• Non-verbal transmission of Mother Li
• Legend: Mother Li gives birth to Lao Tzu
• Impregnated by the ‘sweet dew’
• Taoist wisdom for initiates only
The preeminent position of the Tao Te Ching as the Taoist Bible is held mainly held by outsiders, non-Initiates. This book, while revered by Taoists, is not the primary source. While it is the primary verbal source, ideas are secondary to practice. According to Taoist legend Lao Tzu’s mother, Mother Li, revealed the practices, which transformed Lao Tzu from a mortal to an Immortal.
“For most of Chinese literati, the Tao Te Ching is the only book revealed by the Old Master [Lao Tzu] and also the only essential book of Taoism. The Taoists themselves are only in partial disagreement with this view. … In Taoist legend … this comprehensive work presents itself as being not the first, but the second revelation. The first Taoist revelation remains that of Mother Li to her Old Child [Lao Tzu].”[i]
Mother Li? Who’s she? Most of us have never even heard of Lao Tzu’s mother. We certainly are not told of her importance to Taoism. Taoism because of its co-existence in patriarchal China has assumed a patriarchal overlay which we are about to remove.
In the patriarchal West and East alike, there is a tendency to worship great men as the historical movers. There are few women that are acknowledged on a similar plane. We like to find ‘great men’ wherever we look. Sometimes we will see a ‘great man’ where he doesn’t exist. Sometimes we will create a ‘great man’ to fill the void. We are simply servicing our preconceived notions. This is fine if we are satisfied living in the Land of Mirrors. If however the food from this land of preconceived notions tastes stale, repetitive, contrived, then it is necessary to pursue the fresh bitterness of truth.
The reality is that every great man had a mother. While gene pool determines nearly everything in primitive species, it is not enough for the more complex life forms. Starting in the womb, the mother begins providing additional information for her offspring. Finding the genetic code of a dinosaur would not be enough to reproduce it. One would need the genetic code and the mother in order to complete the transformation. Hence there is an intimate connection between mother and child even before the child enters the world. This connection is acknowledged in Taoism in the legendary birth of Lao Tzu.
“As to his reincarnation in the womb of Mother Li, one must know that it was he himself who transformed his body from nothingness into the shape of mother Li, so as to return into his own matrix; there was never any other mother Li.”[ii] From a fifth century Taoist text.
Mother Li was Lao Tzu. Or Lao Tzu was Mother Li.
The first message of the Mother was that of giving birth to yourself in this world – over and over and over again. It was not a message that denied or tried to escape the material plane. Instead its message celebrated the material plane – this World, this Life, this Moment. Instead of attempting to deny creation, the Mother celebrated the entirety of existence – the Pain and the Joy. The Mother also spoke of transformation upon personal and collective levels. Because however of the underlying spiritual materialism, the body is where the transformation begins. But the mind quickly follows. The body and mind assist each other in a positive feedback.
Word Masters tend to worship the Mind because that is where they achieve ascendancy. Because of this worship, they generate a disgust for the Body to balance the polarity. The Taoists, to neutralize this polarity, balance Body and Mind.
Word Master: “Horrors! The body. How disgusting! How horrible! That means loss of freedom, emasculation, and non-seasonal sex. Women’s rights. Women’s issues. Let us stop this discussion before it gets started. It can only get worse. Let us talk about supporting the State or at least let us talk about accepting things the way they are because 1) its predestined, 2) its all illusion anyway, or 3) the Divine Right of Rulers. Support the status quo and everything will be all right.”
Thus Lao Tzu was created as the ‘Great Man’ who would transmit the truth to the world. This felt ‘right and correct’ to all those males raised in the patriarchy. Indeed as we’ve mentioned Taoism has roots in the fertility cultures of the Paleolithic when women were venerated. The primacy of the legend of Mother Li and Lao Tzu reflect the primacy of the symbol of the fertile woman in Taoist mythology.
Below is a composite story of Lao Tzu and Mother Li derived from a few different sources with some modern insertions. In the following section while flying high above in the universe of speculation, we will attempt to keep our toe in the real world of internal resonance.
“There was once an old woman,
Who belonged to the clan of the Pure
Ones.”
