Dahn Yoga Boston

I pulled this Chun Bu Kyung card today:

Sahm (Three): Honesty, Integrity, Responsibility

“No matter how great your enlightenment, no matter how lofty your wisdom, you cannot live a good life without honesty, integrity, and responsibility. The soul grows in the midst of real human relationships.”

Real truth always seems the most simple, and the most deep. I think it would be difficult for anyone to disagree that a good life requires honesty, integrity, and responsibility. These involve not just knowing, but consistent action. For the sake of my true self I am even more motivated to examine my life and see how I do well in these areas and how I can improve.

Today’s card is Il (One, Origin).

 There are many cards with Il in the Chun Bu Kyung deck because it recurs many times in the “Heavenly Code”. The meditation on the card I pulled is:

Compassion comes from an awareness of oneness.

True compassion is letting the healing energy of your true nature flow toward the sadness and pain of others. Compassion comes from a deep realization that you are inseparably one with all things in creation.

How can you not feel compassion when you feel one with everything? It just naturally flows. This card seem particularly appropriate considering we are having the Shim Sung workshop here at the Jamaica Plain Dahn Center this weekend. During the workshop, participants can uncover all of the layers we create over our true nature. Sadness and pain are just layers covering the joy of our true nature. Sometimes it seems strange to me that there are many people in this world who have not experienced their true nature. Then my own compassion flows toward them.

Enjoy your true nature today! You can use commenting on this post as a way of sharing your experiences of your true nature

Today’s card was Sahm (Three): Connect Heaven and Earth with your body.

Sit with your spine erect and your balance centered in your lower abdomen. With one half of your body firmly rooted to the ground, let the other half be open toward heaven. You will feel your own holiness when you connect Heaven and Earth as one through your body.

Hmmm…so I should sit up straight more often. So this is why good posture is not just good for my body, but for my energy and spirit. Some people discover this on their own when they do ji gam exercise in class. They realize they can feel the energy of their hands more when they are able to sit up straight.

The first card I picked was actually one I already picked recently: Mu = Nothingness, No, None,  Zero, Creation arises from an empty mind. I think I should take the hint.

But as a matter of interest to people reading this website, I picked another one for today:

Sah = Four
The soul wants to completely itself.
Your soul wants to know itself, to realize itself, to complete itself. when this need of the soul is not met, your life becomes empty, and your soul asks you in a voice that grows ever louder: “Are you happy?”

So unhappiness is just a message from your soul saying, “Pay attention to me! I know what I’m doing! You’re going the wrong way right now!” It will happily steer you in the right direction towards happiness. To do this we need awakening and the action. We need to be awake and aware enough to listen to our soul and be strong and flexible enough to act on what it says, even when it seems irrational or no one else is doing it. While the Initial Awakening Workshop is where we awaken our bodies, the Shim Sung Workshop is where we awaken our soul or True Self.

Some people don’t like the word soul. Maybe it’s too religious or doesn’t fit into enough belief systems. I only used it because it was on the Chun Bu Kyung card. Other people like the word True Self. Whatever you want to call it, there is a particular energy or feeling inside that is bright, true, healing, and happy. All the card says is to follow this feeling

I received this message as part of my 21 Day Miracle Newsletter from www.ilchi.com. I thought it was an inspiring way to look at life, which that website is full of by the way. I love water, and I love the idea of being like a river– strong and yet not rigid. It reminds me of the “urban poet” I met by the Boston Commons one day last year. I spoke with him for just five minutes, but the beautiful words that came out of his mouth were just what I needed to hear at that time. The only ones I remember are, “Firm, not hard. Soft, not yielding.” Almost like a river. Here is how Ilchi Lee put it:

Like River Water, Embrace Obstacles

Our lives flow like water in a river, like little paper boats floating on the river of time — but not passively. As masters of our own lives, we each have our own currents, creating new paths, speeds, and directions.

In our lives there will be difficulties, there will be loneliness, there will be obstacles. These challenges are there to help us to learn. We can create ways to overcome even apparently insurmountable obstacles and through this we grow. I have encountered many obstacles during my life, but ultimately, they have helped me along my way. Obstacles provide opportunities, positive steps to climb causing you to grow in a myraid ways.

When the river encounters boulders it does not stop, does not give up. The water carries on flowing over and around the rocks, persistent in its effort, strong in its direction, without fear.

You too should pass by obstacles like a flowing river. I ask you to create your own lives, boldly and yet quietly. Become like river water flowing beautifully, magnificently, and proudly. I want you to live your life for your vision, like a river that flows ceaselessly as it embraces everything in its way.

Ilchi Lee

What do you know! I chose the same letter again today…Mu– Nothingness, Never, No, None, Zero

But the saying was different this time:

Empty fullness. When your heart is pierced deeply by an earnest desire to seek the Truth, your mind empties itself, and the infinite life of the cosmos reveals and realizes itself through you.

 At least I’m consistent

Most Dahn Centers in the Boston area have an open set of Wisdom of the Chun Bu Kyung meditation cards in their lobby or member rooms. I’ve always loved picking cards from the deck for a bit of wisdom to meditate on for the day. So I thought I’d share my picks with everyone to send a little bit of chunjikiun your way

Today’s choice is: Mu– Nothingness, Never, No, None, Zero– Creation arises from an empty mind. You can encounter the source of life within when you have an empty mind. When you encounter that source, all limits created by the false self vanish, and infinite creativity springs forth.

Ah, perfect. That’s just what Genia nim was reminding me of yesterday. The source of all creation is in the moment. To stay in the moment release the clutter from your mind and focus on your dahn-jon– basics from the Initial Awakening Workshop