Walker

There is much to be said in response to many of the posts here, and I'll try to cover as much as I can, in no particular order. YMWong is absolutely right, your first concern is the visa situation. His question about whiteness and having a TEFL cert implies this: if you have both of those things, getting into China on a teacher's visa is very, very easy. If you are not white, you almost certainly need a TEFL; if you are white, you might not. Or, you could get a student visa through a Mandarin school and work part-time--most likely, again, as a teacher--while you learn language and pursue spiritual interests in your spare time. There is no monk visa, though, and I doubt there will be any time soon. If you put in a lot of years in China, other doors might open to you (ie, the owner of a company hooks you up or you get married), but you will almost certainly need to know Chinese first. As you can already see in point 1, learning the language is extremely important. Knowing Mandarin opens many doors, partly because it shows your dedication, partly because the fact is that one needs the language to transmit the knowledge of Daoism (as to whether cultivation skill can be transmitted without using the language, there are those who say that they developed skill in China without being able to speak the language. I cannot comment, as I know Chinese, and quite possibly have no skill!) Wudang. The actual temples in Wudang are legally forbidden from allowing foreigners to live inside, and are strict about this rule, though, as it is China, I can imagine that exceptions have been made before. Almost all of the foreigners there are students at various kung-fu academies, of which there are many, and within which, from what I understand, it is unlikely that you will find a real transmission of Daoist cultivation practice. A story: a friend of mine is a very talented martial artist from Europe who spent about a year on Wudang. At some point his girlfriend wanted to visit, but she is not a martial artist. Fortunately, the website of his school said that she could come and pay to learn Taoist meditation and qigong instead of martial arts. She paid her tuition and traveled halfway around the world but was surprised to be taught only martial arts. Gradually her frustration grew, as, after all, the website explicitly said that she would be taught to meditate, and this is what she paid her Euros for. Finally, she made an appointment to talk to the teacher via translator. She showed him a copy of The Secret of the Golden Flower and, from what I understand, very sternly told the teacher that this is what she came to China to learn. He was very uncomfortable and promised that her education in Daoist meditation would begin the very next day. The meeting ended... The teacher never spoke to her again for the rest of her stay. She learned nothing. The teacher in question is one of the most famous on Wudang. From what I understand from having spoken to students from other academies, including Chinese youths who spent much of their teens there, spiritual cultivation is not on any curriculum. Actual internal martial skill, if it is taught there, is probably very hard to come by. All of that said, however, I add this: there are some Daoists on Wudang who are regarded as having real achievement, for whatever hearsay is worth. Actually getting to study with one is no guarantee to anybody and many, many factors would come into play if you were to be able to. A foreigner on a quick visit who has no Chinese would be very, very lucky to meet such a teacher. The White Cloud Monastery in Beijing. Nowadays they are indeed offering Daoist education to foreigners of all colors. Don't get too excited. The training is to become a ritual master. Traditionally, this training can take years or even decades, and requires one to be able to directly interact with the Heavens if ritual is to be real. The Westerners who come to this new program get to be certified ritual masters in just one or two easy weeks, and they don't even speak Chinese. Sooner or later graduates will probably start to show up on this forum, I imagine. As for the actual monks there, we are talking about a big mix, ranging from those who brazenly flaunt every last stricture, even within the temple walls, to a few who might be true masters. Whether in Beijing, on Wudang, or anywhere else where tourists run amok, you will have a hard time finding a teacher--though, of course, it is not impossible. Learn the language and get ready to stay in China for a lot of years if you want the possibility to be realistic. ChiDragon speaks his typical nonsense when he says that only foreigners frequent Daoist temples. There are no shortage of Chinese who are there, including to pray, solitic ritual services, ask advice of the adepts, make donations, and so forth. There are less famous and nearly-unknown, out of the way places where it is reputed that real cultivation in a monastic environment takes place. I have stayed in one such place, and it was very different from a famous holy mountain or a busy, big city temple. Getting an in at such a place, as well as staying there, of course requires many factors, again including visas, language ability, recommendations, fate, etc. Beware the many spiritual charlatans, who range from those who might harm you outright to those who will simply waste your time and/or money Beware people, including those in Daoist and Buddhist raiments, who will view your foreignness as nothing more than a tool to be leveraged in their walks towards fame and money, and who will brazenly use you Some Westerners who wear the clothes of Daoists and claim lineage literally bought their lineages. Be aware of this fact if you seek the advice of Western Daoists Another story. Another European friend of mine with fluent Chinese and many years' experience living in China found himself, via introduction, friendly with the abbot of a Quanzhen temple on a lesser holy mountain. Trips back and forth solidified his relationship with them and they helped him find a visa and allowed him to live on mountain. He had to teach English in return, but got to live with the Daoists. He found that they spend their days feasting with various local politicos after they are swept off the mountain in Mercedes Benz and Audi motorcades; drinking and smoking cigarettes; and playing Go (apparently they are really good at Go haha). They openly scorned practitioners who have anything but wuwei practices, and said that the only real key to Daoism is relaxing and being in the moment, at all times. Therefore, he was labeled as uptight and attached to false notions of cultivation, and later recieved a hearty slap on the back when he finally loosened up and started smoking with them. He told me that on the mountain he realized how Laozi came up with the idea of wuwei; it was because Laozi was a rich man living in the upper crust of his society who spent all his days wining and dining with the wealthy to-do of his time, and naturally enough developed a philosophy useful to a man of leisure. My friend has dressed in Daoist clothes and been introduced as a monk at banquets, even though he is not a monk. He asked his teacher to teach him in the way that Wang Liping is said to have practiced in Open the Dragon Gate, and his teacher said that nobody wants to practice like that any more. This friend has also gotten to travel around China and meet various people said to be masters, some of whom he hopes will be able to open the door to real Daoist cultivation to him. Will he find what he is looking for? I don't know. Is life as a foreigner interested in spirituality in China riddled with complexity, especially whilst one is seeking? Yes, absolutely.

