freeform

Yes... as @anshino23 says - there's other things at play here... Many people come to living a deeper more meaningful life by suffering through hardship.

Indeed How many other parts are there to the process?

Sounds simple - that's how you develop fajin?

Some people have a constitutional ‘gift’ whereby they can do all manner of depleting stuff but not suffer... however this ‘information’ is encoded in ones jing and is then passed on to ones children and grand children... Yes usually it’s a case of low robustness of health. Rarely developmental stunting. This is normally caused by sexual trauma or through being dominated/forced/imprisoned in some way early in life... Often you’ll see people who’s bodies have aged, but shaped like a child’s body - this is often the result of having the unfolding of one’s jing being frozen at a certain developmental stage by a trauma.

Sex, masturbation, lust, mental sexual stimulation (online, on tv, music etc)... addictive non-sexual stimulation - social media, apps, games is a big one too... As far as I understand these are the main issues. Usually lifestyle changes were a must - and often required before he would do treatment. His treatment involved acupuncture, wei Qi Liao fa and other esoteric stuff... mostly to change aspects of the Ming... and less on actual medical issues. But if lifestyle changes were not adhered to, he would not treat - because changing someone’s Ming is a big thing - and there has to be an ‘opening’ for that to be viable. He also would turn away a proportion of people who came to him because he’d recognise that there was no opening in the Ming. I tend to think that people who are drawn to cultivation naturally have this opening. But often some karmic entanglement is too strong and they stop training or get drawn into delusion, down tangents or towards trivialities...

Some really great advice! I just want to add that - no it’s not possible to change something so significant with just herbs/acupuncture and no lifestyle change. Yes it takes a leap of faith to make changes. However you must find these lifestyle changes valuable and rewarding in their own right (because they are) - and not just a means to an end... because you’ll probably quit before they’ve had the opportunity to help. In the majority of people, simply hoarding sperm will cause more problems than it solves. Actually when the jing starts to consolidate, you don’t feel so lusty and uncontrollably horny - in fact your appetite becomes naturally ‘moderate’. Even if you’re much more ‘verile’ when that time comes. (This does depend on not feeding your mind with constant sexual stimulation...) The depersonalisation issue can happen because of many different things. From a Daoist perspective this is often the result of some part of your inner soul ‘team’ has become unrooted. Jing deficiency means it can’t anchor again. Though the jing deficiency is probably not the cause for it (smoking strong weed (and often trauma) usually is) - ones ability to get back to normal however is hampered greatly by jing deficiency. The other issue with jing deficiency is that it impacts on every aspect of ones life - including everything from health, lifespan, quality of mental health and clarity of thought - and even the quality of life for one’s children... My teacher told me that he generally would only see jing deficiency in people past 50 - and usually in hard working labourers or people working night shifts for decades... until recently jing deficiency in young men was extremely rare.

I find that longer than 20 to 30 minutes can actually be counterproductive and creates a kind of inner dampness. When doing a lot of training (8hrs + daily) - a 30 minute nap mid-day helps tremendously. It takes a while to train your body to nap in this way (it tends to want to sleep longer - or not at all)... but once it learned the rhythm I wouldn’t even need an alarm - I go through a short sleep cycle and wake up refreshed just before 30 minutes are up. Enter sleep in a meditative state and the rejuvenating effects are multiplied!

Having extra Qi is like adding space to the inner landscape... when the space of your inner landscape is unfathomably huge, thoughts appear like tiny clouds floating through. Easily ignored. When your inner space is a small cupboard - obviously a cloud in there with you will take up all your awareness whether you like it or not. Secondly extra Qi can ‘power’ your concentration - your ability to stay focused with no effort - so that your awareness grows still and unwavering. Thirdly clearing your channels for Qi to circulate freely (this is on a deeper layer than qigong) - clears all mental detritus... meaning that when your channels are truly clear - simply sitting down and turning your attention inward, you will automatically enter into samadhi - no method, or action necessary - it becomes your default state... (though not where I’m at yet )

