Vitalii

Wang Chungyang in 重陽真人金關玉鎖訣 said: "Someone asked, “What are the subtle principles for cultivating perfection (xiuzhen 修真)?” Perfected Chongyang responded, “First, you must remove ignorance and vexations. Second, you must get rid of greed and craving, alcohol and sex, wealth and anger. This is the method of cultivation." “First, you must observe the precepts and develop clarity, stillness, forbearance, compassion, genuineness, and goodness. You must abstain from the ten evils, practice expedient means, and strive to save all sentient beings. You must also be loyal to the ruler and king, and be fi lial and reverent to parents and teachers. This is the method of cultivation. Then and only then can you practice the exercises of perfection." Translated by Louis Komjathy

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.

全真清規 每日至五更寅時，聞開靜板響，各請洗漱，朝真禮聖。卯時早齋。辰時混坐。巳時靜鐘三通，各各靜坐，如法用功。午時赴齋 未時混坐。申時如前入靜。酉時晚叅。戌時混坐茶湯。亥時如前入靜，用功如法。子時歌詠，教演詩詞，以敵睡魔。丑時放叅，各請隨意。 Pure Regulations of Quanzhen (1) Hour of yin (3–5am): The sound of the plank indicates the non-movement period is over. Everyone washes his face and rinses his mouth. Then one worships the Perfected and Sages. (2) Hour of mao (5–7am): Morning meal. (3) Hour of chen (7–9am): Group meditation (hunzuo 混坐). (4) Hour of si (9–11am): “Non-movement” meditation. Each person meditates quietly (Jing zuo 靜坐) by himself. (5) Hour of wu (11am–1pm): Noon meal. (6) Hour of wei (1–3pm): Group meditation. (7) Hour of shen (3–5pm): Non-movement meditation. (8) Hour of you (5–7pm): Evening gathering. (9) Hour of xu (7–9pm): Group meditation and offering of tea and soup. (10) Hour of hai (9–11pm): Non-movement meditation. (11) Hour of zi (11pm–1am): Chanting. Adepts chant poems meant to enable them to resist the demons of sleep (shuimo 睡魔). Each verse is chanted three times and no more. (12) Hour of chou (1–3am): The gathering is dismissed. One can do whatever one wants.

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!

You are wrong [see explanation below]. Dao Yin, Qigong and Tuna (breathing techniques) are not Neidan, but a part of the "Building the foundation” [筑基]. Dao Yin, Qigong and Tuna can help one to improve the circulation of Qi, accumulate usual [Post-Heaven] Qi, make body flexible and strong etc. They are very important for beginners. ”Building the foundation” [筑基] - is a part of Daoism, which contains many methods, not only Neidan. At first, a person needs to learn how to work with [Post-Heaven] Qi, because if one doesn't feel and work with [Post-Heaven] Qi, there is no way for one to do it with [Pre-Heaven] Qi. I want to notice that Qigong is a new word, and many methods, which it contains, were called “Yang Sheng Fa” (养生法) in ancient times. About the importance of all these practices you can read in many Daoist texts, for example Ge Hong "Baopu-zi" (抱朴子) treatises by Wang Chongyang, Zhang San Feng and others... Zhang San Feng said: 凝神调息，调息凝神, 八个字，就是下手工夫 - "Concentrate the Shen [spirit] and regulate and harmonize the breath, regulate and harmonize the breath and concentrate the Shen is the first step to Gong Fu [mastership]." Breathing techniques play a very important role in “methods of building the foundation”. In fact, correct, deep and quiet breathing helps to create us conditions under which the inner balance, harmony and inner peace can be achieved as quickly as possible. If breathing is not regulated, then to achieve these results will be very difficult, and in some cases even impossible. Therefore, this important stage of practice needs to be taken seriously and worked out well. Xin Gong [心功 - heart-mind work] it is not Inner Alchemy, but if a person doesn't practise this methods, then one can't practise Xing Gong (性功) also. Zhang San Feng said: 凝神者，收已清之心，而入其内也 - "Concentrate the Shen [spirit], means to collect one’s purified heart-mind to enter into the inside." Zhang San Feng said: 大道以修心炼性为首 - "The most important task in the Great Dao is to cultivate the heart-mind (Xin) and to refine the Original Nature (Xing)." Zhang San Feng said: 存心者，坚固城郭，不使房屋倒坍，卽筑基也 - "Preserving the heart-mind means, construction and strengthening of the city walls, so houses will not collapse, this is Building the foundation."

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

dialects have different pronunciation, but not writing There is a standard system of transliteration and we need to use it

