Li Li
Li - The Clinging, Fire
Transformed into =
34. Ta Chuang / The Power of the Great
Chên Ch’ien
Chên - The Arousing, Thunder
Ch’ien - The Creative, Heaven
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
I Ching results
Li Li
Li - The Clinging, Fire
Transformed into =
34. Ta Chuang / The Power of the Great
Chên Ch’ien
Chên - The Arousing, Thunder
Ch’ien - The Creative, Heaven
Monday, February 27, 2012
Tao Te Ching - passage analysis, line-by-line
VI
The spirit of the valley never dies. 17
This is called the mysterious female.
The gateway of the mysterious female
Is called the root of heaven and earth.
Dimly visible, it seems as if it were there,
Yet use will never drain it.
(found on p.10 of our versions)
"The spirit of the valley never dies."
I interpret this line to mean that the "valley" is the portal between heaven and earth - the gateway, of sorts, to both all beginnings and ends. And it never dies because it doesn't exist in the sense that we thinking of it as existing, that is, with a definitive time line. It both is and isn't, it exists and it doesn't. It is the yin and the yang and it shall never "die" because it will never live in the same way a human is said to "live."
"This is called the mysterious female."
The two key words here are "mysterious" and "female," each of them having important meanings. Firstly, mysterious. It is" mysterious" because it is beyond human comprehension. It doesn't exist in this "middle kingdom," instead, it exists more of a in-between, a transport to the there and the not there. "Female" is important because it is the source of life and birth. Thus, by having a "mysterious female" we have this portal which gives us "birth" into our next stage, but we don't understand the process nor the portal itself.
"The gateway of the mysterious female
Is called the root of heaven and earth."
As I alluded to earlier, this is a gateway or portal of some kind, and it exists between heaven and earth. It is the called the "root" because of a few things. One, "root" has a distinct relationship to nature, which is very important in the Tao Te Ching because nature is the best manifestation of the Tao in this world. Also, root is the source of something, and thus this gateway being the source to both heaven and earth means that it is the method to which to can travel and experience both, achieving a little bit more comprehension in adherence to the way.
"Dimly visible, it seems as if it were there,
Yet use will never drain it."
This line was the most difficult for me to interpret. "Use will never drain it" refers to the fact that even though you may pass through this portal, you cannot ever deplete it, or stop it from doing its job. The use of the word "drain" also implies that it cannot be used up in any sense of the word. Literally, it cannot be diminished at all, because it cannot be taken from. It is "dimly visible" because it is hard for us to understand, impossible actually, the ways of the Tao. It is "visible" but not truly knowable, or clear, because we do not truly understand the Tao either. It only "seems" as if it were there, but we can never be sure because we can never really understand exactly what the Tao is or it;s purpose. It's beyond human comprehension.
The spirit of the valley never dies. 17
This is called the mysterious female.
The gateway of the mysterious female
Is called the root of heaven and earth.
Dimly visible, it seems as if it were there,
Yet use will never drain it.
(found on p.10 of our versions)
"The spirit of the valley never dies."
I interpret this line to mean that the "valley" is the portal between heaven and earth - the gateway, of sorts, to both all beginnings and ends. And it never dies because it doesn't exist in the sense that we thinking of it as existing, that is, with a definitive time line. It both is and isn't, it exists and it doesn't. It is the yin and the yang and it shall never "die" because it will never live in the same way a human is said to "live."
"This is called the mysterious female."
The two key words here are "mysterious" and "female," each of them having important meanings. Firstly, mysterious. It is" mysterious" because it is beyond human comprehension. It doesn't exist in this "middle kingdom," instead, it exists more of a in-between, a transport to the there and the not there. "Female" is important because it is the source of life and birth. Thus, by having a "mysterious female" we have this portal which gives us "birth" into our next stage, but we don't understand the process nor the portal itself.
"The gateway of the mysterious female
Is called the root of heaven and earth."
As I alluded to earlier, this is a gateway or portal of some kind, and it exists between heaven and earth. It is the called the "root" because of a few things. One, "root" has a distinct relationship to nature, which is very important in the Tao Te Ching because nature is the best manifestation of the Tao in this world. Also, root is the source of something, and thus this gateway being the source to both heaven and earth means that it is the method to which to can travel and experience both, achieving a little bit more comprehension in adherence to the way.
"Dimly visible, it seems as if it were there,
Yet use will never drain it."
This line was the most difficult for me to interpret. "Use will never drain it" refers to the fact that even though you may pass through this portal, you cannot ever deplete it, or stop it from doing its job. The use of the word "drain" also implies that it cannot be used up in any sense of the word. Literally, it cannot be diminished at all, because it cannot be taken from. It is "dimly visible" because it is hard for us to understand, impossible actually, the ways of the Tao. It is "visible" but not truly knowable, or clear, because we do not truly understand the Tao either. It only "seems" as if it were there, but we can never be sure because we can never really understand exactly what the Tao is or it;s purpose. It's beyond human comprehension.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Poems!
