exorcist_1699

Thanks your reply. To me , seriously speaking, there are only two kinds of medicine, one based on the Western science ,its biology + chemistry +physics, healing people at different levels : sub-atomic, DNA, molecules...up to muscle ; another one from Taoism , with TCM fighting on the frontier , based on the jing + qi + shen framework and a complex delicate system of meridians , supported by 2,500-year of detailed medical records, healing people at different levels by tuning the balance between blood, qi, shen.. ; other remedies or so-called alternative medicine , although do cure in some cases, even in some emergence, given them lack of a solid grounding , are doubtful to me .

Main goal of Taoist practice is to attain both physical and spiritual eternity , however, the old Taoists , 2,500 years ago, found that if only by relying on qi in people's bodies , which have characteristics of being limited , biased ( as yang or yin ) and impure, hardly can we attained it despite the fact that discovering qi is already a great achievement. So they and others followed , found that there likely are 3 ways to exploit that 'medicine ' for immortality , a more refined , pure qi, enabling us to live forever : 1) Ren Yuan (人元) : Human-based way ; as Male only get yang of the qi ( yang qi ) in his body, which is incomplete , not pure, so some people think that another half of the qi, necessary for mixing that 'medicine' for eternity , likely lied in female body ( yin qi). By using the other sex's body as medium , people hope that they can attain that complete, more superb qi for everlasting life. The Ren yuan idea in fact gives rise to Taoist sexual practice afterwards... 2)Di Yuan (地元) : Earth/ Herbs and Minerals-based way ; This way says that if the human body is so limited , then maybe some other stuff, especially special compounds like mercury , lead or some other precious herbs, after having mixed and burnt together in a special way , can give us that 'medicine ' . Product obtained from this way is also called ' Waidan' ( external medicine/pill ). 3) Tian Yuan (天元) : Heaven-based way ; this way claims that only pre-heavenly qi can grant us the privilege of living forever, yet it doesn't exist in what we eat , or run in our meridians , or in other sex's body .... but in an extra-dimension hidden in space which can only be attained after our having achieved the Tian Xin ( 天心; Cosmic Mind ) ,plainly speaking , the mindless Mind, or the Buddha Mind ( in Buddhist term). So, whenever we read those Taoist writings and come across terms such as 'Dan', 'medicine' , 'other party' , 'the oven'..etc, all have specific implications depending on what base ('Yuan') they refer to. For example, in the case of 'Ren Yuan' , the 'other party ' refers to other sex's body , yet if based on 'Tian Yuan ' , it refers to emptiness from which the pre-heavenly comes..etc.

Taoist criticisms on Zen are always implicit and hard to find , they scatter and hide among few , unrecognizable paragraphs of the Taoist classics. Taoism does not criticize Zen's goal of attaining the Buddha Heart, but its method of accomplishing it . While Taoist alchemy relies on qi to nourish the Meta-Mind , and those I-Ching 's trigrams to explain the process , Zen 's method lies in mind's self negation, mind's self-stripping off its own shackles, through a series of questionings and refutations ; if possible, done is a concentrated , one-stroke way, without allowing a hair-splitting mind sneaking in , so as to attain the Buddhist Heart, Taoist criticism on Zen's way is simple : Without other force's help , how can a trivial ,karma- tormented mind change itself and turn into a geat Mind? Although bubbles and ripples are part of the great sea that produce them, they are only its trivial, temporal and fluctuated expressions , not the sea itself, let alone becoming the sea.. Instead, Taoist alchemy provides another solution , which although looks strange to Buddhists and others , seems easier to grasp : By making use of water to counteract fire ( in five-element terms), or Yang* in the trigram Kan to assimmilate Yin in the Li trigram( in I-Ching's framework ) ,a great mind will arise; we can turn people into gods , if not God; extend life to thousands of years, if not forever... * this Yang is the source of all qi in our body...as Zhao Yuan Du(趙緣督) said: "一點陽精, 秘在形山, 不在心腎...."