Her name was the Mother, Mother Li, Mother Plum Tree, or
Jade Maiden of the Obscure Mystery.
“She had no husband but had become pregnant
After absorbing a drop of ‘sweet dew’.”[iii]
Her child waited to be born
Until there was a day of no birth and no death.
After an 80 year pregnancy,
My what compassion![iv]
The God of the Underworld and the God of Heaven
Allowed that day to come.
He was born from her armpit.
She whispered in his ear the secrets of Vitality.
His hearing, not so good,
Thought she said Immortality[v].
She asked to see his face,
That she could recognize him
Before he left on his Mystical Quest.
Upon seeing him, she realized her Mission was done,
And, gratefully, departed this realm.[vi]
“He said, “What should be my personal name?
My mother called me ‘old child!’
So, my name will be ‘Lao Tzu’ [Ch. ‘old child’]”[vii]
After wandering for many years
Searching for someone to transmit to,
He gave up and decided to leave.
Upon passing through the city gates,
The Gatekeeper, Yin Hsi[viii], seeing a holy man
Asked for some words of wisdom.
Lao Tzu transmitted the Tao Te Ching and then left.
Before getting into an analysis of the text, let us give a distillation of the beginning of the story.
Mother Li impregnates herself with the ‘sweet dew’. No father. After 80 years she gives birth to a white haired child from her armpit, at which time she dies.
Born at the age of 81 from his mother’s armpit? This is at the same mythological level as Athena springing full-blown from Zeus’ head. The virgin birth of Jesus is almost believable in context, especially with the advances of modern science. Romulus and Remus raised by wolves? Somewhat believable. Moses tossed into a river and discovered by Egyptians? Plausible. An armpit birth at the age of 80? Not quite. Whether Lao Tzu was patterned after a real man or not is secondary to his existence as a mythological personage, far removed from historical reality.
Of this legendary story let us ask a question. Is the point of the story the transmission of the Tao Te Ching or is it Lao Tzu’s birth? From our patriarchal perspective, Lao Tzu’s transmission of his Book is the great achievement of this story. The intellectual hierarchical tradition normally leaves Mother Li out of the story altogether. Typical males.
From the perspective of the Goddess, however, the notable part of the story is the birth. Hence the achievement is Mother Li’s not Lao Tzu’s. Her grand achievement is that she bore him in her womb for 80 years, waiting patiently for the right time for him to be born.
From the Goddess perspective, the symbolism of the story is quite simple. A human being spends a lifetime upon a creation. This creation then assumes a life of its own. According to the mythology of the story, the non-verbal wordless transmission, the Art, is turned into words, a Book, a verbal transmission.[ix]
How was Mother Li impregnated with no husband? She was fertilized by the ‘sweet dew.’ The ‘sweet dew’ is commonly understood in modern times to be the sweet saliva that arises into one’s mouth when all internal and external systems are flowing properly. This is nothing mystical but practical. When Chi or energy flow is incomplete or blocked, the system becomes dry and stagnant. When Chi flow is more complete and free to flow, the system is wet, producing internal juices to be pumped upward to nourish the system.
In an attempt to remove mysticality from the above statements, note that people salivate when they see food when they are hungry. Additionally people salivate when they even see something that they like of a non-food nature. Women approaching my wife’s jewelry display will begin salivating as evidenced by their swallowing. Simultaneously their husband’s mouth becomes dry. He is afraid of spending money. Fear is a blocked response, which dries the body. Fear dries the bodily fluids while desire wets them. There is even a popular expression. ‘You are only wetting my desires.’ This refers to tantalizing without satisfying.
Wet is good and wet is created by desire? While the Buddhists work is to kill the desires, the Taoists attempt to transform them into a spiritual direction. The Taoists take desire and transform it into spiritual desire rather than deny or kill it. Hence the spiritual desire to achieve your Mission creates the ‘sweet dew’ necessary to accomplish the Task set before us by the Grand Master Mother Nature.
What was the first Taoist transmission preceding the Tao Te Ching? Specifically what was the nature of the secrets or mysteries that Mother Li transmitted to her old son, Lao Tzu?
