exorcist_1699

Different systems get different emphasizes and criteria to judge their own effectiveness . Qi and Jing are mainly for Daoism , not for the Buddhist cultivation . Likely the Buddhists , especially those followers of Zen's , will condemn Taoist putting emphasize on jing and qi as some kinds of attachment , barriers to attaining the Enlightenment. Light, its size and brightness, should be the main criteria for the Buddhist system as it starts straight from the emptied mind stuff, with exception if you follow the Esoteric or Pure Land school . In fact, asking silly question like "Who am I " , singing the name of the Buddha and paying attention to some kind of glow are all varied kinds of attachment that should be condemned . The best way is no way , the best path is no path , it is true if you get the mind to handle that kind of paradox .

" I got into some parallel universe and have no more afflictions or attachments, or even base desires. " The cleanest way likely be Zen's as it does it in an one-stroke, no-step and no-form way . Otherwise, likely most people in the end fall back to their original state. Besides, aging in the long run secretly makes people mediocre regardless of whatever great spiritual experience they ever came across.

It is much easy to fall than to rise , to degenerate than to sublimate ; Another question might be if all your jing turned into qi , it happens whatever qigong you adopt if you do it well , then of course it means your having suspended your reproductive ability unintentionally . Fortunately it is not irreversible , mainly because degeneration is always what people incline to . On the contrary, maintaining at a much higher spiritual/ energetic level needs persistent efforts , which always ends in failure . People need to know the mechanism , always said to be the key(s), to lock such a conversion .

Before proving whether physical immortality is possible or not, people need to try stopping and reversing the aging process ; if people can't reverse aging , then it is senseless to talk about physical immortality . Fortunately , to prove whether aging process can be reversed or not is not that complicated and only takes you few weeks time , say , you indulge yourself few weeks in overnight wine drinking, sex , online games..etc , then you get a withered face with some wrinkles .., then you try using Taoist way to reverse it..; so the success or not of that reversing method can only cheat you few weeks not long ; besides, the proof of whether physical-immortality feasible is more reliable than those spiritual-enlightenment ways as you can see its effects easily , hardly will it waste you years of time , even a whole lifetime . A very long life span also grants you enough time and energy to explore the spiritual arena , the secret of the universe and complicated issues like time, dimensions, gravity , AI ..etc, which are all related ; the so-called Meng first, Xing later principle is really more significant for most people .

Thousands of quotes can be found in traditional Taoist writings, which I am not going to quote here. A big trunk of Taoism is related to medical qigong, which can easily give people some curing powers, then by using it to affect others , to initialize a movement or uprisings , which repeated appeared in the Chinese history . This is one of the reasons why Taoists are reluctant to meddle affairs in society .

I think as long as the contents are not quoted by others in a polemic , it is okay to do so . Taoists have been persecuted by different kinds of regimes in its 2500-year history, no matter it was from the Communists or from those Emperors ; as long as qi really exists , some people will discover it , refine it and make use it to discover the secret of this universe. Its secular expressions or feedback , whether it be a philosophical theory to be loved by scholars , or as a medical system used by doctors to cure patients , even as a religion to be worshiped by the mass , in relatively not so important .

I think traditional attitude of Taoism towards this issue likely is quite different from what people think . No meddling with politics or earthly affairs is what they adopt. It is same as an attitude of a field biologist adopted not meddling with affairs among those groups of chimpanzee that he is studying in a forest despite his understanding that the chimpanzee might be his close relatives. Nor there is any necessity for him to show off his skill of controlling a drone flying through the dense forest to them .

Mencius says : " 萬物皆備於我矣" ("All things are there well prepared for my coming.. " ). How splendid such a saying is ! Yet hardly can it be true for most people unless he is a guy who is born in a royal or a very rich family ; in fact, most things and forces around us when we come to this world appeared as things hostile : Strong wind and rain make you uncomfortable , bacteria makes us sick ; people jealous of our achievements discourage us , having no jobs for few months makes us starve..etc. However, the guy who says this is no liar or superficial guy for Mencius , the second saint next to Confucius , is a person who claims himself nourish qi not solely for circulating around his own body , but qi that is special as he tells us : "吾善浩然之氣, 至大至剛..塞于天地之間" ( " I am good at nourishing expansive qi, so immense , so strong ,..that it fills the whole universe ") If all things are composed of qi , then by using our own qi in quest for qi outside , making them serve our purpose with ease because of their similarity ( "同氣相求") ,we can say that things exist there well prepared for our coming.

