Sun Tzu,
Thanks for your generous openness, I appreciate you well thought out responses and experiences that you share.
Whether to regulate my
xin, or detach from it is a question that I don't have an answer to at this point.
I too have used Buddhist and Taoist practices to calm my
xin and aches and pains. The Zen monk, Thich Nhat Hahn's book,
Breath, You Are Alive, has been useful here.
His books are usually available used on line for 2 or 3 dollars or so.
I wonder if some Taoist practices and theories, may take me in divergent directions. Clear Reality Taoism teaches sitting comfortably and very STILL and motionless no matter what happens, and letting go of each thought as soon as you are aware of it, towards STILLNESS IN THE MIND, I have also been taught to not pay attention to anything in the body or elsewhere, and focus only on stillness.
Mindfulness in certain Buddhist practices teaches "looking deeply" at emotional pain, physical discomfort or pain, and continuing to breath into the
dan tien, naturally, and staying with the pain to its "source", with no agendas to get rid of it or block it out.
Trying to practice both can be confusing. And in Clear Reality Taoism, after sitting still for a while, a certain healing Qi will emerge in one's body, that they call real Yang Qi. It is important to stay with the Stillness and not focus or direct this Yang Qi, as it has a "mind of its own", and by trying to direct it or even focusing on it as it moves within, you can cause damage to yourself.
With both, detachment seems to be a key, But the methods mentioned above
seem to go in opposite directions. Just thinking out loud.
A practice that I find useful is talked about by Pema Chodron, a Tibetan nun's 2 CD set,
from Fear to Fearlessness.
She says that Loving Kindness (aka unconditional friendliness) and Compassion towards others needs to begin towards the self, and gradually expand outwards toward another we love and eventually to someone we don't like or hate. When we can generate this feeling towards ourselves and really feel it, then we can move to the next level and so on. For example, "May I have happiness, the root of happiness, and be free from suffering", is the beginning level to meditate on. Makes sense to me.
In daily life in this chaotic world, regulating and or detaching form xin is the issue for me. I can sometimes "do it"meditating. And keeping the breath relaxed and going is a challenge in daily life. I keep working on it.
May you be free from suffering, have happiness, and the root of happiness .
James