Popularly they are thought to be the non-verbal transmission of the secrets of Immortality. This is a patriarchal distortion. The patriarchy tends to believe in the magic of the Afterlife. We, who worship fertility, understand that only our seeds survive the Great Fire to propagate. We don’t hold onto this life. We bear our Fruit with their Seeds and move on when it is our time to go. Mother Li bears Lao Tzu and dies. She does not hang onto this Life.
Why would she have died after giving birth to Lao Tzu if she knew the secrets of Immortality? Think about it. Mother Li dies after giving birth to Lao Tzu. This is a direct reflection of the Nature worship. Because we identify with our plant self, we don’t cling to life. Once we have finished our Mission, it is time to die. Why cling to this ephemeral body after the work is done? Life is about moving on, not about clinging to.
The only question from the fertility viewpoint is, “How do we maximize vitality in order to bear Fruit with Seeds that will survive the Fire?” Bearing Fruit with seeds that will survive is the first concern. From this perspective vitality is secondary.
Mother Li instead of passing on the Mystery of Immortality, transmits the Mysteries, i.e. the secrets, of Vitality, Inspiration and hence Creativity.
“What else could the Mother’s revelations be but the very secrets of her woman’s body and an initiation into her creative power [te]?”[x]
Therefore the secret transmission to Lao Tzu from Mother Li was about Vitality and Inspiration in order to accomplish the divine Mission.
The secrets of vitality are the subject of Chinese Alchemy and by extension Taiji. We have mentioned some of these secrets already and will reveal more in the following pages. For now let us speak a little about Taoist symbolism. Simply put, alchemical Taoism speaks of refining the self in order to cook the elixir, turning it into an internal Pill, which taken confers immortality. Initially they considered this an external pill, like an incredible vitamin. Then they came to realize that vitality came from the inside, but the pill analogy was retained. Like an incredible vitamin, this Pill was to confer Immortality.
The obsession with physical immortality is a distortion of the craving to pass through the Great Fire, Death. We, who worship fertility, are not so silly to think that this physical shell will survive in any way beyond its allotted time, thus we don’t obsess on it. We only know that our fruit might survive. Our children might keep our memory alive. To our grandchildren we are a distorted memory. If we are lucky our great grandchildren know of us. If, however, we leave a Creation behind, then something of us might survive. Mother Li’s creation, Lao Tzu, survived to have an incredible impact.
This Creation, however, must have a Diamond Body, created by Internal Fire and Exterior Pressure, in order to be refined enough to survive the Fire of Time. The more intensely the Creation was refined the longer it will survive. You survive through your creation, not through the physical body. To leave some record behind has been a common Human theme for thousands of years. Many of us crave to leave some dropping behind which will survive the Fire and indicate our presence, some Master Work which has been refined to such an essence that nothing will mar its perfection in the intense heat to come. The author of The Journey has achieved this task.
If we only participate in the male energy of the Father, then we just want to pee on the perimeter to indicate that we were here. Because we also participate in the female energy of the Mother, we have great compassion for her Creation. Because of this great compassion of the mother for her child, the unconditional love for creation, this Great Work with the Diamond Body should also provide aid and assistance for Creation. If Creation takes the Golden Pill, i.e. experiences the Great Work, then it should provide health, relief from suffering, and/or insight into problems.
Summarizing the process: we refine ourselves in order to create an internal Pill, which creates vitality to accomplish the Mission, which is to create an external elixir, which is turned into an external pill which is intended to be taken by the external world. If the external Pill is strong and pure enough, once taken by the external world, it should create children and grandchildren.
There are then three steps – each with its own methods and pitfalls. The first is self-refinement. Without refining there is no elixir or it is weak and insubstantial. Second is creating the elixir. With refinement comes the emergence of the medicinal drugs to create the elixir. In this work we shall explore some helpful techniques to facilitate the process of creating the elixir. We shall also explore the dangers and pitfalls of the process, i.e. it is very easy to destroy the elixir by overheating or neglect. Third, the firing process, which has to do with refining the elixir and turning it into a Pill, has its own dynamics, which will be explored. All of these techniques are designed to create a Pill strong enough to create grandchildren of grandchildren.
