dawei

The Chinese Calendar is a complicated history to piece together... Chinese years are classified according to 10 "Heavenly Stems" and 12 "Earthly Branches and what is referred to as The Sexagenary Cycle. You can google these phrases. Chinese Calendar - wiki

Ok... The meaning of Xuan is greatly debated... Here is a seemingly minor idea with great implication: The oracle bones show Xuan as a perfect figure "8". Now, realize that Western 'time' is horizontal and this sideways "8" means Infinity. Now, realize that China 'time' is vertical and .... "8" I will note that Flowing Hands transmission of the DDJ1 has Xuan as "infinity"... I am chomping at the bit to get to that point in our other discussion !!!

My Qigong master cannot eat the meat in the US. My wife, who is chinese, first came here and had stomach problems from the meat and fish. Our [uS] approach is clearly depleting the Qi in food. The body will adjust over time to any 'way'; that is a process of Dao. We can get our body to change or it will change on it's own to reject something which does not 'feel right' (feel the way of Dao). BTW: I had too many great discussions offline with RainbowVein... I have wanted to attend your workshops but the last two are conflicted with business trips. Such is life (The way of Dao). Destiny says to wait.

I think you are thinking black/white... It is not about negation; it is about acceptance/allowing. This life is full of crap we must accept and allow... No need to fight the earth when one can allow the universe. People should start today without hesitation to smile upon their food; I encourage with hands-over. This is the same as dealing with life... Don't make it out like everyone needs to fill out an application and have a Qi check to see if they are deemed qualified to eat or bless something... it is much more natural and lower-key than your making it.

IMO, the intention is what is important... not the focus on Qi. The hands over food would give one a chance to 'amp' the intention. If working with food, I think a mantra would be fine but drive some others crazy... a simple smile or thought could fill the room up.

Meaning... you want others to change their minds to your thinking... but you do not want to spend any time to consider to change your mind... Both minds are made up, yes? Why only make a point that another's mind is made up... your's is also... let's talk truthfully.

I have wanted to come visit you but have had conflicts the last two meeting times... meaning this April too... I will be in China... I would like to be aware of whatever you are offering.

There is a reason that Qigong has taught three principles: 1. Purge 2. Tonify 3. Regulate What do you think is being purged? We get crap in our lungs... and heavy metals in our blood... but you think nothing can get impure into the Body in regards to Qi? It is often called Turbid Qi. If you ever do energy work on a sick person or someone with a serious problem or cancer... you will understand.

Great question... Start at the next meal. I think prayer is mental intention/projection but if you use the hands over the food it is like bring heaven/universe down as part of the blessing (of Qi), a stronger conduit. I would recommend it as a moment before eating. I think Emoto's research is worth viewing: Water Crystals and Emotion

When I first read this I agreed and would add "emotionally self-destructive"... by the end I would add " emotionally self-dillusional". Some posting is self-consuming... TO be clear, I find more favorable reading from Vmarco, although my vocabulary is obviously challenged and enriched by his posts. And I add a 'third' to Tibetan Magic ('Magic and Mystery in Tibet' by Alexandra David-Neel)... the two books changed a lot about my belief system. Thanks all.

I don't take "One with Tao" as meaning we are somehow and at some point NOT "One with Tao" and need to get back to "One with Tao". This makes no sense to me. To me, it is an inner state achieved whereby we are using the full capacity of Dao in us (De is at full capacity, which is what the word means to me). I see us as always One with Tao but our batteries are not always at fully charge. The emptier we are the more De we have energized.

The brother-sister, married couple is often mentioned as: Half-human and half-snake... this is trying to make sense of their physical representation. Time is often shown horizontally in timelines... but chinese treat time vertically... So let's treat their bodies vertically... but not as a half-... but as a progressive unfolding and evolving. A snake body appears gender-less... no male nor female. Show a whole, twisted together as two parts; think Wu and You as co-existent (think DDJ Chapter 1). Think Yin and yang twisted together prior to separated energies. They are Wu Ji giving rise to Tai Ji. Now let the energies separate and become two distinct genders; two distinct energies... Yin and Yang... Heaven and Earth... Fuxi and Nuwa...