Gerard, have you ever come across videos of accomplished practitioners whose feet are completely flat both when they leave the ground and then return to it (ie, instead of rolling the foot when lifting it and/or putting it down?) The importance of keeping the foot flat, especially when lifting it, has been heavily emphasized to me by a teacher in Shanghai, and my suspicion from my own beginners' practice is that this difficult point, if it can be successfully adhered to, stimulates the entire yin qiao mai 阴跷脉 when the foot is lifted. Rolling the foot, therefore, exerts a very different effect on the qi of the body. Considering that Dong Haichuan emphasizes keeping the foot flat in the songs, I am always a bit perplexed as to why so few teachers seem to include this practice. What I refer to can be seen starting at 1:19 or so here: http://www.56.com/u54/v_NjUyMjM3ODY.html Additionally, have you come across videos with practitioners whose chests consistently face the center of the circle, and not just their heads and arms? The importance of this point was emphasized to me in Beijing by a member of the Baguazhang Research Association, a man in his mid-sixties in incredible shape, who, to illustrate his point, stood up, and with his feet parallel and facing in one direction, twisted his entire body so that his chest was relaxedly facing the exact opposite direction, 180 degrees away! (I know of no videos of this man online, nor could I find record of his name online--he could also touch his elbow to his foot while sitting, with his leg straight... pretty flexible for a guy in his sixties!). Part of the reason this twist is so important, he said, is that it results in a massage of all the internal organs. I have heard, also, that students of Pei Xirong in Shanghai used to practice this twist to such a degree that their chests were facing behind them while they walked the circle. If you observe most videos, however, the practitioners' chests face in the direction they are walking.

Indeed, Chen Yingning's influence was great. Many authors view he and disciple Hu Haiya's opinions as to the the authenticity of texts important, and Chen's writings are still widely read to this day. He was also trained in Chinese medicine and left behind works in this field. I was most fascinated by an essay he wrote on the potential use of spontaneous skill (自发功 zifagong) in healthcare settings. Hu Haiya is still alive at 99, and Chen Yingning has a grand disciple who is a famous TCM doctor.

