Iskote

My own experience is as I stated previously. This subject is really not so clear cut at all. Certainly qi is not just 'air' or 'oxygen', or food energy, nor is any sort of special breathing a strict requirement to do qigong. There are many types of qigong approaches and methods and many types of meditation, as well. I believe this has already been pointed out to you on many occasions in the past by various people. Qigong is not ever learned and understood at all by reading a few books and then imposing rigid and poorly informed opinions on it. Deeper understanding of qi and qigong is only gained through long practice and experience. Logical analysis and argumentation will never lead a person to any real or valid understanding of qi or qigong. This last sentence can't be emphasized enough, IMO Over the years I have personally met several Chinese traditional qigong and meditation and internal arts teachers who have referred to qi as 'energy' in English. The term 'energy' or 'life force energy' is often used to describe qi, because that is at least a fairly loose general fit for the overall concept of qi, to accommodate qi in all its various forms. In my experience, if one were to only equate qi to 'air' or 'breathing' or 'oxygen', and energy from food, and similar, they would be only scratching the surface of the overall depth of the concept of qi.

Actually, there are differences between the way 'qi' is described and classified and utilized in traditional Chinese medicine systems and also in other various cultivation practices/systems, such as in some daoist or buddhist traditions, and in martial arts, etc. Even within daoism and buddhism, there may be notable differences between how different schools and groups view and express concepts such as qi, etc. Also, qi may also be classified in further ways by some, such as sky (universe/heaven) qi, Earth qi, qi from planets, moon qi, qi from streams and rivers and lakes, qi from mountains, qi from trees and plants, sick/turbid qi, healthy qi, yin qi, yang qi, etc., etc. In modern times, especially in the West, we like to try to pin things down to very exact definitions and classifications, but from what I have observed, historically in China, etc., they seem to have used such terms and concepts much more loosely and fluidly and symbolically. Trying to pin things down to very exact classifications and very exact meanings etc. IMO is an exercise in futility, given the wide range of views and approaches from various different traditions. This may not sit well at all with people who want to try to put everything in neat little boxes, but many of these terms and concepts originate from a different time when thinking and the way of looking at things was quite a bit different than in modern times. Using loosely defined and fluid terminology and much symbolism seems to have been in common practice back then. IMO, trying to determine exact definitions based on literal meanings of Chinese characters and that sort of thing is almost certain to take you way off track. What's important is the end results. Are you getting benefits from a certain approach and certain practices? If so, good. If not, look for something else that may be more suitable to you and your needs and wants. Don't get hung up on trying to determine exact terms and definitions and concepts, as IMO that is not going to be very productive and such rigid thinking may only hold you back in the long run. "Internal experience" is not conducive to rigid terms and concepts (linear analytical thinking, if you will). Inner experience can be very difficult to put into exact words and exact rigid concepts, and trying to do so can actually be a hindrance IMO. Use terms and concepts to get a loose or general idea, but the actual experience and end results are what is important. If looking at things a certain way at the current time is helpful to you, then, good. If not, then look for a more suitable way to look at things at this moment in time. That's my current point of view, anyway.

Your mind.

I see. Based on what you are saying, it doesn't sound like you are doing anything too extreme, then, when you are practicing. Definitely the fairly extensive itching and redness and red dots is not within normal types of effects from doing standing practice or meditation practice that I know of or have ever come across, personally. Those symptoms sound more to me like maybe an allergic reaction or some sort of illness symptoms, or something more along those lines. May not be related to your standing practice at all. I of course couldn't say for sure though, especially since I don't know you and your overall situation, and we are just chatting over the internet. Not sure what the cause might be there. Have you had any symptoms like that in the past prior to doing standing practice?

Just to confirm, are you doing any special sort of breathing while practicing or just doing natural breathing? Are you doing any special concentration when practicing? The itching you describe sounds like more than just the normal sort of minor itching sensation you can get from such practices. Sounds a bit excessive. Also talking about seeing red dots on your waist and lower back is not a normal thing in my experience. I have heard that measles is going around. Are you sure you don't have the measles or something like that?

Hello. It doesn't provide a whole lot of detail about what you are actually doing when you just say you are doing the wuji pose. Are you doing some sort of special breathing practice or using strong focus on certain points when practicing, and that sort of thing? A feeling of itchiness at places in the body is a fairly common thing to experience as a result of practicing meditation and qi cultivation practices. Also feeling sensations like coolness, warmth, heat, and vibrations, are fairly common as well. Nothing to worry about there unless maybe if it is excessive. Redness on parts of your body is not so normal. If you are scratching at certain points where you feel itchy, such as maybe when you are sleeping, that could make it red. Doing intense or very deliberate types of breathing and doing strong focusing on points on the body and that sort of thing is more likely to lead to undesirable issues. When you finish your standing practice, you can place your hands over the lower dantian area with your palms facing inward for a minute and (gently) imagine excess qi returning to the lower dantian area. I don't know exactly what you are doing, but here are a few general guidelines. It is always a good idea to practice mediation and qi cultivation practices in a very natural and relaxed way. You should be coming out of standing practice slowly and gently and you can do a little gentle massage on your arms and legs and body and on your face and neck. In my experience, being relaxed, being natural, and not trying to direct or force results are the best way to approach these sort of practices. That is the practical meaning of 'do by not doing'.

