freeform

Yeah you’re quite right. ‘Not adding’ is a big part of it... much of the spiritual path is letting go, shedding. Actually ‘feeling for’ would be an error in my teacher’s eyes... it’s too ‘active’. Ting - which is the quality of awareness that needs to be used is translated as ‘listening’. It’s for a good reason - listening is the most passive of the senses - sounds come to you, you don’t ‘look for’ them - there’s also no real ‘border’ to listening you can hear an airplane many miles away and you can hear the electricity flowing through the motherboard of your computer. And when Tinging - you’re not listening for something. You’re just listening - whether you hear silence or activity, it doesn’t matter - you keep that quality without grasping at phenomena. Again as everything with these arts it’s a subtle, intricate balancing act. To learn it you have to get it wrong many times, realise the error, correct for it and in time you just ‘get it’ - just like finding your balance on a bicycle for the first time.

Seems reasonable, but it’s wrong. I’ve been scolded for doing this countless times. (I have very ‘traditional’ teachers 😄) I’ve tried tracing my awareness down without visualisation. Wrong. I've tried imagining a sensation of sinking going from the head down. Still wrong. Its again one of those over-simplifications. Sinking the Qi is an absolute fundamental aspect of Qi Gong training. And the problem is, that if you go about it in some ‘training wheels’ simplified way (and normally it’s just the instruction to ‘put your awareness on your Dantien’) that simplification gets built into your practice and your whole foundation becomes built on a fundamental error. With sinking, as soon as you use the mind in some way, the Qi rises - and cannot sink. You can use your mind to create all kinds of feelings and images of sinking and the Qi will rise up to your head and help your mind imagine these things! ”So how the f*%#k do you actually sink the stupid f*%#king Qi!?” - this was a massive frustration for me for months. The answer is create the correct qualities in body and mind and the Qi will sink under its own ‘weight’. It’s like mud settling at the bottom of an undisturbed pond. You have to allow it to do its own sinking. Any meddling, however helpful it might seem, will bring the mud back up. The body needs to be structured correctly - this is the key. You need the right structure and you need to reach a certain level of Sung. Then you need to develop the right quality of Ting with your mind. When your body is structured correctly... when you’re Sung... when you’ve tuned to the correct quality of Ting... and you don’t disturb your mind with imagination or intent or active thoughts... only then will the Qi sink of its own accord. The feeling is unmistakeable. And the approving micro-nod from teacher is very satisfying (which raises the Qi again 😄) There is another piece of that puzzle - and that’s the Dantien - if you have at least the beginnings of one, and you have some activation and concentration of Qi there - then sinking becomes much easier. Qi attracts Qi. Some teachers will activate your Dantien for you to enable you to sink. Mine did the opposite - he let me struggle for months and only when I finally managed it, he activated my Dantien and it started to build (physically). Frustrating experience and a lot of time, but I gained the skill of sinking, developed patience and learned the level of intricacy in every little mechanic in these arts - clever teacher

