zen-bear

Hi CrunchC: My first response is to advise you to practice at a duration each day that doesn't bring-on nervous system exhaustion--if that exhaustion is truly debilitating. It may be possible that what you are feeling to be nervous system "exhaustion" is actually nervous system relaxation. In which case you should try to practice through the exhaustion feeling until you "hit" rejuvenation through allostasis. But I can't say for sure without seeing you. I can't really give you a confident prescription on improving your FP cultivation without seeing your practice. And also seeing your over all aura and state of health. This can be done, however, through a Skype video consultation...as I recently acquired a new webcam. **So I will take the opportunity here to announce to all FP Qigong practitioners that I am now officially offering video consultations/lessons in FP Qigong via Skype. And the fee will be the same as what I charged Fu_Dog (Lloyd in Orlando,FL) in 2009: $90 per half hour, with a fifteen-minute ($45.00) consultation being the minimum service. Sorry I can't be of more help. But let me know through Private Messaging if you want to set up an appointment for a Skype session. You can also contact me at [email protected] Best, Sifu Terry

Business news for all Flying Phoenix Chi Kung practitioners and enthusiasts: The retail price of Volume One "5 Basic Standing Meditations" and of Volume Two "6 Basic Seated Meditations" of the Chi Kung For Health DVD series will be increased to by $5.00 to $29.95 effective September 1--after exactly 10 years at the current bargain price. These titles can still be purchased at the current price of $24.95 from now through August 31. Thank you to all for your support over the years. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hello Pitsukha, There is a forthcoming DVD on the "Preparatory Form" for the 8 Sections of Energy Combined system that is a powerful health-enhancer with strong martial flavor. It is yogically strenuous: Within a flowing sequence of approx. 45 movments, it goes down into and out of the "dragon drop" seated position twice (and slowly with coordinated upper body movements--without hands touching ground) and also has advanced kung-fu codified throughout. If all goes smoothly, I hope to have this title released with other advanced FP volumes in the first quarter of 2014. The above clip is the very ending of the First SEction of 8 Sections of Energy Combined BDG (Bot Dim Gum). The First Section of BDG is so complex with varied types of techniques and so long that it would take a 2 or 3 -hour long DVD to instruct it. I fact, just the first 4 opening techniques, which are done in repetitions of 18, could easily fill an hour-long video. Hmmm. Thanks for your inquiry for it has gotten me to think about perhaps two new programs teaching the very basics of 8 Sections. Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Sihing Garry, I love this clip you posted. Ha ka ka ka ka, and I caught the photo that you snuck in there of GM Doo Wai with myself and Jeff Roth (circa 1992) at 9:05. You little devil! Sihing Terry

Hi Pitisukha, Sifu Garry's comment is most relevant to you and all beginners. If your horse stance is correct in FP meditations such as Bending the Bows, Wind Above the Clouds, and Wind Through the Treetops, you feel the weight or pressure in the inner thighs. I looked closely at your still shots of your positions in "Wind Above the Clouds." Overall, you're doing fine. Your form is pretty good and you're doing the movements correctly. One very minor flaw (that I noticed in a couple of your stills (8mbd.jpg where the palms are in front of the throat facing downward and ky1d.jpg where you are holding the ball left arm over right [just before the last movement of the exercise]) is that your torso is tilting forward slightly. This is quite normal for beginners. You can effect better back posture here throughout all your FP practice by imagining that you are suspended by a string attached to the crown of your head and that your entire spine hangs relaxed and comfortably straight on that thread from above while you practice. Your back will then become more straight and vertical without much effort. By just practicing more of the standing and moving FP Meditations, your hips will loosen up more and you will be able to "slide" them forward slightly and "tuck" the sacrum in more, making the lower back rounder (convex) and the torso more vertical. I would also suggest practicing the FP meditations with a full-length mirror to your side so that you can correct your back alignment if it's not consistently vertical. (While not optimum for Qi cultivation, it's okay to occasinally open your eyes and take peeks into a mirror to check your postures.) You have a natural deep arch in your lower back (lumbar region) that will gradually flatten or fill-out. Just continue to the do the FP meditations and continue to breathe deeply as you go through each of them. After a good stretch of time practicing FP Qigong 9-12 months or less, when you take more video and stills of yourself from