allan-in-china

Hi everyone, My name is Allan. I am originally from Australia, but now I live in China. Over here I've been lucky enough to have the opportunity to study with a number of authentic taoists, and I am currently studying meditation and tai chi chuan quite intensively. I have made a website with a bit about my experiences studying here, and what I've learned. Hopefully it will help you. It is www.china-feel.com I'm trying to pass on the great luck I have been given, so we can all grow. Unfortunately due to my perfectionistic tendencies, the page grows quite slowly - but consistently!! Happy Chinese New Year! Allan PS. Sean thanks for the help with the email address trouble!

Thank you GrandTrinity! I really appreciate that. But don't jump to conclusions too fast!! I didn't help establish Winn or Kali in China, Lisa just helped them arrange tours, and she wasn't the first person to help them. Winn is a great businessman and he was the man who established it. Lisa first met Michael through a mutual friend called Wu Zhongxian who I believe teaches in the US now. She met Wu Zhongxian through her Tibetan Buddhist teacher. So that tour (I think it was 2000) Lisa helped Michael with guiding. Then they got along well, so Michael asked Lisa to help with some of the arrangements: booking hotels, plane tickets, recommendations etc. Then Lisa met Kali through one of Michael's tours. And then I step in some time later around 2002. So they are actually working with Lisa not me, I'm just around in the background, giving suggestions occasionally because I've travelled quite extensively over here. Lisa is the one with virtue, I'm doing my best to keep up! Thanks for the comments on the site, working the basics hard is the only real secret I have found, and I believe patience is the ultimate virtue. Ok one of the ultimate virtues, but necessary to real success. Maybe the ultimate beginner's virtue?? My understanding from my teacher is, master the first meditation, and after this point I have the impression that things change, but getting the first meditation mastered is the real key or at least the first key(??). And I don't know what is beyond the first meditation yet. When I get there, the important stuff will go on the site.. (Ok have to say, finding a good teacher to work with you personally is really important, this in my opinion is another basically critical key, but the good thing is there are enlightened people everywhere if you know what to look for, although finding one teaching the art you want to learn isn't necessarily easy...) And thank you Trunk, I like your site too! It's a nice additional tool and the information on the gaps in the system is really valuable. One other thing, I'm not sure why, but I can't access your website through the www.alchemicaltaoism.com link, but if I click through the precisiondocs.com/~altaoism link, I can get there, just something you may want to know... Thank you Freeform and Michael, I've read a few of your posts and you are both obviously very intelligent, I look forward to our discussions together. Thank you Jeremiah, beautiful photos. You have got to love Huashan! That is an amazing place. The site is a sort of living document, the pages on it are always changing because I often have realisations. Sort of out of nowhere, just sitting, or just practicing tai chi, and then bang, ohhhhh, now I understand what he meant by that, and then it goes on the site... (so check back occasionally or if you guys use rss that's available too, I've actually put another 2 pages on the site since announcing it here, and I've got a few in the works..) So the site is entirely limited by my own understanding of what my teachers have taught me, but I'm working hard, and hopefully we can all learn together. Thank you guys for the feedback, and any thoughts or criticism of the site is welcome, I am sure I have blindspots which you guys have already cleared up, and if they are obvious please let me know. By the way GrandTrinity you are a Dirk Oellibrandt fan right? I've been lucky enough to meet him, and he is a fantastic man. Allan

