Resonance and Transcendence with Great Nature: A Guide for Understanding the Mind, Reality and Enlightenment - Softcover

Xuezhi, Hu

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1536836060 ISBN 13: 9781536836066

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

Synopsis

Resonance and Transcendence with Great Nature is a guide book for understanding the essence of material existence and consciousness, the relationship between materiality and mentality, and the path of enlightenment according to Taoist internal alchemy practice. Primarily serving as a preface for the book Discourse on Chuang Tzu, this book appears separately due to its wide coverage of Buddhist and Taoist theory, as well as modern physics concerning the compositional structure of materiality. Emancipating the mind from bondage constitutes the first step for enlightenment. By taking this first step, and allowing the miniature universe of the human body to resonate with the great nature found in the Mysterious Pass, people can walk along the correct path of enlightenment. In doing so, they may attain Oneness, where Jing, Qi and Shen are unified, thereby transforming consciousness into enlightening wisdom, gaining transcendence from the mundane world, and attaining release from the bondage of encumbrance and afflictions.

This book provides clear and thorough explanations of terminologies and processes in Taoist transformative meditation, illustrating an internal cultivation and purification practice based in the foundations of the I-Ching (the Hetu and Luoshu diagrams). It offers theory that students receive from meditation teachers in the Taoist mountains of China, to keep them on the right path in their self-cultivation, and explains the many correlations between Taoist, Buddhist, and Confucian theories and practices.

About this title

Review:

The writings presented in this guide book closely follow Master Hu's teaching of Daoist and Buddhist theories, meditation technique, and what is known as the process of internal alchemy. Master Hu's students travel from various parts of the globe to experience his teachings on enlightenment, namely to the Wudang Mountains of Hubei province in China, where the mystic practice of Daoism has wonderfully deep roots, and is still very much alive today. This is the spirit in which to embrace Resonance and Transcendence with Great Nature. As an editor, I had to resist the inclination to impose Western logic on the concepts expressed here, of which are already significantly transformed by moving from one language to another. For many months, I worked closely with Master Hu's translation of Zhuang Zi (Chuang Tzu), into the annotated book, Discourse on Chuang Tzu. It is from this work that the guide book was derived. Due to Master Hu's sense of responsibility to those interested in truly maximising their understanding of Zhuang Zi as a cornerstone spiritual text, he writes extensively on the cultural foregrounding of key Daoist and ancient Chinese concepts such as: the I-Jing, Yin and Yang, the bodily meridians, the large and small water wheel, and the golden elixir pill. Importantly, the role of Buddhist concepts such as: layers of consciousness, ego, seeds and stages of enlightenment are also explained and explored. As a result, readers are extraordinarily fortunate to have this body of information, translated and presented almost as if attending sessions with Master Hu directly. In many ways, the experience of this guide book will raise as many questions as it answers, providing a foundation for deeper exploration and study. Its great value is the authentic context in which Eastern spiritual philosophy explains our world, rather than the reframing of these ideas into a Western interpretation. Any earnest reader, interested in pursing the way of the Dao will benefit from understanding the origins of these ancient ideas, how they inter-relate and can be practised in our modern world.
--- Eileen Pun; Poet published in Ten: The New Wave, Poetry Anthology (Bloodaxe Books, UK); Editorial team, Embracing Destiny in China (New World Press, Beijing)

Review:

In "Resonance and Transcendence with Great Nature," Master Hu provides a comprehensive text on the theoretical foundations of Taoist transformative  meditation. These include theories of consciousness and reality which are most often associated with Buddhism, but were also present in the writings of Chuang Tzu (circa 300 BC) centuries before Buddhism arrived in China (80 AD).  As Master Hu's "Discourse on Chuang Tzu" will show how Chuang Tzu's writings illustrate these theories, and their application to Taoist transformative meditation, "Resonance and Transcendence" first provides a sort of toolkit so that readers can get the most out of Chuang Tzu's metaphors and colourful anecdotes.

With the great honour of having edited Master Hu's annotations and commentary in the soon to be released "Discourse on Chuang Tzu," I can say that these books are sure to carry the reader on a journey through new dimensions of the subtleties and complexities found in Taoist thought, meditation, and our spiritual and mundane existences.
--- Dan G. Reid, translator of The Ho-Shang Kung Commentary on Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1536836060
• ISBN 13: 9781536836066
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 252
• Editor: Pun Eileen, Reid Dan G.