After sitting on the floor at Border's the other night reading the "Idiot's Guide to Zen", I think I have that shit down. Seems like just sittin' Indian style, and not thinking about anything is the ticket. Hell throw in some herb, and that sums up my collage experience. But Taoism seems like it's another story. Don't hear about any B-ball coaches nicknamed Tao-masters. Can Commisso or someone (please not Aphie) get something going here about Tao and how it's applications can enhance intuition and expand the life experience.
These five steps to should bring you closer to enlightenment: http://www.jadedragon.com/archives/march98/tao1.html (1/5) Taoism - Ageless Wisdom for A Modern World http://www.jadedragon.com/archives/april98/tao.html (2/5) Te - The Principle of Inner Nature http://www.jadedragon.com/archives/may98/tao.html (3/5) The Yin-Yang Principle of Harmony and Change http://www.jadedragon.com/archives/june98/tao.html (4/5) The Wu-Wei Principle http://www.jadedragon.com/archives/july98/tao.html (5/5) Taoism and the Sage __________________________________________________ "Study the cat, Saihung. Everything you need to learn, she knows already." -- Deng Ming-Dao, "The Wandering Taoist"
Phil Jackson, nickname "Zen Master", Coach LA Lakers, Former coach Chicago Bulls, 9 NBA championships as a head coach. The following excerpt is from this article: http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/Aficionado/people/fe1098.html For Jackson, meditation is not just a sterile spiritual practice. He's convinced that the benefits also influenced his coaching. "The tighter your mind is," Jackson believes, "and the more you try to force your thinking into a constricted space or direction, the more frantic your mind becomes because it wants to jump from thought to thought. The truth is that you can only settle down your mind by providing a large pasture for it to run around in. Among other things, meditation has taught me that I am bigger than my mind. I certainly believe in boundaries, but I want my boundaries to be spacious enough to allow for extreme flexibility. So when I'm coaching, I try not to let myself get too rigid. My own personal tendency is to be fairly tight, precise and dogmatic, but a dictatorial coach can frighten his team. My daily meditation practice frees me from habitual behavior, allows me to be a little loose, to be open to having fun, and to react more to the breath of the moment." While coaching that meant trying not to get seized by preconceived game strategies, so that he could call plays and make substitutions on impulse. The practice also allowed him to be more open to assistants' advice and to "the immediate flow of the game at hand," he claims. Clearly, most professional athletes talk about peak performance as being centered in a mental state that is exceptionally calm, yet vibrant and alert. The successful trader, when he is on, is calm, alert, vibrant, and in touch with the movement of the market. He is above his fear, greed, and ego. He is able to make decisions without hesitation, without regret, without prejudice. The Tao teaches that being centered, unattached to gain or loss, allows man to flow in tune with the waves of life. Efficient and effective action naturally flows from this state of detachment. The results of the action, are then most in touch with the natural flow of life, which is progressive and spiritual in nature. If this is not at the heart of successful trading, I don't know what is.
The Market is like a flowing river, free to follow its own course. Knowing this the Master doesn't try to swim against the current, doesn't try to bend the Market to his own will. Instead he observes the flow, and jumping in, allows himself to be carried to profit.