exorcist_1699

I know little about Muslim but does it also talk about qi ( or similar stuff) and mindlessness?

Of course, it is an old saying, passing down from centuries. Things may be changing...I hope one day I can come across many immortals in USA when I travel along the Rockies...

Although aging is an already solved issue , at least 2,500 years ago , in China , people who live in other places of this world are still struggling with it . Some people even create various kinds of theories to justify their incompetence by saying that , for example, it is aging or death that makes life meaningful , or how wonderful it is a life after retirement..etc. From Taoist point of view , such kinds of theories are ridiculous and pitiful ; the truth simply is , Qi, the aging-cured medicine or dimension, doesn't appear to many people, especially the aged ones, only because their bodies' jing are deficient , too weak to feel it , plus they have not been told how to initialize it skillfully . People having grasped Qi in their hands will then find how strange that cultural factors can block people's eyes on their life,and understand deeper the meaning of the saying : "人身難得, 中國難生, 大道難遇" " It is fortunate to be born as a human, it is more fortunate to be born in China (so that people can read Chinese and open to Taoist alchemy),provided that they are fortunate enough to come across Taoist alchemy not too late ( say after 65 ) "

Don't forget that Taoist qi theory is a trinity of jing, qi and Shen , and they are, in fact, inseparable ; which , also implies that mind and body is mixed . Western study of humans is divided into different disciplines: medicine, psychology , theology , philosophy ...owing to its incapacity of discovering qi , the medium which links all spiritual and physical stuff together ; in this sense, the understanding of the essence of Taoism is destined to be very difficult for it accepts no trivial grasp of IT.. Even in modern physics, the only discipline which claims to study the basic energy and force of this universe, leaves no room for anything spiritual for scientists view intelligence as the outcome of matter's billions years of evolution, not anything co-exists and co-develops with matter, time and space , let alone understanding Taoist view of it as something hidden in emptiness...

" Da cheng jie yao " (' 大成捷要' ) is an amazing book , it talks a lot about Yang Shen's out-of-body symptom & steps... , if you compare it with books on death , ie, on those yin-typed spirits' journey ..., written by those Tibetan monks in the West , in spiritual realm, what is superb , what is low-end can clearly be identified , anyway, it is sad that there is no English translation of it . Because I read it before I read those stuff related to medical qigong, Wu-Liu school's writings...etc, you can imagine how shocking it can be...

In order to slow down or stop the clock , whether it is biological or physical , inside us , the only possible way is either to get on a rocket that travels at a speed close to light , or to put ourselves in the gravitational field of a massive celestial object, say one with a mass 1.5 times of our sun's, this is what we are told by the Modern Physics ; otherwise, due to the fact that entropy ,degree of disorder, in any physical or biological system tends to increase, the time's arrow of our existence pointing towards disintegration or death is inevitable. It sounds miserable because , for instance, capable of traveling at the speed of light happens only in science fiction or thought experiments designed by theoretical physicists,hardly can we succeed in doing so in near future. Fortunately, there is a system called Taoism , and followers of it do get another choice . Although capable of initializing ordinary qi only enables most of them to slow down their biological clocks a little bit, some portion of them who can summon primordial qi through entering a persistent , condensed state of mindlessness , plus having accumulated a critical mass of high-quality qi , will find that to slow down , stop or even reverse that clock is possible . In fact, the rise of primordial qi, accompanied by the appearance of a meta-Mind ( ie . Shen) , not only gives people a feeling of timelessness, but also changes the time dilation of their existence . People's absolute view on time is some kind of everyday illusion that makes them mediocre ; it prevents them from believing in forever youth or in understanding our mind's ability of foreseeing the future ,i.e. , things not yet happened.

Although Buddhism also talks about time's influence on us, for example , in the Diamond Sutra , it says : " The past heart shouldn't be attained, the present heart shouldn't be attained, the future heart shouldn't be attained" ("過去心不可得 , 現在心不可得 , 未來心不可得 " ) its concern is mainly on Mind's freedom against any shackles , whether it is physical or time-related , which of course is very different from the Taoist approach. The problem is : No matter how free a mind we get, the best of it can give us is our looking younger, it can't make our fallen teeth reborn , for example, unless we find another special way..

