exorcist_1699

The best writings about swordsmanship ever written is called " 渾元劍經" , roughly can be translated as " Jing ( 'classics') of Primordial Swordsmanship" , which in fact is the main writings of a Taoist lineage called Sword Immortals ( "劍仙" ) school . The Sword Immortals are group of people who are famous for, or partially accused of , their capability of projecting sword-like qi , long distance away , to fight with others or to interfere with earthly matters ... The book's author is Bi Kun , a guy who lived in the Ming Dynasty . Not a lengthy work to translate, it is my lack of experience in swordsmanship that blocks me from introducing you guys such an important and magnificent work in Taoism .

At first look, this one , written by 580 A.D. seems to be a Buddhist sutra ; however, judging from its asking for physical achievements as proofs for how empty , how consolidated our mind can attain , it is a Taoist piece of writing without doubts . A consolidated Mind is always crucial for Taoist practice, and the key , in fact, can always be summarized in one sentence : " (whether) you are capable of consolidating your Mind and opening that gateway towards the pre-heavenly qi " ( "凝神得竅"). Pre-heavenly qi can be viewed as some kind of negative entropy, the only fundamental energy that can utimately eliminate those ever emerging , ever increasing chaotic factors in our bodies ,provided that we can maintain that deep ,persistant consolidated Mind in our daily life. 天尊告左玄真人曰： 夫欲修道，先能捨事，外事都絕，無與忤心，然後安坐，內觀心起。若覺一念起，須除滅，務令安靜。其次，雖非的有貪著，浮遊亂想，亦盡滅除。晝夜勤行，須臾不替。唯滅動心，不滅照心；但凝空心，不凝住心，不依一法而心常住。然則凡心躁競。其次，初學息心甚難，或息不得，蹔停還失。去留交戰，百體流行。久久精思，方乃調熟。勿以蹔收不得，遂廢千生之業。少得靜已，則於行立坐卧之時，涉事之處，諠鬧之所，皆作意安；有事無事，常若無心；處靜處諠，其志惟一。 若束心太急，又則成病，氣發狂顛，是其候也。心若不動，又須放任，寬急得所。自恒調適，制而不著，放而不動，處喧無惡，涉事無惱者，此是真定。不以涉事無惱，故求多事；不以處喧無惡，強來就諠。以無事為真宅，有事為應跡。若水鏡之為鑒，則隨物而現形。善巧方便，唯能入定。慧發遲速，則不由人。勿令定中急急求慧，急則傷性，傷則無慧。若定不求慧而慧自生，此名真慧。慧而不用，實智若愚。益資定慧，雙美無極。 若定中念想，多感眾邪，妖精百魅，隨心應見。所見天尊、諸仙、真人，是其祥也。唯令定心之上，豁然無覆；定心之下，曠然無基。舊業日銷，新業不造。無所罣礙，迥脫塵籠。行而久之，自然得道。 夫得道之人，凡有七候；一者，心得定易，覺諸塵漏；二者，宿疾普銷，身心輕爽；三者，填補夭損，還年復命；四者，延數萬歲，名曰仙人；五者，鍊形為氣，名曰真人；六者，鍊氣成神，名曰神人；七者，鍊神合道，名曰至人。 其於鑒力，隨候益明。得至道成，慧乃圓備。若乃久學定心，身無一候，促齡穢質，色謝方空。自云慧覺，又稱成道者，求道之理，實所未然。 The heavenly God said: In order to cultivate Tao, you first have to turn your back to all daily matters and those earthly connections . Before you sit down to meditate, let nothing attach to your mind. When observing your mind and tracing their fluctuations , you need to get rid of all of them so that a calm and condensed state can be maintained . In fact , not only attachments, but any tiny ideas or fluctuations should be eliminated . Do it in every moment of life without interruptions. Remove the shifted minds, but not that Mind of consolidation ; consolidate the emptied Mind, without having any kinds of attachment , even to emptiness ; Place your mind to nowhere, no time and no forms, yet without losing that state of persistent Emptiness. For new practitioners , they are too eager to proceed , which conversely prevent them from success. They are either not knowing how to settle their minds, or not knowing the steps of it , a mind entangled in such predicament can only fail them; It is only after having practiced it repeatedly for a long time can they harness their mind ; don't give up at such stage ,otherwise you will lose the chance of living forever. Wherever you go, whatever time you are in, let yourself have a consolidated Mind; whether you are dealing with a matter or free of any matters, keep that mind emptied. Stick to that spiritual Oneness despite what circumstance you are situated. However, you shouldn't harness your mind too strictly for it will make you mentally sick , even insane ; a dull , stuffed mind always needs some relaxing . You need to tune that degree of freedom for yourself. Harness it but not let it stuck , release it but not allow it to shift away . It is after you can stay calm and clear even in a very noisy circumstance , get entangled by troubles yet without being annoyed , can you claim a genuine consolidated Mind be attained. There is no need to chase after troubles even if your mind is now worry-proof; there is no need to chase after quarrels even if you are now noise-proof. Let the worry-proof Mind as the core of your mind , and let problems-solving as its applications . A mind like a pool of water , unaffected by any reflections on it , is a mind having a quality that enables you to get Consolidated Observation easily. However, whether a great Wisdom can arise from it is always beyond our control , too eager to get it might undermine our Spiritual Nature, which conversely obstructs its emergence . In fact , Genuine Wisdom is something abruptly popped up when you are not deliberately chasing for it . Having enlightened but not applying that Wisdom , being exceptionally smart but showing people foolishness is the Taoist ( positive feedback) way of helping you in further enhancing your ability. In consolidated observation , you may come across many spirits ,which likely are attracted by you or are affected by different states of your minds ; if you experience some gods, although not necessarily things negative , don't attach to them as there is no need to further add any likes or dislikes , pros or cons to it . And, it is in such a process that you shake off your old karma, yet add no new ones to your life ; you are therefore no longer entangled by those earthly troubles . Practice it persistently, in the end you will attain the real Tao. There are 7 proofs to verify how well you have practiced it , say if : 1)You now attain a calm and consolidated mind with no effort . Or, you see through those karma , things look fortunate yet illusory , easily . 2) All your diseases suddenly disappear, you feel nimble and pleasant. 3)Wrinkles on your face receded , and your marrow refilled. You find yourself much younger. 4)Your can live ten thousands of years, and people call you the Immortals; 5) Your body changed into qi , you now become a Genuine Person . 6) You further refine your qi into pure Shen ,and you are now the Person of Shen ; 7)Finally, by merging all your Shen into Tao, you become the Upmost Person. During this process , your power of observation should grow stronger and stronger, brighter and brighter; in fact, attaining Tao means making your Wisdom full and perfect. On the other hand , if people whose practice show none of the mentioned proofs, and they still wear withered faces and have deteriorated bodies, then no matter how hard they claim themselves intelligent , no matter how great they boast of their achievement of Tao , nothing is really true.

