lifeforce

Mind is qi.

Things are the way they are because......things are the way they are.

Points taken on all the above. I thank you for your participation in the thread. Best wishes to everyone.

Wait a minute, you come here asking if anyone knows John Chang, then after replies saying he's off the radar, you say you know someone who knows him ?????

Liu I Ming

Look into the works of Scott Meredith. His work on qi cultivation derived from the internal arts is very good. Aside from his many books, he has lots of videos on YouTube.

Thank you.

What is the title of that book please Apech ?

Gerard, this may be of interest: https://youtu.be/oEW6hDBfd34

And so it begins...

Excellent, thank you.

Yes I read it. You have no idea of the experiences that I've had in over 30 years of practice in countless disciplines. The instructions that you wrote are what I would call 'low level', because, to me, that's exactly what they are. Just because they are special to you doesn't mean that they are to others. Your tone is derogatory and egotistical. Traits that I've seen in myself in the past and wish to move on from.

This is nothing but low level energy work. You could practice this for a thousand years and achieve nothing. The 'poetic nonsense' that you mention is a great blessing of Chinese spirituality and has helped countless beings for many centuries to experience realisation. That you don't get the teachings is down to your current level of understanding. The 'hard guidance' is there if you have eyes to see.

Thank you. Your advice is much appreciated.

From an unknown source : "all my doubts disappeared, so that for the first time I realized that the Tao of spiritual alchemy is none other than the Tao of the I Ching, the Tao of sages is none other than the Tao of immortals, and that the I Ching is not a book of divination but rather is the study of investigation of principles, fulfillment of nature, and arrival at the meaning of life."

It's took me years to understand most of what Deci Belle was pointing to in her posts and topics. The language she used was not for the average layman/woman. Her sometimes confrontational attitude was not welcomed by a lot of folks here. I believe what she was trying to do was to crack our hardened ego shells and allow nuggets of wisdom to filter in. In my case that is what has happened. She may have been one of the wisest people ever to have graced these forums. Like a Ch'an patriarch from a bygone age. Actually LIVING the teachings. APPLYING them to whatever circumstance was arising. THAT is the key. Nothing whatsoever to do with contrived energy, meditative and sexual practices. In the words of Liu I Ming: The Blind Leading the Blind The Tao is no longer understood. There is an endless number of side doors and twisted byways, constituting a few basic groups. There are those who are fixated on voidness and those who are attached to forms, and those who do psychoso­matic exercises. There are seventy-two schools of material alchemy, and three thousand six hundred aberrant practices. Since the blind lead the blind, they lose the right road; they block students and lead them into a pen.

I tried this posture this morning, it's very demanding, even in the slightly higher position than a regular horse stance. I managed just over a minute. It generates a lot of heat. I can imagine this could be a very healing posture as well as it's obvious martial application. This is a classical Hung Gar stance I believe. Gauntlets and rings are usually added to the forearms in more advanced training. Thanks for this. It has inspired me to add this to my training regime.

“Golden Elixir is another name for one’s fundamental nature. There is no other Golden Elixir outside one's fundamental nature. All human beings have this Golden Elixir complete in themselves: it is entirely realized in everybody. It is neither more in a sage, nor less in an ordinary person. It is the seed of the Immortals and the Buddhas, the root of the worthies and the sages.” Liu Yiming (1734-1821)

The Hua-Tou method. https://wenshuchan-online.weebly.com/the-hua-tou-3544138957-method.html

The first spiritual book I read was Autobiography of a Yogi. Many years later I discovered that it was a work of fiction, mixed with some of Yogananda's practice. The same applied to Chronicles of the Dao by Deng Ming Dao. The disappointment of learning this news was hard to take.

Sorry double post.

From the Pali Canon. Thag 1:49 Rāmaṇeyyaka : Even with all the whistles & whistling, the calls of the birds, this, my mind, doesn’t waver, for my delight is in oneness.

The illusion of non-illusion.

Can't argue with that. That way it can be understood better by non-Buddhists.

Xinxin Ming: http://www.mendosa.com/way.html