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Post by gilesvint on Mar 17, 2015 13:51:09 GMT
I decided to create this thread to open a discussion on the eight books by Wei Wu Wei (Terence Gray), and possibly their mention in Kenneth Grant's works and their influence on him, his thought, and his writing.
I came to WWW's (Wei Wu Wei for short, not world wide web) books through Grant's books, as they were bing published by Skoob. in the mid to late 90s the only ones in print were All Else Is Bondage, and Open Secret. I bought All Else Is Bondage first and it changed everything for me. I've always described it as though everything I believed in, and my view of the world shattered and the pieces fell at my feet. Open Secret was wonderfull also. And then in recent years I bought all eight when Sentient Publications republished them.
I continue to pick up these books and am dazzled by the true doctrine emanating from their pages. After obtaining Stream Entry a couple of years ago, their light shines even more brilliantly. Please note I'm not boasting in staing this, just describing my expeirience. For those who don't know what Stream Entry is, Google it.
Of possible interest is the biography written by Paul Cornwell, Only by Failure: The Many Faces of the Impossible Life of Terence Gray. Though only a small part of it covers the WWW years.
There is another recent book which focusses on the teachings in these books, with exercises, but I'll have to check it's title and post it here soon.
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Post by gilesvint on Mar 18, 2015 13:47:53 GMT
The other book I referred to is What Am I? A Study in Non-Volitional Living by Galen Sharp. In the 1970s Mr Sharp corresponded with WWW for sevaral years. WWW's teaching totally changed his life, and this book is the result.
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Post by N0T 2 on Mar 23, 2015 8:24:25 GMT
Thanks for this thread gilesvint. I will track down these books.
The Bibliographies in Grant's trilogies are amazing, so many threads to follow...
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Post by gilesvint on Mar 23, 2015 14:28:18 GMT
Thanks NOT 2. If you find them heavy, just persevere. A dictionary might also be useful for clarification of some words.
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Post by Gregory Peters on Mar 25, 2015 2:42:49 GMT
I'm a great admirer of Wei Wu Wei's books. I think I first came across reference to his material in Michael Staley's writings, and of course Grant as well. I have not read the biographies or WWW inspired books but they sounds interesting.
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Post by Gregory Peters on Mar 25, 2015 2:44:54 GMT
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Post by gilesvint on Mar 25, 2015 14:51:23 GMT
Hi Greg. Hope you're well. Yes that's a good site. It has lots of the material, but not everything. Good place to start. Thanks for posting the link. I was going to post it but forgot.
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Post by Gregory Peters on Mar 25, 2015 21:40:04 GMT
Hi Greg. Hope you're well. Yes that's a good site. It has lots of the material, but not everything. Good place to start. Thanks for posting the link. I was going to post it but forgot. yes the website is good for whetting the appetite, but I encourage people interested to track down the books and savor the experience of reading them |
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Post by Nalyd Khezr Bey on Mar 26, 2015 1:43:30 GMT
Initially I was reluctant to post here because what I have to say is more of a personal synchronicity but I'll go ahead and share. gilesvint, I saw your thread here just after you first posted it and was surprised by it because, coincidentally, about maybe an hour before I saw it I had been searching Wei Wu Wei's books on Amazon and added all that are available to my cart for future purchasing. This little whim came over me because of Gregory's own recommendation of his works in his own Magickal Union of East and West*. I have only previously read Open Secret several years ago and of course I discovered that work from Grant's books. I was floored by Open Secret but never pursued his work any further. Your thread here has solidified my reignited interest so the next time I order books WWW's will be in the bunch.  * I haven't even started reading your book yet and I'm already mining your references. Haha! |
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Post by gilesvint on Mar 27, 2015 15:28:57 GMT
How cool is that?! Awesome.
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Post by Gregory Peters on Mar 27, 2015 21:28:07 GMT
Wei Wu Wei and Alan Watts are both brilliant at bringing the void into language that is so wonderfully accessible to westerners (I can't even formulate this sentence as clearly as their pointers). Both I discovered courtesy of Grant and Staley's writings on the Typhonian current. I would be sorely amiss if I did not also point out that it was due to Grants writings that I was pointed towards the Kaula vidya and Hindu and Buddhist tantrik traditions.
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Post by Nalyd Khezr Bey on Mar 28, 2015 11:47:30 GMT
Yes Alan Watts is another one of my earlier influences. I first read his The Way of Zen in the mid-'90's around the time I first read Robert Anton Wilson. Watts and Wilson pretty much obliterated any kind of certitude I may have had about anything. I love Watts' Tao: The Watercourse Way as well.
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Post by triveni93 on Mar 28, 2015 16:08:55 GMT
Alan Watts is one of my favorite writers. I read The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are when I was about 19 and I think it changed my life. I re-read it every now and then and get something different from it each time (a reminder, if nothing else). I actually just recommended it to my students yesterday in passing (in a class I'm teaching on Philosophies and Religions of the Far East) in a conversation we were having after viewing a film on Chinese Buddhist hermit monks.
I learned of Wei Wu Wei from Gregory Peters, starting with Ask the Awakened, and was really blown away by it. I'm planning to read it again this summer.
The integration of these lines of thought into Michael Staley's and Kenneth Grant's writings on Thelema are probably a large part of why I'm attracted to the Typhonian Tradition.
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Post by gilesvint on Mar 28, 2015 20:15:44 GMT
I've not read much of Ask the Awakened. I know it's the favourite of some. I feel now those that didn't resonate as much as those that did way back when, will now open up like they never did before. I read the first book, Fingers Pointing Towards The Moon several years ago. It took me a while to get into it, but it seemed rather empty. I've just started reading it again and it's as amazing as the rest. Posthumous Pieces is brilliant also. I'm looking forward to finding the jewels in those in which I couldn't find them before, and more than before in those in which I could. This is always the way, well as long as we are bound by time and space. Ever deepening.
As for the Void, there is wonderful bit in Open Secret for those who have a copy. Part 3, VII. Burden of the Heart Sutra - V: The Nonsense of Nullity.
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