Chapter 52

COMMENTARY
1-2 HEART: The ancient Chinese concept of the Primal Mother is a complex one that predates Taoism.
As an integral part of the Taoist philosophy, it means several things, including:
     a. The field of shen and qi within the bodymind. This is sometimes called the "lair of spirit and energy." Each organ of the bodymind has its own unique spirit and energy.
     b. A coherent and clear mystic state of consciousness in which the Cultivator palpably feels active non-action. Sometimes it is referred to as "the interplay of being and non-being."
     c. A transitional or shifting state of consciousness often experienced as a meeting of two fields of image, thought, and energy that is sometimes called "The Yellow Valley of Non-Assertion of the Uncreated." In the Tao Te Ching, all of these are referred to as the Mother of the World.
3-5 HAND: The sons and daughters are the various spirits and energies of the Cultivator's internal universe.
When they are first experienced in meditation, cascades of sensation and mental images flood the bodymind.
Some of these occurrences can greatly disturb the contemplative state of mind or even challenge the sanity of the Cultivator. Each event signals a mobilization of immense energy that has been produced during the ongoing process of Taoist cultivation.
6-10 HAND: These are specific methods for dealing with the cascades of sensation and image.
11-12 HEART and HAND: When the exhausting children are ignored, the entire bodymind is suffused with deep comfort.
13 MIND and HAND: This entire chapter lays the foundation for the practice of what would eventually become Taoist Alchemic Cultivation. Taoist Alchemy seeks deeper congress with the Tao Source by disciplining the sons and daughters of the Primal Mother. Various combinations and admixtures of the spirits and energies they represent are designed to accelerate the progress of the Cultivator. Many Taoist Alchemic methods have been developed over the centuries with some working better than others. Some of the methods are, in fact, very dangerous and should only be attempted under the guidance of a competent Taoist Master. Traditionally, none of these methods are required to successfully cultivate the Tao Way of Life.
14-15 HEART: These stanzas plainly state the need for mystic illumination.
16-32 HEART, HAND, and MIND: Illumination, or ming, is perhaps the most important event in the life of the Taoist Cultivator. Without it, total congress with the Tao Source cannot occur. During the direct transmission of the Tao Te Ching, the student either undergoes the illumination experience on the spot, or he must adequately describe his own illumination experience, which has already taken place. The rest of this chapter outlines the Taoist illumination experience. I have detailed it below in narrative form:
     a. The onset of illumination is generally quite unexpected and takes the Cultivator completely by
surprise. Usually, one is engaged in cultivation practices, religious devotions, or some activity that is suggestive of the infinite within the finite.
     b. Without any warning or indication whatsoever, the Cultivator instantly enters a belief system in which he feels he is engulfed in flame. Sometimes, one feels as if he is the flame itself. The force of this stage of illumination can be staggering. The Cultivator may lose his footing, stumble, or fall. Less dramatically, he may merely be rendered motionless while a faint cloud engulfs the bodymind. This cloud is associated with warmth, a flame, or a gentle fire that usually is red, purple, rose-colored, lavender, or reddish-orange in color. Some Cultivators experience the flame as coming from themselves.
     c. Profound sensory shifts begin to take place. It's as if the senses are somehow briefly malfunctioning.
Perceptual relationship begins to shift and change.
Geometric shapes and images, usually seen only when the eyes are shut, present themselves to the visual field whether the eyes are open or not. These usually ectopic images are also more pronounced and startling to the Cultivator than what normally would be experienced.
    d. While engulfed in the mystic flame and awash in what can only be described as sensory overload, the Cultivator begins to experience swells of emotion that can only be described as ecstatic. Profound comfort, deep satisfaction, joyousness, and an abiding sense of self-assurance are the most common.
     e. Instantly following the emotional swells, the Cultivator feels as if he has silently conquered something, or has been quietly victorious over an unseen enemy.
     f. Following the sense of being gently victorious, the Cultivator experiences a buildup of life-force energy around the belt line.
     g. After the ascendancy of the silent and gentle victory, the Cultivator begins to gently touch the Tao.
This contact is punctuated by the sense that there is no definite liberation from the planet-that he is already part of the Tao, as is all of creation. This realization of the Divine Force in everything persuades the Cultivator that the plan upon which the entire universe is constructed is completely adequate. There is no need to search for God; God is already here. Furthermore, this living Tao is viscerally experienced as being absolutely benevolent, giving, and ultimately good.
     h. Instantly following the Taoist Sense of universal benevolence, the bodymind of the Cultivator begins to perceive-in a very palpable way-the holographic nature of the Tao, to wit, how all the parts of life are interconnected and interrelated to all the other parts of life. Concepts of space, time, and the like begin to break down altogether. Consensual reality becomes increasingly irrelevant as the Taoist sense begins to rearrange the words and pictures of the bodymind. For a time, it feels as if the faculty of language has exited from the Cultivator. Revealed visions then present themselves.
These visions rapidly unfold as miniature dramas upon the bodymind of the Cultivator. The plots of these revealed plays are built upon archetypal themes, as well as on one's own life experience.
     i. The Cultivator begins to believe in the literal impossibility of death, that an intimate relationship with the Tao has begun, that life and energy exist on other worlds and dimensions, that love and compassion are the natural order of things, and that happiness is humanity's birthright.
     j. As the illumination further penetrates the bodymind of the Cultivator, conception, imagination, and the power of intellect expand. The Cultivator realizes the truth of thinking into rather than the facile thinking about something. Comprehension in the conventional sense slips away as a new way of thinking-global and intuitive in nature-inhabits the bodymind. Now, for the first time in this process, the Cultivator touches the truth that he has been fundamentally changed.
     k. With the total realization that a permanent change has taken place, the Cultivator begins to feel, in Taoist mystical parlance, the "respiration of the Tao." The Cultivator, quite literally, feels as if he is glowing with the pulsating radiance of the cosmos.
     I. This is a kind of spiritual quickening that, while nearing completion and at the end of the illumination experience, informs the Cultivator that, indeed, he must go through the fires again. In the Taoist tradition, there is not one single enlightenment, but many.
m. As the Cultivator exits the illumination experience itself, he will notice that he has increased intellectual
capacity and a thirst for knowledge. He will be driven to create. If not previously ritualistic, an artist, or a musician, he will be drawn to ritual, music, and to art. He will exude a positive outlook on life and will examine facets of it as yet unexplored by him. The Cultivator will act in a more natural and spontaneous manner and will bring his added faculties to new projects and tasks. The world, to the Taoist Cultivator, will seem bigger, brighter, and more filled with wonder than ever before. An increase in communicativeness and overall charm will manifest.
He will generate a personality that draws people to him.
     n. Honoring this new outlook is perhaps the most important part of the illumination process. If the Cultivator mistakenly retreats inwardly and sees himself as separate from the world, then the chances of encountering another illumination decrease dramatically. If a fascination with mental or physical force, rampant emotion, personal power, isolation, or an unrestrained ego prevails, then the profound happiness will dissipate. In Taoist terms, the Cultivator will, spiritually, die.
     o. Once Illumination has occurred, the lifestyle that the Cultivator has created along the way becomes vital in managing the elevated mystic experiences that naturally follow.