"Jing of embryonic breathing" (胎息經) , one of the important Taoist writings which elaborates the principles of embryonic breathing , is written by an anonymous Taoist sometime before 450 A.D. In recent centuries, people started to talk about the Microcosmic circulation, but seldom are they told that capable of initializing embryonic breathing is the precondition for doing the MCC. Maybe you can skip the MCC, doing it or not really depends on what way / school you follow, but hardly can you skip the stage of embryonic breathing. So, its importance is clear , no need to emphasize. 高上玉皇曰: 胎從伏氣中結，氣從有胎中息。氣入身來謂之生，神去離形謂之死。知神氣，可以長生。故守虛無，以養神氣。神行即氣行，神住即氣住。若欲長生，神氣相注。心不動念，無來無去，不出不入，自然常在。勤而行之，是真道路。 The Heavenly Jade God said : " After having the pre-heavenly qi brought under control , a spiritual fetus starts to form somewhere at our abdomen, and , we start to breathe in an embryonic way where pre-heavenly qi resides. What is called life is when qi enters our body, what is called death is when shen detaches from it . If you knows Shen and qi well , you can live endlessly. Stick to Emptiness , and consolidate it so as to nourish Shen and qi. When Shen moves , qi moves; when Shen resides , qi also resides. In order to live forever, let Shen and qi have intercourse , and hold each other. Let no minds arise . No mind comes, no mind goes; no mind enters, no mind leaves . In that case, Shen and qi naturally coexist with each other . Practice this diligently and you will find it a real way towards eternal life ."