I agree that one needs a teacher. The details one must be aware of are extremely numerous and often quite subtle. It is all too easy to think you are doing it right, or even think you are doing it very well, when in fact you are way off the mark. There is also the problem that in many if not most videos online the teachers and students you see are just walking in a circle, not walking _the_ circle. Studying their videos may lead you astray--don't think that just because you feel very good or even meditative after walking in a circle that what you are doing is going to help you learn baguazhang. One can can enter deep relaxation from walking in a circle in many manners which are simply not baguazhang. All of the above I say from experience. Mastery in three months? As likely as finding a unicorn's horn, but I won't say impossible.

Indeed, I have noticed your posts, and I think that reading Longchenpa is invaluable. I am not really qualified to lead a discussion on his work though, but felt it might be worth it to bring him up here because, well, if people don't wanna take your word for it, maybe they'll take his haha. Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding, as I believe it's called, is also excellent. My main Daoist teacher has occasionally said things that sound like they could have been lifted from the pages of that book; things you are saying here, as well.

Longchenpa

I prefer running into guys like 扯淡Dragon in the park or on holy mountains in China, rather than online, where anonymity makes them more pernicious. There are plenty of them, and usually they wait till everybody I practice with has gone home, when finally they approach me to say, "your teacher has it all wrong, I have the real path" or, "your posture is not correct." Invariably when I ask for a demonstration, various excuses appear. That's when I know: 纸上谈兵 and 纸上谈玄. A very popular set of pastimes in China, actually. One guy tried to get me to study with his great ultimate master. Couple years later great ultimate master's unusual techniques had him meditating in the snow shirtless till he was shitting blood and on the verge of death. And this fellow still thinks he knows the secrets of cultivation. Delusion is bad enough. Delusion desperately seeking a following... Sigh.

I had a chance to ask one friend yesterday. He is a taijiquan teacher who studied off and on with the late Master Nan during the last twelve or more years, and he lived intermittently at the Taihu Lake Hall of Great Learning (太湖大学堂), which was Master Nan's seat in recent years. As soon as I mentioned my question he knew what I was talking about and said, yes, one can visualize the skull upsidedown within the chest cavity if one has high blood pressure. He said that people who do not have high blood pressure should not practice this way. He also said that this modification is Master Nan's own (not, "a crazy ancient Daoist or whoever's") and does not appear in Buddhist Sutras. Finally, he said that although many people who studied with Master Nan know the the white skeleton visualization practice, not that many actually use it. As I bump into them I can ask other friends who were in Master Nan's circle, but I will only post if I hear anything remarkably different from the above. Regarding the term "high blood pressure" when it is connected to cultivation techniques and traditional medicine: the concept of high blood pressure comes from modern medicine. While in the past human beings certainly had high blood pressure, in terms of Chinese medicine at least, there was no specific term for the condition, and although most traditional physicians took the pulse, they did not do so to measure blood pressure per se. Therefore, if one finds that a medicine or practice is specifically designed to alleviate high blood pressure, there is a reasonable possibility that its origins are modern; another good possibility is that an ancient medicine or practice is being explained through a modern vocabulary. High-blood pressure-related syndromes in ancient Chinese medicine are quite likely to be connected to rising of excessive liver fire or liver yang, and a strictly traditional discussion of treating them would use related vocabulary.

ChiDragon = 门外汉说外行话. A shame it will be if the professorly attitude he affects here convinces some beginners.

Will ask around. I have many friends in China who studied with Master Nan at various stages of the last third or so of his life. For the record--and this should be no surprise given his volume of students and the fact that some were taught in different ways, as well as in light of the fallibility of human memory--one does not always find all of his students, even those who were fairly close to him, in perfect agreement on all points, the full lotus posture namely being one place where various students hold widely varied notions. One thing nobody who studied with him questions is that he was a great master. I have learned some of the same Wudang methods from students of the same master, and differences abound haha... Guess it goes with the territory... Transmission doesn't seem to happen Xerox style... Not even sure if it is meant to.