Does your practice include any work directly with a teacher/master or is it following materials? I really did not do any meditation at first and through just practice in pairs and groups and then some alone acquired a strong sense of Qi in my body and another person's body. I did do some meditation later and experienced with lots of different ways to gain sensitivity to Qi but meditation is still a very small part of my practice. I expect it will become a larger part when the time shows itself. I am one of those types which follows what seems I am drawn towards. I guess in that sense, I avoid purposely and intentionally practicing anything which I perceive as boring. When I want to (or am asked to) demonstrate to someone how to feel Qi within a matter of minutes, I never mention meditation; I just show them what to do. In fact, I would probably not tell someone to meditate that much as a beginner since I know it is not really necessary to acquire a sense of Qi. It seems if meditating is minimized then it may take longer to sense some things but one should have a good procedure they follow. One trick I learned was to meditate laying down 15 minutes at the end of a practice... This actually gave me the greatest sense of Qi in the beginning. The Qi would race all over my body, although during the practice it was only sparingly noticeable at all.

Let's not get off on the wrong foot... I like what your sharing here... the title is misleading and you have jumped from binary to trigrams and bypassed the four bigram (si xiang 四象); and put this in the general area when it seems more specific to the Taoism subfolder. Would you consider to start a thread in that subfolder and go more step-wise, like you are generally doing, from the binary to bigram to trigram to wherever you want to take this? I think there is a rich amount of information to be gained from what you have shared and where I think you are going. So in either case, I look forward to where this goes.

I often maintain that Xuan as mysterious is the wrong way to translate and think of the chinese word. It represents Heaven, as opposed to Earth; so think of it as part of the cycle of Yin and Yang. Instead of mystery think origin or beginning. Some may view the great void as a dark mysterious place and dub it Xuan. Others might see it as that state where all things began or originate, and dub it Xuan. Same word but different feeling. If you think of it as a mystery then your likely not going to find an understanding by virtue of how you have just defined it; if you think of it as origin then you find there is no mystery to it.

You need to realize that one who emits/treats/works on another, there is a respect one has to have for the other body (which is a source of energy and has it's own connection to the universe). You should request 'permission' prior to ever attempting any such interaction and exchange of energy. How do you request permission? It is NOT by asking them. It is NOT by a verbal agreement... Your energy needs to ask their energy. Once you can do that, then you'll understand the first step in keeping yourself in check and feeling both your vibration and theirs. Next, quickly check the environment and setting; check yourself. If any of the three give off the slightly hesitation, time to pack up and go grab something to eat. I am not so sure I would characterize it as overloading their system. You might violate their energies readiness or scatter their qi or cause qi to get stuck or stagnate somewhere. You could damage an organ irreversibly. You could give them a headache for life. Some issues only an advanced Qigong Master can reverse and some it may be too late. You could do all of this to yourself as well.

I don't like to try and assign Tao as One or Tao as having a nature or Tao as everything. This tends to portray Tao as 'something'. To me, it is a process/rule which resulted in the manifest world's arising (existence or things) and one notices other aspects: 1. zi ran - naturalness - immutability of self-so'ing 2. wu wei - effortlessness - ability to do without intent 3. De - efficaciousness - capacity to exist etc. In this way, it is not One itself but it contributed toward the creative concept of One; that makes it a part of the One (which would include non-existence/existence).

Thanks for the correction. I took them directly out of his book since I gave J.J. credit but he has a typo. One can see Wiki for the following: 噓 XU [pronounced like 'she,' with the lips rounded] - 'deep sigh' or 'hiss' - Level the Liver Qi 呵 HE [pronounced like 'huh'] - 'yawn' or 'laughing sound' - Supplement the Heart Qi 呼 HU [pronounced like 'who'] - 'to sigh,' 'to exhale,' or 'to call' - Cultivate [or Shore Up] the Spleen/Pancreas Qi 呬 SI [pronounced like 'sir'] - 'to rest' - Supplement the Lung Qi 吹 CHUI [pronounced 'chway' or 'chwee,' depending on locale] - 'to blow out,' 'to blast,' or 'to puff' - Supplement the Kidney Qi 嘻 XI [pronounced like 'she' with tongue high, and well forward, in the mouth] - 'mirthful' - Regulate the Triple Burner Qi[1] Mantak Chia also wrote a nice book which includes practices for each. additional notes for all: One rule of thumb I recall is that the higher the organ in the body, the higher the sound... generally... but one will feel [high-to-low] what resonates best. --- There is another combination sound: Om-Har-Reem For the three dan tians (top to bottom)... and that middle one (Har) is definitely a deeper sound and the heart response to it as well. There are times when I do like to take the heart sound lower than Ha. --- There are colors associated to each as well but colors are to tonify and would be used on inhale... and one can even ascend / descend sounds... audible to inaudbile... lots of variations, each with a use; maybe another thread. Only caveat I was told was not to purge (sound) the kidney's too much since they are generally weaker and need tonifying (color) most of the time.