In my understanding, the modern day term 'qigong' is a term adopted in Communist China when the Chinese government began to strongly control what would and would not be allowed in regards to traditional Chinese beliefs and practices, and in regards to how the Chinese communist government wanted to control how Chinese people think about those practices. That's not to say that the term 'qigong' was necessarily not ever used prior to that time period, but I believe the term was at least not in common usage prior to communism taking hold in China. In the rigid Chinese communist government promoted terms, 'qigong' was to be thought of as a kind of healthy 'breathwork' and/or calisthenics like exercises. Of course anyone who has real experience with qi and qi cultivation would likely be aware that qi and qi cultivation does not necessarily at all need to rely on any special breathing or air or any special body postures or movements. There are various types of qi, and various ways of developing and working with qi. Special breathing is not a requirement in qi cultivation, although some practices do use it or even emphasize it. In regards to neigong, my understanding is that, yes, this term does come from martial arts traditions in China, and was focused on developing internal power in martial arts. Whether other traditions such as religious traditions also used the term of 'neigong' completely separate from martial arts training, I don't know. Neigong in my understanding was more associated with practices that are designed to develop 'above normal' martial arts skills and abilities. However, one might also be able to use abilities and skills developed from neigong training for healing or health promotion purposes, as well.

Not in my realm of experience, but very interesting. Thanks for posting that!

Based on some research, it is thought that the 'The Secret of the Golden Flower' text was created using 'spirit writing', which is along the lines of 'channeling'. Apparently two different groups created the text through spirit writing, with the first group creating part of the text, and the second group taking the text from the first group some years later and adding on to it. From Wikipedia: "The Secret of the Golden Flower (Chinese: 太乙金華宗旨; pinyin: Tàiyǐ Jīnhuá Zōngzhǐ) is a Chinese Taoist book on neidan (inner alchemy) meditation, which also mixes Buddhist teachings with some Confucian thoughts. It was written by means of the spirit-writing (fuji) technique, through two groups, in 1688 and 1692. Origins Studies by Monica Esposito and Mori Yuria, provide documentary evidence that the book was produced by the spirit-writing (fuji) groups of two altars devoted to the deified Lü Dongbin: Bailong jingshe ("Pure Assembly of the White Dragon", 白龍精舍), and a branch of Gu hongmei ge ("Old Red Plum Hall", 古紅梅閣) in Piling. Members of both refer to as belonging to the school of Pure Brightness (Jingming dao, 淨明道), associated with the cult of the immortal Xu Xun. Previously, Chung-Yuan Chang had also studied the origin of the text as having been received through the "flying spirit pencil", as he stated in the 1956 Eranos lectures. The Secret of the Golden Flower became one of the best-known Taoist texts in the West as a widespread Chinese religious classic, following Richard Wilhelm's translation with commentary by Carl Gustav Jung, but receives little attention by Eastern scholars. At the beginning of the Qing dynasty, there were followers of Xu Xun who received texts on contemplative alchemical practices (internal alchemy) and self-cultivation through spirit writing. The Secret of the Golden Flower was initially received incompletely in a first group in 1688; it remained unfinished when seven of its recipients died. In 1692, it was continued by the other group. It is claimed that the teachings of Xu Xun were transmitted by intermediate spirits, such as Lü Dongbin, Qiu Chuji and Chuduan. As Xu Xun's writings had disappeared for generations, the text was considered by Pure Brightness members to require the founding of a new Taoist sect, which was called the "Ritual Lineage of Great Oneness". Pan Yi'an (彭伊安), one of the recipients of the work, describes the initial composition process of its first part: "As I remember, it was in the wushen year [1668] that our holy patriarch Chunyang [i.e., Lü] began to transmit the 'Instructions.' The seven people who made a commitment to him bowed deeply and obtained [his teachings]. None but these seven received this transmission. The most profound teaching was [expressed in] no more than one or two words. It could not be put into words and letters. Afterwards, the seven questioned the Patriarch in detail. As our holy patriarch spared no mercy in giving clarifications, [his teachings were] compiled for days and months. Eventually they composed a volume." There are six different remaining editions of the text, and it was fundamental to several lineages of Taoism. It became a central doctrinal scripture of the Longmen school canon through popularization by Min Yide (1758-1836), who attributed to its importance as a "blueprint for healing of the world." " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_of_the_Golden_Flower