it is more correct write Hu Fa Shen, not Fu Fa Shen 护 - Hu 法 - Fa 神 - Shen

Response to Carpathian retreat 2013 When planning to go for a retreat in a traditional style, I was a little nervous, because my daily meditations at that moment took less than 2 hours, and one year of practice is not that much. But when I arrived, I was charmed by the Carpathian nature, and all my worries became not so important. I had been to the Carpathians earlier, but it never was that far from a civilization. Here, the building, which we lived in, was the only building in the nearby area, and to come here one would need a lorry or a very good jeep. The first night, I felt that if I do not merge with Dao and fully open myself to Heaven and Earth, my resistance would cause only troubles. I tried to clear my head and relax. The first meditation was great. Meditations and Zhan Zhuang always go better in the open air rather than in a building. So, after the first meditation, I had a feeling that I could sit even for much longer, and this made me more confident and optimistic. At night, when lying in my bad, I saw a flash of light. My first thought was about a lantern or a camera flashlight, but it was silent and everybody was already sleeping. But when I tried to fall asleep, the flash repeated one more time, and it repeated around three times like this. It was very unusual experience. One day Vitalii showed a dantians’ synchronization technique. So I was sitting in a meditation, and started observing this process with my inner vision, and then I recognized that the details dramatically increased if compared with my previous experience. At some moment, in the lower dantian area, two channels appeared. The channels were pulsing, growing and shrinking to the size of a thread from time to time. Sometimes, I could feel how Qi was flowing through these channels like a glowing ball. It was fascinating, as all the processes were going without my conscious involvement. The next day, I repeated the same technique, including the upper dantian. Because on this retreat I was only passing the third level, my upper dantian had been almost not worked out. Qi was going between the middle and upper dantian very badly; it was like creating a road in a field. And it was not surprising that this time it took much more efforts then previously. By the end of the meditation, the only success I achieved was relatively free flow of Qi between the middle and upper dantian. Days and events have mixed in my memory so much that, from this point, all historical sequence will be lost, and I will describe only brightest events from my point of view. Once I went much dipper into the meditation. Before that, I had considered my Qi as a chaotic glowing mass that works according to its own rules. This time, I felt my Qi as one single thing, and it behaved differently, not only on its own, but according to my influence as well. One day during a meditation I had a feeling that I dissolved in the nature, and I felt further changes inside of me. My dantian started crystallizing. Inner Qi began to transform from chaotic variety of different structures into one solid structure. At the evening meditation, we were making a practice of connecting with stars. When I attuned with the Heaven and Earth, I felt an unexpected phenomena. It was like Qi coming from the Heaven became extremely strong and was flowing into the top of my head. I tried to concentrate on more spiritual and loving state, and, over time, it became a soft warm flow coming down from the sky. When I finished the meditation, I continued feeling this energy flow. By Vitalii suggestion, I tried to finish the meditation one more time and gather all the Qi in dantian, and eventually it disappeared. On the next meditation, instead of feeling the variety of Qi, I felt my lower dantian as a 3D sphere. Before that, I had felt my dantian only in two dimensions, but now I started recognizing it in three dimensions as an integral structure. It looked like a ball of Qi, but Qi was not equally spread within the sphere. I continued the meditation perceiving it in such a new for me form. The next time the evening practice didn’t have surprises, but was unusually deep. At first, I started accumulation silence and calmness meditation, to make the meditation deeper and wait for darkness. In this way it is much easier to establish a connection with the stars and planets. After diving deep enough, I started attunement. During the practice, I could feel the lower dantian, but my body seemed to have disappeared. The perception level where I see Qi and the world that surrounds me mixed into one reality. Body, which plays role of a boundary between inner and outer reality, just disappeared. As a result, I was like dissolving, and felt the unity with the world. Of course, it was only partial dissolving in the world, because there was observer and thoughts about this situation. But, nevertheless, it was a new and impressive experience for me. By the end of meditation one thought came into my head: I need to say goodbye to this place. It was odd because I had at least one more day and one more evening meditation. But I followed this thought and, with a little bit of sadness, I took a tiny piece of this place with me. On the next day, it was raining, and we did not meditate at this place, and thereafter I was leaving. By Alex Karmazin student of Zhen Dao Pai http://zhendaopai.com/response-carpathian-retreat-2013/

cultivate breath and cultivate Qi are not the same study of classical texts is very important in the study of Daoism. It was also emphasized in the treatise of Wang Chongyang "Shiwulun", where "the study of texts" is one of the statements mentioned. Here is a fragment of my commentary to this statement: "Before reading the sacred text, one should cleanse his heart from the worldly cares and to be like an empty vessel capable to perceive what it is being poured. The texts should not be read in a hurry and in haste; otherwise many of the truths and innermost moments will be missed. You need to study the text carefully and consciously as if you personally get these instructions from the teacher. After reading the text - meditate on read, because it contains a bottomless wisdom, which you will may have to comprehend during the whole life. Read, ponder, analyze - but do not forget that apart from this, it is necessary to get a detailed explanation of the read from your Master. Despite the fact that the classical texts are sacred, as long as they are read by those students whose hearts are still not free from ignorance to the end, but the spirit of Shen does not have the pure clarity, even a correct instruction may be misunderstood. And given the fact that many treatises use symbolic language and intentionally miss many of the practical nuances that require the transmission from heart to heart, the mistake of understanding is not so difficult or rare. Thus, errors can accumulate even when reading sacred texts, but the risk of this is upon the person oneself. If this continues for a long time, misconceptions rooted and true words of are no longer able to penetrate into your heart-mind, the spirit of Shen gets clouded, and the circulation of Qi is broken. Not realizing it, people may just keep moving away from Dao, more and more bogged down in the ocean of reincarnation. Therefore, it must be remembered that the study of texts can only be truly effective when there is an alive Master, who on the one hand is able to point out any misunderstandings and wrongly interpreted parts of the treatise, and on the other hand, - to explain parts difficult for understanding".