The teaching of the Numinous demon mirror

 The teaching of the Numinous demon mirror


I am nothing and nothingness am I
I am the vast one, the undying sky
I know who I was before my father
It was revealed to me by my father
he is your I through other, your I twinned
Who rides so late in the night and the wind
to understand how I saw my own eye
I must first hide, then reveal who i was

in those days my grandfather would travel
he would go alone, past street and gravel
past the wild places where the mushrooms grow
through the dark valleys where no man should go
he would return home with his medicines
and with stories of foreign denizens
who in their lands practiced the ways of life.
one day in our village was great strife
a foreign shaman came seeking him out
he said “in my mouth dwells He, in my mouth
Dwells the God of knowledge, bring the wise man
i will prove him a fool, i know i can “

to prove his mind he revealed to them things
their own names, when they would die, hidden springs
the caverns hiding jades and cinnabar

and how to guide their ships with the North Star

for this they burnt incense to him, gave him


the freshest peaches, chests filled to the brim
with Gold and other treasures for a God
when my grandfather returned from abroad
the men came to him and begged him appear
before the shaman, they left why unclear

“tell him to come to my house at midnight”
 the shaman came and used his spirit sight
he saw my grandfather as nearly dead
“I will face him at his best, wrap a thread
around his wrist and the sickness shall die”
he spoke this  to me “I shall explain why
he could not read me, I am bland like dirt
i showed him my face, when I was the Earth


bring him here three hours past eleven
 i will be soil fertilized by heaven
so it was and the shaman did return
“something has changed, more life I now discern”
my grandfather then told him to return

at midday, “behold, you will not discern
my nature” the shaman left and obeyed
he returned but couldn’t see, he then prayed
“God of my mind reveal him to my eyes”
even this failed, he thought “ a god’s disguise
this man must be”  he spoke “i didn’t fast
today, this is why I couldn’t see past
your appearance” my grandfather then laughed
“you fail because of your petty witchcraft
watch, Come back here early in the morning
then is your defeat, your fill of mourning


in hate he returned for that cruel hour
he looked at him, screamed and ran for power
came from my grandfather “ let him pester
me no more, for before my ancestor
the face before my ancestor, I showed”
as the shaman ran back to the main road
my grandfather went to his bed and rest
I went to him some nights, he was so blessed
so I sought to learn his way, gain his force
this he said “do not seek, rest in your source
I am my own nature, that is the way
this is ancient, more ancient than the day”
he then got up and said “goodbye my son”
he then got up and my body he spun
“son If nothing within you stays rigid,
and you fuse mind and spirit like liquid

all the Outward things will then be disclosed
look at the sky, from the start it reposed
and when you are moving be like water
the ocean is heartless, it does slaughter
but it rests always, when you draw nearer
you are to blame, still be like a mirror
respond like an echo, this is the truth”
he then disappeared,  never in my youth
did I see my dear grandfather again

it was 20 years before I again
began to search for my dear grandfather
I knew he was alive, I knew that when


I would become just like my grandfather
i heard in a far off mountain there dwelled
an old man grinding herbs  and gathering
mushrooms and locals when their bodies swelled
would go to him he would put smattering
of his ointment and would then become healed
I journey to this far off mountain place
crossing many dark lakes and verdant field
I did this all so I would see his face
finally I saw the luminous dusk
behind the mount like a cluster of jades
like a man starved who tears away the husk
did I rush towards the mount of Chu-Sades

I reached the place where dwelled a little tent
a voice said “I know you are here my son
obey my words and obey my intent
make a mirror but never let the sun
touch it with its rays, take a water bowl


and let its water be under the moon
for  11 days then you take  the whole
mirror and put the water in a spoon
made of silver and draw a 4 eyed snake


around the mirror and then anoint it
with eight substances, with this shall you make
it, your blood, spit, piss, mucus, tears, wax, shit
and semen then during the half moon look
upon it and you shall know the way I
took which has knowledge not found in a book

but the true knowledge, knowledge of the sky “

i heard his words and obeyed his command
I made the mirror and the lunar bowl
as I applied the fluids with my hand
I felt very strange, something in my soul
begged me to stop but I did not listen
i returned to the mount for the half moon
“come out grandfather, see what has been done”
he replies “ I shall not come out, for soon
the half moon shall appear, then anyone
will be before your eyes if you will it”
i sat near his tent, waiting for the time
soon I saw the moon in a perfect split
I took out my mirror, it had a slime
covering it all, i intently looked
I saw the serpent come alive, twisting
with a lucent blue and purple, it hooked
its jaws into my flesh, no resisting

was possible, i cried out, from the tent
came one but not my grandfather, it was
the shaman who my grandfather had sent
away, he spoke “the mirror truly does
what I said it would” he walked besides me
then from the sky stepped down my grandfather
the two men fought as I tried to get free
the demon shaman  with heaven’s honor
against the man who knew the wayless way
endless strikes yet none hitting, a stalemate
I struggled to get free, so I might sway
the fight, to shatter what I did create
I finally broke the mirror but then
as it shattered the shards were then scattered

from them the snake came forth, covered in lights
it spiraled around, its light then shattered
and then we shattered, yellow-dark blue Night

i am mingled, my mind in confusion
I saw before heaven, the nameless way


black clouds filled with the  numinous essence

they pour down and fill me, i am renewed
I am a company of many things
 I dwelled in my own nature, there I stay
red sandalwood mixed with purple mushroom

hallucinations mixing truth, include
I am in the depths of this delusion

I see now, eternity and a day
the peaches of a heavenly garden
by their taste I go forth upon the horse
I am the flyer at night with his wings
are one and the same, hear what I now say
the yellow empress bows in your presence
she sees I have the divine seal and force
I am the stone cut perfect crowned with Eye
I am the hundred thousand things and they
the ashes of endless seasons commune
they say one and sixty four mysteries
i am the holy eight fold trigram seal
are my own going reflection, my play
the tiger brained general gives pardon
for from me comes the way of victories
I am the great crowned lord who cannot Die

I need not eye, ear, nose, throat, skin and grey
a voice doesn’t cry out, only absence
I denied my own denial, I formed
I am a truth known by the name the Real

are the lights of my mind for two I slay
the Wild spirits seek to be your tribune
slowly I and I and I then reformed
I am spinning, the swan and the flame-Ram
I am from the beginning but just clay
the rainbow elixir must now harden
shattered shards reflecting reveals I’s Eye
I and I am I and I am I am

i know myself, I know I am the Way
the balance of the center, true silence
I am who I was, am and shall be, I


the Demon serpent and mirrors now gone
disappeared were the three men, they were gone
I am neither of the three, but not so
I am all of the three yet more so
I am the mirror and the serpent’s breath
I am the old man who conquered his death
there is a god who rests upon my tongue
but still I am the eternally young


I veiled to show i to reveal my I’s
obey this teaching  and be filled with eyes
I am the father of my own father
It was revealed to me by my father
I know who I was before my father
I am the vast one, the undying sky
I am nothing and nothingness am I