I think we should not lump all standing meditation/zhan zhuang practices into one thing. There are various different approaches and postures and practices out there from different sources and traditions which can also have different purposes, and which may well bring different types of results, that can loosely fall under 'standing practice'. I have practiced the zhan zhuang 'wu ji' standing posture daily for periods of time such as for several month stretches with daily practice in the past. I usually stand in the wu ji standing posture in one standing session for about 30 to 60 minutes or so. I don't do any special breathing or mental concentration. I just stand as naturally and relaxed as I can and keep a relaxed awareness on what I am doing. My experience with this particular standing practice is it very noticeably builds and circulates qi, and can therefore help with some types of health problems and can help to improve one's overall health and well being, in general. It is the most effective 'qigong' practice that I have personally come across over many years. Please note I said 'personally'. That is my personal experience with wu ji zhan zhuang practice. In my experience and view, for males, at least, you need to be celibate to get the best results with such practice. Younger men may be able to have sex occasionally and still get half decent results; but, for older men, in my view you would need to be pretty much celibate to get noticeable results beyond just strengthening muscles and such from this sort of practice. However, your mileage may vary. A side note: Regarding the term 'daoism'. In my experience and understanding, there is no one coherent thing called 'daoism'. There is a wide array of practices and traditions that may fall under the broad umbrella term of 'daoism', and those many different practices and traditions can vary widely in regards to viewpoint and actual practices. I always wonder when people say 'daoism holds to this or daoism holds to that', as that is just not how it is in my experience. IMO, not only should you narrow down any statement about 'daoism' to a very specific tradition, but really you need to narrow it down to a specific teacher/practitioner when saying this is how they see or do things. Just my point of view. All the best.

Yes, in my experience qi is very real. I feel it all the time in my own practice, and I have also felt the strong effects of qi when emitted to me from a few different skilled qigong practitioners. One qigong practitioner was able to emit a strong qi field from the palm of his hand. I felt it as a strong field sensation even though his hand was two feet or more away from my body, and it had a very noticeable effect on me. Another qigong practitioner I visited could emit qi from his finger tips into an acupuncture needle when giving acupuncture to me. It felt like an electric current sensation coming from the acupuncture needle where it was inserted in my body. I don't believe he was using any trick. Another qigong practitioner could produce very strong 'electric' qi, and when he touched me with his hand I felt like I was getting a strong electric shock. Another qigong practitioner I went to see was able to generate a lot of heat from his hand when emitting his qi. All the best.

No, 'microcosmic orbit' can be naturally occurring and also can be a result of certain types of qigong/neigong/meditation practice. Also, in my experience, what is called 'microcosmic orbit' can be defined differently in different schools and be different at different stages, in regards to the form of energy circulated and how it is done. Beware of those who make blanket statements and who don't provide any details and clarification about what they are saying. Those who speak from real experience and with real knowledge and wisdom are rare to encounter. Taking everything with a grain of salt, whether it comes from forums such as this, or from books, or from 'teachers', and 'masters' is always a good idea.

Here is one very simple qigong practice which I believe is safe to practice at home without a teacher, if practiced as described. Here is a link to a post I made in the past describing the wu ji zhan zhuang practice It is the most simple and effective qigong practice which I have personally experienced. You should begin to feel effects of qi developing within a few months, but everyone is different. If you are interested, click on the link below which states "Iskote replied to a topic" to see the description of the practice.

Hello 鞏三孝, Since hsuan kuan is an abstract concept in neidan, it is likely many people won't be able to comment much on it, unless they are very familiar and experienced in neidan. Neidan is really about the practice and experience and results. Since many people here probably do not practice neidan, it really just seems an abstract concept. Also, you put the topic as '玄關/Hsuan Kuan/Mysterious Gate', but in your original post you commented about wide differences in daoist views and practices and how daoists tolerate different schools, and about correct and incorrect practices, etc. That opened the door for for a much broader discussion.

Hello 鞏三孝. Well, what Yang Hai said was: "Just be aware of the lower dantian area, and keep your mind relaxed." I personally differentiate between "be aware" and "focus on". For me, the first involves passive awareness. The second involves active intention. It may seem like a subtle difference, but in my experience it is not the same. One is passive and one is active. Regarding the worldly thinking mind, yes, I don't think at earlier stages, at least, one can ever stop it, but in my experience we can become somewhat disengaged from the chatter and imaginings such that even though it is going on it becomes more 'distant'. Like it is in another room some distance away. As for shifting around, I will move a little if something becomes a bit too uncomfortable, but teachers I have learned sitting meditation from have advised to aim towards full stillness, so that is the long term goal. All the best...