Featured Poetry: Order

Build your life brick upon brick.

Live a life of truth,

And you will look back on a life of truth.

Live a life of fantasy,

And you will look back on delusion.

(Order – taken from 365 Tao by Deng Ming-Dao)

Book Review: The Lunar Tao (by Deng Ming-Dao)

There is a distinct similarity between a tree’s source of strength and that of a human being. It is in the roots. A tree anchored in healthy roots will strive and be strong. The same is true for human beings. Our roots are our origin and that which we are part of: our families and nature. Uproot us or estrange us from our families and nature and we will be weakened. A whole spectrum of mental and physical problems may cascade over us. But our problems don’t have to be lasting or permanent. Often they are resolved simply by returning to our roots.

But how do we find our way back to our roots? Sometimes we need someone to show us, because there is so much noise in our lives that we can no longer think clearly. Our learned, detrimental behaviors and habits are so ingrained that we feel utterly lost. The Lunar Tao is a guide we can turn to if we feel lost. It is the work of a real person, Deng Ming-Dao, an experienced Taoist master who, through his extensive knowledge and vast insight, shows us how.

By its very definition, Taoism is a nature-based philosophical tradition. In The Lunar Tao, Deng Ming-Dao gradually and systematically reconnects us, through stories, poetry, and meditations, with our roots of family and nature. He shows us the value in festivals and rituals and in being in tune with all the changes that are taking place in nature. Soon we come to realize that we are actually microcosms within a macrocosm, and the same cycles of nature are paralleled within ourselves. Through observing nature and everything that is going on in it, we gain a better understanding of our own nature and what is going on in ourselves.

We don’t have to be pummeled by the currents of life like a piece of driftwood in a wild river. By following along The Lunar Tao’s eloquent, poetic and narrative illustrations of the natural cycles of all life we gain insight into who we are, what our inherent needs are, and how to reconnect and stay rooted. Thus, we regain our strength and inspire new hope to successfully navigate life’s constant changes and turbulences. After all, aren’t those turbulences not just like heavy winds or storms that will eventually subside and make way for sunny skies again?

This review can also be found on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1UJFWZZ4AGRQT

Happy Chinese New Year!

Wishing you a happy, healthy, and prosperous Chinese New Year!

If you are following the lunar calendar along with a copy of The Lunar Tao by Deng Ming-Dao, start reading the first entry today.

– andelieya

The Lunar Tao: Meditations in Harmony with the Seasons

Some of you recently commented on my photos of January’s full moon. Could it be that you are as fond of and as mesmerized by the moon as I am? If following and celebrating the moon with the help of a lunar calendar full of festivals, stories, meditations, and exercises and learning about Taoist wisdom sounds intriguing to you, then I highly recommend this new Harper One book, The Lunar Tao: Meditations in Harmony with the Seasons which was just published on January 29, 2013.

The author of the book is no other than contemporary Taoist master, successful writer, and renowned fine artist, Deng Ming-Dao, who has previously published 8 other books, among them the hugely popular 365 Tao. In The Lunar Tao: Meditations in Harmony with the Seasons you will also find some of andelieya’s photographs as part of the illustrations.

Here are some useful links to more information about the book, such as sample pages and reviews:

If this sounds interesting to you, remember that the new lunar year starts on February 10th!

The Role of Statues and Depictions of the Divine

On his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/dengmingdao, Taoist Master, Deng Ming-Dao writes:

“If Taoists believe that we should look beyond gods, why then are the temples filled with them? If the master says that all answers are inside of us, why does the master help us find a personal deity to whom we direct our chants and our prayers? If all is illusory—including our little human world and the grandiose vision of heaven we have crafted for ourselves—why do Taoists work to restore temples and convey the scriptures?

They do this because we need these aids when we’re still young on the path. We need the gods to focus our imaginations. We need devotion to discipline ourselves, and to give expression to our piety. We need the words of the past sages to help us pacify our intellects.

Later, you can be one of those Taoist beggars in rags, wandering the road without caring about a single religious object or conception. You won’t need gods, you won’t need temples, you won’t need scriptures.

And yet, you’ll be grinning.”

I have been pondering what this means for me and my practice, and how I interpret the role of statues and images of the Divine, especially when they are consecrated.

When priests consecrate a statue or image of the Divine, regardless of whether it is Jesus, Buddha, Guanyin, or any other holy depiction that we feel drawn to, they direct the divine energy into the object. The object, which now contains concentrated divine energy, becomes sort of like an embodied, perpetual prayer which appeals with us and also on our behalf to the Divine to help develop those qualities in us which we so admire and attribute to it. In our devotion it aids us in purifying ourselves to make ourselves receptive for the treasures of the same divine qualities which we are gradually excavating in ourselves through our spiritual practice.

Featured Facebook Page: Deng Ming-Dao – Taoist Wisdom

If I had to pick the most favorite of my favorite Facebook pages, then it is the new page of Deng Ming-Dao.