Before proving physical immortality ,why not first prove stopping aging is possible ? People who are after mid-30s will be finding that their hair become whiter, wrinkles more, teeth looser ,bones hollower ...etc, which is a wonderful period to make use of so that they can test whether the qi they have been able to mobilize really wonderful & effective or not . If their qi do cure those symptoms of aging , even reverse the process , then they can further talk about physical eternity . In fact, it is in this sense that some latest Taoist masters, for example, the famous Chen Ying-Ling , claim that Taoism is very scientific as it always asks for physical proofs for what it boasts of . Of course, qi already proves that it can cure many diseases in acupuncture , but fixing a loosen tooth is another story. More jing ( roughly sex pleasure ) embedded in your qi, or more delicacy you feel about it , or more you find it help consolidating your mind easier...all are criterion to show you how effective it can reverse aging . If the qi you mobilize is feeble and dull , then hardly can it make you aging proof. In that case, don't blame Taoism impractical, blame your teacher or the way you follow.. I think aging or death is unlikely an issue that can be solved in Western medicine for some critical block, better call it a dimension, is missing in that culture.

That there is an omnipotent medicine hidden in our body , called qi , capable of healing most diseases, not only ailments, is the basis for acupuncture and acupressure. In recent decades, people start to find that acupressure ,although an old discipline of thousand years of history , strangely incorporates many features of modern Reflexology and holistic medicine .Qi's innate inclination , and its quest for balance and symmetry , make it a medium good for healing if we can harness it well. Acupressure is safe and powerful, but to remember the names of those acupoints and to identify their locations is quite an uneasy job ; besides, how to choose an acupressure point suitable for a specific symptom is also challenging .All of these added together bars people from trying such a fantastic way of healing. Now there is a simplified way , developed by an amateur Chinese doctor , Mr. Zhou ErJin, that allows people who know little about acupoints and meridians to make use of acupressure for healing . The so-called X-shaped balance way , based on TCM , in fact appeared in China many years ago, and has been tested for being effective by hundreds of thousands of people . Its principles are as simple as follows: 1) If there is a symptom appears on your body, in whatever forms or due to whatever reasons it might be : a cut, a bite ( say ,a snake's), a pain , a swelling, a sprain...,serious enough to cause some stagnation or deficiency of qi, then likely on the other side of your body , there will have a corresponding point pressed and found painful ,emerges to heal it provided that the symptom is no broken bone . 2) While the area in trouble is called ' low' area/point, the healing point, pressed to be sensed painful , or very painful , is called the 'high' point. By pressing the 'high' point for 10-20 minutes, several times a day , and make it no longer painful , you resume the qi-and-blood balance of the body . 3) The X-shaped way doesn't ask you anything about TCM or meridians so as to let you proceed. Of course, the more you know about them and qi , the more you get confident in it , which makes you persist and proceed better , however : - you don't need to know the exact location of your disease or what acupoint or meridian it relates to ; - it is unnecessary to know about the cause of the disease ( in fact, in many cases, people don't ) , just find the 'high' point and press it ; - there is no need to talk about the skill of pressing ,say whether you do it in 'nourishing'( '補' ) way or ' draining away' ( '瀉') way ; you just press the point and hold it for 5- 10 seconds, or press it in circular way for minutes, for example, , with appropriate strength or pain you can bear . In order to let readers grasp it easier , here are some simple examples: -You cut your left thumb and it starts to ache and swell seriously , you then search and find that on your right toe, there is a point giving you special pain but can cure it . -You twisted your right ankle , and it hurts so much that you can't move your foot ; after pressing the 'high' point at your left wrist, your foot can move again. - An unknown pain on the right side of your chest was felt after you waked up this morning, and you are told that on the surface of your left foot , there is a point especially painful that can cure it, you try and it works.

