Converting postnatal qi to prenatal True Vitality: The Vagus Nerve, Golden Flower, End of Leakage

[voidisyinyang]

So Zoom quoted Taoist Yoga after referring to chapter 1 relying on "shooting down" the shen light into the lower tan tien in contrast to his Golden Flower method of first building up the light in the upper tan tien. When I pointed out that actually this quote of one sentence from chapter one was crucial because it was also the focus of chapters 6 and 7 in Taoist Yoga - I now realize it is actually also the focus of chapter 8, 9 and 10 - the 10th chapter being the End of Leakage.

"The sun stands for the heart and the moon for the lower tan t'ien cavity (under the navel), respectively symbolised by the dragon (the female or negative vitality) and the tiger (the male or positive vitality)." p. 67

So far it has been argued that celibacy is only necessary for the first 100 days but Taoist Yoga is adamant that to fully open the third eye there has to be continued celibacy for at least several hundred days or more depending on the age. The key to maintain celibacy is the Quick Fire method which means that deep fast breathing has the power to sublimate the jing energy into the upper part of the body where it is purified into chi energy. Chapter 2 is focused on Quick Fire as the first step of the small universe/microcosmic orbit to sublimate the energy. Without that Quick Fire method then the Slow Fire method of just using the mind intention will not be able to build up enough chi energy. Without chi energy build up then the light of the third eye also does not open up.

"Hence the method of correct breathing to circulate quick fire up and down (in the microcosmic orbit) and so immobilise the generative force causing the genital organ to retract (thus stopping the draining of vitality)." p. 34

So first of all in my response to Zoom I pointed out that I needed to study what the left and right eyes meant exactly as the key method that is actually referred to for "driving the spirit" into the lower tan t'ien - is actually the rotating of the left and right eyes. Why? Because this rotation actually causes the chi energy of the heart and the chi energy of the lower tan tien to merge - the heart being the Solar Dragon prenatal spirit energy and the lower tan t'ien being the Lunar Tiger prenatal yuan qi energy.

O.K. the thing is that actually both these qi energies - Solar and Lunar - actually originate from the heart - and this is revealed in Chapter 10.

 

 

"prenatal vitality coming from the heart passes through the wrist and carries blood to the centre of the left palm which is the dragon cavity...vitality from the right ventricle of the heart is a vein which is linked with the duct of the testicles and the restraining nerve; hence the centre of the right palm is the tiger cavity." p. 110

O.K. so this is fascinating because those two channels from the heart also express themselves out of the two eyes - so one eye is actually the reproductive qi while the other eye is the pineal gland qi from the heart - the prenatal vitality.

So Zoom is claiming that "turning the light around" is just spirit light congealing without qi - but I have claimed - that in actuality - this technique of driving the spirit or fixing the spirit in the lower tan tien is actually the same as turning the light around and the technique is this rotating of the eyes.

O.K. Zoom is correct in that p. 15 refers to "negative breath" of the heart and then on p. 24 this is called "yin fu" or "negative fire" that goes down and is the focus of chapter six! So it is also referred to as essential nature. So this means the heart is the "prenatal spirit." O.K. but the negative fire is referred to as "post-natal fire" or yin chi energy that descends down the front channel and it vibrates in the cavity of vitality to turn into fluid - unless it is cleansed by the heart fire or "spirit's fire" - the positive prenatal spirit that is otherwise emitted out of the eyes but if supported by the alchemical breathing can transmute the yin jing fluid into yang jing or yin chi.

O.K. I think I finally cracked this -

 

 

 

 

"For the cultivation of nature alone only ensures the descent of positive fire without the ascent of (vital) breath from below; the result will be that nature and life cannot unite." p. 56-7

So the heart is called negative fire in the beginning (p. 24) and negative breath but here it is called positive fire - both descending! Why? Because it is positive since it is prenatal and does contain some of the prenatal vitality also (both originate from the heart) but the prenatal vitality manifests in the pineal gland and then descends down the spine (from evil thoughts). to activate the yin jing into fluid. So again unless the Emptiness is focused on then the prenatal vitality can not ascend back up the spine which then increases the qi of the heart fire also. So without that alchemical process even though originally the heart is united prenatal spirit-vitality - it actually, due to consciousness after puberty, descends as negative fire.