Same as Taoist and Buddhist qi gong , Confucian qi gong is another important school in the Chinese tradition . Instead of starting from emptiness (Buddhist ) or jing (Taoist ), the Confucians starts from morals. Capable of transforming people's moral drive ( e.g, courage to rescue the people in danger , the determination to stand out and criticize all those evils...etc ,) into qi , hold it and expand it , is the main characteristics of the Confucian way. The upgrade of your moral level will enhance the power of your qi ; a good man is also a very powerful man . What in the West is only handled by philosophy and religion , and, always entangled by those philosophical and theological reasoning , morals , when being put in the hands of the Confucians , are used for initiating qi .

Most people can't directly access the " ultimate jing of the universe" because there are physical( bodily ) and spiritual boundaries that limit them , however, they can access the internalized form of that jing , now called Yuan-jing ( " 元精 ", the original jing) after its having entered the body , via paying attention to their lower abdomen. After having tasted that initial doze of qi arising there , they should then shift to " polishing" ( ie by not polishing * ) their mind into some kind of mindless Mind as the immense jing and qi outside definitely can't be accessed through the minds stuffed with earthly impurity . With quality of qi as the counter-checking criterion, they can check whether their mind are doing it correctly , much reliable than what we see in Zen Koans ( those silly questions and answers mainly talk about different levels of emptiness/ spiritual achievement that only insiders/ practitioners understand, hardly anything meaningful for outsiders or people not adopting their ways..) . * By not polishing : first you pay attention to it , then you ignore such "an attention" , then you forget ever having such "an ignorance"...; no worry whether you can grasp it as in that process your qi will lend you a hand .Don't forget that inside qi there is some delicate , clever stuff called shen waiting for you to provide help.

Tao is certainly related to jing, qi and shen , it is through them that Tao is embodied and expressed in this world , reading writings like Chung tzu and Huangdi Nei Jing ( which lays the foundation of TCM and acupuncture ) ...etc. will tell people this clearly . And attaining qi , which is limitless and everywhere , implies the possibility of physical immortality. Of course, some people may only like some of its philosophical implication , not anything practical , which is nothing wrong . These people are like visitors who visit a diamond mine and admire how beautiful it is , then leave it without bringing anything precious out . On the other hand , there are some other visitors who not only admire the beauty of the mine, but they can dig and bring with them many previous stones when leaving .

Let say you get a malicious tumor in your brain , right inside your consciousness , and it develops quickly daily , can you , by using your mind only , to squeeze it , burn it , chop it off..because it is that close , that touchable ? The true is , by whatever ways of visualizing or mind concentration of getting rid of it , you likely fail . Not only because when you were told by the doctor of the existence of the brain cancer scared you , plunged you into great panic that makes you confused and discouraged , but also because the gap between the mind and the tumor is so far away beyond reach despite of its being "inside you " . Maybe some medium inbetween is needed ? Say if you deal with it from a Taoist way, from a way related to jing and qi, then the result can be very different. In TCM , Taoist expression in medicine , our brain is called "髓海 " (" Sea of marrow") , which is linked to our spine and down to the lowest part of our body where our yang-qi arises. In fact, our spine and brain is just the material expression that some mammals developed in order to get a higher form of shen . Capable of sublimate jing into qi , even then qi into shen ( the so-called "reversing jing upwards so as to nourish the brian " (' 還精補腦 ' ) )will definitely help you healing diseases in your brain , more effective than just using some kind of visualization or mind concentration , which is something still entangled in the realm of daily consciousness, some kind of yin-typed of mind . This likely is also true for nerve damage when people hurt their spinal cord. In fact it is very difficult for you to visualize your nerve cells to regenerate themselves because they differentiated and become too mature, you need some more "original" , more basic cells , the so-called stem cells, to do the job . In terms of Taoist medical treatment , no life force is more original , delicate and effective than jing and qi provided that you fulfill some precondition : In that status of paralysis and pain, you still get a clear mind , not a defeatist mind , and can initialize qi even in a lying down posture, which is much more difficult than a sitting one.