Because I only test some points and their related connections ( in many cases, you do need to really have some troubles in order to do some tests ) , I can only answer part of those questions: For symptoms you find on face, head or neck , likely you can find some points painful, ie , the so-called " Ah- shi ( 'yes') " points around your wrist that can cure them , and some of them likely are acupoints that frequently used, for example , the famous " He Gu" ( LI 4) . Pressing' He Gu ' can cure headache, sore throat and swollen face..etc . Whether people use fingertips , needles, plaster, moxa, , scented oil , even a visualized image , in Taoist framework , they are only different means for mobilizing or making use of that common underlying power : Qi . Keen readers might then come to the following question , for example : " Can I place a moxibustion in the middle of my palm or on my abdomen so as to mobilize or enhance the power of Qi... ? " so that even they are in bad mood , sickness or being bored of meditation , their practice can still keep advancing... ( Warning : you should NOT apply any moxibustion to places such as face and head )

I seems I should add this ( copied from other post of mine ): Simple rules for Acupressure: -Don't do it within 30 minutes after your meal; -Press the accupoint with appropriate strength that you can bear, likely you get some degree of sour pain which is normal. -It is no good to do it in your period; for precaution against those symptoms , do it 2-3 day before your period starts. -Inappropriate to do acupressure when you are pregnant , very tired or hungry ; By the way ,we can view qi as an invisible layer of abstraction about the energy and information aspects of the human body , which can be used to manipulate ( ie , heal) most physical features underneath , just similar to software as a layer of abstraction over some IT hardware . However, even this layer of abstraction looks too complicated for most people to grasp: We have at least 14 meridians, 300+ acupoints, qi running in different meridians in different periods of time ...etc, so some further abstraction that filters more unnecessary detail is needed for ordinary people to benefit from it . Acupressure doesn't penetrate the body ,and its technique of applying pressure simpler than inserting a needle or placing a moxa , so this X-shaped balance way can be viewed as a further simplified version.

You don't "Empty your mind down to the Lower Tan Tien" , instead, you make use of the lower Dantian to help you empty your mind . The best , thorough way is to start your Dantian from emptiness, ie, not from inside or outside of your body , not from upper or lower, but from nowhere ; in that case , you don't have to worry about doing any "empty " jobs afterwards... And, there is no need to divide " upper " mind , lower mind or " observer's mind " , it is just No Mind. No Mind is closest to the high-quality Qi , unrestricted by any perspective .

Thanks. If on the right side of lower back ,near waist, hurts, try to find point at the back of the left knee..

Bottom right of rib case is the area of liver,an organ of temper, it is no accident that there are many 'ah- shi' points that are suggested to press. People who get liver problems likely will find painful point on the surface of their left feet..

A persistent no-Mind will definitely lead to a stop of our present way of breathing. People who can't experience it is only because they haven't come to a mind settled enough , condensed enough . However, a stop of our old way of breathing doesn't necessarily immediately gives rise to a new way of embryonic breathing . What most likely happens is an uncomfortable lengthening of that duration of stoppage, say from stop breathing for 2 minutes , to 5 minutes...with a crystal-clear ,magnificent Mind there to safeguard you , before the emergence of the embryonic breathing .

If you talk about the 'religious ' Taoism , that is , the Taoist alchemy ,then in recent centuries, there are mainly 2 schools : 1) WuLiu School 2) West school which get clear lineage , expressed in well-known figures and written materials , that we can follow.

A condensed Mind will give rise to a condensed breathing , other skills or technique are unrelated or trivial; if a condensing breathing arises naturally , then hardly will you find it hazardous . Most dangers are due to our intervention , our overdoing something in that process , which is contrary to the character of qi , contrary to what it should behave...

Most people sit there mediating with an embedded mind of expecting their illness going away , something bright, great happen , or an emptied Mind arise...etc ; that means , nearly all people have established a mind , a spiritual blockade beforehand , which is alien to high-end qi's character ; Zen , expressed in the Sutra of Diamond for example , or Taoist treatment of these "illness" is to cast or shout to them a simple , straightforward sentence of " accomplish nothing ! ", " Expect nothing !" to chop off any unwanted expectation , stream of consciousness incoming...; too much philosophical elaboration is really what they want to evade.

exorcist_1699, on 23 Mar 2016 - 17:16, said: 　　觀空亦空，空無所空。所空既無，無無亦無。無無既無，湛然常寂。寂無所寂，欲豈能生。欲既不生，即是真靜。真常應物，真常得性。常應常靜，常清靜矣！ 　　如此清靜，漸入真道。既入真道，名爲得道。雖名得道，實無所得。爲化眾生，名爲得道。能悟之者，可傳聖道。 These bits are quite tricky, translators habitually get them wrong. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi , Taoist Texts, Yeah , they are those key paragraphs ; in fact , you need some experience , or ability in muddling with varied layers /depths of emptiness in order to translate them right , not just language ability . This is the reason why most scholars from those universities might get it wrong ...

