https://www.academia.edu/38563711/Superior_Virtue_Inferior_Virtue_A_Doctrinal_Theme_in_the_Works_of_the_Daoist_Master_Liu_Yiming_1734-1821_
So I was at the library rereading this article. To word search it we need to login.
The one thing that I picked up from reading this article is that the first chapter of the Taoist Yoga: alchemy and immortality book is clearly about "Superior Virtue" as it is called in this article.
So we had a debate on thedaobums - several years ago - about what the first chapter of Taoist Yoga really implies or means. This Pregadio article clarifies this subtle difference.
OH I remember now - you can not download it unless you PURCHASE the "bulk" download option - because this article is part of some journal that is not accessible. That's why I had to read it on the public library database originally and today reread it again there.
So we can go through the article without word searching. Since I just read this article word for word at the library then it's easy for me to get to the parts I want to emphasize:
Closed above, its name is Being; closed below, its name is Non-Being. Non-Being therefore rises above, for above is the dwelling of 上閉則稱有，下閉則稱無，無者以奉上，上有神德居。In this quatrain, Qian and Kun signify the precelestial domain Qian (Heaven) is above and represents the principle of Non-Being 無 Kun (Earth) is below and represents the principle of Being 有 As they join to one another, Qian ☰ becomes Li ☲ and Kun ☷ becomes Kan ☵ The conjunction of Qian and Kun gives origin to the post-celestial domain houtian. Here Li (Fire) dwells above and Kan (Water) dwells below. Li encloses the principle of Being, represented by its inner line that originally belongs to Kun; Kan encloses the principle of Non-Being, represented by its inner line that originally belongs to Qian.So non-being is the yang qi that rises above to become Yuan Qi. So heaven is then Yang shen and Yang qi combined together to make or join into Yuan Qi - the Fashen or Dharmakaya. That is my understanding.
So I have to take out all the html formatting....
色身,” while the Internal Medicine is “the superior undertaking of the dharma-body 法身 dharmakāya.” The “physical body” is the raw material of the Neidan practice. Here the adept finds the postcelestial essence, breath, and spirit which should be refined into the respective precelestial correspondents and gradually re-absorbed into the first principle, the Dao. The dharma-body is—in the Neidan understanding of this term—one’s unmanifested “body” of Pure Yang, devoid of birth and death, which is innately realized by some and is attained through the Neidan practice by others. This body is equivalent to the “Yang Spirit” , the perfected replica of oneself that is often represented as exiting from the adept’s sinciput in the final stage of the alchemical practice.So when Pregadio says the Unmanifested Body is "equivalent" - logically that is NOT the same as "equals" - as I pointed out in a recent blog post on Eddie Oshins.
So as the Taoist Yoga book clarifies - the "yang Shen" appears but then goes back to it's unmanifested Yuan Qi state. My claim then is that the "Female Dragon" is the Yuan Qi while the Yang Shen is the Yang shen plus Yang qi. How this is equivalent is explained by noncommutative phase logic (i.e. 2/3 is yang as the Perfect Fifth so that 3/2 is C to G (the yang shen) while 2/3 is C to F (the yin or unmanifest equivalent that is also Yang as the Perfect Fifth but yin as spacetime - and so the Yuan Qi). This is also called the Quantum Undertone as I have documented from the Blue Light of a spacetime shift. https://elixirfield.blogspot.com/2019/03/how-light-of-inner-fire-is-true-earth.html for more details.
So then in a rare clarification of the Daoist alchemy training - Pregadio reveals the necessary "double" reversion of the Elixir - as I have emphasized over a series of blog posts. https://elixirfield.blogspot.com/2019/04/excellent-quote-from-pregadio-on-how.html
Here the precelestial domain is represented by Metal [yang qi], and the postcelestial domain by Water. The first movement is the ascent from the postcelestial to the precelestial, described as the inversion of the generative 相生 of the five agents. In this sequence, Metal (the “mother”) generates Water (the “son”), but in the alchemical pro-cess it is Water (black lead) that generates Metal (True Lead). The son generates the mother, and thus “the mother is hidden in the embryo of her son." The second movement is the new descent from the precelestial to the postcelestial, which occurs after the first movement has been completed. In this movement, represented as the ordinary course of generative sequence of the five agents, Metal (the “mother”) once again generates Water (the “son”). Thus “the child is stored in the womb of its mother.” The ascent to the precelestial and the return to the postcelestial correspond to inferior and superior virtue, respectively. They also correspond to different degrees of realization. The first one pertains to the movement of “ascent” performed by means of the alchemical work, which leads from celestial to the precelestial. The second one— which completes the process begun in the first stage—pertains to the movement of “descent” and realizes the unity and identity of the precelestial and the postcelestial. When it is seen in this perspective, alchemy in the strict sense of the term, deals only with the first movement: the reversion from the postcelestial to the precelestial, which requires “doing.” Its path, however, is fulfilled when the second movement is also performed: the return from the precelestial to the postcelestial, which is achieved by “non-doing.”So for example Aaron Cheak in his overview of Daoist alchemy does NOT acknowledge this crucial "second step" of the training. And I have not seen many westerners acknowledge this second step.
So the first step is the Jade Elixir - and the second step (after the infusion of the Shen is then the Golden elixir that descends). So the Yang Shen is infused into the Yuan Qi that descends down the front. The Yang Shen and Yang Qi CREATE the Yuan Qi via the third eye rotation (of yang shen-yin qi and yang qi-yin shen).
The Northern School and the formation of early. Ch'an Buddhism. (pdf)
So now I will analyze this book to see if it goes into these details about the Fashen as Dharmakaya and the Yang Shen...
So Pregadio translates the use of the term "brilliance" back into Daoist alchemy...
Oh wait - I remembered that I SAVED the pdf from the library - I was able to open my gmail account previously at the library. Now google did not let me.
Nope - Pregadio just uses "bright" not brilliance but I think they are "equal."
So that indicates the Yang Shen manifesting - the Brightness from Earth as Utmost Yang.
So for those who have studied the Taoist Yoga book then the above statement makes complete sense as the development of the Yang Shen occurs through the shen of the yin qi of the lower tan tien. The first half of enlightment is the Yin Shen as Yuan Shen activated via the yang qi built up enough to activate the Yuan Qi - the Dharmakaya. So then light is seen external to the body as the Absolute Void manifesting - the Yin shen within the yang qi.
And now back to the Ch'an book searching the word "bright" - again this is the Yang shen (also called Brilliance).
So what the Buddhists lose is that the secret of this Brightness is via the Lower Tan t'ien! This is what Master Nan, Huai-chin was working to recover.
and
https://elixirfield.blogspot.com/2019/10/revisiting-pregadio-on-trigrams-of.html
2nd previous blogpost on that same Pregadio article
So heaven = the Male Tiger as True Mercury (Yang qi, yuan shen creating Yuan Qi)
Earth = the Female Dragon as True Lead (yang shen, yin qi creating yuan qi)
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