Taomeow: 善哉！

Of course. No, it is a nod of respect in the direction of those whose insight is deeper than mine. I have nothing to present but my understanding of theory. I don't think you understand what I said very well. The five phases do not manifest in reality as physical objects nor distinct phenomena. They are only ideas which are convenient for allowing us to understand the ways of qi. There are times when the theory can be used; there are times when not. All this I have said previously. Therefore, all that I have to present, I have already given. If you want to know more, then find a teacher, humble yourself, study dilligently, practice regularly, and then check back in in five years. That is fine, possibly even wise. It would be silly to believe something just because somebody on the internet said that several people with PhDs are into it. It would be equally silly, however, to reject a theory that you do not actually understand. Read more carefully. I fully and clearly acknowledged the wonders of modern technology. Note that it would not be impossible to explain the general workings of a car in terms of five phase theory or yin yang theory. To explain the specifics, of course, would require using the specialized vocabulary and knowledge unique to creating automobiles. Sigh. If you had read carefully enough you would have had no reason to write that. Well. Whatever. Also, Daoism, Chinese medicine, internal martial arts, and so forth have loooooong been strewn with false assumptions and confusion, sometimes to the detriment or even death of unfortunate practitioners. Is what you describe "the tendency?" For some, perhaps. If you were more familiar with primary texts from traditional Chinese culture you would know that many of them were penned precisely in order to clean and clarify "the whole kit," rather than toss it, or believe blindly. Further, real practitioners are not in the game of looking for something to "trust." Not at all. Read much more. Read more clearly.

It is true that our ability to coherently express ideas about and manipulate the physical world seems to be at unprecedented heights, as evidenced by the wonders of modern technology. It is also true that one finds plenty of evidence of naive, half-informed notions about "the way things work" in ancient education. No bout adout it. Nevertheless: again: be not confused: the five phases are not a clumsy attempt to describe the physical interactions of wood, fire, soil/earth, metal, and water. The whole "dig in the ground and find metal; look at metal and see condensed water" is rather a clumsy attempt by modern people to explain ancient education too subtle for most modern minds to grasp! The five phases are a set of metaphors describing--loosely, gently, flexibly, and with plenty of wiggle room--the patterns of movement of all things made out of qi, which just so happens to be, all things. When one grasps (but not too tightly) a theory such as that of the five phases and spends years cultivating sensitivity and insight, then one begins to see--nay, feel--(a) how all phenomena, even seemingly vastly different phenomena, do indeed unfold in patterns much the same as one another and ( that we actually only need a simple vocabulary to describe this endless, myriad unfolding (modern people prefer to see the myriad phenomena, and then invent myriad vocabulary words; good for developing technology; not good for developing insight; see: pollution, modern warfare, etc.) The very real possibility of using a very simple vocabulary that manages to explain myriad phenomena is the reason for the seemingly infinite applicability of the Daodejing. Thus, enthusiasts from any field on earth all declare, "hey, this book is about me and my hobby!" Thus, it is a reality that one can not only use the five phases to describe how qi moves in anything from weather to illness to relationships, but also to influence and harmonize/harmonize with aspects of those phenomena. That does not mean that those who know how to think in terms of the five phases believe that trees create the wind, that the color red is made out of fire, or that bones are made out of water. What the five phases really are is a more detailed examination of the 升降出入 (rising and falling, exiting and entering) or 开合 (opening and closing) of all in creation--six characters which in actually mean the same thing and all point to 隂 yin and 陽 yang. And of course, there is certainly much more to them which I have yet to glimpse, much less grasp. Learning to think like an ancient is not easy. Be patient, it takes years. Not learning to do so will, I imagine, create obstacles on the paths of most who wish to cultivate.

An interesting interpretation, considering that the most commonly accepted history is that the He Tu-河图 predates the Luo Shu-洛书, from which the bagua-八卦 is derived. In light of the fact that the 64 hexagrams of the Yi Jing 易经 are derived from the eight trigrams of the bagua, it would seem that you have your history backwards. Even if one accepts that the He Tu chart was introduced in the Yi Jing, I don't see how understanding the Yi Jing is necessary to understanding the He Tu. Perhaps you can elucidate your theory. Effectively understanding the five phases, furthermore, does not require one to be versed in the Yi Jing. However, speaking as a person who has not studied the Yi Jing, I imagine it could help.