We need lots of knowledge in order to live in the modern world, for example, knowledge about plumbing, electricity, cooking..etc, yet some are more important than others , and knowing them enables us to outdo other people and outlive the times : 1) Knowledge about computing and internet: As things and computers are becoming more and more interconnected and intelligent, it goes without saying that our skills and understanding of them is crucial to our life. 2) Foreign languages. Language is the boundary of our mind, we think through language and also limited by it .In fact, it further entangles us when it becomes a collective force called 'culture '. Fortunately, having mastered a foreign language enables us to shake off some shackles of it on us . If you only know a European language, then your thought is seriously limited. For example, you can't make use of other huge databases of knowledge provided in Japanese or Chinese online . Mastering at least one or two foreign languages, especially those from Asia, is nearly a must now. 3) Knowledge about Qi : Not only because it may change how our civilization on this planet looks in the coming decades , but also because with some knowledge about herbs and acupressure, all based on that mysterious force, we can easily maintain a good eyesight, superb memory and hearing ourselves without having to pay any significant cost . In that way, we can lengthen our working life or learning ability easily . Lifelong learning ,without a physical basis ( here I mean jing plus qi ) , can only be some kind of jokes.

Thanks your reply. To me , seriously speaking, there are only two kinds of medicine, one based on the Western science ,its biology + chemistry +physics, healing people at different levels : sub-atomic, DNA, molecules...up to muscle ; another one from Taoism , with TCM fighting on the frontier , based on the jing + qi + shen framework and a complex delicate system of meridians , supported by 2,500-year of detailed medical records, healing people at different levels by tuning the balance between blood, qi, shen.. ; other remedies or so-called alternative medicine , although do cure in some cases, even in some emergence, given them lack of a solid grounding , are doubtful to me .

Main goal of Taoist practice is to attain both physical and spiritual eternity , however, the old Taoists , 2,500 years ago, found that if only by relying on qi in people's bodies , which have characteristics of being limited , biased ( as yang or yin ) and impure, hardly can we attained it despite the fact that discovering qi is already a great achievement. So they and others followed , found that there likely are 3 ways to exploit that 'medicine ' for immortality , a more refined , pure qi, enabling us to live forever : 1) Ren Yuan (人元) : Human-based way ; as Male only get yang of the qi ( yang qi ) in his body, which is incomplete , not pure, so some people think that another half of the qi, necessary for mixing that 'medicine' for eternity , likely lied in female body ( yin qi). By using the other sex's body as medium , people hope that they can attain that complete, more superb qi for everlasting life. The Ren yuan idea in fact gives rise to Taoist sexual practice afterwards... 2)Di Yuan (地元) : Earth/ Herbs and Minerals-based way ; This way says that if the human body is so limited , then maybe some other stuff, especially special compounds like mercury , lead or some other precious herbs, after having mixed and burnt together in a special way , can give us that 'medicine ' . Product obtained from this way is also called ' Waidan' ( external medicine/pill ). 3) Tian Yuan (天元) : Heaven-based way ; this way claims that only pre-heavenly qi can grant us the privilege of living forever, yet it doesn't exist in what we eat , or run in our meridians , or in other sex's body .... but in an extra-dimension hidden in space which can only be attained after our having achieved the Tian Xin ( 天心; Cosmic Mind ) ,plainly speaking , the mindless Mind, or the Buddha Mind ( in Buddhist term). So, whenever we read those Taoist writings and come across terms such as 'Dan', 'medicine' , 'other party' , 'the oven'..etc, all have specific implications depending on what base ('Yuan') they refer to. For example, in the case of 'Ren Yuan' , the 'other party ' refers to other sex's body , yet if based on 'Tian Yuan ' , it refers to emptiness from which the pre-heavenly comes..etc.