Pietro, no offense intended, I put the notes "I'm guessing, I've had no contact with either" in front to indicate exactly that. I have no idea what Liu was interested in. I can only guess by what he taught... And I only have a very basic knowledge of what he taught, I am only guessing from what has been presented in this thread. This is only based on my belief that clear qi channels doesn't equal enlightenment. Which as I was saying could be wrong. And your point that he has the responsibility to pass the whole information of a sect to the next person is very correct. I have read Bruce's book on the internal arts and was impressed, it was one of the reasons I started studying them. I also read his opening the energy gates in the body and it doesn't really appeal to me. I'm not saying it is incorrect, I'm just saying it isn't my cup of tea... The standing is good, but I don't believe in focusing on individual acupuncture points, I'm more of a believer in one focus, and the rest cleans itself up, and that is what I've been taught and what has worked for me... Let me say one more time for the record that, it is what works for me, and that doesn't mean it is true for everyone. The thing that most appeals to me about the one focus rather than 200 postures is it's simple. And complex things confuse me. I can imagine the 200 postures would only be usable once you had actually got your mind out of the way. I think anything that brings the mind too into the picture is dangerous, because how can you know which posture you need to do next?? My belief is just relax into the one posture and let the rest happen naturally, anything more complex and my brain can't handle it... But I can imagine Bruce and his teacher are much closer to enlightenment than me, so what do I know? I'm sorry if I upset you. Anyways, Cameron, I found that Wang Xiangzhai book I was looking talking about it's called "the tao of yiquan" by jan diepersloot. He started xingyiquan when he was 8, when he got up in the morning he would start standing, his uncle (and teacher) Guo Yunshen would get up later, and if the floor was not sufficiently wet from perspiration Wang would have to stand until Guo was satisfied the floor was wet enough. I'm not sure how or when he became "self-realised as a martial artist" but it was at or before he was 28. So about 20 years... Although he kept getting better after that, but by that stage he had at least had some sort of breakthrough. The book says: Wang Xiangzhai mentioned that there were many different types of standing stances, but his idea was to take the essence and combine them into one calling it the universal stance. Allan

I agree, the only secret I have learned is there are no secrets, only patience. What I have read about Wang Xiangzhai is he started standing practice from when he was about 8, and practiced for many hours a day for decades. Then he reached what has been translated as his enlightenment through martial arts. I've read, what he described for standing practice was basically put you arms in any position in front of your chest and stick with it, he didn't really seem to have any specific postures. I've been taught briefly by an Yiquan practitioner over here to put my arms in front of my chest and stay there, he didn't say anything about more than one posture, he showed me one and one only. I believe the big secret is taking one practice and running with it. There may be postures that open channels in your brain or whatever, but who cares? Just pick 1 (or 4?) and stick with it. Chances are the two people's comments don't vibe because (I'm guessing, I've had no contact with either) BP Chan was aiming for enlightenment and Bruce's teacher was interested in special powers. I personally prefer enlightenment, the rest are just toys to play with... Although I could be completely wrong... Allan

Check your local chinese supermarkets, they often sell packets of prepared herbs to go with the chicken soup. The herbs are my favourite part.

Chicken soup is very popular in China. Said to be very good for health, feels like it too. Allan

I agree standing is quite a good practice for martial arts, health and grounding. Going off on a tangent here, in China they say "Xing Yi Quan - 2 years and you can kill people; Tai chi chuan - 10 years and you haven't even started" Basically Yiquan, comes from Xing Yi Quan so I can assume it would roughly be the same. And the pace with tai chi chuan is also related to training methods, and focus... Nice. Allan

Hi Thaddeus, Mr Chen is a Quanzhen taoist monk from Huashan, though he is moving around a lot at the moment. Actually it is Chinese New Year over here so chances are he is with his family. He was a chinese medicine major in university quite a few years ago, but instead of going to practice he became a taoist. Sorry I can't fill in the blanks due to what I was talking about before, the lack of guidance. I simply don't have the ability to guide anyone through these processes... In person, or over the internet. And especially not in a public forum. Besides if your thinking is correct, you will be able to take the practices in the west and really make something of them. (try to find some stillness in them, and don't worry about spinning anything, or playing with spirits - that stuff in my understanding is more advanced, non-core work) My aim with the site is to transmit what I can of the thinking side of practice, because I feel that in the mainstream taoist presentation there is a real lack, the west already has an abundance of techniques... I certainly don't want to throw any more things in to confuse people even more... My understanding is taoism is about simplification. Basically take a technique and stick with it. Just listening to your breathing is enough, and exactly what Mr Chen recommends to people who he can't teach directly - he said that technique can let you enter the gate (ok direct translation, I have no idea how to translate it into English - but maybe think of it like in martial arts when someone gets a black belt people say, ok now they are a real beginner; going through the gate is like becoming a real beginner) and can take you from there to very high levels. Take care, Allan