Yup, exactly - the Shangqing (later known as Maoshan) lineage does use some visualisation. It’s actually quite a difficult practice as the visualisation has to be incredibly lifelike and detailed - as in if someone asked how many stitches are in Guan Yin’s lapels, you’d be able to ‘look’ inside and count them... Ok - the modern perspective stems from this idea that ‘the brain can’t distinguish between an imagined thing and a real thing’. It’s a pretty shaky theory to say the least. The evidence for the theory is based on some pretty blunt brain imaging tools... What proponents say though is that if you vividly imagine eating a lemon you’ll naturally salivate as if eating a real one... Ok - but what happens if you imagine that you have really big muscles? That’s what imagining Qi is trying to do. The underlying structure for your channels has a physical component and you have to literally build these physical structures - that’s what the internal arts are doing. You can physically feel the Jing Jin lines (the physical aspect of the channels) under an authentic Qigong practitioner’s skin with your finger. You can feel a solid mass of tissue in the abdomen - and that’s the Dantien. Another thing is that by working with the tissues and using your awareness in a particular way you literally build Qi. Yes you can take in Qi through food and breathing and from your surroundings - but it’s a tiny ‘amount’ in comparison to what is built internally through proper Qigong and Neigong. Qi Gong is the mastery of Qi - and part of that is building Yang Qi and Yin Qi. These are not vague metaphorical ideas - when a teacher issues Yang Qi it feels like being zapped by an electric fence - the reaction is the same... when they issue Yin Qi it feels like a strong physical contraction or expansion in your body (kind of like the blood pressure sleeve) - an observer will be able to see this. Similarly when practicing I feel electric currents in parts of my body, or physical contractions and expansions in my (relaxed) muscles or other tissues. So yes using awareness, intention and imagination can actually move some Qi. But it moves a tiny ‘amount’ of Qi. The other issue is that the mind is simply not still enough to move Qi properly without causing issues. Say you’re focusing your attention around your microcosmic orbit - the smallest deviation from that task - the tiniest movement of mind will throw the whole thing off course. Say a dog barks outside or the tiniest flicker of a thought moves through your mind - you’ve just deviated. That’s why it can be dangerous. Because even though it’s moving tiny amounts of Qi, if you practice a lot, regularly and with strong focus you will create deviations in your basic flow. Another reason is delusion. Say you put your awareness on your palm, focus it there and pay attention to it for as long as you can. You will feel all kinds of interesting stuff. Focused attention will engage your nervous system and your mind will interpret the resulting sensations in many different ways... usually depending on what movies you’ve been watching or books you’ve been reading. 90% of people who ‘feel Qi’ are actually doing just this. All of my teachers have said to not pay undue attention to phenomena and sensations that come about through practice. Classically there are the ‘8 touches of qi’ - these are groups of sensations that arise as a result of Qi. They will be there, but they’re not important in themselves and if you focus on these sensations or try and ‘increase’ them or ‘direct’ them or anything like that - you will create deviations in your practice or a fascination that will stop any further progress. So eg. if you got really involved in these electric current sensations, or the different pulsing and vibrations you get, your quality of mind will move away from creating the correct causes that generate results, and instead will lead into the world of phenomena - distractions that generally lead to delusion or just loss of skill. Eventually you do gain a direct perception of Qi without the faulty filters of your nervous system and imagination - but that happens after a long time (and isn’t strictly necessary to progress anyway). And I’ve been talking about Qi as if it’s a kind of ‘substance’ - but it’s not. At certain stages it does become, to all intents and purposes, a type of substance (like Yin Qi and Yang Qi) - but if you ‘zoom in’ - Qi is basically ‘transformational information in action’... ok that doesn’t really make sense... urgh it’s so tricky to explain... let’s just imagine some fluid-like energy moving around instead

There is some in certain lineages, yes. Generally more to do with ‘sorcery’ type work - and not internal cultivation as such. There is no visualisation to move Qi in the body. There is actually very little in the way of using intent to move energy too (there are exceptions - usually for beginners). The point is to create conditions in the body and mind to allow the energy to move of its own accord. This is done by using Sung and Ting (active release and listening) - not the will, focused attention, intent or visualisation. There are many reasons for this - one fundamental one is that it goes against the principle of wei wu wei. There are others that I can go into if anyone’s interested - but the message is basically - don’t use visualisation...

This is not what you want to hear, so I apologise for that. It’s something I keep repeating to people who create issues through visualisation practice... Visualisation as form of inner cultivation is a modern invention (a simplification) and an error that can only create issues or more often have no useful result. Since you’re already developing issues, I would advise you to stop this visualisation practice and have a break away from any Qigong for a week or so. Later you can start again and focus on the physical movement aspect of the practice.

Yup - basically what Aetherous says is spot on. But usually people are not happy to hear this advice. (I wasn’t!) It’s often expensive and difficult to find a good teacher and it can take years of trial and error. But the reality is that if your aim really is enlightenment - there are far, far more difficult obstacles along the way - finding a genuine teacher (as hard as it is) is actually the easiest step Otherwise it sounds like you’re at a good stage of practice for a teacher to enter your life... so just focus on that for a while and I’m sure you’ll do great.

