Daily Cultivation for New Taoists (平常日道門中人之修)

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Recently, quite a number of New Taoists or Interested Parties approached me for the knowledge on Basic Cultivation for Taoism. And of cos, due to my Tasks, I shared with them on the Daily stuffs that Oneself can do at Home, acting as a form of Basic Cultivation for New Taoists.

As everyone knows that, after being Endorsed as an Official Taoist, Daily Chanting must be done, no matter how rush or busy Oneself can be. Some Non-Taoists might not be able to understand or accept such behaviours, but to a Taoist, it is important, cos by doing so, Oneself is able to do Self-patience Training and also, to understand the In-depth meaning of a saying in Qing Jing Jing (清靜經) - Dong Zhe Jing Zhi Ji (動者靜之基), translated as Movements/Actions are the Foundation or Cause of Serenity.

In here, I will do a quite intro on my Ownself's Daily Cultivation at home.

First thing after waking up, washing up and keeping Oneself refreshing is a Must. By doing so, Oneself will keep in the Mind that, Today is a Fresh Day, no matter what happen, Oneself must try to keep calm & peace in Mind, in-order to Balance the Un-necessary Un-balancing Issues.

After then, preparing of Water for Honouring to the Deities. Alot of Taoists or Chinese tend to skip this Procedure, cos to them, as long as they Offered Tea or Water to the Deities on the 1st Day or 15th Day of the Lunar Month will be enough, actually is Not. By doing Daily Preparation of the Water, this is One way to show your Sincerity & also to Train One's Patience. For some Lazy People, by doing Preparation of the Water for 1 Month, they had found it difficult to continue, once such Thought appeared, then it will be time for Oneself to do Serious Reflection on why.

Follow by the Offering of Water will be Offering Incenses. Due to New Taoists are not Fully Trained on the Ways of Kneeling or Making Kowtow, then for the Kneeling or Kowtow can be omitted, if not, once the Method of Kneeling or Kowtow is not being properly done, Kneel-caps or Body-muscles will be affected. In-order to lessen the Risks, just normal Offering of Water & Incenses will do and then, follow by the Chanting.

Chanting is always a Nightmare to alot of People, especially Non-Taoists. But if Chanting, such a "Simple Task" and yet Oneself find it Scary, then in this Life, what is Happiness or Joyous? Chanting is just being done by using One's Mouth, Mind & Heart, is that so difficult that Oneself will be exhausted to death after doing? I doubt so. Once Oneself is willingly to Learn & Promote the Upright Culture, I think Chanting will be the Most Enjoyable Task to perform everyday.

For those who cant perform Chanting in the Morning due to Work or Family Committment, do not worry, cos on the Way to Work or after bringing Children to School, etc, use just 5-10 minutes to do Simple Chanting, such as just Qing Jing Jing or a few Bao Gao aka Praise Mantras (寶誥), I think it will be enough to keep Oneself Calm & Peace for the next 4-6 Hours (refering to those who are Hot-tempered).

Now, for those whose Homes do not have Maids, then this will be Really a form of "Movement Cultivation" for you all. Due to we have Grandmother, Mother or Wife at home, alot of the People tend to leave the House-chores to them, which this is indeed a very Bad Action.

For those who tend to wake up early or is a MUST to wake up early for the Chanting, after Chanting, use about 15-20 minutes to do some Simple House-chores such as helping the Ladies to do some Cleaning of Utensils, Mopping the Floor, Cleaning the Tables or doing some minor Washing. Make Oneself sweat a bit (even without Exercising). During the Washing, etc, Oneself try to keep the Mind Clear & Calm. Even though Washing or Cleaning is NOT easy, but when Oneself is putting Efforts into such Washing, Oneself can Trained Oneself to remain Calm & Peace. How to do it, Once you start your Washing or Cleaning, you will be able to find out yourself of how to maintain the Balancing.

After the Washing, the Morning Cultivation will be considered Completed.

For Noon Cultivation, it will be more Simple. During Lunch Time, 5 minutes before your Meal, do some Simple Chanting again. For those who have only 30 minutes of Lunch-time, then you may wish to have your Meal 1st and then do the Chanting after the Meal, this can be done too.

For those who got extra Timing, you may wish to visit a Nearby Temple to pay your respect to the Deities or do your Chanting in the Temple, if you can do so, this will be Great.

At Night, once after reaching home, perform your Wash-up, then if Oneself has already Calm-down from the Traveling-back, then it will be time to do the Last Chanting for the Day. Due to New Taoists who are not yet being trained to do the Night Salvation Ritual, so it will be best of not getting into that. Just Simple Chanting on Qing Jing Jing or Tai Yi Tian Zun Bao Gao (太乙天尊寶誥) will be Great.

For some of the Taoists, they tend to do some Self-reflections at Night on the Things that they have Done or Encountered during the Day, it will be Great too.

Once the Night Chanting or Reflection is being Done, then the Whole Day's Cultivation is considered Smoothly or Successfully Completed. Look forward to another Good Day for tomorrow.

Last of All, just to remind everyone here, doing Self Cultivation is not to become a Deity or to Gain more In-return from the Heaven or Deities. Self Cultivation is to make Oneself a better person and also, to benefit the People that are around us, such as allowing the People from not suffering from being affected by our Bad-temper or etc. Another thing is that, beyond ALL Self Cultivation, Respect is very Important.

Before doing anything, Oneself must always remind Oneself that Respecting the Others is always very Important.

If Oneself got a Master or Teacher, Respect them at ALL time.

If Oneself got a Leader of the School or Sect, Respect them at ALL places.

Do not neglect this.

Once Oneself does not show the Respect, then it will really defeat the Purpose of being a Taoist.

At the End, wishes ALL of you Successful in your Self Cultivation.