There are 3 issues that in Taoist alchemy people, more precisely speaking, the Chinese, recognize as critical : 1) What is the "medicine " (葯)and how to absorb/assimilate it ? Calling it " medicine" simply because people believe that there is a dose of medicine existing in this cosmos which can heal aging and nearly all diseases. Usually,the medicine is boiled by " fire" ( Shen ),making it "drinkable" for people to attain eternity . 2) The place /container issue (爐鼎): The medicine is said to be put in a stove/bowl for "boiling " , but where ? Some people think that it is done in emptiness , others say that it is right in the middle of the human body. 3) The steps/ heating control issue(火候) : It is viewed as the most secret part of Taoist alchemy and should never be put in black and white. They are keys mainly related to physical/bodily aspects in the process ...( Some Taoist writings in recent centuries in fact already break part of the taboos )

In the world of qi , you should follow the principle of ' Less is more, none is most ' . The less your mind intervenes, the more and higher-quality qi you get ; the closer you approach the no-mind state , the bigger your internal qi expands to merge with the immense qi outside , and you get the most from it . Taoist alchemy is in fact simple, only people's mind complicate it .

For examples, you deliberately circulate qi in a pattern you think it should be , or you visualize something so as to enhance your feeling of qi..etc;

There is one repeatedly popping up phrase ,talking about qi , that always catches my eye when reading those Taoist writings, it says : "其小無內, 其大無外" " So small that it has no content , so big that it has no boundary" . Which , clearly can apply not merely to space, but also to time . Relating it to Taoist concept of "yang shen" , a Mind that can exist outside of the body , not limited to any location , and capable of splitting itself and then co-existing in different places at a time , Taoist ideas are somewhat similar to or 'advanced ' to Modern Physics ( for example, its claim about parallel worlds..) that always shocks me .

Our daily ,always fluctuating mind, no matter it is doing a lengthly mathematical calculation or randomly thinking of unrelated stuff, to the immense world of qi , is some kind of ' noise ' that the less it happens , the deeper we can march into that mysterious world ... A state of extreme quietness is the proof of how well we do the job , arising even when we are situated in a noisy environment. As Lao tzu said : " 致虛極 , 守靜篤 , 萬物並作 , 吾以觀其復 " . " Push nothingness to its utmost , hold quietness to its extreme , then everything turns its real face to you"

It is strange that although the quoted author is a lady , she doesn't know that the starting points of male and female's in Taoist alchemy ( as long as what is talked about is jing => qi => shen , then we are in the arena of alchemy , not ordinary medical qigong area ) are different . Women should start from their MDT, not LDT . In fact, even in medical qigong, women are not suggested to start from the LDT . We can say that men's practice starts from and follows the Du channel ( 督脉) , women's practice starts on the Ren channel (任脉) , at least at the initial stage .

One of the significance of Taoist alchemy is its emphasize on the difference between yin shen(spirit) and Yang shen ; such an emphasize not only makes it different from Buddhism ,but also makes it stand out from other religious ways of nourishing supernatural abilities. Differences between these two spiritual forms likely are as follows: 1) Taoist alchemical theory tells us that there is a dose of yang called yang-jing (陽精) , hidden somewhere in our body that makes our existence and growth possible .All other stuff after our adolescence are yin-typed and subject to aging. An immortal Yangshen , therefore , can only be a mind or spirit nourished and uplifted by this secret yang -jing and the incoming primordial qi that it later brings in . Because of this , any methods or ways , not making use of the mentioned jing and qi to achieve a spiritual accomplishment , can hardly be anything yang, but a yinshen , regardless of whatever wonderful spiritual feeling or ability that it can give you . This is also the main argument , although not 100 % impartial , that Taoism blames Zen ( always in a polite way)and other similar religious ways , for their not following the Taoist jing-qi-shen way. For examples, way asking people to project their mind on an mirror so as to nourish their mental abilities; or way of singing the names of some unknown , unreliable spirits so as to speed up their practice ..etc. 2) Although both Yangshen and yinshen can exist outside the body , their freedom from physical limitations and their abilities in handling physical objects varied . For example, Yangshen can exist under sunlight , yinshen can't ; Yangshen can bring physical objects along with it and travel , a spirit which you unfortunately come across in an old ,worn hotel room , for example, its utmost ability likely is limited to turning on/off the lighting of your room or making some strange noises. 3) While Yangshen's leave of the physical body is a mature product of having enough jing and qi ( pre-heavenly) accumulated and nourished , some kind of deliberate effort ; yinshen , its departure from the body is a result of the depletion of jing and qi , an involuntary process. 4) Yangshen is free of entering and leaving the physical body at his own will , and can determine its own fate because it is an outcome of a deliberate cultivation ; on the other hand, a yinshen ,once left its physical base, can't determine its own fate or where to go .. , but succumbs to the karma brought along with itself from past lives. 5) Yangshen , is a great mindless Mind that go wherever he likes , explore whatever frontier he dares, split what forms he can ; yinshen , on the other hand ,is just a narrow spirit entangled by regrets, hatreds and attachments. P.S. One of the most confusing posts I ever wrote on this forum . Although having revised by me many times, its clumsiness can still be seen and since it seems difficult to be further improved, I just leave it what it is . Sorry to those who ever tried reading such a difficult piece..

