Moon Pool

Image thinking is a phenomenon when a concrete image intimates an abstract notion or viewpoint to express. In the sense, the term 'image' supposes the figurative imagery and its explanation, as well as an imaginative significance and its associations. To explain the image we use language while the idea of it reflects its abstract thought. As is well-known, language is an instrument of thinking, imagery makes a thought content. However, language is unable to express the idea or thought content directly; for this, it resorts to concrete imagery, one of the best ways of expression of which is poetry.Structure of the universe has come from three parts: images, numbers and principles/ideals. The word 'image' may be considered as external manifestation while the 'number' denotes the internal measuring, proportion and correlation of what is known as 'ideal.' Thus, there are numbers behind imagery, which can be true and false, while numbers are always changeable. When we speak of numbers we mean unfixed sort of them. For example, we usually say, literally: a dozen, a couple of something; seven or eight, about ten, more than one hundred and so forth.Category of 'imagery' is the most significant in poetry, the main purpose of which is to express the meaning of abstractions. Imagery, together with numbers, is the most fundamental instrument to represent poetic contents. First things are born to get then their images; upon getting their proper images, they multiply to possess their appropriate numbers. Since each and every image is a product of thought, we can find an image through contemplating an idea or ideal. For example, the intercourse or alternation of two opposite natural forces is represented by the image of motion, communication and great progress. In the universe of constant changes, there are myriads of things and matters with their various qualities and rules that can be handled well only through their opposite alternatives to bring a situation to the state of balance and proper result. This is the way to avoid one-sidedness, which is an equivalent of extremity and downfall in us.In addition, imagery represents a complete integral system reflected through the images and numbers to be more sophisticated throughout its long-term development and manifested in different schemes and diagrams, through some codes and symbols of which the traditional image thinking is reflected in full. These codes and symbols are information carriers, the key to the theory of knowledge and ontological philosophical system, combination of intuitive and abstract awareness.So, what the method of 'image thinking' is? Integrity of the system knowledge is one of the basic features of it, which is akin indeed to the feminine mind (correlation of the Yin power) in many respects. The qualities of the female intelligence and woman's logic are exactly the qualities of the figurative thinking. The female head is full of common sense. Eventually, common sense and the practical mind are characteristics of women (Yin) rather than of men (Yang), who are more liable to take their feet off the ground and soar to impossible heights. This confirms that the female logic is highly personal, according to which the whole world represents the wholeness of being, entire structure with its certain mechanism of organization, which, in turn, consists of many smaller systems and configurations to be reformed and transformed according to circumstances. Alexander Goldstein, a graduate of the Far-Eastern University in Sinology, lived and worked in mainland China for a period as a translator/interpreter, a manager, and a martial arts' practitioner. A certified instructor of 'Chang-quan' (external-style boxing) and 'Taiji-quan' (internal-style boxing), he is a lecturer of Chinese culture and traditions at the Open University in Tel-Aviv. He also is the author of Lao-zi's "Dao-De Jing," Chan (Zen) masters' paradoxes, "The Illustrated Canon of Chen Family Taiji-quan," a Chinese novel a

