THE FENG-SHUI OF ANGER By Michael Erlewine We usually think of feng-shui in terms of sensitivity to the outer environment, rooms, homes,

etc. I learned the essence of what I know about feng-shui from His Eminence Tai Situ Rinpoche, one of the four main regents of the Karma Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Situ Rinpoche visited our center a number of times years ago and he freely shared his love and knowledge of feng-shui with us. For me it was like a transmission. Among other things, Tai Situ Rinpoche took us on a tour of our own home, pointing out areas of our house that compromised the sense of the peaceful living space we were trying to achieve. And while feng-shui can be as complex as you want it to be, what I learned from Situ Rinpoche boils down to becoming aware of our own innate sensitivity to space. Instinctively we know, if we will relax and trust ourselves. For example, if I walk through a doorway into an adjoining room and immediately inside the room there is a tall lamp that is so close to my head that some part of my mind cringes or is forced to notice and be aware of it, that is bad feng-shui. I just move or remove the lamp until I no longer notice it. For me, that is the essence of feng-shui, arranging your environment (to your taste) until your mind is at peace within it. I know that this is probably an oversimplification, but sensitivity to space is

something we all have and can rather easily become aware of. And like with so many things, awareness is key. We like to think of feng-shui as having to do with the outside world and its effect on us, but feng-shui knows no such boundaries and is just as active and true within our mind as elsewhere. In fact, we have more in common with one another regarding inner space than we have similarities in how we arrange our living room furniture. Mental and inner feng-shui is at least as important as paying attention to the outside world. THE THREE POISONS I have been actively meditating (or trying to) since 1974 when Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoche himself took me into a room and taught me how. I am a very slow learner in this and after so many years I have managed to learn perhaps a little. My mind is somewhat more stable than it was and I have been able to let my mind rest, to a degree. But this mental stability does not necessarily extend to what the Buddhists call the Kleshas, which are also called the disturbing emotions, emotional afflictions, or most commonly the Three Poisons, and they are:

Anger (Aggression) Desire (Attachment, Passion) Delusions (Ignorance)

Many Buddhists call them the Five Poisons by adding to these three, the kleshas of Jealousy and Pride. These three (or five poisons) are not considered runof-the-mill mental problems or routine obscurations, but rather deep-seated and powerful emotional afflictions that tend to control us more than we them, should we indulge. It is said that for each of us, one of these poisons is dominant, so: choose your poison.

These three poisons not only can be destructive, they are also powerful (huge!) sources of energy, for good or ill. Just imagine what great vortices these are, energy-wise, if they can move us so easily to such extremes. And they are never very far from us in the mind, either, so inner feng-shui makes good sense. Just a split second or a moments lapse on our part and the poisons are there, fully present. For example, anger can appear in a moment, in a nanosecond, so we kind of have to tiptoe through the pastures of life being careful where we step.

I guess my point is that, like the proverbial elephant in the room, these poisons are very much with us, very close at hand, and not just some distant possibility. In the inner landscape of our mind, these are major features to avoid and their constant presence is something we all are aware of, even if only to better ignore them. Talk about bad feng-shui, kleshas impinge on our consciousness at all times. They are never really not there, but are always prominent in our peripheral vision, just out of sight, but never out of

mind. In other words, we must be mindful lest we fall victim to them, and so they admit to feng-shui analysis. Let me say more about mental feng-shui.

I am using anger here as an example, but all of the kleshas (poisons) are right here within our mind, but of course we ignore them as much as possible. They are like fountains of energy that have been painted over by the veneer of society, coat upon coat, painted into a corner where we dont have to see or react to them. And the kleshas are hidden in all kinds of clever ways. Of course they are buried beneath social taboos and forbidden by the law. We are warned not to go there, and suffer penalties if we do. Take, for instance anger. We are admonished not to indulge in anger, warned, and there are consequences if we do. Law after law is on the books, So we cap our kleshas off, hide them away, and make them punishable. In polite society we just dont go there, and keep the various extreme effects of kleshas at arms length. Yet, our ignorance is only a cosmetic solution -- ignoring the obvious. In our current condition there is no way we can cope with, much less subdue, kleshas like anger and desire. It is like grabbing a tiger by the tail. We habitually turn our gaze away.