Thats important

I think this highlights the issues of doing spiritual practice outside of a classical lineage. I don’t mean to downplay the achievement described, but it is not enlightenment (at least according to classical Daoist path). What’s described is known as ‘glimpsing Shen Ming’. That’s what the bright inner light flashing is. It can be a very transformative experience. In Daoist training this is where ‘meditation’ actually starts. Specifically ‘meditation’ is abiding in the light of Shen Ming. When the light is constant and all encompassing then other processes can be moved into. This is very far from what ‘enlightenment’ from the Daoist or Buddhist perspective actually is - but it can cause an experience of awakening that can then lead to a stable awakening (the achievement of Sheng Ren) - but more often than not it fades back to normality.

... if it’s in the Mandate of Heaven maybe One of my fellow students of the way would start singing in a strange language spontaneously during training... took a while to work out that it’s in Pali. After a a while he could read and understand Pali scriptures. He was very fortunate to then find an amazing Buddhist teacher and progressed very rapidly from what I hear...

Yeah - all very much obsessive in my experience

Even if you found the exactly correct information for you. Even if you found just the right enlightened teacher willing to teach you. Even if you had your life completely in order - with all the money and support you need to fully dedicate your entire life to this goal... I think it’s important to realise that enlightenment (let alone immortality) is the absolute peak of human achievement. Meaning it’s incredibly difficult and completely out of reach for the majority of people. People seem to think that spiritual cultivation fits some sort of humanist ideal - that it’s fair, easy and accessible for anyone. But that’s wishful thinking. In many ways it is no different than any other human endeavour. Think about the people at the very top of any field - the Mozarts, DaVincis, Einsteins of this world... They tend to share something in common - very high intelligence and an obsessive work ethic (and luck of course). The bar is a lot higher than we imagine. If you’re not a genius at anything you put your mind to you probably won’t get anywhere close to immortality. But... Its still fun to try and see how far you can get

Oh I see. Well I’m not sure what demonstrations you’ve seen. Sounds like you’ve seen a lot. What I’ve experienced was not in a ‘demonstration’ sort of context, but more often in a healing context, during training or at certain ceremonies (Bai Shi ceremonies, some shrine ceremonies etc). I would generally avoid teachers that set up these big showy demonstrations... not necessarily coz they’re fake but because that suggests a certain approach to their practice that is not of interest to me. Incidentally I’ve seen fake demonstrations too. Not to name names, but it involved water, paper towels and aluminium foil sheets... completely fake (the water was not water). All done in a circus performer style in front of big audiences for money... just the context can give it away

Not really to be honest. I think you’re saying that to you it looks fake and it can be faked so it must be fake... but again that doesn’t mean it is. So I’m not sure where this is going. Something like projection of Yang Qi (it feels like being electrocuted) is not a particularly ‘high level’ skill. Projection of Yin Qi (affecting physical objects at a distance) is a bit rarer but also not particularly high level. Nothing to do with enlightenment or anything like that - just skill that comes about as a result of Neigong.

no im sure you’re not an idiot. Anything can be faked. But it doesn’t mean that it is.

I don’t think that’s fair to be honest. I think most people are sincere and genuinely seeking authentic practices. They enter the ‘spiritual marketplace’ in good faith but get conned in the process. It’s only natural to defend practices that you’ve invested time, effort and money into. The thing to note is that us modern people are not somehow smarter and wiser, we can’t ‘improve and simplify’ spiritual processes that have already gone through thousands of years of very sophisticated refinement by the very greatest, most advanced minds of the world. The authentic lineages all trace their lines to an (at least) enlightened being who helped create the path for others. And often more than one enlightened being... Sometimes even an immortal. If they say that it takes 3 years of 4hrs of daily practice to fully open your microcosmic orbit, it’s best to listen to that. If they say that to only move on to certain meditative practices when you can sit in perfect posture with no movement (of body or mind) then they must’ve had that condition for a very good reason. The ones who I do find deplorable are the teachers who know these things, but decide to water them down and to change the teachings to reflect their own (or ‘the market’s’) preferences just to make more money. Yes its true that these practices are extremely difficult and not possible for most people. The answer to that is not to make it ‘simpler’ so that it’s accessible to more people - just as it’s not a good idea to make a medical degree simpler and easily accomplished in a couple of weekend seminars. There are approaches that don’t need to go so far of course. Qi Gong for health and well-being for example is great and helpful for most people. The spiritual cultivation path is not. They are not the same thing.

