Daniel Reid Quotes

“Fusing Fire and Water

This is a moving exercise in which the hands help raise and lower chee between the Sea of Energy (water) and the heart (fire).

Posture: Horse stance, or sitting.

Technique: Exhale thoroughly and bring your hands together just below the navel, with palms up and fingertips about an inch apart. Begin inhaling slowly through the nose and slowly raise your upturned hands the torso until they reach the nipples. Time it so that inhalation is complete and hands reach the heart about the same time.

Apply the Three Locks and retain the breath 3 to 5 seconds, then turn the palms over to face downward and slowly push them back down the torso as you exhale slowly through the nose, timing it so that hands reach bottom as lungs empty. Pause briefly, relax abdomen, then turn the palms back up and begin another cycle. Repeat 6 to 10 breaths.

Pointers: Breathe and move hands in unison. Keep shoulders, arms, and neck muscles loose and relaxed, and “sink” the breath down as deeply as possible during retention.

Benefits: This exercise moves energy up and down between the 'fire' of heart and the 'water' of the navel region, thus blending and balancing these two types of energy. It regulates and deepens heartbeat and develops awareness of the Sea of Energy as the body’s chee headquarters.”

“Taoists, on the other hand, speak not of a supreme being but of a supreme state of being – a sublime state that lies deeply locked within every human being and can be reached only through the greatest personal effort and self-discipline.”

“The essential Taoist approach to life is captured in the phrase ching-jing wu-wei, literally, 'sitting still doing nothing'.

Doing nothing doesn’t mean sitting around all day like a bump on a log, but rather doing only those things that really need to be done and doing them in a way that does not run counter to the natural order of Tao and the patterned flow of cosmic forces.

It means engaging only in spontaneous, unpremeditated activity, doing things purely for their own sake rather than for ulterior motives, and living in harmony with rather than trying to conquer nature.”

“The Yellow Emperor reigned over a loose confederation of Chinese tribes around 2700 BC. He is credited with having discovered the secret of immortality through the subtle blending of male and female essence during sexual intercourse and the transmutation of the resulting 'elixir' into pure energy and spirit.

He kept a harem of 1,200 women with whom he coupled frequently according to the tenets of the 'Tao of Yin and Yang', and at the age of 111 he is said to have achieved immortality.”

“Putrefaction and fermentation are the main causes of all kinds of digestive problems, including gas, heartburn, bloating, constipation, foul-smelling stools, bleeding hemorrhoids, colitis, and more.

Many so-called 'allergies' are also a direct consequence of poor food combinations: the bloodstream absorbs toxins from the fermented, putrefied mass that fills the intestines, and these toxins in turn cause rashes, hives, headaches, nausea and other symptoms that are usually classified as 'allergies'.”

“The highest goal of spiritual immortality can only be reached through the living vehicle of the human body and its powerful vitality. But once the adept has arrived at this goal, he may only realize the ultimate truth by abandoning the body for his spiritual 'flight into space'.

A good analogy here is a chicken embryo growing inside its eggshell. If the shell breaks before incubation is complete, there is no life; similarly, if an adept's body 'breaks' and dies before he has completed 'incubation' of his spirit-body, he loses his chance of spiritual immortality after death.

When the inner embryo in a chicken egg is fully developed, however, it must crack open the shell and discard it in order to live. Similarly, once the adept has fully developed his spirit-body, he must abandon the flesh sooner or later in order to let his spirit roam freely in the cosmos.

This exit occurs through an actual crack that develops in the suture on the crown of the skull in such adepts. Only newborn babies and the most advanced adepts have such loose sutures in their skulls.”

“The same foods capable of triggering an allergic reaction when incorrectly combined often do not produce any harmful effects when consumed in accordance with the laws of trophology.”

“The Tao of cultivating life requires one to remain as fluid and flexible as possible. You don't have to stay still for too long, and you don't have to exhaust yourself either.”

“The true sage rules over people 'caring for and feeding them, but not claiming them for himself', and eliminates the grounds for disputes rather than punishing the consequences.”

“Water benefits all living things without taking credit for doing so. Indeed, after bestowing its life-giving benefits to field and stream, man and beast, water is perfectly content to puddle up and rest in the lowest, darkest places on earth. It falls as rain from the heavens and, when its work is done, it flows down into the deepest recesses of the earth.”

“We put together thirty spokes and we call this a wheel, but it is from space, where there is nothing, which depends the utility of the wheel.

We mold the clay to make a vessel, but it is from space, where there is nothing, that depends
the utility of the vessel.

We drill doors and windows to build a house, but it is the spaces, where there is nothing, that depends the utility of the house.

Therefore, just as we benefit from what is, we should also recognize the usefulness of what is not.”