Taoist criticisms on Zen are always implicit and hard to find , they scatter and hide among few , unrecognizable paragraphs of the Taoist classics. Taoism does not criticize Zen's goal of attaining the Buddha Heart, but its method of accomplishing it . While Taoist alchemy relies on qi to nourish the Meta-Mind , and those I-Ching 's trigrams to explain the process , Zen 's method lies in mind's self negation, mind's self-stripping off its own shackles, through a series of questionings and refutations ; if possible, done is a concentrated , one-stroke way, without allowing a hair-splitting mind sneaking in , so as to attain the Buddhist Heart, Taoist criticism on Zen's way is simple : Without other force's help , how can a trivial ,karma- tormented mind change itself and turn into a geat Mind? Although bubbles and ripples are part of the great sea that produce them, they are only its trivial, temporal and fluctuated expressions , not the sea itself, let alone becoming the sea.. Instead, Taoist alchemy provides another solution , which although looks strange to Buddhists and others , seems easier to grasp : By making use of water to counteract fire ( in five-element terms), or Yang* in the trigram Kan to assimmilate Yin in the Li trigram( in I-Ching's framework ) ,a great mind will arise; we can turn people into gods , if not God; extend life to thousands of years, if not forever... * this Yang is the source of all qi in our body...as Zhao Yuan Du(趙緣督) said: "一點陽精, 秘在形山, 不在心腎...."

There are 3 issues that in Taoist alchemy people, more precisely speaking, the Chinese, recognize as critical : 1) What is the "medicine " (葯)and how to absorb/assimilate it ? Calling it " medicine" simply because people believe that there is a dose of medicine existing in this cosmos which can heal aging and nearly all diseases. Usually,the medicine is boiled by " fire" ( Shen ),making it "drinkable" for people to attain eternity . 2) The place /container issue (爐鼎): The medicine is said to be put in a stove/bowl for "boiling " , but where ? Some people think that it is done in emptiness , others say that it is right in the middle of the human body. 3) The steps/ heating control issue(火候) : It is viewed as the most secret part of Taoist alchemy and should never be put in black and white. They are keys mainly related to physical/bodily aspects in the process ...( Some Taoist writings in recent centuries in fact already break part of the taboos )

In the world of qi , you should follow the principle of ' Less is more, none is most ' . The less your mind intervenes, the more and higher-quality qi you get ; the closer you approach the no-mind state , the bigger your internal qi expands to merge with the immense qi outside , and you get the most from it . Taoist alchemy is in fact simple, only people's mind complicate it .

For examples, you deliberately circulate qi in a pattern you think it should be , or you visualize something so as to enhance your feeling of qi..etc;

There is one repeatedly popping up phrase ,talking about qi , that always catches my eye when reading those Taoist writings, it says : "其小無內, 其大無外" " So small that it has no content , so big that it has no boundary" . Which , clearly can apply not merely to space, but also to time . Relating it to Taoist concept of "yang shen" , a Mind that can exist outside of the body , not limited to any location , and capable of splitting itself and then co-existing in different places at a time , Taoist ideas are somewhat similar to or 'advanced ' to Modern Physics ( for example, its claim about parallel worlds..) that always shocks me .

Our daily ,always fluctuating mind, no matter it is doing a lengthly mathematical calculation or randomly thinking of unrelated stuff, to the immense world of qi , is some kind of ' noise ' that the less it happens , the deeper we can march into that mysterious world ... A state of extreme quietness is the proof of how well we do the job , arising even when we are situated in a noisy environment. As Lao tzu said : " 致虛極 , 守靜篤 , 萬物並作 , 吾以觀其復 " . " Push nothingness to its utmost , hold quietness to its extreme , then everything turns its real face to you"

It is strange that although the quoted author is a lady , she doesn't know that the starting points of male and female's in Taoist alchemy ( as long as what is talked about is jing => qi => shen , then we are in the arena of alchemy , not ordinary medical qigong area ) are different . Women should start from their MDT, not LDT . In fact, even in medical qigong, women are not suggested to start from the LDT . We can say that men's practice starts from and follows the Du channel ( 督脉) , women's practice starts on the Ren channel (任脉) , at least at the initial stage .