Yes, it is important--even essential--not to take the five phases to literally and attempt to find understanding of them in the physical materials that share their names. The five phases describe states that the one qi of any phenomenon passes through in the cyclical movements of nature that all phenomena share. They describe qi moving from a state of storage (藏 water) to one of growth (生 wood) to one of flourishing (长 fire) to one of returning (收 metal) and back to storage again. Earth provides the center. Here is a tiny image that illustrates what I refer to. In this image at the bottom we have north/water/winter/kidney (肾)/storage (藏） The "left path" is east/wood/spring/liver (肝)/growth (生 as well as, in a sense, 升) At the top we have the south/fire/summer/heart (心)/flourishing (长) The "right path" returning back downwards is west/metal/lungs (肺)/returning/collecting (收) The center which supplies the back movement consists of earth's two aspects, one being to promote upward movement (energetically yang, but associated with the yin 脾脏, called spleen in English) and the other promoting downwards movement (energetically yin but associated with the yang 胃腑, stomach in English). This currently quite popular way of conceiving of the five elements, with earth firmly at the center, is at the center of Qing Dynasty doctor/philosopher 黄元御's works as well as the thought of a number of currently practicing and teaching doctors in China. It actually has its roots in the very ancient He Tu, pictured below: Those who like their symbolism and have a bit of Chinese will see the same arrangement rear its head in the next two diagrams: I think that in the West we are far more accustomed to seeing the five phases arranged in this way: In the above image, as with most depictions of the five phases I've seen in books in English, earth is not depicted at the center, but rather as a part of the cycle playing a role much like that of the other phases. In Chinese medicine theory--as well as other aspects of Chinese thought--when discussing the 相克 and 相生 (how do you say it again... restricting and promoting?) cycles, it is useful to conceive of the five phases in this way. However, if one wants to really understand Daoist and Chinese medicine cosmology, then one also needs to be familiar with arrangements in which earth/yellow/spleen-stomach occupy a central position, because in many discussions of the five phases this layout is what is being referred to. Regarding seasonality, indeed, the season known in English as "late summer" (长夏 in Chinese) is associated with the earth phase. The important thing to consider here is that it marks the break between the end of the "left path" yang seasons of spring and summer and the beginning of the "right path" yin seasons of fall and winter. When yin and yang meet, dampness is produced (阴阳相交为湿); hence dampness is associated with this period of time, even if in fact it may not in terms of humidity levels actually be the dampest time of year in all or even most climates. We are talking more about energy here than actual measurable phenomena--such is always the case with discussion of qi. Also, don't forget that we can talk about the earth season being the final 18 days of each of the four seasons, or we can talk about the four seasons and leave direct discussion of the earth phase out of the picture altogether, because it is merely implied, being simply the pivot around which the seasons revolve. If one reads the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic 《黄帝内经》, one will find that discussions of the five phases are indeed this varied and multi-layered. Forgive my inelegant translations; these ideas are far more easily expressed and discussed in the Chinese language. Moral of the story: learn Chinese. It ain't that hard, and things are way, way, way clearer when you can refer to the original. Oh, and as usual, I recommend taking what Chi Dragon says with a grain of salt. First things first, the source of water in China is not the North Pole... Aiya, why even get into the rest of it.

All very well and good. My answer represents what I have observed of, read of, and been told of by lineage-holding, traditionally trained Daoists, people whose practices have been passed down for numerous centuries. I offer no opinion either way as to the good or bad of owning pets; I am only offering what I know of traditional Daoism to the discussion. Some answers seem to represent the views of people who feel a very strong affinity for what they know of Daoism, but I strongly suspect that they do not represent traditional teachings passed master to disciple, as Daoism has always been transmitted over the centuries. Imagining that some of these answers answers address the question, "how do Daoists feel about owning pets," is frankly a bit like getting advice on how to keep kosher from self-identifying "Jews" who have in fact not had bar mitzvahs, have not been educated by rabbis, who do not go to synagogue, and who do not actually keep kosher themselves! Of course, one who enjoys discussion can find plenty of arguable benefits in keeping strict kosher, as well as many arguable benefits in not keeping strict kosher. But things get very confusing when people who have not been formally trained as Jews start saying that they know what kosher is just because they feel a strong enough affinity for the religion to call themselves Jews,and not because they have actually studied and/or practiced the traditional strictures of Judaism. Strange that one finds in the world so many self-inducted Daoists, but few self-inducted Jews... At any rate, for those with a strong interest in practicing Daoism, it is worth approaching the strictures with an open mind. They are generally much more for the benefit of the practitioner than is always obvious when we first hear them. And yes, tradition aside, it is impossible to pin down a central "dogma" of Daoism. Who knows, somewhere out there there might be a traditionally-trained Daoist with a house full of pets!