I'm studying tai chi chuan in China at the moment with a good yang style teacher... From what he has said: you can't really say anything about which martial art is better than another, you can only talk about which practitioner is better... I love to talk about how tai chi chuan is fantastic and internal martial arts are much better than external martial arts, but really if you put me in a competition with a good external martial artist, then I would get kicked... I personally think that at the highest levels internal martial arts are superior to external, but reaching those levels is only done by about 1 in 100,000 practitioners anyway... But external martial arts can also be done in an internal manner, so ... In my opinion the movement from external to internal is natural, I personally just prefer the way tai chi chuan focusses on being internal from the beginning. You really improve your health from the inside out and have the benefit of becoming a functional martial artist at the same time (if you have a good teacher...) External works from the outside in... Both work, just depends on your personality I guess, what do you like... Allan

Hey Ian, Thanks for the post on humility, what you said was really helpful, I've got big issues in this area too... When I compare what I am practicing with so many other practices, I seem to say well they are wrong, what I have learned must be right. Somewhere in Lie zi (Lieh zi - it is one of the three main books of taoism, with dao de jing, and zhuang zi) it says something like when I went to my teacher I didn't have opinions on anything, he ignored me; after 3 years I was always saying what was good and what was bad, he smiled at me; after ..(something and then he called me to sit next to him)... after 12 years I didn't know what was right or wrong anymore, I didn't know who or where I was, or whether I even had a teacher... This is a bit of a butchering of the quote, but I think I've got the idea I was trying to convey across (and hopefully the correct meaning of the quote..argh). So basically I think this arrogance is a stage we all have to go through, I'm definitely very arrogant in the meditation and tai chi chuan areas at the moment... I know for a fact (...) that I am right and everyone else is wrong, right until my teacher sets me in line again, anyway... Cheers, I'll do my best to keep it in check too... Allan

Oh yeah one more thing... What I have learned about ego has all been about increasing awareness of your actions. Energy work on your ego doesn't really seem to work that well, although stillness does dissolve ego a bit from experience... Although I can say after longer periods of meditation, my ego has a tendency to flare up (I'm assuming because it is under fire, and wants to get back in control). The more I meditate the more humble I seem to become, at least it seems that way to me, people around me may certainly disagree.. What I have been taught for dealing with ego is quite similar to christian stuff saying sorry to god (choose your god, taoists get a whole pantheon!) for things you have done wrong... basically being more and more aware of what I am doing, thinking, being... Allan

Hey Sean, In response to your first post here, the beginning meditation I was taught was an emptiness meditation, but it also had the expansive quality you talk about as feminine. It was one pointed, but expanded out from there... And the result was sort of all-inclusive emptiness... I'm just guessing here, but taoist practices emphasise the yin-yang, maybe it is a combination of both. As they say, inside yin, you find true yang, and vice versa. My teacher described the meditation as a yang type meditation, which he said is the beginning foundation. I haven't mastered it yet, so I haven't moved onto the next, but I assume the next will be yin, but I could be completely wrong there... Allan

Hi guys, I've been studying over here in China, and I've put up quite a bit of the important things I've learned on my website: www.china-feel.com. I hope it helps you. Gives you a bit of an alternative view, after I started studying here, I gave up the practices I learned in the west. (Nothing wrong with the practices, but I feel that the guidance is a bit inadequate, could be completely wrong though...) Please feel free to give me feedback on it too, I'm also learning, and any places you can point out things that seem wrong to you, or holes in my awareness would be great! Cheers, Allan