the side, you will see that your lower back will have much less of an curve. (*If you look at videos or stills of all high-level masters of Chinese internal arts, you will always see a "fullness" in their lower back (lumbar region) and absence of any noticeable arch in the lumbar, which enables the energy from the ground and the legs to be connected through the waist to the energy of the upper body. This "fullness" comes from years of correct form practice, breathing methods related to Chi cultivation--such as reverse breathing and kidney breathing--and martial exercise or fighting.) Keep up the good practice, Pitisukha! Sifu Terry www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hello Slava, Here is my completed answer to the questions in your post #2499 (recapitulating the responses I gave in my post #2506: I would like to ask, how will FP affect my energy healing practice (if at all)? • As I posted at the start of this thread and many times throughout it, Flying Phoenix Spiritual-Healing-Work--my latest English translation of "Fei Feng San Gung"--is a purely medical qigong system that will most definitely empower and even possibly supplant any energy healing method that you happen to practice. I'm glad to hear you're working on Volumes 1 through 3 and are about to start the Long Form Meditation in Volume 4 and the five short but powerful meditations in Volume 5. You are just beginning to feel and know tangibly what the Flying Phoenix healing energy is and how it works. And your questions about the function of the Flying Phoenix Healing Energy are understandable at this point in your training and due to the fact that you are interested in becoming proficient with energy-healing and have taken training towards that goal. Does FP have a specific medical qigong healing system or protocol? • Yes, there are specific healing procedures to employ the FP healing energy cultivated by this Qigong system but the overall method is quite simple once one is well-practiced in FP Qigong. In the first year of this thread, I gave an account of a conversation I had with Grandmaster Doo Wai in 1992 about how to heal with FP Qigong. I naturally spoke from a frame of reference based on my 8 years of training in Tao Tan Pai Neikung and Tui Na Acupressure and a total of 17 years in healing up to that time. GM Doo Wai made the following comment that clearly distinguished healing with FP Qigong from healing with Tao Tan Pai Neikung ("Taoist Elixir Method"), and equally powerful and profound system that dates back to the Tang Dynasty and is attributed to the Taoist Immortal Lu Tung Pin: "We don't manipulate energy; we just pass our hand over." •• I recommend to all FP practitioners who are interested in energy healing to write this quotation down as a FP watchphrase or by some means laminating it into your consciousness for it will guide you to first empty oneself of all pre-conceived or preconditioned theories and models of energy healing in order to fully experience the power of the FP healing energy cultivated by FP Qigong. The "specific medical qigong healing system" or "protocol" you're asking about is entirely dictated by the Flying Phoenix Healing Energy itself once it is cultivated to a superabundance. (Depending on the quality of one's meditations cultivating this healing capacity actually doesn't take that long at all compared to those very few other Qigong systems that have similar healing effects.) The basics of healing with FP Chi, as taught by GM Doo Wai, is to use massage as a delivery system in conjunction with a wide variety of herbal formulas and linaments (generally called dit da jiao). And I wouldn't even call it "acupressure" massage--but rather, just massage (Tui Na)-- because, as I've stated numerous times, FP Qigong practice and Flying Phoenix Qi healing are not based on meridian theory or acupuncture points to any degree. I will reveal this much about advanced FP Energy-Healing methods: they can involve taking the patient’s diseased energy into one’s own energy field (body)—depending on the seriousness of the condition-- and then either immediately or later discharging it safely. There are even specific advanced FP healing meditations and 10,000 Buddhas meditations that cultivate an oppositely charged or polarized form of FP Energy in the body. This polarized energy instrinsically and spontaneously draws out energies from human subjects (or any life form) without any conscious intent to 'draw out" as opposed to automatically infusing itself into them. When directed with the intent to draw energy out, the effect is five times as strong. This means that we don't do "wax on/was off" movements in order to move energy. We just pass our palm over. This “magnetic” or "drawing" energy cultivated by specific meditations is easily demonstrated immediately after several practitioners complete the same meditations. In the first 3-4 years of my training under GM Doo Wai, all the healing we did was to repair physical injuries in my fellow students created by kung-fu training or other athletic-type of accidents, and then in later years, GM Doo Wai