Thinking about Chi

This morning it appears that meditation that simply observes various sensations appearing in the body is a meditation on chi, or a way of cradling and strengthening the life force. This meditation has a wider scope than that meant to be purely an excercise in strengthening focus by observing the breath.

Chi seems to appear as ebbs of coolness and heat, electrical rushes here and there, maybe down through the tongue and into the fingertips, tickles and pricks, and hopefully the development of a sensation of heat in the dan tian. But this isn't something to be controlled, we can trust when we pay respects to the subtle life force within us it knows better than us where to travel and how to heal, and how to instill deeper wisdom.

Maybe we can call chi "nectar." Yesterday at the Tara Puja Matthew explained how the word nectar derives from the roots of a word for "death" and the root of the word "tar" which means to cross over.

Nectar is derived from Latin nectar "drink of the gods", which in turn has its origins in the Greek word νέκταρ (néktar), presumed to be a compound of the elements nek- "death" and -tar "overcoming". The earliest recorded use of its current meaning, "sweet liquid in flowers", is 1609.[1] ~wikipedia

I had no idea the word was as loaded as the flowers that offer it.
He also mentioned a book called Ocean of Nectar by Geshe, which is a title I'm going to have to look into.