It somehow relates to your age: If you are under 20, follow the Zen's way; if you are 20~50 , follow whatever ways you like; if you are over 50, follow the Taoist way plus some gong with body movements. Why people over 50 should follow the Taoist way? Because Taoism emphasizes the accumulation of jing and qi as the precondition for any substantial spiritual achievement which the Buddhist way hardly agrees to , and the old people really can't afford to pay the price of wasting time on some unlikely successful enterprise at their age . Following the Taoist way allows them to lengthen their life expectancy so that they get more time to explore and test different methods ; as a Taoist saying tells us : "Safeguard their Ming ( physical life essence ) should be the top priority for old people's practice" ('老人修煉以救護宝命為急' ) Why young people under 20 should follow the Zen way ? Nowadays teenagers are either chasing after girls, addicted to online games or playing sports...if you find one out of ten thousands who is surprisingly interested in Eastern spiritual practice, then that one must be gifted , blessed or the one just reborn to finish some not yet completed job in his/ her last life..

Yes, it can be related to the Chinese medicine . For example , to do good things is not so simple as people think , in fact, it needs a combination of many of our good characters: First we have to identify what is right and what is wrong, which needs intelligence ; then we need the courage to put it into action, and to do it in a persistent way... all these are related to different qi we get in our different organs ( the model is related but a little different from TCM' theory ) : For example, immense Heart qi is the foundation for kindness('仁') which makes us compassionate towards all people , even animals; a full and strong Kidney qi enables us intelligent ('智') enough to identify what is evil , what is noble; yet without a strong and healthy liver qi , we can't get the resolute and courage (' 勇' ) to take those moral actions...etc.

While many people think that they can refine qi better in deep cave or on high mountain, Confucian qigong practitioners definitely will tell you that it is among the crowd that our qi is best polished and upgraded. A Chinses saying tells us the truth from another perspective : " While petty hermits hide in the wilderness , the real hermit hides in the marketplace " ( ' 小隠隠于野, 大隠隠于市')

People seem not knowing that the common terms we widely use today : Micro cosmic circulation, Macro cosmic circulation , external medicine , internal medicine ...are either invented or widely broadcasted by the WuLiu school, so saying that there is no literal effect on us sounds strange and unreal ; As told, I make the comments based on the content of the journal, so if people think that it is some kind of invention or illusion made by someone , then there is no ground to argue.

I think this journal can only be read as record of experiences people get from practicing some specific methods of a Taoist school, and should not be viewed as something common. The reason why many masters oppose talking about personal practice experience in detail is that, based on a practitioner's age, sex, status of health and way of practice..etc , likely she/he will give you very different descriptions of her/his 'achievements' . Besides, more importantly , a foretold symptom will likely block its appearance on the body/mind of those late practitioners; For example, too detailed description of the ' magic gateway' conversely smother its emergence. Nowadays, we can read many such kinds of journals on blogs and Facebook on internet , and most are problematic; this one..uhm..I am hesitant to give comments as it involves a quite famous sifu in China and his followers' activities, however, just base on the content of the journal and the author's claims , I do have some doubts and ideas: 1) There is no channel called ' SHO' , any mistake here ? 2) 'Ling Bao Bi Fa ' is a problematic book , that means, it likely is not written by Zhong li quan, Lu Dong Bin's sifu, and judging from its content, it should not be something people heavily rely on; 3) The author's understanding of Macro-cosmic circulation : Qi extends beyond the Du and Ren meridians, in which the Micro cosmic circulating , and now run from the bottom of our feet to more places of the body ...etc, seems to be a narrow ( I hesitate to say ' shallow' ) view about the MaCC. 4) Although we are told of many things such as light, heat, qi, third-eye ability... in those diaries, the crucial one , ie, the magic gateway , seems never be mentioned, which does reflect the character of the WuLiu school ( or you can call it its main shortcoming)...;although people claim theirs being Longmen school's , but most of them can't escape the influence of WuLiu's . 5) Too 'body-entangled ' is another feature of the WuLiu school; for example, telling people to put clip on their noses or stuffing something at the anus at certain stage of MCC..( likely not appear in this journal , but readers can judge this from reading the diaries : for example, on one hand talks about pre-heavenly qi , on the other hand talks about doing those five-element stuff sounds contradictory..) Of course, there are more..., but I would like to stop here so that it looks not too lengthy.. Don't get me wrong, if the author's description is precise and no exaggerations, then I have to say his achievement is quite good... ; the WuLiu school's ways , in Taoist circle , is generally viewed as something above the middle, but having certain distance from the top level ; I think as people's practice go deeper and they read more, naturally they can make judgement on these kinds of journals themselves .