From Taoist point of view, somewhat different from TCM's , both men and women's bodies at post-heavenly (後天) level are said to be yin , but with the sole yang , the essence of life, hidden in different places of their bodies ; so female practitioners should pay attention to different starting point and direction of qi in their practice , especially when doing their MCC...

In fact, recently, there are hot debates on many big Chinese websites about whether Tu's research is TCM related or not; 0r, she just adopts the western scientific method on studying a Chinese herb , nothing special .

It is called "Eight touch/feelings " (八觸) in Taoist/Buddhist terms , meaning that there are eight different feelings ( in fact, likely more than eight ) that people may feel at the initial stage of their practice: heavy, light , itching, moving, warm, cool, felt of being blocked..etc. Qi runs through different parts of our body gives rise to different feelings , it is especially true when it passes through those sicken parts; also different qualities of qi give us different feelings, for instance, higher quality of qi usually gives us a lighter feeling , lower quality of qi gives us a feeling of dull and heaviness ; higher quality of qi lets us feel it moving in a smooth and subtle way while lower quality qi gives us a feeling that it moves like muddy water..;

Whether there are classes of ways , some superb, some inferior , in Taoist cultivation is a controversial issue, however, because of its importance, we can't ignore it . In reality , there are different classes of ways in Taoist practice . Roughly speaking , we can divide them into low, middle and top classes . The criterion start from where and how we can initialize qi , what quality of it and how it is accumulated, up to whether we can upgrade it to Shen and the ways how we well tune their relation..etc. Low class of ways (下品) : these ways , more precisely speaking are methods ( 術 ) that look trivial ; those you can easily come across in books, megazine or online ; methods such as counting numbers to settle your mind, paying attention to your breathing , massaging certain acupoints or singing spells ..etc all belong to this category. Many of them can be classified as methods of medical qigong . Middle class of ways (中品): ways that ask you to pay attention to your lower dantian , focus your mind on upper dantian , visualize something, or absorb sun's yang from outside ..etc all belong to this category. Although these ways are not that bad and always effective to certain extent , the strength of how hard you use your mind is always the problem of them . For example , too strong a focus on the upper dantian can lead to high blood pressure ,and , an inappropriate use of mind on lower dantian can give rise to repeated nocturnal leakage of jing..etc. Top class of ways (上品) : these ways are always difficult to follow at initial stage , and their benefits emerge only after your having practiced them for years . They are those ways tell you to start by paying attention to the emptiness outside of your body ( i.e. the way of the West School ), or by focusing your mind on nowhere , or by visualizing something then nullifying its content..etc. They are the ways having a unique character that leads you to genuine forever youth, yet seldom can you come across them in your lifetime.

' Nowhere ' , in fact, can't be focused ; telling people to do the impossible job is to help them dissolving their minds, getting rid of the mentioned shackles and limits.

Yeah. To replace the existing mind by another mind , in whatever forms it might be , so as to attain high quality qi , is futile . All minds are the enemies of the primordial qi .

"Focusing your mind on nowhere " , the top way I mentioned , can be a starting point of practicing Wu wei ...

I mentioned that whether a way can initialize qi , and what quality of it being initialized , is one of the criteria to judge how good that way is . Counting numbers ,or counting whatever people like, can't help us initialize qi, the best it can do is to help us settling our fluctuated mind, so it is a method of low class. Although many people can initialize qi by focusing their mind on some place of their bodies , only few can initialize it by placing their mind in nowhere. Having our mind situated in nowhere and sustains it , such a capacity can lead us to shaking off those invisible shackles and limits , appear in varied categories and forms: social (e.g. saying that women can't become immortals ) , cultural (e.g. saying that aging is predetermined and natural ; even science can be a trap ) , spatial( e.g. perception of a boundary between our selves and the outside world) and time-related ( e.g. illusory perception of an existence of arrow of time : past, now and future...; bullshit people about living in the present moment..etc ) that we bear , which sadly are unknown to most of us . With a Mind of such achievement , we can enter the primordial dimension straight , and grasp the high-quality , primordial qi ( 先天氣 ) easier . In this sense, undoubtedly it is a top way.