Mother Li’s wordless transmission is sometimes turned into the kiss of the Master on the third eye of the disciple with the resultant instant enlightenment. This is not it. The wordless knowledge of Mother Li is based around techniques of self-cultivation that increase personal vitality. Instant enlightenment comes after years of practice. The transformation begins with the transformation of the physical body itself, not with the mind’s ideas and understanding.
Those of you reading from more enlightened times might wonder why so much time has been spent upon such a simple point, but the people of the time this has been written in are looking for the easy way, the instant fix, instantaneous enlightenment. Hard work and effort are disparaged as a hang up, when this is really the only Way.
In this article we suggested that Lao Tzu is a necessary patriarchal overlay to the real wisdom of his mother, Mother Li. We suggested in the article on the Shang that Taoism was forced underground, as many fertility cults were, because of political persecution by the patriarchal ruling class. These ideas are only partly correct. The lessons of Mother Li are primarily transmitted physically. Hence words become secondary. Taoism is associated with the magic of the body. Magic in the wrong hands is always dangerous. Hence Taoist knowledge is in no way universal. It is meant for the initiate. Because the secrets of Taoism are about personal power, it is important that the information doesn’t reach someone who will use it irresponsibly. The mystery cults only revealed their wisdom selectively and in stages. This has an interesting manifestation in Taiji Quan, which we will see.
“The teachings of the Mother, when she reveals the Mysteries of her body, carry the seal of the occult and are fraught with interdictions. They are only to be transmitted to initiates. By contrast, the transmission of the Tao-te ching to Yin Hsi marks the beginning of the spread of Taoism throughout the world, and thus is known to outsiders. … The Tao-te ching is not an esoteric book, although certain passages do allude to concepts and practices that must have belonged to the spheres of initiation. … Its message is meant for all.”[xi]
Hence the ‘Lao Tzu’ was meant to communicate the truth of the sages to the public, but was not meant to be the Bible of Taoism. It was meant to point the way to personal power, in an oblique way. In some ways it was like a brochure meant to pique interest. It was like a book of mysterious hints for the initiate.
The ‘Lao Tzu’ did not inspire the beginnings of Taoism, but instead brought Taoism to the public. Taoism, in its relation to shamanism, deals with initiation into the Mysteries. It is concerned with attaining inspirational states, trances and channeling divine forces. Thus these words only indicate the insights that were achieved, rather than the methods of inspiration. Mother Li reveals these practices without words.
Thus, contrary to popular belief, while Lao Tzu might have been a real man, his real importance was as a mythological composite of a Taoist Immortal. Also the writings attributed to him, the Tao Te Ching, did not found the religion of Taoism, but only communicated the insights of Mystery cults to the non-initiate public. The initiates did not call themselves Taoists. As we saw earlier this label was applied much later to the initiates, their books, and their religion, if you can call it that. Confucian Chinese historians living 400 years after Lao Tzu’s legendary birth named the nameless, calling it the Tao of the Taoists.
The Tao Te Ching was not an introduction into Taoist practices, but was only representative of their ideas. Furthermore the Taoists didn’t value these ideas as highly as their physical rituals because ideas are only a symbolic verbal representation of the non-verbal experience of Reality. Hence wisdom was not the primary goal of the initiates. The real emphasis of the Mystery schools, eventually called Taoism, was the achievement of personal power through a trance-like state. In some ways Taoism is about techniques for self-actualization. Because Taoism is about personal power, its message is not for everyone. Although the initiates of Taoism refer to the Tao Te Ching as a primary verbal source, their primary source of transmission is non-verbal. And it was Mother Li, Lao Tzu’s mother, also a mythological personage, who revealed these secrets. The Lao Tzu, the writings, written by initiates, were meant to transmit an understanding of the wayless way to a greater audience.
Many of these themes are reflected in The Journey to the West.
One of the themes that is reflected is the idea that a little or incomplete knowledge can be quite dangerous. Because the knowledge can be dangerous in the wrong hands, it is concealed. It is then only revealed in stages to worthy disciples.
Many of the monsters or demons who block Tripitaka’s path are masters gone astray. None of the obstacles are composed of brute strength. Monkey wins any test of brute strength. He handles tigers as if they were kittens. Each of the monsters blocking the path has attained supernatural powers through self-cultivation, just as have Monkey, Piggy, and Sha Monk.
