The Eight Trigram Furnace
The Eight Trigram Furnace
The Eight Trigram Furnace
Lord Lao Zi had the Great Sage untied, pushed him into the Eight
Trigrams Furnace, and ordered the priests in charge of it, to fan the
fire up to refine him. Now this furnace was made up of the Eight
Trigrams—Qian , Kan , Gen , Zhen , Xun , Li
, Kun , and Dui ........ After seven times seven or 49 days
had passed, the furnace was opened to take out the elixir. The
Great Sage saw his chance and leapt out the furnace.
-- Journey to the West Chapter 7
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The Eight Trigram Furnace
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Li Tie Guai, one of the eight immortals and the Chinese God
of Healing with the pill of immortality.
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the eight trigrams as a family
The firmness of the Tao belongs to yang; this is the “great”. The
flexibility of the human mind belongs to yin, this is the “small”. If
the human mind lacks the mind of Tao, it can defeat the Tao by
using consciousness to produce illusion. If you govern it by the mind
of Tao, the conscious light is clear and can thereby help the Tao.
-- Liu Yiming
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The eight trigrams with the ebbing and waxing of the moon
The inner development of the elixir and the ‘timing of it`s firing’ are
no different at all from the ebbing and the flowing of the phases of
the moon.
-- Yu Yan (13th c. Taoist master)
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The waxing of the moon in this presentation represents the increase
of yang, the mind of Tao and the retreat of the human mind.
(See The Cycle of the Moon below) Each of the six stages of the
cycle is associated not only with one trigram, but also with one line
of the hexagram Qian which is Pure Yang. Pure Yang represents the
mind of Tao governing the human mind so the human mind is not
interfering with the mind of Tao. Under these conditions, the
original spirit can come to the foreground and manifest itself.
The trigrams Kan (Water) and Li (Fire) are not part of the waxing of
he moon. Both in the image and in The Cycle of the Moon below
they are not part of the cycle.
The Cycle of the Moon (Canton Qi - Triplex Unity, 2nd C. Taoist text
by Wei Boyang)
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“Nine in the third place, at nightfall he is watchful,”
fearing that he might lose the divine token.
The number nine represents Yang.
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Growing from one yang to gradually reach the pure wholeness of six
yangs,
going from vague to clear, the Gold Elixir develops naturally.
-- Liu Yiming
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Dui ........ Después de siete veces siete o 49 días habían pasado, el
horno se abrió al sacar el elixir. El Gran Sabio vio su oportunidad y
saltó fuera del horno.
completar e iluminada.
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El Elixir de oro (la píldora) es otro símbolo taoísta en referencia al
estado de la presencia del espíritu original.
- Liu Yiming
- Liu Yiming
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Los ocho trigramas con el flujo y encerado de la luna
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"Nueve en el quinto lugar, volando dragón":
Ella es como una madre para todas las cosas del mundo.
- Liu Yiming
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