In Liu Hua Yang's Hui Ming Jing (慧命經) , he quoted a lot from the Buddhist classics : the Śūraṅgama-sūtra (楞嚴經) ,Laṅkāvatāra sūtra (楞枷經) Avataṃsaka-sūtra (華嚴經) , Heart sutra , Sixth Patriarch sutra...and give them some Taoist interpretation, some are correct, some are not appropriate ..

No, a mindless erection can occur when we succeed in having our jing leakage stopped for 2- 3 months plus we can sustain an emptied mind , say more than 5 minutes..; it , of course, is one of the features of the birth of Yang, but should not be viewed as the main one.

Hi, Marblehead, Glad to come across you again here ...

Although China is such a big country and Taoist alchemy has a history of over 2,500 years, Taoist alchemical jargons are strangely very coherent . Terms and jargons appear in those Taoist main writings are always precise , for example, when we see Xing ('性') , Ming ('命') , primordial qi ('先天氣') , Magic Gateway ('玄關') , Gold-in-water ('水中金') ... followers know clearly what they refer to , and should not have too many otherwise interpretation . How about the term " Micro Cosmic circulation"? people may challenge me . MCC likely comes from the Wuliu school , which is originally referred as an important step related to refining the Dan ( essence that gives us immortal life ), so its later re-interpretation by people like TCM doctors or medical qigong practitioners can only be viewed as some kind of vulgarization , some kind of compromise because most people really can't initialize the primordial qi ; so even they can initialize the 'post-heavenly' one and circulate it , Taoists may passively be forced to agree that it be called MCC, provided that it is nothing to do with immortality ...; fortunately such kind of relatively quarrelsome terms are not so many..

Just raise two issues : 1) WuLiu says that an abrupt , strong erection (of course here referring to male practitioners' ) in our meditation, is a symtom of the birth of Yang (' 陽生' ) ; and , even though we are told that it happens in a mindless status , such a claim is still doubtful , and already criticized by many Taoist masters . 2) Regarding " laying the foundation" ('築基’）, WuLiu says that after having succeeded in stopping the leakage of our jing forever , our foundation is well laid ... which similarly is doubtful and challenged by many people.. Wuliu's over-use of Buddhist sayings and inappropriate introduction of some of Buddhist Sutra not only make Buddhists unhappy, but also downgrade Taoist image ( although Taoists do not search for fame or position, there is no need to give people wrong image...) .Don't get me wrong , I respect Wuliu , its masters and writings , a lot ; only saying that it collects all the best from Taoist's , is far from the truth..

"In the methods of the School WuLiu is not only collected all the best from many schools of Taoism......" Such a saying only shows how little the author's understanding of Taoist schools and their ways... :- )

I wish I could be as erudite as Taomeow..

I always think that people can come to Taoism in many different ways : -Studying Chinese herbs -Practice acupuncture -Searching for meaning of life through philosophical reasoning -Practice Calligraphy -Having no intention to search anything ( ie , Zen ) -Martial arts All Chinese schools of martial arts , in the final analysis, have to return to the concept of qi and its applications to fighting, so its relation to Taoism is inevitable. Early years of the 20th-century China is a time where brilliant Chinese kung fu masters rise in their dozens ( See the movie : ' The Grandmasters') , we have Huang Feihong , Sun Lungtan, Wang Xiangzhai (王薌斋) .. yet Yip Men's claim as one of them seems doubtful . Real master really is a person who can fight against ten guys , or knock down a person without even touching him ( just like real Taoist sexual practice is likely something free of body contact.. ) Reading books written by those Kungfu masters is like reading difficult books on Philosophy, and , similar to those about medical qigong in TCM , another way leading to Taoist alchemy..