One monster is able to handle Piggy and Sha Monk quite easily. Monkey is only able to defeat him through trickery. Many of the monsters blocking Tripitaka’s Path are so strong that Monkey needs heavenly assistance to defeat them. Most of the times simple power is not enough. Most of the time the monster has some supernatural trick that surpasses Monkey’s strength.
One of the monsters is really a goldfish that overheard one of Kuan Yin’s lectures; another is a bull of Lao Tzu’s that wanders away; another is a group of Taoist lads who are just tired of practicing self-cultivation, but have acquired considerable powers in the meantime. One of the early obstacles is presented by a Zen Master who achieved the age of 250 years but still experiences incredible jealousy. The point is that the body knowledge or wisdom of each of these monsters is considerable, while distorted. One of the most difficult monsters had even created an internal Pill through many sessions of self -cultivation.
Thus it is the duty of the Master to reveal these truths in a responsible way. One master is said to have been cursed because he revealed truths too early to unworthy disciples. Remember that these truths have to do with internal power. In the Taoist sequence towards becoming an Immortal, first comes the internal peace. As this inner quiet grows, the ability to responsibly manifest power also grows. If the power precedes the inner quiet then it might manifest in an unbalanced way. Anyone can be taught to meditate for peace. But to acquire internal power is another level.
The Master and Disciples have a reciprocal arrangement. The Master must supervise his Disciples and the Disciples must not leave the Master prematurely. The goldfish and the Taoist lads left their master prematurely. But Kuan Yin and Lao Tzu are held responsible by Monkey for not paying careful enough attention to their students. Of course the Immortals merely respond that the events had been set up by Heaven in order to test Tripitaka with ordeals and to allow the others to obtain merit through their assistance.
Many of these monsters, fiends, and demons might be referred to as Fallen Immortals. They are those who have achieved Immortality through self-cultivation but for one reason or another have fallen off the right path. Each of the 5 members of the Quest is a fallen Immortal. Tripitaka was banished for falling asleep at one of Buddha’s lectures. Sha Monk and the Dragon Horse were careless, one breaking a jade vase while the other accidentally set a fire. Piggy let his desires get out of control and Monkey let his pride get out of control by wanting to challenge Heaven. These Fallen Immortals are given the chance to redeem their misdeeds by traveling to the Western Heaven to obtain the Buddhist scriptures and then bringing them back to the Chinese for their salvation. Let it be reiterated that the ‘wisdom’ of the scriptures had nothing to do with the redemption of these Fallen Immortals. It was only the achievement of the Journey that redeemed their misdeeds.
The point is that certain information must be retained until the Initiate is ready. Tripitaka and his group must travel for over a decade and experience 80 ordeals in order to be worthy of the Buddhist scriptures. Mysteries are always revealed in stages. Never all at once. The ‘Lao Tzu’ was obscure enough to be circulated publicly. Much information was too dangerous to even be written down. This information was passed down orally from generation to generation.
We have spoken of the shamanistic mystery cults that gave birth to Taoism. We have even spoken about the deliberate retention of mysteries from non-initiates. We have spoken of Mother Li’s non-verbal transmission to Lao Tzu. What are these deep dark mysteries that have been suppressed or concealed? What was Mother Li’s non-verbal communication to Lao Tzu after he was born? To understand it is necessary to begin with body cultivation. No words will suffice. Taiji Quan is a key, taught non-verbally of course.
Following is a modern sequel to the Taoist mythology.
Watching from the mountain tops
He saw the Word Net grow,
Entrapping humans in its snares.
A gnawing uncertainty[xii] grew.
Knowing in his guts that the Word wasn’t enough,
He became pregnant with his Mother.
But she wouldn’t come out,
Like son like mother,
Until he had realized his Mission.
After a pregnancy of thousands of years,
He finally realized that he must nurture her
As she had wanted to nurture him.
Just as she had given birth to him,
He gave birth to her.
She coming back to life, after so long,
Was very weak, anemic and anorexic.
In great caring, knowing his Mission,
He nursed her to health
Feeding her on his magic elixir,
The same ‘sweet dew’ that had brought him to life.
