By Stuart Alve Olson
In Taoist Internal Alchemy texts, Xing (性) and Ming (命) are very important concepts. These two terms have varying definitions within Taoist texts, causing some confusion for those studying Internal Alchemy. In the simplest definition, Xing is a reference to our...
Taoists believe that we suffer the effects of old age because we don’t incorporate the laws of nature. If we want to feel good, we need to nourish the nature within us.
When it comes to working with the body, Taoism is all about going back—re-storing, re-generating, re-vitalizing....
March 22–April 19th, 2023
By Suzanne Nosko
As this new moon on March 22nd will be an intercalary month (or moon), the Yin Water Rabbit influence will be with us longer. This happens approximately every three years and is done in order to keep up the lunar year with the solar year.
Since the...
Please see the Book of Sun and Moon by Stuart Alve Olson for more details of the advice and correlations given in this piece for the present month (moon).
Great Strength, #34, Da Zhuang
This hexagram holds influence over the period of the Yin Wood Rabbit Moon (including the intercalary moon...
用 肉 饺 子 打 狗
yòng ròu jiǎo zi dǎ gǒu
The idiom is indicating things that can never be returned. No dog would ever return a piece of meat thrown to it.
Master Liang would usually blurt out this statement any time he heard talk of someone loaning or borrowing money, a book,...
By Stuart Alve Olson
In the Zhuang Zi, a parable tells about how after a visit to Tiaoling Park one day, Zhuang Zi felt as though he had lost himself completely. The events leading up to this started when he first encountered a very large bird, with a seven foot wingspan, and very large eyes.
The...
Copyright © 2023 by Stuart Alve Olson
This ongoing series presents the origin and more traditional meanings of Taijiquan posture names, movements, and applications. Each installment provides Master Xu Yusheng’s original text (1919), original photographs of Master Yang...
Translation © 2023 by Stuart Alve Olson
These translations of the Scripture on Tao and Virtue by Lao Zi (道 德 經 著 老 子) include the rare commentary by Taoist Immortal Bai Yuchan (白 玉 蟾, 1194–1229 CE), more popularly called the Jade Toad Immortal. Bai Yuchan was the fifth patriarch of the...
About the Year of the Rabbit (Hare)
Technically, this year should be called the “Year of the Hare,” as hares are swifter than rabbits. They are born with a coat of fur and have good vision, while rabbits are born naked and blind.
The Yin Water Hare is spiritually...
The text of the Mental Elucidation of the Thirteen Kinetic Postures first appeared approximately 300 years ago when a man called Wang Chongyue visited the Chen family and presented the text to Master Chen Wangting. Wang Chongyue was reportedly a student in the lineage of Zhang...
This short scripture was most likely composed during the Tang dynasty (618 to 907 CE). The primary message and wisdom to be obtained from it are the realization of the dual mystery of the Dao—being is just non-being and non-being is just being.
When a person attains this...