Yeah it’s a good book. I haven’t - but I’m interested... might check it out! I noticed that a lot of the recent research on mastery (such as ‘deliberate practice’ from Anders Ericsson) and on using ‘flow’ (the guy with the unpronounceable name from Hungary) - it’s all built into classical methodology of ‘gong’... (as in Qi gong and gong fu)

As an aside - I’ve noticed this new trend online - they call it ‘dopamine detox’ or ‘dopamine fasting’... in many ways this is exactly what we want to do if we have jing issues. Basically stopping all addictive behaviour - including the subtle ones (like reaching for your phone when you’re bored)

I like this book. He would’ve been a very good cultivator - unfortunately he got taken in by competition which won’t allow him to go deep. His approaches in that book are similar to some of the best internal arts masters I’ve come across... but again he uses competition as his benchmark of truth... cultivators use something else.

Well as a cultivator, you generally don’t need to worry about not sweating or opening the pores (you’d have a clearer idea of whether cold is moving in or if you’re dipping into your reserves). If you’ve developed an inner sensitivity, you can be more loose with the rules because you have a clearer insight into what’s happening energetically. The main difference is that the environment will make certain practices more efficient. Winter is a yin period and presents an opportunity to go inwards... so if you ‘surf’ the wave deeper inside, you’ll be able to get deeper in. So winter is generally very conducive to meditative practice - with going deep inwardly rather than expanding out, clearing or purging. Working on mental qualities, meditation, sinking, absorption and so on is supported by the Qi of your environment... Clearing channels, building Qi, purging pathogens, establishing ‘the fire’ are not supported... and in fact it may be difficult to keep ones fire alight in winter... But it doesn’t mean these aren’t possible - they’ll just be going against the grain a little (which may actually be beneficial in certain circumstances).

Actually - if you truly are one with God - then your Qi will be in perfect balance and at a very high level... Except in reality the majority of people are one with the idea of God... which is something completely different

Yes - exactly. Qi, physicality and mind are not separate... Working on the mental level will create change on energetic and eventually the physical level. (If it’s done effectively). But for the Daoists, making a change on the Qi level is by far the most efficient... Releasing childhood trauma on the Qi level is in fact much easier than on the mental level... any thinking or feeling about the trauma will further anchor that trauma into your acquired nature... Simply focusing on something and even thinking of it as a problem (or solution) creates a kind of attachment. Thats why you see people going to psychotherapy for years and years... Similarly you can create an opposition... so if you felt disempowered and dominated as a child - you may either get yourself into similar situations - or indeed get yourself into the ‘opposite’ situations - for instance you become the dominator... or even you want to fight domination and disempowerment in the world. All of this is a form of attachment - whether it’s in ‘agreement’ or ‘opposition’ to your trauma. On the Qi level, you can release some major trauma without even realising it... It’s as if you completely forget that this trauma ever happened. There’s no agreement or opposition - there’s nothing there anymore. That’s the ideal ‘healing’ from a Daoist perspective... because it sets one up for spiritual growth. In the west the ‘opposition’ type of change is often seen as a healthy response to trauma... because it appears to drive positive action in the world. That’s why you hear of many millionaires who came from dire poverty. But to a Daoist this is still attachment. Qi is more efficient because it’s as @Wilhelm says - it’s the intermediary... you don’t get attached to Qi in the same way you get attached (whether through clinging or aversion) to emotions or thoughts and experiences...

Indeed. This method also helps to consolidate jing, calm overactive emotions and begins to allow the Qi to sink... all of what the OP requires at this time... It also happens to lead to reverse breathing eventually

I see - yes, you’re right - you should certainly feel something quite quickly This brings up something I find particularly interesting about Daoism... and I’ll only keep going if it’s of interest - otherwise it feels like I’m disagreeing for the sake of it - and I’m not

Slightly different rules for cultivators - otherwise it’s generally sound advice

I don’t agree with that. In fact much of Daoist methodology is based on making the change at a different ‘level’ than where the problem is most apparent. Similarly - while this might apply to some things - I personally don’t believe this should be treated as a ‘rule’. In fact much of what is good for you is difficult and uncomfortable and unpleasant... known as ‘eating bitter’ in Asian cultures. And much of what is not so good for you feels pleasant and positive in the beginning. If it’s taken many years (especially during formative teenage years) to create an issue - it will take a long time to create a stable change. And it won’t necessarily feel fruitful or positive in the first few months - let alone 7 days...

