Sign in to follow this  
HaRaMaRaHa

Storing energy in Mingmen v Dantien

Recommended Posts

I am currently learning Bagua from a disciple of Jiang Rong Qiao who is of the opinion that storing energy in the Mingmen is better than Dantien. He pointed to various masters of what he calls Shaolin origin who use the Dantien, and they appear overweight (the Qi expanding the gut). Then he describes his method as the Daoist method. He has his own method of qigong which I could describe as similar to a sacral pump combined with the microcosmic OR macrocosmic orbit (he has two methods). To be more precise, he defines Dantien as the general area of energy and the mingmen to be the specific storage. Shaolin schools in his opinion focus on storage from the front rather than back.

 

For this reason, when I ask him about Zhan Zhuang practices he would say that these would cause one to develop a gut. I previously learned ZZ from my first teacher and this benefited me to sense my alignments and feel the energy in my body.

 

However, this is not the first time I have been told that ZZ is bad. A prior master I had was of the opinion that ZZ causes too much Qi to rise to the head causing madness. I believe this man was from the dragon gate sect and he also taught strictly movement based qigong. This same master claimed to levitate tables and spoke quite negative of the Wudang tradition. I am unsure of his abilities, however, he did demonstrate a lot of knowledge.

 

My conjecture so far is that both masters are developing Yang Qi and have not seen the need to develop subtler practices of ZZ. 

 

Meanwhile, I have been following BK Frantzis, JA Johnson, and Lam Kam Chuen all of whom promote ZZ. 

 

Anyone have any opinions/clarification of the above?

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just do what they teach you and if you learn something else later that's great. Each tradition has its specific flavor. It's same same, but different. You know?

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

ZZ is practiced very differently by different people.

If you practice by surrendering downwards and relaxing everything, then it is hard to go wrong, in other words prioritize wuji.

If you induce particular practices to achieve certain results then you are not being natural, especially if they include breathing techniques and qi direction - others practice with force and dullness, going low, and trying to raise qi pressure etc...  these are all unnatural.

 

ZZ can become a natural enlightenment practice but only if you allow it to be natural and enter meditation through it in wuji.

And if you do standing with various arm positions naturally then I see no problem with that.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

" Mingmen " (" 命門" ) is  a  TCM's term , which refers to a special area in between our kidneys where the  yuan-qi originates, and is said to be the source of those  qi that nourishes  all our meridians and organs  .

 

"Dantian",  or more precisely speaking the "lower dantian" ,  is a Taoist alchmical term which  refers to an  area  under  our abdomen  where the yuan- qi arises  ; so they are nearly things the same;  saying that qi stored in the Mingmen better than those in dantian seems to be a result of  ignorant  of  TCM's  literature , and its intricate relation with Taoism . In fact, the start of using " Mingmen"as a  term in the TCM  literature was  from the Ming dynasty  , and was   somewhat  related to  the  rise of the Wu-Liu school.. ; anyway, it seems no need to go into details here.

Edited by exorcist_1699
  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
51 minutes ago, exorcist_1699 said:

In fact, the start of using " Mingmen"as a  term in the TCM  literature was  from the Ming dynasty 

well if you dont count Huangdi Neijing

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
22 hours ago, Taoist Texts said:

well if you dont count Huangdi Neijing

 

Thanks your comment.

 

Well, it does being mentioned in the Neijing, but hardly did it catch  any attention of  those TCM doctors afterwards ( ie, from Han up to the Ming Dynasty) ; that means , without Wu-Liu Taoist detailed elaboration of the lower dantain, hardly can ordinary TCM doctors sense the significance of the term Mingmen.

Edited by exorcist_1699
  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 4/23/2019 at 8:26 PM, HaRaMaRaHa said:

the opinion that storing energy in the Mingmen is better than Dantien.

 

Actually, real "storage" is the Huang Ting cavity (Ring) between the Two Doors you name.

 

"In" door is Front Door.

"Closed" Door is Back Door.

 

 

 

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Sign in to follow this