I'm not sure it's the most trivial matter. I am not an expert, but this is also the first I have heard of the Three Pure Ones and Fu-Lu-Shou being one and the same. Although there is indeed plenty variation in how the pantheon is ordered, interpreted, and observed in Daoism, great attention is paid to the study of the Immortals by some Daoists, especially ritual masters, a fact Saso's book on Master Chuang provides ample English-language evidence for. There is nothing wrong with seeking clarity here--for some practitioners, it may be key. Taomeow, seeing as you offered, please let us know where we can find evidence supporting your assertion. With all due respect, an English-speaking tour guide in Mainland China is not likely to be a great source, for numerous reasons, not the least of which being that very, very, very few modern Chinese well-understand Daoism, including those who are paid to talk about it; futhermore, bullshitting rather than saying "I don't know" is an incredibly pervasive bad habit in this country. At any rate, I would like to chase up the idea. Thanks. Regarding keeping a statue over your bed: traditionally, shrines are not created in bedrooms if this can be avoided, as people tend to conduct behaviors marked by heavy yin qi in their bedrooms, namely sex and masturbation, as well as heavy emoting and expulsion of sick qi. Unless you never engage in these behaviors and you have no other place to put your statue, you should probably consider another location. If you can only install a shrine in your bedroom, you could try a makeshift solution by finding a way to cover the statue at appropriate times. By all means do not place it at the foot of your bed. Regarding over the head, I am not sure. Brock Silvers' book The Taoist Manual contains detailed instructions for preparing home shrines; its instructions are more or less the same as what my teacher teaches, and are far from simple. What Flowing Hands says may bear truth for the general public; if you intend to install a proper shrine in your home, it is advised to make observances every single day, even when you are on the road. Sometimes innocently having a statue in the home for personal enjoyment can cause trouble; I know a Daoist priest whose temple is full of objects whose qi was not appropriate for the qi of the people who once kept them in their homes, and therefore caused illness, misfortune, etc.; most of the objects are religious statuary. Some have also said that improperly cared-for religious statuary can become the homes for ghosts, though I have not heard a source I trust say as much. A final thought: if you have innocently put a statue in the "wrong" place or conducted "inappropriate" behaviors in front of one, one can rectify the mistake, send sincere apologies from the heart, and then go on with life. The qi of the Immortals is, at the end of the day, great enough to resolve all contradictions!

I know not everybody will like this response, but my experience is that traditionally-trained Daoists generally counsel against having pets. My teacher does; I have seen a widely-respected monk on Wudang advise against owning pets in most circumstances; and I believe that Master Ni Huaching includes not owning pets in a list of advised practices for cultivators, perhaps in 5,000 Years of Wisdom. I have also never encountered pets being raised in Daoist temples. A primary reason is for health, both energetic, and in terms of the microscopic filth animals carry on their bodies, which is not healthy for humans. Additionally, the worlds of humans and animals are separate in Daoism (yes, yes, with the caveat that there is no real separation, of course), and I have heard it said that mingling the two is indeed unnatural and unbeneficial to the practitioner.

Haha, well, at any rate, you've managed to describe the average human life in a nutshell, which is redeeming enough!

妄想.

If you know that you don't know, why do you make things up and pass them off as knowledge?

