道 The Dao
人法地
地法天
天法道
道法自然
老子
Humans follow earth
Earth follows heaven
Heaven follows Dao
Dao follows its own nature
DAO engenders ONE
ONE engenders TWO
TWO engenders THREE
THREE engenders the Ten thousand things.
Lao Zi
The Dao or often translated as the way. Lao Zi called it the Dao because there is no way of describing it. It is a constant exchange of energies in the universe. The Dao is a human intent to try to unravel our relationship with the energies of nature.
The source of the Dao is emptiness and void（无极Wuji）, from Wuji comes Yin and Yang （太极Taiji）, from Taiji comes five elements（五行Wuxing）, from Wuxing comes ten thousand things. The nature of these relationships is an eternal cycle. From this process, the ancient Chinese developed systems for almanac, medicine, martial arts, longevity cultivation, Fengshui, and healing.
Daoism first appeared as shaman and esoteric practitioners to help ordinary people to understand the relationships between man, heaven and earth. Overtime, it became organized under different branches as an attempt to educate and pass on the arts to whoever wanted to learn.
Dao is a way for us to cultivate and tap into our potential. We see the ultimate Dao (大道）as an energy we can use to help us become healthy and open. Through our cultivation we can recognise internal blocks and issues that may prevent us from being able to expand and live in harmony with nature,our surroundings and others. Practicing we learn to enhance our minds and internal systems to be able to cultivate deeper. when our mind and body is clean we can begin to see ourselves truthfully in the world.
As the modern civilization has created a more technological lifestyle, giving us convenience and speed, it also takes us away from our relationships with nature and others. Today, we create societies based on our fear of nature and condition ourselves to live in a fabricated world with technologies, concrete jungles, and possessions. The bigger this fabricated world becomes, the further away from the nature we become. Without consciously feeling, our body becomes dis-eased. Instead of returning to the source of all nature, we become chaotic and confused.
The Dao allows us to delve deeper into our relationship with nature and others. By following Dao we gain insight into universal energies that are usually buried by our conditioning through our interaction with externals and daily lives.
Hulutang Daoist Medicine and longevity foundation Program (rolling enrolment)
This program is aimed as an introduction to some of the most fundamental Daoist healing and cultivation concepts and practices. Daoist medicine originated in ancient China. Ancient Daoist shamans discovered the relationship between Man, Heaven and Earth. Through cultivation, they also discovered Qi channels in the human body and developed herbal medicine based on their Qi transformation in human body. Over thousands of years, Chinese medicine has become a unique medical system that is comprehensive and effective. Today, Chinese medicine is seen as an alternative or holistic medicine to the conventional Western medicine. While most people will no longer relate it to Daoist practices, it is important we explore its original sources and understand what is behind the healing methodology. The lectures cover the following topics
1. What is Daoist medicine? Is Chinese medicine the same as Daoist medicine? How is it different from Western medicine?
2. How do we understand our body from Daoist perspectives? What is ease and disease?
3. Western medicine is researching into the genome to understand our genetic diseases.
Can Daoist medicine tell us what disease we are born into?
4. Are man and woman the same or are they very different? How do man and woman maintain their health?
5. Are we a product of nature or are we a product of nurture? How does culture, environment, food, medication and relationships influence our body? How to defend ourselves when our body is attacked?
6. How do Daoists see mind and spirit? How do thoughts and emotions influence our health? How to have a tranquil internal state?
7. What is Wu Wei and What is I-Ching? Why is it important to our health?
8. How to live a long life naturally? How do we interact with nature?
9. What is Daoist cultivation?
At the end of this program, one should have an overall understanding of Daoist medicine philosphies as a platform to enter the cultivation practice program.