@charlesjorden - here’s the practice that will assist you greatly. There’s just one subtle change to the instructions - anchor to the lower Dantien - don’t go down lower to the huiyin as instructed in the recording. This is important. Make it a daily practice - and you’ll see some major improvements in time.

indeed - and the ‘cause’ for their actions is ‘spontaneously’ arising from ‘original spirit’.

Even us non-enlightened ones can act without karma... (but it’ll be that one in a million action that doesn’t create karma). As I understand it - if the cause is not based on karma - the result will have a chance to be free of karma... so the cause has to come from something deeper than one’s conditioned self. Another way of doing that is through mindfulness - be completely absorbed in the intricacy of the moment and you might not create karma... Do something mindlessly, automatically, habitually, reflexively - and you’ll generate or strengthen some karmic tie.

You create ‘soul entanglement’ all the time with people (and with actions/places/thoughts/feelings etc... without having to have sex). If you have strong feelings about someone or they about you - that often results in a karmic entanglement... if you automatically behave a certain way around someone - if you feel shy around them or irritated or excited - these are karmic entanglements. When you do actions that affect living beings in a reasonably direct way... that creates karmic entanglement. Having sex with someone creates strong karmic entanglement - whether you ejaculate or not. Not wanting karmic entanglement is also based on a karmic entanglement 😅 Much of what you do is based on or creates karma. Be a little less present or generate strong emotions towards something... or simply behave mindlessly or automatically (particularly when initiated by your base desires) - and the karmic entanglements are generally stronger. You're not ‘pure’ I’m afraid. Some people retreat from the world in an effort to cut karmic entanglements... but the desire to do that is more often than not the result of karma and will lead to more karma. So you’re doomed

One book that covers these things pretty well is ‘Sapiens - by Yuval Noah Harrari’. If you’d like to understand how the economy works there’s a great YouTube video by Ray Dalio (his book Principles is also excellent): Finally books by Malcolm Gladwell (any of them really) are also very illuminating.

There’s no guarantee with anything I’m afraid. But I can tell you that I’ve seen people in worse situations than yours turn their life around. The key to any change is consistency over a long period of time. In fact you’ll hear ‘gong’ a lot in all these Chinese arts... it means something like ‘masterful skill developed over a long period of dedicated training.’ You have a choice between two modes of suffering. You either suffer with regret and your present condition... Or you suffer the difficulty of discipline and hard work. One of those is hugely rewarding and moves your life forwards... and the other is a spiral into darkness. There’s no quick fix sadly. But equally - choosing a life of discipline is a reward in its own way... it just takes time and effort to uncover. Secondly - you can’t really use willpower to make this change - will power fades - you need to set up a system and follow the system indefinitely. Have a look at the book Atomic Habits - it covers many different approaches to do that. Plus the author also went through a major difficulty and transformed it with good habits. With diet the big things to start with is removing all sweet drinks (including ‘natural’ juices and sugar free ones) from your diet completely. Then removing any other sugar and eventually processed foods. Vegan diet is not suitable for most people. To build jing do have red meat occasionally - but also eggs (yolks in particular) - nuts (walnuts) seeds etc. In terms of sleep consistent timing is important. Waking up at the same time every day - getting out of bed as soon as you wake up. Ill find a specific practice you can do and post it here @charlesjorden There’s definitely a light at the end of the tunnel. And in fact the light is far brighter than you thought... But it takes time for things to change - particularly kidney issues! Think how many years you’ve spent getting into this situation... it’s gonna take more than 2 months to get out. I’ve seen people in a similar situation get back to relative normality in 6 to 9 months... but there’s something even better than ‘normality’ there for you if you make it a life commitment...

ok - great in that case there’s different advice. How is your sleep and diet?