Library: The words and the voices of the book
The three ancient voices with which the book converses, the four series from which its practices are drawn, and its glossary, word by word.
Ancient voices
Three voices, thirteen doors
Glossary
The words of the book
- AbuelaThe name the author gives Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, author of Women Who Run with the Wolves…
- AVVAA name that first came to the author during a meditation with Dr. Li, in Santa Marta, in October 2012.
- Bardo ThodolA Tibetan Buddhist text known as The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
- Bejuco tigreThe name given to the vine used in the Sibundoy ceremony told in Door V…
- BisoA tall, fine grass that grows around the salt pans of Cervia, as the author names it.
- ChiVital energy, in the spelling of the author’s school (qi in pinyin).
- Chi KungThe Chinese art of cultivating energy through posture, movement, breath, and mind (qigong in pinyin).
- Five Elements (Wu Xing)Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal, in the traditional Chinese model of correspondences and transformations.
- CoromotoOur Lady of Coromoto, patroness of Venezuela.
- Lower Dantian (also spelled dantien)“Field of cinnabar”: a center in the lower belly, in the energetic language of this tradition.
- FaithIn the author’s experience, it accompanies doubt between reason and the inner space he calls metanoia…
- Ho Fatt NamWong Kiew Kit’s master within the Shaolin tradition.
- Jing, Chi, ShenThe three treasures of the Chinese tradition, as taught in the author’s school: Jing, essence, the dimension of the body…
- Kek Lok SiA great Buddhist temple on Penang Island, Malaysia.
- Kuan Yin (Kuan Shi Yin Pusa)Bodhisattva of compassion…
- La Montaña AzulA retreat center in the mountains of Costa Rica where the author practiced with his master…
- MacreyMovimiento Apostólico del Cristo Rey (Apostolic Movement of Christ the King)…
- MalocaThe communal house of various Amazonian peoples.
- MammanaMidwife, in the dialect of Campania.
- MestiereTrade, in Italian; mestiere del muratore, the mason’s trade.
- MetanoiaA deep change of mind and attitude.
- Mansions (Moradas)The rooms of St. Teresa of Ávila’s interior castle (The Interior Castle, 1577): the soul as a castle of many rooms…
- OblationA surrender or offering to God. In Door IX, the author uses the word for the giving of himself during prayer.
- Om Mani Padme HumThe mantra of compassion associated with Kuan Yin.
- OrthonoiaThe author’s personal usage…
- Pa Kua (Bagua in pinyin)The eight trigrams of the I Ching. In the experience of Door V, the author pictures them as an inner compass: Li, fire; Kan…
- ParanoiaThe author uses this word as a personal metaphor…
- Ren and DuTwo meridians of the Chinese tradition: Ren runs along the front of the body and Du along the back.
- ResponsibilityThe author links it with the return to everyday life…
- ScialoneAn Italian word for a spendthrift. In Door XIII it is the nickname of the childhood friend of the author’s father.
- Sigung, SifuGrandfather-teacher and father-teacher, respectively, in the school’s forms of address.
- TezcatlipocaA Mexica deity whose name translates as “Smoking Mirror.” In Door V he is mentioned in the explanation that accompanies the…
- TranceThe author uses the word in a personal sense: an entry into immensity…
- The Three S’sSense, soften, and smile from the heart: the common opening of the practices.
- Madonna del CarmineOur Lady of Mount Carmel in her Italian devotion; the author’s name comes from her and from his paternal grandfather.
- Wong Kiew KitGrandmaster of the author’s Shaolin school, fourth generation of the Southern Shaolin Temple; in the book, Sigung.
- Wu Wei“Non-doing”: acting without forcing, like the willow that sways in the wind.