At first look , it seems reasonable to argue that at different stages, people need different ways , and it is something natural . Some methods or ways , for example, visualization or focusing-your-mind-on-somewhere way, may do their jobs not bad at the beginning , yet you have to get rid of them quickly at later stage or on upper level,otherwise you may likely be trapped . Because in most cases, people can't change their habit or can't get such an insight , they just keep doing what they find effective before....they can't understand that what made them succeed or advance , can now become some kind of blockade , obstructing them from proceeding further. For example, as your practice proceeds, more and more jing and qi is accumulated in your body,and up to certain point , any leakage of it , even happened once for whatever negligence you make ,will become something fatal ; a continuous nocturnal leakage of jing for many nights, for example , is unmatched to such a leakage . As it becomes a life and death issue , and, a focus-to-something mind or a mind of visualization is no longer capable of giving you leverage to control such scenario, then a much greater Mind is asked to step in... So, different from the see-what-happen-and-change way , we can adopt another approach, ie, right from the very beginning we make use of a way/Mind capable of uplifting us to the highest level , despite the fact that it might look difficult to grasp ..

In most cases, no problem. I always try drinking different herbs / different combinations of herbs in order to test how true about them are written in the books . And I still survive here to talk with you guys . The key is you know the herbs well ; another key is the dose you drink : most herbs under 3 grams for adults are always no big problem..

Assume you now can initialize some qi, then the next thing you need to look into is its quality Low-quality qi is dull, like dirty water, and has low healing power .As the quality of it becomes better and better, you will sense lighter and more delicate stuff inside it. You likely also sense sex pleasure, warmth, even glow arise..(provided that they are not outcomes of your visualisation; please notice that visualisation is a two-edged sword, it may be good for you at initial stage to get something quick and something look effective , yet the extra use of your mind power ,its disadvantages are always more than its benefits). High-quality qi definitely can cure diseases ,even serious ones, and reverse ageing , not to speak of stopping it. High-quality qi likely is associated to an emptied Mind with sufficient qi and Jing embedded in it . In fact, as the qi you sense becomes more and more subtle and delicate , you comprehend more and more about its Shen ( spiritual ) aspect. And if you are a person who favours philosophical Taoism, then you may find that you now get more sympathy towards the "Religious Taoism"...

In fact, in Buddhism ,Daoism and Confucianism , although not exactly in the same sense, all have their respective implicit and explicit aspects/schools : In Buddhism we have exoteric Buddhism (顯教)such as the Pure Land school and esoteric Buddhism ; in Daoism we have medical qigong and philosophical Daoism as explicit , public aspects and its alchemy as secret side; in Confucianism , of course, the Confucian political theory and virtues as something explicit , and what we have been discussing here,or what hidden in Yi Jing, as its implicit aspects...

Thank you for reading my post .

Daozang (道蔵), the collection of nearly all Chinese Taoist writings, is a strange cultural achievement ; it is something wonderful , something unique for most of its content are about those principles , things and practical steps that if people read, believe and follow , they will be granted the special privileges , different from their fellows, to live in this world endlessly , not just in spiritual sense , but also in physical sense. However, for those Western readers who are interested in what the Chinese Taoism really says in its 2500-year history, Daozang is something , even by just scanning the titles of those works , too huge to start . Fortunatey , the fact is , only small part of it is worthy of intensive reading . Yet the problem is still there , even the so-called 'small part' is , still a huge volume too big to digest , not to mention the reality that no more than 1% of them are translated into English. I will select and translate some of them, and post here , hoping that some other people will follow. Based on my previous trial in initializing discussion on women alchemy on this forum , I tell myself that I should not expect too much...anyway, who know what will happen in the future as more and more people know the Chinese language ? Due to the lack of time and capability , I can only try those short , yet widely recognised as important ones , to start .

Thanks. In fact, part of the reasons that I do it is to practice my classical Chinese- to-English translation skills , not for kindness , you overestimate me