Vajra Fist

Edit: just for clarification, this is an extract from Inside Zhan Zhuang by Mark Cohen. Apologies to the author, but he's probably able to better express the point than me. On a personal level, I'm also opposed to black and white, absolutist positions on this subject. Maybe zhan zhuang is inappropriate for some beginners, and less so for others. Maybe wuji is better for some beginners, maybe less so for others. The importance is listening to your own body and responding appropriately. And always exercise critical thinking when it comes to Internet authorities.

Just curious, have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you care so much how other people practice?

Saw this, and it felt a bit like gatekeeping. It's the most powerful form of qigong out there, and is not locked behind an academy paywall and a guru-like teacher. I switched now to just standing and nothing else on energetics. 40mins in ball holding pose, as recommended in Marc Cohen's book Inside Zhan Zhuang. My body becomes more supple, looser as the time progresses, not harder or stiffer. An important part of that is body scanning and allowing knots of tension to release. There are experiences when tension and hardness suddenly dissolve, after which the body feels light and soft. I would advise trying it for yourself. If you feel stiffer and more stuck, as Damo intimates, then switch to wuji or moving forms. But don't take his word as gospel, without trying for yourself.

Eric claims to be able to test what effect a system might have on you, based on your unique energetic make up. All he needs is the name of the system. People here have historically emailed Eric to test out various systems for them before they buy the course or dvd.

Here's a quote from Hakuin. I knew I remembered it from somewhere

This is an interesting read. Corey spent several years at Sogen-ji. https://zenembodiment.com/2018/06/08/breathing-from-the-belly-tanden-a-great-rolling-ball/ I suspect that hara/tanden has an important role in the flash of insight that comes from koan practice. For instance, instructions often suggest holding the koan in the hara.

Really interesting! Perhaps it's more a Rinzai thing? My teacher comes from the Daitoku-ji line in the West, but I've seen it emphasised even more elsewhere, particularly in Sogen-ji under Harada Roshi and Meido Moore's Korinji. Jeff Shore (Tofukuji) also has a lot of focus on hara breathing. I don't Soto as well, but I know Dosho Port (Katagiri Roshi alum) emphasised hara breathing rather than shikantaza.

As far as I know, zen doesn't teach hand positions or the specific standing exercises that daoists use to construct a dantien. Yet the hara development is tangible, and comes through years and years of abdominal breathing. The hara has many of the properties associated with dantien, I.e. a magnetic quality on the mind, a reservoir of ki etc.

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I'm joking of course. It's a famous line from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - which ironically was the thing that turned wudang into a tourist trap. I'm curious about your thoughts on lineage. To me, that's less important than whether someone has skill. For instance, the form itself may be really old, but performed in a completely external, empty way. Something relatively new, like the CMC or HSS form, may conversely be practiced to a very high level. The difference is not in the external choreography, but whether the practitioner can use the form to express jin.

I've deleted my comments about Damo. I realised I was still pretty upset about a disagreement I had with him years ago and that may have coloured a lot of what I wrote about him. Damo is obviously a human being too, and I bet it can't be too nice as a public figure reading anonymous people writing horrible things about you online. I think this has been fairly cathartic for me though, to get it off my chest after keeping it quiet for so long. So perhaps time to move on, forgive and forget. Apologies for airing dirty laundry, fellow bums

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I should probably add for balance that Damo is a fantastic teacher. He's able to explain difficult concepts in a practical way, and his syllabus is very well organised. His taiji and bagua are also to a very high level and very well taught. His students report profound and significant changes as a result of their study of neigong, and I have no reason to doubt their accounts. My concern really is where it all leads, and I can only infer that based on my personal interactions with Damo online. It's also possible he just wasn't having a great day and he didn't handle it as well as he would have done normally. Nevertheless I was very affected by the whole incident.

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