 

 

 

 

"Huo is vitality which takes advantage of the fire in the house of water to descend into the channel of control (tu mo in the spine) wherein ventilation provided by in and out breathing transmutes the generative force into the alchemical agent in order to carry it up (into the microcosmic orbit). For the positive yang can not accumulate without aid from negative yin;" p. 57-8

O.K. so that confirms that the Hou or "yang hou" (p. 24) as the positive fire is the prenatal vitality that, having had descended down the spine, is now adding in the formation or "transmutation" of new yuan qi or true vitality - essential generative force.

Now so since I made that connection more clear to myself based on Zoom pointing out that quote - so I began practicing the eye rotation - and this is before I just read the above quote I made. What I was surprised is when I rotated my eyes I distinctly felt qi being activated in my wrists and palms!! So I was surprised by this - I also felt my lower tan tien being activated. But that corroborates the claim of the Taoist Yoga book.

So then I got curious - because I know that with the vagus nerve it starts out of the lower brain - it connects to the pineal gland but then it goes to the heart and the right and left vagus nerve go to each side of the heart - and then the vagus nerve continues down as a posterior and anterior or back and front vagus nerve - which connects to the reproductive organs.

So it seems reasonable to conclude that indeed this Solar and Lunar energy is actually connected to the vagus nerve somehow.

But anyway to stop the leakage as taught in Chapter 10 is a mudra but also the rotating of the eyes, as is first taught in chapter six as the method to drive down or fix the spirit in the lower tan t'ien.

And so this fixing or driving of the spirit into the lower tan t'ien is also the combining of the Prenatal Vitality - and again the Cavity of Prenatal Vitality is the pineal gland but it originates from the right side of the heart as the tiger yuan qi that also descends to the reproductive organs.

And it is crucial to keep in mind that this method of driving the spirit or fixing the spirit into the lower tan t'ien is only really achieved after the lower tan tien is full of yin chi energy - and only after light is seen outside of the eyes - in front of the person. And this light - it is not just light but it is "spirit-vitality" since the lower tan t'ien is the Cavity of Spirit-vitality. That's what makes it an alchemical practice.

the negative spirit seen within the head is just the relative void while the absolute void is the light seen outside the head - only after the lower tan t'ien is full of qi energy.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 9 teaches how to transmute the generative force and vitality into immortal seed but before the latter matures it tends to vibrate at night and drain away of itself even in the absence of thoughts and dreams. At this stage the practiser should be very careful. But how does he avoid nocturnal emissions? He should follow the method taught in this chapter to prevent the loss of the 'precious thing' in his sleep.
p. 104-5

So again it's very clear that the "drain away" of vitality is referring to nocturnal emission as the loss of the precious thing.

O.K. so again when can the spirit be driven down to the lower tan t'ien?

 

 

 

"'After gathering the alchemical agent to make good the loss of generative force, a fascinating white light will appear in both eyes' which means the joining up of the sun (the left eye or male principle) and the moon (the right eye or female principle); only then can both eyes be concentrated on the lower abdomen in which a white light is imagined as manifesting." p. 90

So that confirms what I was saying - that the driving of the spirit into the lower tan t'ien can actually "only then" be achieved after the lower tan t'ien is filled with the yin chi energy. But that method of fixing or driving the spirit is based on the eye rotating. I am claiming that the eye rotating is also the secret of the Golden Flower "turning of the light around" technique. Another way this is done is by squinting the eyes - showed as a cross-eyed focus on the tip of the nose - in order to link up the solar and lunar qi energies.