As a sinologist, I have been asked many questions by people wanting to know time and again what Zen ('Chan' in Chinese) actually is. The problem is that it is not an easy task to describe this term. It is something that cannot be talked about nor expressed in written words. The moment language is used, we are no longer dealing with the true spirit of Zen, which is beyond all words. However, Zen cannot be left unexpressed. To introduce the reader to the world of Zen, there is no alternative but to resort to the use of language, the best alternative of which is poetry - the most 'precise' form of speech. This is one of the reasons why this ebook is comprised of 108 examples of the Zen way of realization to be submitted for the reader's consideration.So, what is Zen? This question can be answered in a number of pathways, with each definition being correct within the context of each particular explanation. The word derives from the Sanskrit term "dhyana" to be better known to the West by the Japanese pronunciation, rather than Chinese 'Chan'; it is translated as "a quiet contemplation." (The graph 'meditation' consists of two main parts: one is for 'praying' represented by the heavenly number 3 and the earthly 2 placed vertically and horizontally; another is for 'a twofold unit' or 'an individual with a dual-tracking nature' or 'a bullet' which moves back and forth along the ruts and channels of Heaven-and-Earth.)However, Zen has almost nothing to do with the practice of meditation (literally, the sitting meditation termed 'za-zen'). As is stated above, it is rather difficult to describe what Zen is by the aid of words. Some people say that it is mysterious experience, the realm of mystery, or simply mysticism. In fact, if Zen is mysterious experience, it means that it can be treated as 'the direct realization of original nature of the self.' If it is the realm of mystery, it is 'the substance of the true emptiness.' If it is mysticism, it is 'the cornerstone of all doctrines and teachings,' the source of all ideas, the philosophers' stone itself. To define what Zen is by going this way is quite an admissible acting, on paper, but it is absolutely inadequate as a means of transmitting the truth. In fact, Zen is not the experience, nor the realm, less still the "-ism" of a sort. Zen is only Zen, neither more nor less. For this reason, any attachment to Zen, regardless of how a dedicated or an expert the attachment might be, is still only ever attachment to shadows. Being "exact" in enlightened function is not the same as being "precise" through attachment to dress, terminology, a public ritual and a personal progression. Those attached to Zen carry with them the stench of Dharma (principle) contradiction and mistake the ideal world for the actual. Like a vicious whirlpool -- such people drag everyone into their orbit through impressing others with their certificates and experiences of 'gurus.' However, no matter how many times they have visited China or Japan and sat in a temple, as long as they have not realised the empty mind ground, they are simply placing a head upon head and mistaking the shadow it casts as real light. Alexander Goldstein, a graduate of the Far-Eastern University in Sinology, lived and worked in mainland China for a period as a translator/interpreter, a manager, and a martial arts' practitioner. A certified instructor of 'Chang-quan' (external-style boxing) and 'Taiji-quan' (internal-style boxing), he is a lecturer of Chinese culture and traditions at the Open University in Tel-Aviv. He also is the author of Lao-zi's "Dao-De Jing," Chan (Zen) masters' paradoxes, "The Illustrated Canon of Chen Family Taiji-quan," a Chinese novel and some other editions, which are available in print and electronic publishing at most online retailers published in English, Spanish and Russian. What makes his books so appealing is profound analysis and authority with which various strains of the vigorous Chinese culture are woven i

The reader of this book may ask: What was the reason to put the number 50 in the title of the book?The number 50 is an auspicious number with importance in both everyday life and higher mathematics. People celebrate milestone 50th birthdays and 50th anniversaries with more pomp than they do other year markers. Half of a century is 50 and is a denomination of coins and paper money in most of the countries. When people write best-of of worst-of lists, they often try to select an even 50 items. In many ways, the number 50 feels complete. Here are more curious and interesting facts about the special character of this number.The ultimate purpose of 50 is to promote fusion between body and soul, mind and spirit. Life is a continuing education how to reach perfect completeness of the number 50 within the framework of Heaven's circle (correlation of the number 3) and Earth's square (number 4), as this sort of self-sufficient energy is more than good enough to determine the real values of things relating to their qualities and appropriateness. On the other part, overmastering the inner feelings of all living beings is a good method of making them knowing themselves. A happy disposition of the determining number 50 attracts all worthy men to be your loyal servants and friends and, therefore, it brings you a good fortune. By virtue of this number you can know how to take advantage of all the blessings: mentally, physically and spiritually.The crucial part of 50 is to attain greater stability in the space between two entities, Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang, the good and evil, truth and falsehood. As long as it consists of two figures, 5 and 10, the law of the number 5 is achieving freedom through gaining the upper hand, and when becoming coupled with vibration of the number 10, which by definition is the repeated 5, the energy of its stabilization is amplified. The golden number 5 locates at the centre, occupying the place of a sovereign who keeps a situation under control (as long as it correlates with the stable position of Earth--a point in the very centre of the square), putting right all interactions and relations between the universal elements, numbers and phenomenal events.Thus, the balancing and refining of creation that occur within stability and ordering governed by the number 4, is made through the number 5. In the phenomenal world, this number introduces dynamic harmony between a part and a whole. The geometrical representation of the number 5 or the V-shaped figure (the repeated sign of which is the 10 or X-shaped graph, the picture of two superposed triangles, symbols of Heaven and Earth, facing each other at the crosspoint styled the Centre of the World, when two or five primal elements are in the originally balanced correlation) submits for consideration a perfect proportion known as the Golden Mean and the golden number 5. This is the central number, the main function of which is running the middle way or taking the most favourable disposition. Everything below the number 5 is associated with a shortage, but what is more than that--with overdoing. Therefore, the concept of doing no further ado is directly connected with this number. It can be considered as 'preciseness of active doing,' due to which there is nothing that left undone. In a sense, the Centre correlates with Creation and Man, the third power which takes its place between Heaven and Earth.As for the number 50, it is masculine, introvert and relates to the starry sign Leo. The related planet is Mercury and the Tarot Card representative of the 50 number's vibration is the hierophant, magician and diviner. Through manipulating with the divining number 50, an individual will have the opportunity to learn the true meaning of change in one's life. Life with the 50 number is filled with freedom, constant change, curiosity, adventure and independence. Alexander Goldstein, a graduate of the Far-Eastern University in Sinology, lived and worked in mainland China for a