She understood, wordlessly, her Mission,
The Great Compassion for the Earth and all its Life.
Her father, the Old Man, sighed contentedly.
Quest completed, he asked to go,
To escape the cycle of rebirth.
It is the Time for the Resurrection of the Mother.
Just as She is He
Is He She.
According to my ‘Modern Sequel’ the Book only creates a duality which distracts Seekers from the essentially non-dualist nature of the Mystery. Hence Mother Li’s child must now bear her to complete the cycle.
We exist in the Word Net. It is time to transcend the duality of the Hierarchy and Return to our original egalitarian state. Unfortunately we are so enmeshed in Words that it might take words to point the way back to the non-verbal aspect of the Mother. While Words are not the means of escape, they can point to the Way. I’m sorry but you must go down you own Path yourself. Words are only signposts along the Way.
In the preceding exegesis we left the patriarchal side of Taoism to return to the Goddess. As in the above myth, the Goddess, i.e. Mother Li, gave birth to Taoism and now Taoism gives birth to the Goddess. Hence while Taoism is connected at both ends to the Goddess, it is not the Goddess. The preceding was more Goddess and less Taoist.
Feminist: “Finally a voice for feminism is the world’s religions, even if it is through the back door. Perhaps we can look to Taoism for equality. Taoism is the only Chinese philosophy, which includes women amongst their writers. It is the only world religion which holds female fertility as one of their prime symbols.”
In summary: for the non-Initiate, Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching are the primary source of wisdom for Taoism. However for the Initiate, more important is the non-verbal transmission of Mother Li to Lao Tzu. Mother Li represents the Goddess of the fertility cults. It is her body wisdom that is the primary wisdom of Taoism. Because of the patriarchal nature of European and Chinese culture, Mother Li’s importance has been minimized or ignored and replaced by an emphasis upon Lao Tzu. Her secrets have to do with the generation of Vitality necessary to produce the Pill or Seed that will nourish the generations. Because these secrets have to do with vitality and hence personal power, they are reserved for Initiates only. Hence while the messages of the Lao Tzu are obtuse enough to distribute publicly, the real secrets are transmitted from Master to Disciple privately. In the Modern Sequel, an attempt is made to transcend the dualist nature of words with words pointing to the Source, the Body. Hopefully these words do not become too distracting.
[i] Schipper, p.183-4
[ii] Schipper, p122
[iii]Kristopher Schipper, The Taoist Body, translated by Karen C. Duval, UCPress, 1993, p. 120
[iv]The Mother is already exhibiting her Great Compassion. Not resorting to abortion techniques of purgation she bears in her belly a man through his natural life cycle. Compassion is the positive transmission of the prior Goddess worshippers into the big three, manifested in the figure of Kuan-yin, Bodhisattva of compassion. After many years of patriarchal suppression, the Goddess went underground. She emerged as books and a compassionate Bodhisattva.
[v]On the surface, Vitality and Immortality seem almost indistinguishable. However, the secrets of Vitality have to do with having the proper energy to complete one’s Mission. Once the Mission is completed, the Shell is left behind, a bittersweet experience. Next!
The secrets of Immortality are associated with extending the length of life, perhaps at the sake of Mission. Immortality is associated with sexual prowess and maintaining power. This is a notion associated with the pastoral patriarchal religions. Vitality is the compassionate manifestation of one’s Mission with as much energy as possible. This sense of cooperation and caring comes from The Mother, hence the shift.
Although elixirs, exercise, diet, meditation, self-cultivation through breath control, and sexual control are part of the secrets of both Vitality and Immortality
[vi]Death is not dreaded or feared after the Mission has been completed. Instead it is welcomed
[vii]Kristopher Schipper, The Taoist Body, translated by Karen C. Duval, UCPress, 1993, p. 120
[viii]Schipper, p183
[ix]See Modern Sequel at the end of the section
[x] Schipper, p123
[xi] Schipper, p184.
[xii]This is based upon the Uncertainty Principle. The chains of cause- effect relationships created by words are transcended that necessary area of Uncertainty. Stephen Hawkings in his Time book points out that the only way that the Big Bang can manifest itself with enough differentiation, but not too much, is at the level of the Uncertainty Principle.