hu li jing hua shen

The Cosmic Wind (3): The Hollow That Remains -  Zhuangzi, Tilopa, and the Sound That Never Left By now, this series has gone considerably farther than anyone intended. What began as an investigation into flatulence somehow wandered through the Book of Revelation, Taoist alchemy, vagus nerve physiology, the Lamb of God, Jing Hua, thunder beneath Earth, and several concepts that would be difficult to explain to an insurance adjuster. Naturally, the next question is: What happens when the wind stops? This is an unpopular question. Most spiritual traditions spend a great deal of time discussing movement. The flow of qi. The return of life. The circulation of energy. The awakening of consciousness. The opening of channels. The descent of grace. The rising of spirit. Everyone seems very impressed with movement. Then Zhuangzi arrives and ruins everything. --- The famous imagery appears near the beginning of the Zhuangzi. A sage sits quietly. His disciple observes him and becom...

Gears of the Tao (7): Return  Why Things Remain Themselves Most people imagine stability as the absence of change. A stable mountain. A stable relationship. A stable mind. A stable civilization. The word itself suggests stillness. Immobility. The absence of disturbance. Yet nature rarely behaves this way. The mountain erodes. The relationship changes. The mind wanders. Civilizations rise and fall. Everything moves. Everything transforms. Everything participates in change. And yet some things endure. Why? --- Imagine a tree in a storm. The rigid branch snaps. The flexible branch bends. When the storm passes, the branch returns. Its strength was never found in resisting movement. Its strength was found in recovering from it. --- Nature often works this way. A healthy forest survives fire. A healthy ecosystem survives drought. A healthy body survives illness. A healthy mind survives confusion. Not because disturbance never occurs. Because recovery remains possible. --- Thi...

The Ten Thousand Transformations (7): The Shen Body After spending enough time observing transformation, another question eventually appears. Not: What is happening? Not: Why is it happening? But: How does participation feel? This question is surprisingly difficult to answer. Because the moment we begin speaking about inner experience, language starts arriving late. The experience comes first. The explanation follows afterward. Like thunder following lightning. Like a map following a journey. Like a name following a thing. And so the ancient traditions often spoke in symbols. Dragons. Channels. Rivers. Stars. Spirits. Light. Not because they were incapable of precision. But because some experiences resist being reduced to mechanics. They are better approached than defined. Better participated in than captured. --- Most people experience themselves as a body moving through a world. This is practical. Useful. Necessary. The hand reaches. The foot steps. The eyes see. The ears...