Hear our Father, Recall our Mother

An important stage of internal alchemy practice is finding our True Self (Zhenwo 真我). When we form the Sacred Embryo we need to gather and nourish our True Self, but to do this we first need to sort through the various parts of ourselves. One method for this is called Hear our Father, Recall our Mother (Ting Fu Yi Mu 聽父憶母).

From the Taoist perspective we are made of three parts. This is known as the Three Pin 三品. A person has three types of pin, which often refers to our three inner spaces:

Head cavity is Heaven
Chest cavity is Human
Abdominal cavity is Earth

But the Three Pin also refer to the fact that we are made of three parts: ourself, our mother, and our father. When I look at my son, I see myself in him, I see his mother in him, and I see something else, something unique to him, which is him. These are the three parts that make him, him.

So, for better or worse, our parents are a part of us. And since Taoist alchemy is concerned with finding our True Self, understanding our parents and our relationship with them is part of our work.

Of course there is a method, and the main one Taoists use is called Hear our Father, Recall our Mother. I’m sure anyone can use this method, but it is best practiced together with internal alchemy.

Hear our Father, Recall our Mother:

1. Regulate body and mind for a good 20 mins or so. Enter stillness and empty the body.
2. Focus outside the body, in front of the eyes, and in a gentle wuwei manner allow an image of your mother (or father, or both) to appear.
3. The image needs to match both your mind memory and your body memory. It can’t be forced. It should appear naturally, and it might not be what you expect.
4. Two things might happen: either the image will be clear or unclear. If it is not clear, it means they are far from you and should be brought closer.
5. Note the details of the image clearly: age, colour, facial expression, location, whether it is just a face or they are in a room, etc.
6. Stay focused on the image. No random thoughts. Note what you feel, whether love or hate.
7. Have a dialogue with the image. Say whatever needs to be said, positive or not. Try not to think too much; just say whatever is there. This might be about who is right or wrong, or why they did something.
8. Inhale and bring the image from in front of the eyes through the Celestial Eye and down the midline of the body into the Lower Field (lower dantian). Nourish the image inside for a while.

A note about visualization. When working with images in neidan practice, we don’t consciously create them. We open a space and allow them to arise. If they don’t, they don’t. And if something else arises, go with it. We don’t control. No random thoughts. That’s why this practice is best done once you are familiar with internal alchemy practice in general.

This practice can also be done with ancestors or any blood relation. It is a great way to diminish our ego-self (zijue 自覺, lit. sense of self), our sense of being right.