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AYPforum
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Posted - Jul 07 2005 : 05:40:54 AM
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330 From: "ilgu99" <ilgu99@yahoo.com> Date: Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:39pm Subject: Taoist smile meditation ilgu99 Offline Send Email (stress relief by meditation)
Try "Taoist Smile Meditation":
Lao-tzu said, while explaining Wu-wei ("no-action"), that a wise king rules his country not by intervening but by letting things run their course (flowing with Tao (Nature), not against). (Of course, the king was a well-behaved one, too. "Well-behaved" here means maintaining good conduct, thereby "keeping peace with oneself".)
How so? The Tao-te-ching Sutra of Lao-tzu said "When nothing is done, nothing is left undone". This implies that "No-action is more powerful than the most powerful action". Don't try to understand this: just try to believe it (come to think of it, it makes sense too, sort of). This is a religious belief, and that's why Taoism is a religion. Like many other religions, it is based on the "Original purity of mankind". This is why "a shovel cannot move rocks, while a prayer can move the mountains".
"Wu-wei" roughly means "an action with minimal movement of your mind". (It presupposes that you are a well-behaved person, too.) The closest (and the easiest) you can get in imitating this Wu-wei (as a meditation) is:
1) Assume that you are the king of a country. 2) Assume that your body is your country. 3) "Wear a smile", and keep smiling gracefully like a king (and don't intervene).
This "meditation" works well on minor (but nasty) irritations such as headache, insomnia, indigestion, backache, shoulder pain, neck pain, job-related stresses, family problems etc., and when you are trying to kick the habit (alcohol, tobacco, drug, over-eating). Basically, it operates the same way as hypnotic regression or spiritual healing. It restores everything back to where it was ("nothing is left undone"). Just like the "reset" button on your computer.
[Smile is the first "mudra" (Sanskrit, seal of law) of a Buddha -- ever wondered about that mystic smile on Buddha's face?
Sitting cross-legged is the lotus posture of your body; wearing a smile (without intervention) is the "lotus posture" of your mind. So you can dance or run "cross-legged" also.
Like they say, "good things in life are free". One needs not booze up or smoke away; just smile away.
For a "group therapy", why not have a "smile session" with your partner, in the backyard, over a mild Chinese green tea?]
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If you are interested in Zen: http://www.itsmysite.com/yourpage
-- ilgu
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