Remember that Taoism began with Lao Tzu, a wanderer who had no trips, no routines or goals, nothing at all except his life and his awareness. The only reason we know anything at all about him is that, in his old age, when he was trying to leave China to wander the rest of his life in wilderness, the master of the gate wouldn’t let him out until he had written down his best thoughts. These became the Tao Te Ching, a glimpse into the mind and soul of an extraordinary master.

Although there has been a wide diversity among his various followers with regard to both theory and practice, they all agree upon one key concept, the notion of inaction through action.

All the instructions for the various Taoist meditations focus upon the actions of breathing, quieting the heart with the breathing, inner seeing and hearing, and circulating the attention between the two poles and back again. However, none of these actions are important in and of themselves, and none of them would lead to the goal of the immortal diamond body.

Yet by continuing to perform these actions, there comes a time when they finally become automatic. As the Taoists say, the circulation of the light becomes fixated. At this point, it takes on a life of its own and no longer needs our attention to make it turn and turn again. Once this has happened, we are continually recharging and renewing ourselves. Our physical and our spiritual consciousnesses are continually interacting, with the result that our bodies becomes conscious and our spirits becomes grounded.

The Taoist adept, once his meditation has become fixated, becomes in himself a true marriage of nature and spirit. Because his body has become conscious and pregnant with meaning, he will remain physically healthy and enjoy long life. And because his consciousness has become infused with power and is pregnant with life, he will continue to exist as a conscious being even after the death of his body.