Stand back. Let Tao move. Let Tao have a place in your heart. Let it move through A Zhi Dao person is the one who opens the dao, the path.
Grand Master Wei Ren Feng
Taoist Meditation
Videos from each month's class are now available to watch online or download here.
Taoism and Meditation Classes are held the last Friday of every month at 7 p.m. at Zhi Dao Guan, 3824 MacArthur Blvd. in Oakland. Dr. Alex Feng gives lessons and leads discussion from the Dao and leads Taoist meditation and qi gong exercises. These events are free and open to the public with donations gratefully accepted. There are padded folding chairs and some floor cushions. Please feel free to bring your own sitting cushion if you like. Tea and cookies follow the class.
Dr. Feng is an acclaimed Taoist Master who is the lineage holder of the Zhi Dao Taoist Tradition. Taught and mentored by his father, Dr. Wei Ren Feng, Master Feng grew up immersed in an environment of Taoist culture. Dr. Feng has taught Taoism and been a leading force in bringing Taoism to the West since the early 1970s.
I often compare the mind in meditation to a jar of muddy water: The more we leave the water without interfering or stirring it, the more the particles of dirt will sink to the bototm, letting the natural clarity of the water shine through.
The very nature of the mind is such that if you only leave it in its unaltered and natural state, it will find its true nature, which is bliss and clarity.
So take care not to impose anything on the mind or to tax it. When you meditate there should be no effort to control and no attempt to be peaceful. Dont' be overly solemn or feel that you are taking part in some special ritual; let go even of the idea that you are meditating.
Let your body remain as it is and your breath as you find it.
Think of yourself as the sky
holding the whole universe.
Sogyal Rinpoche
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
moves guided by a mysterious hand.
We know nothing of our own souls
that are ununderstandable and say nothing.
The deepest words
of the wise man teach us
the same as the whistle of the wind when it blows
or the sound of the water when it is flowing.
Antonio Machado
of nature
within
the power within
the power
without.
the path is whatever passes-no
end in itself.
the end is,
grace-ease-
healing
not saving.
singing
the proof
the proof of the power within.
Spring has come
and I will go searching for my mate."
The bird flew away from the portico's edge
like a message it flew off and disappeared.
The bird was small
the bird did not think
the bird did not read the newspaper
the bird was not in debt
the bird did not know people.
The bird flew through the air
above the red lights
at the height of oblivion
and experienced madly
blue moments.
the bird, ah, was only a bird.
Forugh Farrokhzad
An Anthology of Modern Persian Poetry
(with some Taoist editing)
We all
Sit in the orchestra of Tao.
Some play their
Fiddles,
Some wield their
Drum sticks.
Tonight is worthy of music.
Let's let loose
With
Compassion.
Let's drown in the delicious
Ambience of
Love.
Hafiz, The Great Sufi Master
The Gift
You must rise above
The gloomy clouds
Covering the mountaintop.
Otherwise, how will you
Ever see the brightness?
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture, still,
treat each guest honorably.
He may be cleaning you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Always check your inner state
with the lord of your heart.
Copper doesn't know it's copper,
until it's changing to gold.
Your loving doesn't know majesty, until it knows its helplessness.
Man Is Born in Tao
Fishes are born in water
Man is born in Tao.
If fishes, born in water,
Seek the deep shadow
Of pond and pool,
All their needs
Are satisfied.
If man, born in Tao,
Sinks into the deep shadow
Of non-action
To forget aggression and concern,
He lacks nothing
His life is secure.
Moral: "All the fish needs
Is to get lost in the water.
All man needs is to get lost
In Tao."
Zhuangzi