The most common solution is to keep qualities like anger and desire at arms length, to get as far away from them as possible, and to avoid them at every opportunity. Although society finds this approach necessary, we should not conclude that keeping our distance from them in any way diminishes their power over us. In other words, shunning kleshas is a cosmetic and not a permanent solution, but it is considered better than indulging them. Living in a world where we must permanently ignore such great energy centers is also not so good. Talk about bad feng-shui. Just think for a moment how these powerful sources impinge on our consciousness at all times. We must forever be careful not to give them any of our attention, lest they erupt, so they forever have the minimum attention it takes for us to ignore them, and they have us walking around with our eyes downcast so as not to see or invoke them unnecessarily. And lets not minimize the dangers of kleshas, either. It is a no-win situation. We ignore kleshas at our peril, and if we go with them, give them our attention, we usually end up being controlled by them. They take us over. Tell me this is not one definition (or kind) of suffering. Like a world populated by land mines, kleshas are always present, and we have to watch our every step. Society has learned to carefully avoid the obvious kleshas around us, locking them away with legalities and laws, painting them over with taboos and

coatings of social veneer. You would hardly know they are there in nice society, but there they are nevertheless, just beneath the surface of polite. And wishing them away wont make it so. Sooner or later, in this life or another, we will have to come to terms with our kleshas and their energy. They await us. Handling kleshas directly is for advanced meditators only. In this very introductory article, I am pointing out only that our inner and mental space is as important to us as our outer living space, and in fact we spend all of our time in our mind. The mind is the lens (and projector) through which the outer world appears. And like outer conventional feng-shui, much of what we find in our inner mental space can also make us uncomfortable and amounts to bad feng-shui. It is enough here to note that within the mind are some very large energy sources (the Three Poisons) that are very close by, but usually ignored or avoided. They are there nonetheless, and prominent at that. According to the Buddhists, ultimately, the Five Poisons can and must be known and transmuted into the Five Wisdoms. Each of us will have to do it, someday. As for altering or removing these kleshas, these obstacles, I will leave that for another blog, should there be interest. Mental feng-shui, inner comfort, and peace is at least as important as rearranging the deck-chairs on our personal outer equation, which ultimately will be abandoned anyway. Your thoughts please.

When serving a karmamudra, the pure awareness of bliss and emptiness will arise: Composed in a blessed union of insight and means, Slowly send down, retain and draw back up the bodhichitta, And conducting it to the source, saturate the entire body. But only if lust and attachment are absent will that awareness arise.

The Four (or Five?) Elements I have been studying astrology for some fifty years, so long I forget when I actually started and what constitutes studying anyway? I have also been studying Chinese astrology for a long time. I find Chinese astrology very profound and not something one can learn in a month, day, year, or even years. I have never written much about the subject because I am still just a student, but I do want to share a little bit of Chinese astrology with you so that you have a taste and see if you like it too. To do this, I will compare just one facet of astrology as we view it through Western

methods, and as the Chinese view it. You will get the idea, I am sure. The Four Elements in western astrology (Fire, Earth, Air, and Water) and the Five Elements in Chinese astrology (Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood) while a bit different in each system, are similar enough for this comparison. In modern astrology here in the west, we tend to add up the element for the Sun, Moon, and planets and get what is called the Elemental Balance. My elemental balance looks like this: Fire: 3 planets Earth: 4 planets Air: 1 planet Water: 2 planets As you can see, I have a preponderance of Earth, and only one planet in Air. The way I teach this is as follows. The elements we have a lot of I say are What we have to do, while the element we lack (Air in my case) are what we lack or What we want. Then I tell my students that we become what we want, using the word become in the sense that a dress becomes a woman, to turn toward or accent. So, if we have zero planets for a certain element, we endlessly turn toward or try to fulfill that emptiness, etc. So, in other words, we do what we have to do, and we become what we want. In Western astrology, we draw attention to what we most want. This is roughly how I teach it. However, the Chinese have a different approach, one that I believe will show you how profound their view is.

