CHAPTER 1

Taoism

In introducing the Way of the Tao to you, I must first speak about the cultureof Taoism. Taoism reaches back to prehistoric times; there is no date allocatedto it. Taoism is about the people being in harmony within themselves and withnature. It really means being in harmony with every thing around you. In ancienttimes, people began to adapt to and evolve in the environment they were livingin. Their understanding or harmony with nature was called the Tao. All those whowere seeking harmony within the self were considered Taoists. They pondered thequestions of life and evolution. These were the people who became greatthinkers, and brought to our world the teachings that I am presenting to you.

Around 600 B.C. there was a spiritual renaissance—not only in China, but also inall parts of the world—and great spiritual teachers appeared, offeringtransformational teachings. These teachings became the foundation for most ofthe philosophies and religions of the time. We know who they are because it wasthrough them that we gained this understanding of how to be in harmony withourselves once again. Among these great teachers is Lao Tzu, who was a vitalpart of the transformation that China was going through.

The Chinese acknowledge Lao Tzu as the founder of philosophical Taoism, which isa school of thought that reflects on nature. Lao Tzu's name translates as "OldChild," which shows us that life itself is a perpetual paradox. Lao Tzu'steaching in the Tao Te Ching presented people with a new way to think aboutthemselves, life and the world around them.

Taoism is the way of surrender to the ebb and flow of nature as the way tofulfillment. It turned its back on the court, on statesmanship, and commerce, infavor of the silence and remoteness of meditation in the mountains. Tao means anunderstanding of self—self-cultivation, self-contemplation—it always deals withself.

The teachings I'm presenting are from the Yu Ching Huang Lao Pai, or the JadePurity School of Taoism, which happens to be one of the oldest schools ofTaoism. Its founders are Huang Lao, or Lao Tzu, and the Yellow Emperor. Now, asin the time of Lao Tzu, religions and philosophies are undergoing a renewal, andare bringing people through transformation into realization of self.

CHAPTER 2

The World

Taoists represent the world as the Three Purities, or three aspects ofourselves. Three symbols are used to represent these three dimensions (seefigure 1, page 6). These dimensions are internal. At the same time they areexternal. In relationship to Wu Chi, Tai Chi appears as darkness. Inrelationship to Tai Chi, yin/yang appears as darkness. To the Taoist, yin/yang,the conscious mind, this material world appears as darkness within darkness. Sothe Taoist walks in harmony with nature, to leave the darkness within darknessand come into the light.

Mystics speak of this dual darkness as two nights: the first is the dark nightof the soul; the second is the dark night of the spirit. Shamans speak about thenight and say that, in order to get through the night, you need an ally. Mysticssay you need a spiritual guide. Whether your ally is one of the archetypalforces of the shaman, one of the mystic's ascendant masters, or a deity ormaster of your own tradition, you may call on that energy to help you on yourjourney through the darkness into the light.

Grand Purity—The Conscious Mind

Grand Purity is a dimension that is a window to the soul, but ego, or consciousmind, functions like a mirror. Its focus is on the external. Everything you seein the physical dimension is a reflection of your conscious mind. Everything youexperience has been reflected back to the mirror. The way you feel about life,people, and the world around you, the things you think, say, and do, fashion theresponse you get back from life, and shape your reality. So you get from theworld what you give to the world. The conscious mind's reflections draw to youeverything, physically, mentally, emotionally. You attract to you the samevibrations you give off. This is the nature of yin/yang. When conscious mindfunctions as a window, its focus is on the soul. Using psychic abilities,divination (such as the I Ching,), meditation, dreams, or Jung's centroversion,you can access the soul and begin to tune into your higher self.

The conscious mind is like a mirror. It mirrors everything—physical, mental, andemotional—that you perceive about yourself. If you feel fear, it will mirror thefear and you will have fear coming to you. If you feel anger, it will mirror theanger and you will have anger coming to you. It reflects what you feel aboutyourself. If you feel you have an ugly body, it will give you an ugly body. Yourconscious mind will reflect that image to you. Everything in your life is therebecause of you. You can say, "No that's not true," or, "When I was young, mymother did this to me, and that's why I'm like this now." You can make excusesfor many things, for many reasons about why you are, and who you are. But whenit comes down to it, there is no one who can take the responsibility except you,even though, as a child, you may have been forced into a mold of negativity. So,to begin, you must accept yourself as you are and start from there.

Whatever you perceive about yourself, you automatically reflect it, like amirror, and pull that vibration to you. There is a universal law that says,"Like attracts like." You pull to you the same vibration that you give off. Fearpulls fear; anger pulls anger; love pulls love. If you understand that, youbegin to perceive how to break away from this thing we call the conscious mind.Remember that the...