As a guy who has been experiencing the disasters of two epidemics caused by first the SARS virus , then currently the Coronavirus, I am confident to say that qi is something that makes you virus-proof . I was living just 20 meters from the most infected Estate , the Amoy Garden where in just one block of it 40 persons were killed, when the SARS epidemic struck Hong Kong in 2003 . I never worried wearing any medical mask although I always went to the mentioned estate for visits, sometimes deliberately to test the qi inside me. Nor do I get any mask to wear in recent days when hundreds or thousand of people , fear of the new Coronavirus , are before dawn queuing up in front of dispensaries for buying some medical masks before they open . Epidemic ,the more serious it is,the better for qigong practitioners to test their competency. Qi definitely can kill virus, whatever forms they are in , or whatever forms they are going to change into . It simply is because qi is more " fundamental " than DNA of living things , and represents the utmost life energy . For example , when your PC is attacked by computer virus and stops working , and after many efforts to cure it you fail, then the final solution you think of is to format your hard disk and make it return to its original status , that basic series of 0011001110..( yin and yang in the case of Qi ) appeared as some kind of software stationed in the MBR of the hard disk..

Welcome back, anyway.

Some ideas : Before attaining yang shen , it seems there are two things you not mention: 1) a persistent emptied Mind 2) embryonic breathing You can't just rely on qi in your meridians or dantian, to do the job, for they are still yin-typed of qi ; what you need is yang qi from embryonic breathing. However , in order to get embryonic breathing , you need to be able to sustain a persistent emptied Mind. Sustain a persistent emptied Mind ( ie Xing gong ) can also solve jing leakage , including nocturnal , problems ; so it is always viewed as quite a one-stroke solution to many troubles . A persistent emptied Mind will definitely enable you an embryonic breathing , some yang qi , which is the precondition for attaining a yang shen .

Hi, Nothing seems to be significant about my qigong practice. If there were some , I already posted them here . Most of them are reflections when I read the Chinese classical qigong/TCM/acupuncture writings and their applications on my or acquaintances' bodies .

Thanks your concern. Hardly do I view it as any kind of achievement at all . Only because I need some examples to elaborate my points do I mention them .

Likely people who , at the initial stage of their capability of mobilizing qi , will find themselves begin to heal some minor disease like a cold or some ringworm(mold) on hip ; it then proceeds to heal more serious ringworm between toes , heal hemorrhoids and other not malicious tumors ; Furthermore it can be something like syphilis (bacteria) and serious epidemic like bird flu( virus ) ,then cancer.. , so it can be many forms. Qi is nourished from jing , so its healing power is proportional to the quality of jing inside ; as we always do many things in daily life to undermine our life energy , so qi's power can be fluctuating. How good the quality of our qi power can be judged by the following : 1) Whether there is sex pleasure or heat arisen when your qi is mobilized? 2) Whether there is a light, delicate flow of current , inside or around your body , instead of your sensing only something dull and heavy ? 3) Whether you find your qi expand , eliminate your sense of the body boundary and make you feel immersing yourself with the outside world..etc. Of course, there are also spiritual proofs say whether qi makes you sustain an emptied mind much easier ; the appearance of some dot/shape of light unintentionally before you , not necessarily in front of your eyes..etc . A simpler form of qi healing can be just a projection of your spirit , it may looks similar to other religions' ; for example, some Christian clergy , totally not known of any qi theory, just via praying , can do some healing on people. However, from the standpoint of Taoism , any healing ability has to be sustained by jing and qi, so as the healer gets older or overuses his power , he may lose it ( In fact, this is true for all supernatural abilities , not necessary healing power ) . I think the significance of Taoist jing-qi-shen path of gaining healing power is to show people a more touchable, controllable series of steps of how it arises, sublimates then turn into purer spiritual form, preventing people from falling into Mysticism .

Thanks your concern. I am still in HK . Medical masks have become something so precious that I think better leave others who really need them to have it .