Here is how I learned the Six Healing Sounds, often practiced in an Water Cycle order, from J. Johnson's program: Liver = Xu (Shu). Relieve stagnation, purge phlegm. Sound on exhale. Kidneys = Chui (Chree). Regulate lower dan tian. Sound on exhale. Lungs = Si (Ssss). Nourish lung issues. Sound on exhale. Spleen = Hu (Who). Digestive problems or stomach sluggish. Sound on exhale. Heart = Ke (Ha). Relieves fire, expel heat, improve circulation. Sound on exhale. Triple Burner = Xi (She). Eliminate excess heat. Sound on exhale. Using multiple sounds together is similar to getting an Rx prescription. I have never done one on inhale. --- Re: Turning the Dan Tian. As an energy center, I think the reference to turn is to the energy as a whole within the dan tian 'turns'. I learned it as 'drumming and beating'; think a washer/dryer machine, the drum turns. But we also practiced it as condensing it to the size of a pearl... But even Waysun Liao in his Tai Chi Classic says it is 'turn the dan tian area'.

Then why are you continuing to talk? Just because it is your M.O. to get the last word doesn't mean you have to follow that pattern every single instance... try breaking a pattern and you might find something shake loose.

I did not quite say that the goal of internal work was to control Qi; that may be a goal for a particular practice. That is why I am harping on issues being practice dependent. But this has made me realize something that CD brings up; the goal... Even to say 'to absorb as much Qi as possible' is not really the ultimate goal of all people and practices but it is generally both a realistic and desirable goal. What I would want to ask, and it belongs in another thread, is: What is the goal of people who practice? I am seeing that people are often talking about controlled environments to get the breathing and anatomy just right... but for what? What is the goal? A lifetime of practicing like in a laboratory for one's 'self'... Is it all about the 'self' ? I realize I very rarely hear on TB any mention of some real life application that the practice is leading towards. What is the great destiny at work here? Is is just all about the 'self' in the end? Anyways, this is a lot of rhetorical comments and not meant to be answered here...

but if your about to get punched in the stomach (and your natural reaction is R.B. ), do you first tell the guy to let you do "warm-up qigong" before he strikes? But it is a good point. When practicing we can control the environment. I generally tend to do N.B. before R.B. but there are a few instances of just doing R.B... since that is the point of the practice; to be able to engage the Qi and intention in a single breath / second. I have found being attacked by external Qi is much more dangerous than by punch. But the way to 'defend' both kicks in a split second or less: R.B. and engaging your Intention and Qi. You actually have less than a second to react, so there is no time for breathing in a way. I've pushed this way off topic so apologize to the OP for that.

I still see it as dictated by the practice or application. I don't do RB to fill the lungs. If one were flexing their stomach they are doing R.B. but I don't see that the amount of air one draws into their lungs is a focus, other than maybe drawing in less air to quicken the state. Taking this application to intention and Qi related practices can be done. But I accept that others do some practices where R.B. and filling the lungs is more important. So getting the role of the diaphragm does seem worthwhile to explain the anatomy as I can see how it would help in visualization (intention) too.

I never said that anatomy was not involved in the discussion; I only pointed out that I was commenting on 'intention', which is a powerful practice in itself. Well, I am not trying to assert any anatomy issues. I did share that my internet research seems to show many stating the upward movement. It may be they are all wrong... which is fine. I am not adamant about it needing to be either way; only that one will do what their practice may require (or not). I acknowledged someone talking about iron shirt and their practice to 'relax' the diagraphm. So it seems to me to be partly a practice decision. I never claimed needing the lungs to be filled. If that is required as part of the practice then I can see why one wants the diaphragm to lower, regardless of the breathing direction. "Relax the diaphragm" was a word I saw used by many online... so I have no opinion about it's usage or phraseology. I see this as more practice and application related. I don't care which direct it moves until I need or require it to move a certain way or I want to manipulate it (or not). I think the topic is a good one and you have provided a lot of interesting info. The OP can drive the topic in direction as he wants, I don't have anything more to add.