If you know Chinese , or want to practice your Chinese writing ability, then you should visit Baidu.com where many Taoist, qigong and kungfu 'bars ' ( chat rooms ) can be found ; you can participate and show off your Chinese language ability . Capable of using Baidu to search Taoist materials is also important. Maybe you will argue that learning Chinese is difficult...yet by simple arithmetic you should know that investing 10 years in mastering Chinese in exchange for living 100 or many hundreds years longer and healthier is worthy..

Just enhancing our brains's memory or speed seems a little trivial to talk about ; in fact, qi's , together with it our sublimated jing, entering our brain does get a special term in Taoism: " 還精補腦" ( Refining our jing into high-quality stuff so as to nourish our brain). Note that loss of memory and loss of a sharp mind, from Taoist point of view (also TCM's) , both are owing to the loss of jing, so clearly they can be remedied during this process. However, we should expect much more in this process. Qi's entering our brain, if appearing in a little higher form, should be giving you some kind of "Pong ! " , something like having water entered your ears .... then a previously fluctuated mind no longer fluctuated , a previously turbulent way of breathing no longer going ups and downs... so, we can say that its extent of possibility is huge ..

I wonder why people expect so little , they should have a much greater aspiration , not just asking for a better memory and speed , after having entered the arena of Qi . Maybe they are entangled by their way of thinking , which is claimed to be scientific, say : identifying which part of the brain that gives rise to what effect.. ?

Knowledge about TCM ( Traditional Chinese Medicine, including acupuncture) is always ignored or underestimated by the people who practice qigong or Taoist meditation . Taoist jing-qi-shen formula , an abstraction of the essence of the TCM system , in fact, helps us filter many details and complexities of the system , and give us an illusion that if we follow what we are told by our teachers or in the DVD , we will be okay and achieve something . However, it is one day after our practices run into troubles, does TCM knowledge's significance start to appear to us . The reality that how jing, qi and shen function and interact with each other in our body, and how the imbalance of them give rise to diseases are what people should know , yet they don't , or think there is no such a necessity to look into the detail or trivial. They practice Taoist qigong, but they still view most changes in their bodies in the framework of Western medicine. Although most people know that yin and yang and their balance is the key to TCM , hardly do they know how delicate and deep it can be . The followings are some of the examples : -A ulcer emerges as a red swelling , tipped with a white cap , is classified as yang ,which can be squeezed or punctured to have some fluid out to cure; a ulcer appears as something in gray or black color, with a flat or concave surface is classified as yin, which should never be squeezed carelessly. -While a headache caused by external cold or strong wind is classified as yang for its having caused by substantial factors / evils ('外邪' ) , a headache caused by internal weakness , maybe due to leakage or deficiency of blood or jing , is said to be yin . (' 內虚 ') - A mental illness in which the patient sits unmoved and talks to himself/herself not loudly is said to be yin typed ; a crazy person , shouting loudly and holding a knife in hands, chase after people to chop , his illness is said to be yang-typed. - Persons who always find themselves lack of an appetite to eat , an energy to do physical jobs and having a bad memory , their problems can be classified mainly into two types : lack of qi (yang-typed) or deficiency of jing/blood ( yin-typed) . The yang-typed is always cured by using herbs such as Ginseng and Dang Seng ; the yin-typed by Di Huang ('地黃') , Dang gui (' 當歸') ..etc. Note that in TCM's sense, qi is always classified as yang , in opposition to the material /liquid side.. Knowing how to classify every spiritual or physical symptom into yin or yang , and maintaining their balance , of course, helps us a lot in solving problems arising from our practice. Read my blog :http://exorcist1699.wordpress.com/

Enlightenment can't be searched for and attained . The key is not to search . Whoever searches it, whoever loses it. Any mind presupposes something (method, form, place..etc ) makes you go astray right at the starting point...