translation from xingming guizhi

[mixjourneyman]

An article on Dantian cultivation and taiji theory from the book xingming guizhi.
enjoy!

Taijifahui:

GREATNESS! my body is taiji (the harmony of yin and yang), always living and growing until the terminus of creation.

forever lasting without change, we can overcome the world.

Not to hurt the body and abstaining from degenerative change can allow us to live for many years, and can save us from breaking.

to live long and not perish, we must fully use all of the vitality through the act of alchemy (meditation).

Living for many years without end, we can go beyond the achievement of ordinary men and become like the ever living Buddha!

There are two things that come from taiji which can be used in two different ways.

most people know that Taiji existed as the ancestor of all living things, but do not know that taiji is the tool enabling all things to continue living.

The two poles of Taiji once complete a full rotation;

every year between the end of Septempber and start of october, Taiji completes its one year rotation.

Every month between the 26th and 30th, during these five days, taiga completes its monthly rotation.

every day for two hours, Taiji completes its daily rotation.

In the very darkest,deepest hours of the night, Taiji finishes its cycle and begins again.

Taiji also completes and hourly rotation at the last two minutes of every hour (and so on).

animals use taiji to hibernate during pregnancy and taiji returns to the roots of plants before the production of new buds.

peoples bodies achieve the completion of taiji during late night sleep and the mutual act of copulation.

to actively stir the vital energy will cultivate healthy cycles of taiji (to meditate on the spirit of vitality) and allow it not to be hurt,

if we can protect the cycle of taiji completely, we can live for many years without perishing.

using this method for many years will eradicate all negativity.

using this way over the course of many years can let us become spirit, it can allow us to achieve the state of the Buddha.

To always practice positivity, we can become different than the average people, plants, and animals.

A great blessing!

[windwalker]

Every month between the 26th and 30th, during these five days, taiga completes its monthly rotation.

interesting read
reminds me of what are called http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biorhythm
biorhythm's


do you see any correlations between them?

[mixjourneyman]

There is some connection between these two ideas.
This article is part of a much larger meditation text from the early qing dynasty period.
It is one of the texts which equates Daoism and Buddhism as being from one root.
The principle exists in the context of telling people how to practice properly, according to time of day.
It suggests that practice should occur during dormant phases, in order to allow the mind to be in a restful state.
The idea is that practice occurs around midnight, because that is the time when the body should be entering deeper phases of rest.
The real meaning is that when practising, the mind should be allowed to be put into a rest state similar to the type achieved around midnight.
Unfortunately my translation is not enough- classical Chinese is too context rich to convey the whole thing.
Later I will publish an article explaining this piece more completely.

[allen2saint]

I felt a little like I was at some cross between Tai Chi class and a charismatic church service!

[mixjourneyman]

yes, right.
It has a lot of Buddhist ideas in the writing- It was written within the last few hundred years, by that time Daoism had already developed as a religion, and as such required a doctrine which could be followed by zealots.
perhaps it is also just my err in translation

[Overlord]

Mixy,

Can try read 性命法訣明指，xingming fa jue ming zhi~ if you are into this kind of stuff.

Cheers,

[Bao]

It's a very interesting text. Thanks for sharing.

It seems to be some Daoism, some Buddhism and some Songxue/Neo Confucian thoughts mixed up. It feels close to the Xin xue school and maybe it has some correlations with the thoughts of Wang Yang Ming and the 姚江學派.
Personally I would not translate Tai Chi as "harmony", but that might be a minor issue.

Not to hurt the body and abstaining from degenerative change can allow us to live for many years, and can save us from breaking.
...

to actively stir the vital energy will cultivate healthy cycles of taiji (to meditate on the spirit of vitality) and allow it not to be hurt,

if we can protect the cycle of taiji completely, we can live for many years without perishing.

This is common neidan/tai chi thoughts. I have no idea what the original words for "healthy" (cycles) is. But in traditional cosmology, the eight trigrams can have two different arrangements, one is the "pre-heaven" and the other "post-heaven". In neidan, it means to change the degeneration cycles of "post-heaven" into creative cycles of "pre-heaven". I supposed that the meaning of Healthy cycles in the text is post-heaven cycles . You can compare it with what Sun Lutang writes about developing "post-heaven/natal qi" in his books. In practical practice, it's the same meaning. But the question I wonder about is that by meditation, "sitting meditation" is meant in the text = zouchan. Or if it' "inner alchemy". The term you translate with "meditation", I presume it should be "neidan" in the original text and not jingzuo 靜坐 or "zuochan"...? What the original term is, is something very important for the interpretation of the meaning of it, and also if we should see it as a mainly daoist or buddhist text.

However, I'm looking forward to read the rest.

[mixjourneyman]

I don't have the document with me, but it may have been 造化。
Ovetlord, thank uou

[yeniseri]

Most of this stuff is relative to a philosophical religious-spiritual base as oppose to a martial one and this obfuscation is a 'drag' in the process.
When I reach and big (IF) the retirement age of 80, I am guessing I will be mature enough to find The Golden Treasure of Enlightment contained in such a voluminous hagiographic textual Bible.
Even now, the Emperor Medicine Classic. in a few translations (as I lack my own teacher presence to provide 'righteous reality) the very insights lack a consistency on all fronts!

As an example, my daughter went to Beijing a little over a year ago and she found Baidu and said that it offered a better original textual context of Chinese stuff so I entered a few Daoist works that I recalled and the translation from Chinese to English was terrible especially the technical jargon associated with taiji neigong related works.
Here is a Wu Tunan biopic on Three Sister training methods........

http://www.baike.com/wiki/%E3%80%8A%E5% ... 3%E3%80%8B
When you read through the translated text, you yourself have to have some contextual base with experience to see beyond what is being expressed

[chud]

Here is a Wu Tunan biopic on Three Sister training methods........

http://www.baike.com/wiki/%E3%80%8A%E5% ... 3%E3%80%8B
When you read through the translated text, you yourself have to have some contextual base with experience to see beyond what is being expressed

Man, I'd love to have someone here on RSF translate that and post it.

[Martin2]

Here a bit more about the Xingming Guizhi

http://www.charleschace.com/pdfs/Xing_M ... onRose.pdf

Enjoy