Whether John Chang is faking it or not, I can’t be sure. But I’ve experienced some of these things myself. They’re not fake and quite possible. The result of mastering Yin and Yang Qi through authentic Neigong. But this is just the beginning - things get even stranger with authentic alchemists.

The great con You see the internal arts work very differently. It’s a little complicated. The idea is to set up certain conditions in your body and mind, so that the Qi flows of its own accord in the necessary ways. This takes a lot of practice time and effort, but once it’s done you will sense the energy moving - it’s very physical and obvious - not subtle and semi imagined. The great con is that - since it’s complicated and hard work to create these conditions. Why not instead imagine the effect that arises as a result of these conditions being in place!? Great marketing idea. Brilliant shortcut. But completely misses (or bypasses) the point of the art form. And has little effect... and is often dangerous if done a lot. The other thing to look out for. Modern internal arts. Things like Clairevision, Wim Hoff method etc. They’ve tapped into something genuine, but separated parts out and manipulated them out of context to get some effect they desire. But they don’t understand the consequences of this manipulation - so the long term results will be useless at best and very dangerous at worst.

Its quite normal for people that come to these arts to have some difficulty or a painful past of some sort. In the old days the ones who became the village shaman were often also put in this position by life circumstances - serious illness, death of parents, some congenital disfigurement etc. Most normal people that are happy with their lives will just get into football and Hollywood movies - why bother with all this weird introspective stuff That’s a very good place to start. It’s a good idea to look for a teacher that is less concerned with defence and more with efficient and effective expression of their art. Make sure they’re not paranoid and obsessed with violence.

That’s a classic siddhi Id take the instructions with a pinch of salt though.

You should be looking for teachers, not information

Not quite. There are three ‘vehicles’ of cultivation in Daoism. The ‘lower vehicle’ is the path of energy cultivation. The ‘middle vehicle’ is the path of cultivating the consciousness. The ‘higher vehicle’ is the path of cultivating on the spiritual realms. There are crossovers. In Daoism you generally work on all three but usually not at the same time. Alchemy plays a role in all the vehicles - but most heavily in the lower and higher vehicles. Meditation plays a big role in the middle vehicle. All three vehicles are necessary. In Buddhist lineages they’re achieved differently - often the energetic and physical aspects are achieved through transmissions, empowerments and ingesting of herbal/mineral preparations for example. Other lineages will have inner door practices.

As you can probably tell it’s a difficult task to do that. As Dwai says it’s different in different lineages. Daoism doesn’t have a term like enlightenment. What comes close is Zhen Ren. A fully realised human. A zhen ren has transformed and balanced his acquired mind to such an extent that he radiates all the virtues and functions fully from his primordial nature... This is the highest form of attainment available on the earthly plane. A Sheng Ren is someone who is awakened. Normally they have had a transformative glimpse of Wuji and have a deeply embodied sense that the Acquired Self is not the true self. It’s not an intellectual understanding, it’s a deeply transformative ability to see through the illusion of self. There are levels beyond the Zhen Ren attainment though

You're right of course. That is the whole purpose of Buddhism. The purpose of an anatomy book is the same as the purpose of a medical degree - to understand the human body. The approach, the depth of study is very different though.

Enlightenment is both physical and mental. The Buddhism that is openly shared with the world is not the Buddhism that leads to enlightenment. The real spiritual cultivation practices are always behind closed doors. Just as you might be able to read about all the organs of the human body freely - only behind closed doors would you be able to learn how to dissect a human body. These practices behind closed doors always have some ‘training’ of the body. Now ‘awakening’ which is another thing altogether is different. It can happen spontaneously. It can also be brought about a number of different ways. Most confuse awakening with enlightenment. They are very different from what I’ve been taught.

No. Information wont make you immortal.