Vitalii

This problem exists only if you consider that metal and water (and others) are physical things. Many people make mistake like that and then think how metal transforms into water. If to translate Wu Xing as five elements, it may misguide the understanding. Wu Xing is five phases, five different states. Wu Xing is not something stable like elements, Wu Xing is the dynamic states of yin and yang. Therefore: Wood - growing yang Fire - strong yang Earth - balance yang and yin Metal - growing yin Water - strong yin. With some time, growing yin can become strong yin, that is how the metal transforms into the water, physical metal and water do not have anything to do with it. Metal and water are just names used for growing yin and strong yin.

Alchemy is transformation process of yourself, and of course transformation process can be achieved not only with Daoist alchemy.

yes, you are right. To say more precisely, there are different aspects of manifestation of Ling and their activation depends on the student level and his/her alchemical experience. The more alchemical experience a person has, the more radiance of Original Nature, the more Ling can be manifested. The key to achieve this state is Xing gong, because if the heart-mind is not cleansed from obscurations then even if person has a lot of energy, ones Original Nature can not be awakened and manifested.

This is a very simplified description without explaining the essence of the term.

yes, it can be described as a spiritual momentum of the Original Nature of the Universe/celestial mechanism and as a spiritual momentum of our Original Nature. Although it is said about outer and inner, there is only One spiritual momentum of the Original Nature. There are a special methods which can activate your Ling and the Teacher can also activate it in ones students.

yes, you are right. the "one opening of the mysterious barrier", the "mysterious female", the "mysterious pass" are all the same thing.

to say more precisely, in Daoist inner cosmology and fundamental concepts of daoist methods of spiritual development and Original Nature

Ling do not have physical location. Understanding what Ling means is very important for inner alchemy, because it can really improve your practice. Frankly speaking I do not want to talk about it on a forum. P.S. The key to understanding of Ling is in understanding and cultivation of Xing gong.

Just for information. Translation made by Thomas Cleary contains many gaps and a part of the Chinese text seems to not have been translated. In translation made by Richard Wilhelm (and Walter Picca), we can find some very peculiar translations like "animus and anima", which distort the original meaning of characters that are used in the Chinese text. Both translators sometimes translated the character Qi (气) as "breathing". This is not correct in respect to alchemical texts, because for "breath" the character Xi (息) has to be used. Xing (性) is often translated as Essence. The phrase 性命不可见，寄之天光 - was translated by Cleary as "Essence and Life are invisible, so they are associated with sky and light". However, it'd be more correct to translate it like Xing (性) - Original Nature. Then the phrase 性命不可见，寄之天光 - should sound as "Original Nature [Xing] and life [Ming] cannot be seen. They are contained in the light of heaven". All these mistakes distort the understanding of the text, and even a minor mistake can lead to big errors in practice as you know.

Happy New Year! Practice daoist methods and enjoy your life!

It is not correct to separate taiji and wushu (or gongfu/kungfu), because taiji is a style of wushu.

When I make video with real sparring I'll upload it to my YouTube channel.

I know how looks like taiji fight and when people come to my classes they also can see it.

http://tea-store.co.uk/ Only natural (without flavors), and high quality Chinese tea, directly from tea plantations.

My favorite light oolong is Tie Guan Yin My favorite dark oolong is Da Hong Pao My favorite green tea is Taiping Houkui