 

 

 

"The cavity of the dragon is (the lower tan t'ien under the navel) which is the seat of the element of water and contains the original vital force. The heart is the seat of the original spirit and contains the element of fire. The method consists of concentrating on the lower tan t'ien under the navel thereby directing the element of fire in spirit down to the ...(the lower tan t'ien) ....If the outer sun and moon do not mingle their lights the inner water and fire do not 'copulate' and true prenatal vitality cannot manifest." p. 86

O.K. so here we have confirmation that the spirit of the heart also has "heart's fire" which is the fire in spirit - the yuan qi energy of the heart as a bit of the prenatal tiger lunar qi.

So that is the prenatal qi also manifesting from the pineal gland - but it is still just "negative spirit" that does not contain the "wondrous light" yet in the pineal gland. That has to be built up from the lower tan t'ien.

So what has to happen? Only when that heart's fire descends to the water - the yin jing energy of the Cavity of Vitality with the later being sublimated by breathing - then does more yin chi or yang jing energy build up. Once it builds up then it brings forth the positive spirit or as the yang qi or tiger qi of the lower tan tien. When that manifests it also represents the true prenatal vitality that has been driven down or fixed in the lower tan t'ien but also manifests as the external light - the Tai Chi seen in front of the person - as the wondrous light of the pineal gland.

And so Taoist Yoga states that yin chi or generative force is just a lower amount of True Vitality or Yuan Jing - in order to restore the later the generative force has to be built up through the sublimation and purification process - as "essential generative force" or true vitality.

So I was quoting from chapter 8 which is a complete chapter devoted to just that one sentence that Zoom referred to in chapter one of "driving the spirit" into the lower tan t'ien. The last quote I gave p. 86 is from chapter 8.

 

 

 

 

"He who does not know the potency of the original cavity of spirit cannot produce basic vitality." p. 71

So this is emphasizing again that is it not just "negative spirit" but spirit-vitality that has to be created out of the lower tan t'ien.

Based on my analysis of the vagus nerve as turning into, below the heart, front and back from right and left above the heart - it would appear the key to creating the lower tan tien is by Emptying out the mind (from immutable thought) then this prevents the right side heart vagus nerve from activating the creation of reproductive fluid from the rear vagus nerve below the heart and instead the Emptiness focus concentrates the pineal gland prenatal qi energy to the left side vagus nerve focused then on the front of the body below the heart (thereby creating the lower tan t'ien).

Yeah so the Moon is the right eye which is the Tiger reproductive prenatal yuan qi energy. That makes sense since the Right eye is also the element of metal - passion!! So when the yin qi or yang jing energy is lost out of the eyes that means the right eye is dominant as the passion energy - without it being truly focused on the Emptiness as the 'copulation' of the Sun and Moon (fire and water). The left eye being wood as the liver represents Wisdom - and so with deeper slower breathing (metal) you also get stronger wisdom Emptiness - the 'copulation' of sun and moon, right and left eye as metal (passion turns into courage) and wood (anger turns into wisdom).

Again I want to thank Zoom for emphasizing that one quote from Chapter one - on driving down the spirit and as I said the secret of it is based on the secret of the right and left eye energy.

O.K. so what I wrote has a deeper layer to it - meaning that while the heart is the dragon energy through alchemy the heart fire descends to create the lower tan t'ien as the Cavity of the Dragon. While the tiger is the reproductive energy but the tiger is also the yin qi but it builds up, alchemically, into the positive spirit as yang qi after the yin qi fills up the lower tan t'ien. So that is the secret of the "true lead' in the water or why Ming is yang - as has been a point of contention and confusion. See above for how this is done.

 

 

 

 

"prenatal vitality coming from the heart passes through the wrist and carries blood to the centre of the left palm which is the dragon cavity...

as quoted above from Chapter 10, page 110 and then

 

 

 

"The left and right eyes stand respectively for the sun and and the moon, the positive yang and negative yin." p. 64

O.K. so this clarifies the secret of the eyes for me - in fact gives me a whole other dimension to Taoist Yoga. I really had been pondering this ever since I first read this book - and this is just the beginning of cracking the code of the text. Definitely truly fascinating.

Edited February 15, 2015 by Innersoundqigong