Although, he is the author of eight popular books (with a ninth due out in January), a successful artist, and famous book designer, Deng Ming-Dao as a person has largely kept out of the public limelight. Some of his readers have even wondered if he really exists. The reason for Deng Ming-Dao’s hesitance of attracting limelight attention can be explained by the fact that he is a true, contemporary Taoist master who is trying hard to uphold the purity of the ancient Taoist sages’ original teachings.

Deng Ming-Dao is not another New-Age figure, self-help author, or pseudo spiritual leader. Unlike many other authors and practitioners of Taoism, his Taoist lineage goes back directly to Huashan, one of China’s sacred mountains. Aside from his numerous other skills and areas of expertise, this highly cultivated scholarly as well as practical Taoist master is fluent not only in ancient Taoist philosophy, but also in various styles of martial arts.

It comes as no surprise that Deng Ming-Dao’s international readership, including myself, rejoiced when he recently came on Facebook. This new Facebook site, which has already developed into a genuine spiritual community, has made it possible for people of all spiritual traditions to see Deng Ming-Dao’s photo for the first time and find almost daily his profound wisdom and meditations, and information on Taoist history and philosophy. Here readers are encouraged to enter into a dialogue with the master himself and with the other community members.

With Taoism being more of a philosophy, rather than a religion, it is universal. Many of us already benefit from its wisdom and practical applications for everyday problems. Think acupuncture, acupressure, feng shui/geomancy, traditional Chinese medicine, internal and external martial arts, the I Ching, and the Daodejing!

I hope that I have sparked your interest enough and invite you to share this wonderfully inspirational site with me: https://www.facebook.com/dengmingdao

DMD — All rights to this photo belong to https://www.facebook.com/dengmingdao

Follow-Up Discussion of My Previous Blog Entry: The True Self

This is a follow up discussion of my previous blog entry, “Sunday Meditation: The True Self” with Deng Ming-Dao. https://andelieya.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/sunday-meditation-the-true-self/

Deng Ming-Dao is an artist, writer and the author of eight books, with a ninth one, The Lunar Tao slated to be published in January 2013. In the discussion that follows, Deng Ming-Dao offers additional insight into the topic of my original blog post.

You can find Deng Ming-Dao on the web http://www.dengmingdao.com/, on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/dengmingdao, and on Twitter https://twitter.com/dengmingdao

DMD:
Sometimes someone else has packed our bags.

Sometimes, we’re afraid to open our bags, or are horrified when we do.

Sometimes we continue to lug the bag, even though we know it’s wrong, because we’re fearful of the alternative.

Sometimes we’re afraid that if we were to upend our bag and clean everything out that we would disappear.

It’s not easy for people to clean out their baggage.

andelieya: We can learn to periodically set the bag down. Once we experience the relief of the weight falling away, we may see the benefit in doing this more regularly and more often.

We may find to have a lot more endurance and be able to go much farther with regular breaks, than if we continually toted the bag without ever putting it down.

After a while, it occurs to us that we can also make the bag lighter and our walk easier if we just emptied some of its content out permanently. We come to the realization that it’s wise to carry along just enough, and everything extra is unneeded and unwanted.

By regularly and often putting our bags down, we can experience refreshing breaks of weightless moments. But while we must still carry our bags, by gradually emptying out all unneeded and unwanted content, they will be a lot lighter. Our endurance increases, and we can walk a lot further and higher without tiring.

DMD: So many of us were told never to put or bags down. Travel in airports with the amplified admonishments not to leave our bags unattended represents an underlying anxiety in our culture. Lock your house. Lock your car. Hold onto your wallet. Hold onto your kids. We aren’t used to putting down our bags.

Hold onto our reputation. Hold onto your job. Hold onto your marriage. Hold onto your sanity.

“She’s letting herself go!” “He’s losing it!” “Don’t let go!” The resistance to putting down our bag is high.

Yes, the classical teaching is to put down or bags. But let’s acknowledge that the task is hard and that all of us who are traveling with our burdens must have compassion extended to us for our burdens.

andelieya: It is so true! The examples you brought up really demonstrate the societal conditioning of our mind in thinking that we must never let go of anything, otherwise something catastrophic will happen.

Although, it seems as easy as just putting them down, letting go of our bags is the most daunting task we are faced with in life. The tendency to cling and not wanting to render full control is in the nature of an unchecked ego. Actually, it is paradoxical, because the ego only thinks it is in full control, but never really is to begin with.

Meditation is one way through which we can dampen the loud calls and many voices of the ego and, instead, listen to the silent, peaceful depth and breadth of our souls. (I intentionally use depth and breadth in singular form here, because this depth and breadth is the Oneness that all souls share.)

Through meditation we can learn to empty our bags of nonessential weight and to periodically put our bags down completely for brief, refreshing moments where we can see clearly the nature of ourselves and of all that is around us. We may even progress far enough to be able to put down our bags at anytime, anywhere.

Those of us who are lucky enough may come across a qualified teacher who will show us the method and guide us in finding our true selves.

Deng Ming-Dao, thank you for sharing your wisdom with me and my readers!

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If this sounds interesting to you, remember that the new lunar year starts on February 10th!

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