My favorite poem that anyone read was Emma's. The poem is as follows:
Rhyme 21
Gustavo Adolfo Becquer
"What's poetry?" You ask me as you lock
Your pupil in my pupil with pure blue.
"What's poetry?" You're really asking me?
Poetry's simply you.
The original:
Rima 21
¿Qué es poesía?, dices mientras clavas
en mi pupila tu pupila azul.
¡Qué es poesía! ¿Y tú me lo preguntas?
Poesía eres tú.
I just really quite love the simplicity and the meaning this poem conveys with utter ease.
Rhyme 21
Gustavo Adolfo Becquer
"What's poetry?" You ask me as you lock
Your pupil in my pupil with pure blue.
"What's poetry?" You're really asking me?
Poetry's simply you.
The original:
Rima 21
¿Qué es poesía?, dices mientras clavas
en mi pupila tu pupila azul.
¡Qué es poesía! ¿Y tú me lo preguntas?
Poesía eres tú.
I just really quite love the simplicity and the meaning this poem conveys with utter ease.
Meditation
So today we tried meditating. I lasted for about 12-15 minutes, I think. I was trying to go longer but my back hurt to an unbelievable degree. I was actually quite shocked as to how much it hurt. But the time I did spend was really fun and interesting.
The two most incredible parts for me were the description of the "pores" and the line of light. For the pores, I really felt like I could feel them opening and closing on my skin when I was breathing. As for the light, it was really cool to imagine the light flowing from the top of my head to the spot between my eyebrows, down my nose, through my hands and entering in my navel to my "lotus flower". I had never considered this flow of energy before but when it was said, it made perfect sense.
I was a pretty cool experience that I would like to try again. :)
The two most incredible parts for me were the description of the "pores" and the line of light. For the pores, I really felt like I could feel them opening and closing on my skin when I was breathing. As for the light, it was really cool to imagine the light flowing from the top of my head to the spot between my eyebrows, down my nose, through my hands and entering in my navel to my "lotus flower". I had never considered this flow of energy before but when it was said, it made perfect sense.
I was a pretty cool experience that I would like to try again. :)
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Ode by Arthur O'Shaughnessy
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample a kingdom down.
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself in our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
A breath of our inspiration
Is the life of each generation;
A wondrous thing of our dreaming
Unearthly, impossible seeming—
The soldier, the king, and the peasant
Are working together in one,
Till our dream shall become their present,
And their work in the world be done.
They had no vision amazing
Of the goodly house they are raising;
They had no divine foreshowing
Of the land to which they are going:
But on one man's soul it hath broken,
A light that doth not depart;
And his look, or a word he hath spoken,
Wrought flame in another man's heart.
And therefore to-day is thrilling
With a past day's late fulfilling;
And the multitudes are enlisted
In the faith that their fathers resisted,
And, scorning the dream of to-morrow,
Are bringing to pass, as they may,
In the world, for its joy or its sorrow,
The dream that was scorned yesterday.
But we, with our dreaming and singing,
Ceaseless and sorrowless we!
The glory about us clinging
Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing:
O men! it must ever be
That we dwell, in our dreaming and singing,
A little apart from ye.
For we are afar with the dawning
And the suns that are not yet high,
And out of the infinite morning
Intrepid you hear us cry—
How, spite of your human scorning,
Once more God's future draws nigh,
And already goes forth the warning
That ye of the past must die.
Great hail! we cry to the comers
From the dazzling unknown shore;
Bring us hither your sun and your summers;
And renew our world as of yore;
You shall teach us your song's new numbers,
And things that we dreamed not before:
Yea, in spite of a dreamer who slumbers,
And a singer who sings no more.
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample a kingdom down.
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself in our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
A breath of our inspiration
Is the life of each generation;
A wondrous thing of our dreaming
Unearthly, impossible seeming—
The soldier, the king, and the peasant
Are working together in one,
Till our dream shall become their present,
And their work in the world be done.
They had no vision amazing
Of the goodly house they are raising;
They had no divine foreshowing
Of the land to which they are going:
But on one man's soul it hath broken,
A light that doth not depart;
And his look, or a word he hath spoken,
Wrought flame in another man's heart.
And therefore to-day is thrilling
With a past day's late fulfilling;
And the multitudes are enlisted
In the faith that their fathers resisted,
And, scorning the dream of to-morrow,
Are bringing to pass, as they may,
In the world, for its joy or its sorrow,
The dream that was scorned yesterday.
But we, with our dreaming and singing,
Ceaseless and sorrowless we!
The glory about us clinging
Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing:
O men! it must ever be
That we dwell, in our dreaming and singing,
A little apart from ye.
For we are afar with the dawning
And the suns that are not yet high,
And out of the infinite morning
Intrepid you hear us cry—
How, spite of your human scorning,
Once more God's future draws nigh,
And already goes forth the warning
That ye of the past must die.
Great hail! we cry to the comers
From the dazzling unknown shore;
Bring us hither your sun and your summers;
And renew our world as of yore;
You shall teach us your song's new numbers,
And things that we dreamed not before:
Yea, in spite of a dreamer who slumbers,
And a singer who sings no more.
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