I have personally visited an active temple devoted to the Monkey King in rural Fujian (Fukien) Province in China. I have also seen him placed on the shrine of a Daoist priest from Mainland China who has a temple in the United States. Many worshippers who visit that temple are first generation Chinese immigrants to the US. The rest are mostly American-born Chinese. I wish I could offer you more. I will admit that I can't recall seeing a Sun Wukong statue in any of the major Daoist temples I've visited in China, and I've been to a fair number--but the Daoist pantheon is huge and more colorful/flexible than Chi Dragon might have you believe (he has stated here before that Guanyin does not appear in Daoist temples--patently untrue). The O.P.'s is an interesting question that I have pondered in the past, but I have still yet to learn much.

I think that what appears to be "pulling up" is really just an optical illusion of sorts, due to the way they are moving. There is no instruction to pull. I have seen Dr. Wu demonstrate the exercise in three separate videos, and also read about it in one of his books--never does he say to pull. No need to thank for the share... I've been meaning to put this exercise up here for a long time now. It is one of the most simple and effective pieces of Chinese 养生 (yangsheng) knowledge that I have ever learned. I forgot to mention that I taught it to my landlady, who is in her sixties and complained to me of having to get out of bed at least three times a night to pee. I told her to practice it until the area around shen shu gets warm twice a day, once before sleep, once in the morning. Within a week or two she was only having to get up once in the night to pee and said that it also improved her feeling of well-being overall. After a couple months of using the exercise she was enthusiastic enough to start telling her own friends and relatives. I have a feeling now that I've finally typed up instructions, it's worth it's own separate post. What do you guys think?

Sorry, I wrote it wrong before, it's 瞬间强肾法. Some video instructions, which are in Chinese, but will help you get the idea: http://my.tv.sohu.com/u/vw/19073915 1) Stand relaxedly with feet shoulder width apart 2) Make two relaxed fists 3) Place your fists over the two acupoints known as 肾兪 (shen4 shu4), located on the urinary bladder meridian next to 命门 (ming4 men2). You can find these points on any acupuncture chart; they are on the same level as your belly button, but on the back. Don't worry too much about super-specific location... Your fists are big enough to cover the points, and you're going to be moving! When you place your fists over the shen shu points, do so so that the "eyes" of your fists cover the acupoints. By "eyes" of your fist, I mean the flat surface created by the curled forefinger and thumb. See the video if you're confused. 4) Bounce up and down on your heels while making sure that your body stayes relaxed. You don't actually want to jump, but you do want to bounce enough so that your heels leave the floor. The movement of your whole body bouncing up and down will cause your hands to move, thereby rubbing the shen shu points. You need to apply enough strength that your hands stay in the area and create friction there, but you do not want to put a whole lot of muscle into the act, either. The bounce comes mostly from the feet, heels, and calves, not the knees. If you try and rely on the knees, you will end up looking like a frog, as warned against in the video. 5) Best not to wear high heels while doing this! Also, don't do it barefoot on a cool or cold floor. You can do this for 3 to 5 minutes to help out if you are feeling overly drowsy, or do it until the area becomes warm, or (according to some--I cannot testify to what would happen if you did this for an hour--I have never done more than ten or so minutes at once) do it as much as you want. I can attest that it certainly can greatly reduce incidences of 滑精 (hua2 jing1), or nocturnal ejaculations unaccompanied by dreams. It can relax a stiff lower back, and help perk you up if you're nodding off. Long term benefit: longevity. If this simple and free method helps you, please pass it on to your friends and family!

Thank you. While I don't doubt that you are right in saying that the methods found in TCM differ greatly from those in Daoist alchemy, they still bring great benefit to people's mortal lives, a fact that bears mention. The 瞬间健深法 (Quick Method for Boosting Kidney Health) that Doctor Wu Guozhong of Beijing has popularized has been very helpful for my own health. His teacher Hu Haiya attributes his own longevity (the man is nearly 100) largely to the method, and Nan Huaijin apparently says that one of the keys to his old age (also nearly 100) is a similar method, which involves little more than him placing his hands over his kidneys and rocking back and forth. But again, I do not doubt that these methods' benefits do not extend deep into the realm of spiritual practice.