will be listed in the ranks of the immortals. Then there is no need to travel great distances and consult others. Rather worthiness and sagehood resides in this very body. After one hundred years, with accomplishment complete, you will cast off the husk and ascend to perfection. With a single pellet of elixir (inner wisdom) completed, spirit wanders through the eight realms.
Before we get too far into this posting, it is VERY important to note that when we talk about Taoism, we are NOT referring to a religion in any way, shape or form. No one at the Kodawari Hombu Dojo cares what religion you belong to or whether you are religious at all! No one is looking to convert you from whatever your religious beliefs may be to Taoism or anything else. Taoism (or Daoism) refers to either a school of philosophical thought1The philosophical school of thought is called daojia – 道家 – which is Dao family or school of the Dao or to a religion2The religious side of Daoism is called daojiao – 道教 – which is teaching of the Dao. Taoism holds that humans and animals should live in balance with the Tao, or the universe. Taoists, in general, believe in spiritual immortality, where the spirit of the body joins the universe after death (matter or, actually energy, is never destroyed…it merely changes form). We (those seeking Kodawari) endeavor to learn both the arts and sciences that assist with our development of the combative and personal protection arts. In particular this would cover breathing methods, meditation methods and energy work.
While modern scholars, especially those in the West, have been preoccupied with classifying Daoist material as either philosophical or religious, Daoists themselves have been historically uninterested in such categories and dichotomies. Instead, they have preferred to focus on understanding the nature of reality, increasing their longevity, ordering life morally, practicing rulership and regulating consciousness and diet. Fundamental Daoist ideas and concerns include wuwei (effortless action), ziran (naturalness), how to become a shengren (sage) or zhenren (perfected person), and the ineffable, mysterious Dao (Way) itself.
The Complete Reality School
Quanzhen Pai
The Dragon Gate Sect
Longmen Pai
Nathan Brine on Lineage Holders in Longmen Pai
Our father and mother gave us life, but this does not enable us to grow wings and ascend to the heavens. The teacher can give you a ladder to the heavens that has come from the transmission from generation to generation of teachers. If you are given such a ladder, but you do not climb up it, that error lies within yourself. The importance of teachers is to provide the ladder only, which is why they are one of the three treasures. If you do not become one with the teachers in your thinking, your cultivation will not progress. Some things appear in two kinds of line, the lines of unbroken yang and broken yin, or of form and the formless – there are teachers and teachings that have form, such as the discourses of human masters, and also those that are formless, such as the energy fields established between masters and students through which masters transmit knowledge without the need for words. If there is a connecting energy field between the teacher and student, there is no need to ask them about the dao, as the answer will immediately be given to you.
If you did not read the information directly above, please do so as it is quite important. If you did read it, please read it again as it is quite important.
Beginning his martial training almost 50 years ago, Michael Davis has spent almost his entire adult life attempting to internalize, add to and propagate the body of knowledge that makes up the principles and techniques of the life preserving combative arts and sciences. Michael has taught or assisted with the teaching of seminars and events in 17 US states and four countries. In addition to training every day martial artists, he has taught members of the US military as well as law enforcement at every level...from local LEOs to Federal Marshalls and US Secret Service agents (protective detail). He has co-authored a martial arts book, written numerous magazine articles that were published internationally as well as appearing in and assisting with the production of martial arts videos and other training materials.
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