Inner Sage Tao

All Material, Unless Otherwise Noted, Copyright Donald Lockwood 2007- 2009

 

 

 

 

The Inner Sage

Wang Yang-ming on the Inner Sage

 

Wang Yu-chung, Lou Ch'ien-chih, and I were in attendance  together in Ch'ien-chou.  The Teacher said, "There is the sage in everyone. Only because one falls short of self-confidence the sage (inherent in oneself) is being buried."  Thereupon he looked at Yu-chung and said, "Originally there is a sage in your bosom."  Yu-chung rose and said that he did not deserve it. The Teacher said, "This is what you yourself own. Why decline?" Yu-chung said again, "I do not deserve it." The Teacher said, "Everyone has it. How much more is that true of you, Yu-chung! Why Should you be modest? It won't do even if you are modest."  Whereupon Yu-chung smiled and accepted (the compliment).

While Inner Sage Tao and Feng Shui Meditation are meant to complement each other, Inner Sage Tao can be pursued independently, however, Feng Shui Meditation will not be taught without Inner Sage Tao.

 

Inner Sage Tao is designed to lay a foundation for integrating the whole person for effective and successful action in the world by resolving two pernicious dichotomies which pervade modern culture, one is the life of Contemplation vs. Life of Action dichotomy and the other is the Heart vs. Mind dichotomy.  These two dichotomies are root of a great deal of internal conflict in the inner and outer lives of most people.  Historically these date back to antiquity and seem to have their roots in Orphism11 which tends to be a rejection of the world and by implication action in the world, thus the conflict between contemplation and action.  In the case of “heart vs mind” the later originates in the conflict between "reason" and "revelation" which developed between the Greek Philosophical schools and traditional religions, most importantly Judaism, during the Hellenistic period.  The "heart vs. mind" formulation being a post Romantic12 descendant of this earlier conflict, by way of the reductionism13 vs romanticism fracture that characterized the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries14.

This site is under construction.  More general information will be found on the Home and Introduction pages.  For a discussion of the Ming-te Mandala in the upper left of this page please go to the Commentary on the Ming-te Mandala.