Thanks. Qi is in fact from emptiness, so of course more basic than any other forms of livings. However, in the area of modern science, people are accustomed to separating subjects of knowledge and technology, and cannot understand Taoist approach. Physicsts Hawking and Feymann get different diseases and suffered from them , yet nobody will think that because they are experts in black hole, gravitation, sub-particles ..., the basic stuff of this universe , then they should be able to cure themselves and not going to see doctors who are experts in dealing with things mainly at other levels say cell and molecular levels.. In the case of qigong practice , we get a very strange approach: once people can mobilise qi, and can sustain an emptied mind for minutes ,for example, then they start to get their fate in their own hands , not relying on other so-called experts. Qi is so basic, just with a correct grasp of shen, it becomes god-like and solve all our problems ; how strange an approach it is .

Taoism emphasizes jing and qi , and pays attention to the bodily changes , so there are "secrets " of Ming gong(practice) . Buddhism, ignoring Esoteric Buddhism here, is mainly a pure spiritual practice so hardly does it recognize any " secret " to find in order to gain a leap forward . There are only varied levels of the emptied Mind you have to attain , and whether you get a higher/ deeper one or not can only be confirmed by your sifu who had before you attained such a level . I think likely Taoist one is more full and meets what people really experience for what we eat , what we drink , how we sleep.. all affect our practice . Ming and Xing gong ( a series of deepening , emptied minds..s ) are in fact difficult to separate ; Taoist criticism on Buddhist way is reasonable and must not be ignored. Jing and Qi are too important to be mistaken as just "forms " ( "相" ) that people are vulnerable to be trapped in . In fact , Taoist Ming gong is not that secret ,especially after a modern guy Zhao pi-zhen( 趙避塵, 1860- ) , who belongs to the Wu-Liu school, had written so much about it explicitly that anyone can google it by Chinese . It is more a problem of low Chinese language ability of the Western people than a problem of so-called Chinese Taoists sticking to their vanity of keeping secrets not releasing them to others..

Likely it is true. However , reading " The Journey to the West " does need very high Chinese ability , especially those Taoist poems at the beginning of each chapter .

Our life is in fact a struggle between the spiritual( Shen) and the physical ( jing +qi) forces , and they fight with each other in every minute of it. The Taiji diagram already shows us its meaning : People get the need to masturbate either because the have accumulated too much jing ( physical side stronger) or because they are in depression, confusion .., for example, if their girlfriends run away from them, or they get fired, or playing too much online games..etc, that is , they are in spiritually low , depleted status .., then in either case , the balance is broken and you have the lust gets an upper hand ,so, you succumb to your lust.. Besides , it is not when people are in an awake status that they have to pay attention to , but say, in sleeping or whatever status or form it be , as long as jing is lost , then it is fatal and you lose. All other means to tame , say not watching porn videos, getting a bath of cold water when you get strong desire, not eating spicy food..etc are all trivial , not thorough . So difficult it is that although Taoist alchemy claims "capable of retaining jing gives people forever life" looks seemingly not so significant , hardly can people succeed in taming that beast inside. Nor the direct-qi-from-lower-dantian-upwards way be the solution because you are till using an ordinary mind's way to treat the problem . In fact, a deep emptied Mind is its through solution ( thorough treatment of unclean jing and qi ) as what the I-Ching says : "君子終日乾乾，反復道也"

Yeah. But I know not much about other Yoga/Tantra and other dharmic practices. Maybe they have their unique expressions.

After thousands years of arguments and interactions among those Buddhist and Daoist practitioners in deep caves and on mountain tops, some theoretical integration does come out from the Daoists ,and it looks something easy and effective, at least to some people . I try to simplify some aspect of it related as follows: Integrate Daoist jing-qi- shen framework with Zen's abrupt , emptied Mind ( not other Buddhist emptied minds) gives you a good combination of those good components from these systems. As Daoist way of accumulating jing and qi makes attaining that series of emptied mind =>Mind easy and natural , people no longer need to deliberately search for it ( a deliberate search definitely fails and blocks you ); conversely , the attained emptied mind=>Mind helps you understand what the trap of attaching to jing and qi means and helps you releasing from it . In fact , attachment to them is the main reason why people's practice stagnant and the reason why big troubles arisen. In a word, combining Daoist jing-qi-shen framework with the Zen's emptied Mind gives you some kind of benign / positive interaction that benefits your practice most .