In Chinese astrology, the element you have the least amount of, the one you want or lack, is called your Lucky Element, which is the polar opposite of what we call the missing element here in the West. The Chinese say it is your lucky element because when it occurs and you find some in the world, you then come into balance. What you want or lack is what will make you whole. You get the idea. As you can see the Chinese have an interesting positive twist on what we tend to make a liability. It is this kind of (I call it profound) view that makes Chinese astrology so fascinating for me. What are your thoughts? Aversion is just another form of attachment.

Klesha, disturbing emotions, affliction, Poisons Attachment, Desire, Passion Aggression, Anger, Ignorance, Delusion Jealousy, Envy Pride Creative Force: 3rd Saturn Cycle I have written here many times about my first spiritual teacher, Andrew Gunn McIver, who was a traveling initiator for a Rosicrucian order. I knew him as a

retired person living in Ann Arbor that I connected with in the mid-1960s. One of the concepts he empowered me with is that of the 30-year Saturn Cycle (29.4 years), similar to that presented in the quintessential book by astrologer Grant Lewi Astrology for the Millions, perhaps the only book I would take to a deserted island, although by now I know it by heart and have added my own two cents. Andrews take was different, yet supplemental to that given by Lewi. My teacher Andrew would explain to me that during the first thirty years of life, each of us is busy in time (within Saturns first orbit) building our body or vehicle, which he likened to a space capsule that would be launched, ready or not, at the age of thirty years. If we build that vehicle strong, it would last well into the future. If we did not, it would essentially not hold together and sustain us. Andrew saw life beyond thirty years as if we were at that time launched into space, free-floating and endlessly separating from Earth as we know it, launched BEYOND time, beyond the grasp of Saturn and the physical. After that first Saturn return at 30 years, each of us is like in a space capsule, perhaps tethered to Earth, but beyond reach or touch. After thirty years of age we can no longer build our vehicle, any more than when the body reaches its physical prime, we can further enhance it. Instead, we sustain for a while and then fail in one way or another. He would also say things like, When does ice melt? and point out that between 32 and 33 degrees is when ice melts. Or when did Christ die on the cross? Again, at 33 years of age, or he would mention the 33rd degree of Freemasonry, and so on. His point was that it was somewhere around the Saturn cycle at

30 years or soon thereafter, that we leave the body, not at the live-long end of life. The real death is in the middle of life, not at the end. Think on that sometime. He went on to say that the second Saturn cycle, from 30 to 60 years, we spend repairing the damage we made being launched or born, and here is the interesting point for this particular blog. Andrew also said that in the 3rd Saturn cycle, from 60 to 90 years that, should we live so long and be aware, that we could actively partake in the creative process of life. It is this third Saturn cycle that I want to draw your attention to, which of course, is the cycle of Saturn I am in now. I pretty much understood Andrews description of the first two Saturn cycles, but of course that 3rd cycle I had very little clue or idea of. Well, that is changing now that I am in that cycle and I want to comment on it as best I can. And an encounter with a very famous astrologer years ago now begins to make sense. I can remember the great astrologer Dane Rudhyar visiting the Heart Center in the early 1970s to give a talk. Of course we were honored to have him at our home, but a strange thing happened. Since I have many astrological ideas, I wanted to run some of them past Rudhyar, and one of them had to do with heliocentric astrology, my personal favorite technique. I dont remember his exact words, but when I asked Rudhyar about helio astrology, he seemed to dismiss it as of no importance or something like that. Of course, I was disappointed, but the story continues. Later in that same visit Rudhyar quite spontaneously began to speak on heliocentrics, this time praising and extoling it in a very forward-looking manner. He seemed to be speaking automatically, in an odd

