Phoenix3

Ok, I’ve been reading around, and apparently the prana in the ida channel rises to the head during the inhale, and the prana in the pingala channel descends in the exhale, and every few hours it switches. Is this right? So what is all this nonsense with both the ida and pingala rising to the head i’ve head so much about?

So if the ida and pingala channels, and ren and du channels are different, we got the ida channel, pingala channel and du channel sending qi to the head, and only the ren channel removing qi from the head. Either the ren channel is huge or there would be a lot of congestion in the head, no?

In many spiritual paths, qian (or the equivalent) is at the top of the head, and kun (or the equivalent) is at the perineum. Thus, the centre of the body is considered to be the heart. In Buddhism for example, the heart chakra represents the meeting of masculine and feminine/yin and yang, implying it is at the centre. In Daoism however, the heart is not the centre of the body. The spleen instead is considered the centre, with the heart being related to the element ‘fire’ (not fire and water, or meeting of yin and yang like the Buddhists think the heart to represent), which therefore means they think the heart is in the ‘South’ position (upper position) of the body (in Daoism, Fire equals the direction South).

I’ve heard lots of different information. Some say the shen resides in the niwan/upper dantian, some say it resides in the heart. I don’t know. Do you mind explaining this please? 10 what?

In qigong and everywhere throughout Daoism, the heart is considered to be what houses fire. But in Buddhism, it represents the unity of masculine and feminine. This is a clear difference and I wonder why.

Hey everyone, Is the microcosmic orbit just the rotation of jing? Or does it also include the movement of qi and/or shen?

Agree. It could be anything. A hint would be appreciated because if I find out later what it is, then I’ll know i know it. You can’t look for something if you don’t know what it looks like, and you can’t find something if you don’t know what you’ve found is what you’re looking for.

I used to agree with this, but the books with english translations from the ancient writers are rarely available, unless one purchases them from the one or two Daoist scholars for 50 dollars a book There are a few good modern books (like Taoist Yoga), but why is it that practitioners of these systems/lineages always seem to appear old and/or fat? This is what the secret of the golden flower has to say about this: http://thesecretofthegoldenflower.com/ch3.html

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Good thing I asked this on this forum, where there are many knowledgable people who may guide one in the right direction.

But I’m under the impression that ‘turning the light around’ is something which could be started or stopped at anytime, not a way of being. As with anything, too much of one thing (like ‘turning the light around’) is probably not a great idea

Obviously i’m not there yet, but I’m quite sure that Theravada Buddhist monks do not experience an increase in saliva production, and hence do not have neidan, despite being able to experience emptiness in meditation (probably). So what else is there to do? I notice that a lot of neidan texts seem to refer to the spine and the wei lu, yu zhen and jia ji gates, so perhaps after achieving emptiness, one has to develop their kundalini energy? I’ve read secret of the golden flower, but it just seems to say if one meditates on stillness over and over again, then neidan will arrive eventually. But as I said before, Theravada Buddhist monks do that and they don’t get Neidan, so there must be something else one can do.

Thank you for your help regardless! I appreciate your time and effort. If one day you do find something interesting regarding this subject, then feel free to update this thread

So jade pillow is hexagram ... The yellow court is hexagram ... The navel is hexagram ... etc thank you! Edit: wondering if @Taoist Texts would know?

It seems to me that hexagrams can be sorted into two groups, because of the way the yijing is ordered (at least in the king wen order). It seems to be in the pattern: Hexagram 1 (Qian), Hexagram 2 (Kun), Hexagram 3 (male), Hexagram 4 (female), Hexagram 5 (male), Hexagram 6 (female), etc or is it: Hexagram 1 (Qian), Hexagram 2 (Kun), Hexagram 3 (female), Hexagram 4 (male), Hexagram 5 (female), Hexagram 6 (male), etc I’m not going to refer to them as yin or yang, because it seems that a hexagram which has 5 yang lines and 1 yin line, although being mainly yang, might actually be female, and a hexagram with 5 yin lines and 1 yang line might actually be male. Maybe. I don't know really,

Sorry, i didn’t mean to. Just thought you may have forgotten.

I think you’re referring to @Harmen. He seems very knowledgeable. Thanks

Thank you for all your help. I have tried to locate it, but I just can’t find it! There are various muscles around there which are obviously contracting, but none that I can feel that actually ‘rise up’ towards the interior of the body.

But a magpie bridge is defined as something which connects the renmai to the dumai. So wouldn’t the perineum make more sense than the anus?

Would you say the lower magpie bridge is definately the perineum? I’ve heard different views regarding this.

Perhaps I was confused and thinking of the wrong muscle. I didn’t know that the perineum was two muscles. Thanks for the clarification. So in practice, would you say that the perineum muscles rise up towards the abdomen? Is the movement significant (an upwards movement by a few centimeters) or slight (an upwards movement by around only a centimeter)?

Hello, any luck?

So... Inhale: Huiyin/the perineum contracts and moves towards the anus. The diaphragm moves down, towards the belly, Exhale: Huiyin/the perineum relaxes and moves back to its original place. The diaphragm relaxes and moves back up to its original position. Is this correct? Thanks

Thanks for the advice everyone. I just tried it again, while placing my finger at the perineum, and it doesn’t really go ‘up’ as in inwards towards the stomach, but up as in towards the anus. Is this correct? but it’s very slight. Maybe about 1-2cm of movement. Not much.

Thank you!