voice, almost as if he was reading from some inner script or source. Needless to say I was surprised at this reversal of opinion and also at the kind of robotlike tone in which he spoke. It gave me pause and I have never forgotten that event. Now that I am well into my 3rd Saturn cycle, I am myself experiencing something quite similar, the ability to pull from the ether ideas and insights almost at will, especially when asked a question. It is almost if as I grow older the top of my head becomes space itself and all that is in it, and here I am talking about the mind and mental space. The mind itself is a rich field of ideas, a wealth of information that just exists in there, ready to be read by anyone sensitive or open enough to do so. It would seem that age enables this to happen when coupled with developing basic awareness. If there is a need, a question from a younger person, some reason to access these mind treasures, the information appears with even greater authority and strength. The Sun is powered by nuclear fusion which is emitted in the form of gamma rays that travel from the core until when they reaches the surface it is primarily in the form of visible light which radiates as sunlight. An image I will share with you is that of a shaft of energy shooting out from the Sun, fueled at the base of the shaft by magnetically charted plasma that forms a stalk of light that shines far out from the Suns center into the darkness shining. Now imagine innumerable shafts of light all over the surface of the sun shining in all directions (all ways) and we have

the image of the Sun, that ball of fire radiating in the firmament. Inside the surface of the Sun is this very dense mass of molten plasma and far from that surface the stalk of light shining. Somewhere near the surface there is the conversion or transformation of the energy from This image of the active Sun is something we might study in physics class, but the inner and esoteric meaning is breathtaking in its profundity. This energy change is mirrored by the exchange between younger and older, student and teacher. Something is endlessly exchanged and everything also remains the same. Everything happens and nothing happens. This is the mystery.

The title of my first book published in 1975 was The Sun is Shining! And the image of the Sun shining has dominated my thoughts for many years. It is such an obvious symbol, but almost impossible to describe as regards its meaning. I mean the Sun shines! That ball of fire is what we call the Prime of Life, fueled from within by youth pushing to be born and from without by the shining light of older souls.

The Point of No Return Feb 14, 2006 2-4 PM, Grand Sextile Helio By Michael Erlewine A Poem for My Daughter Michael Anne The point of the point of no return is that: When you have reached the point of no return, From which there is no return, The point is to turn and return. That is the turning point. Every life has a turning point, Whether its in the echo of age, Or in the very midst of lifes prime. As we reach our point of no return, We pause, Then we turn. And, in turning, we begin to reflect. In our reflection, And rising into view, Perhaps for the very first time, The Sun. Where before it was we who were seen, And others seeing, Now we are the mirror in which they see themselves, And we can see our self in them.

What we once saw shining before us, as youths, That which we gladly embraced in our prime, And what we now see etched in the mirror of reflection, Is our eternal Self, The Sun, Ever burning in the darkness of our life. Thats it. I understand this. What I find harder to understand, Yet still believe is: We didnt know it then; We dont know it now. We never knew it. In truth, It never was. IT NEVER WAS; It never will be. It is not now, And still, it is. It still is: This most brilliant illusion, Shining in the mirror of the mind.

My Daughter May Erlewine

New Album: The Long Way Home A Kickstarter Project: Join Us! My daughter May has a new album about to be released and this link gives you a video on which she sings the title track. There are also may gifts for those who want to help raise money to print this album, everything from a signed copy of the album to a personal concert by May in your home. Of course, I am proud of my daughter, who has appeared on The Prairie Home Companion, and dozens of festivals, as well as tours of both coasts. Many famous singers and groups do her songs. This is a wonderful album that has one of my favorite tunes of all time by May, the song A Beautiful Mess. If you want to help it will be appreciated or want to just hear a nice tune. Here it is: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mayerlewine/thelong-way-home-0