taught specific energy and herbal treatments for specific diseases, such as diabetes. Would you happen to know whether it is compatible with healing as taught by J.A. Johnson (the system I was taught)? I am not familiar with the system taught by Mr. Johnson. But by the sounds of it--e.g., that you have been taught to use "the earth energy" for healing others rather than one's own personal energy, for fear of being drained--I would say that FP Qigong will quickly remove you from that narrow philosophy and abstract set theory the minute you feel the full effects of the Basic level of the FP Qigong training (taught in the first 4 volumes of the Chi Kung for Health DVD series). The FP Healing Energy cultivated through proper practice is compatible with virtually any Chinese "energy delivery system" or protocol, or any eastern approach to energetics. As I continue to practice FP, I am noticing a tangible build-up of a particular sort of qi. Not sure how to describe it - it just has a different "texture" than my prior experiences of qi. I am wondering whether this energy can be used in healing, and whether or not it's a good idea to use it that way. Of course the FP energy can be used in healing! That's what it was created for in the first place! That is what the Chinese name of the system connotes. Therefore, it is a very good idea to use the FP Healing Chi--the moment you have a tangible sense of it-- to heal others. For if you have the calling to be a healer, the FP energy will flow through you and heal others naturally and spontaneously. In my medical qigong training, I was taught that the practitioner channels qi from heaven and earth, so as not to deplete his or her personal qi. And to provide the patient with the purest sources of qi. Excuse my bluntness, but your medical qigong training sounds liked it is based on a fatuous and impractical theory as far as beginners and novices are concerned. I know high-level alchemists and shamans across many cultural traditions who can heal or hurt with macrocosmic energy flows such as heavenly and earth energies, but no one can discern Heavenly Qi and Earth Qi and have healing facility with those energies who is not a highly accomplished yogin. The fact that you are just beginning to feel the "texture" of the Flying Phoenix Energy from your few months of practicing Volumes 1 through 3 of the Chi Kung For Health DVD series tells me that you cannot possibly have facility with or control of "qi from heaven and earth", for if you did, you would instantly--and I mean instantly--be able to efficiently channel the transformative energy of FP Qigong through every cell of your body. You would be fully engulfed and inflamed with the Flying Phoenix Healing Energy and the healing power of the FP Qigong would be totally self-explanatory to you. For Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi is Heavenly Chi!! Is it not?? --and I want to open this question up to all FP practitioners to chime in on! **Again, please excuse my bluntness--and I hope you to read this as a constructive warning**: your theoretical foundation is impractical and potentially delusional at your level of yogic cultivation and understanding of Qi--in that the preference to heal with macrocosmic energy rather than personal energy refers to energy-healing skill at the highest level. Even then, there are very few healers--other than saints and bodhisattvas-- being so pure in consciousness that they can channel the "purest forms of Qi" outside of oneself to his/her patient without changing that energy and making it very "personal". The "Purest forms of Qi"--if there are such a things-- have no potential to heal without the compassionate consciousness of the healer, and hopefully, the healer's mind unified with the highest Consciousness, or Divinity. IT IS YOU, YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS, YOUR INTENT, AND YOUR CULTIVATED ENERGY (THAT CAN MERGE WITH THE SAME ENERGY CHANNELED FROM A DIVINE SOURCE) THAT HEALS. This "Qi from Heaven and earth" is also a confused term. Taoism sees the world structured with three types of energies: Heavenly Qi, Earth Qi, and human Qi. But you seem to be talking about one energy from heaven and earth--i.e., some form of Universal energy that pervades both. Unless it is a spiritual energy, I don't know how a "Qi from Heaven and earth" can effect any healing if the healer is not contributing to or positively "tainting" this macrocosmic energy in some way. Also, what exactly do you mean by “the purest forms of Qi”? Energies untouched by human consciousness? I'm most curious. "Purest forms of Qi" according to whom? Mr. Johnson? The purest forms of Qi that heal that I have direclty experienced--outside of yogically cultivated "personal" energy such as FP Healing Energy, and the energy cultivated by the Tao Tan Pai Neigung--have been consecrated by the sacrifice of living saints, bodhisattvas, and their disciples and devotees. One example of a “Pure Form of Qi” is the Oneness Meditation of Sri Bhagavan that I happened to spontaneously channel upon reading a posting on this thread from Tao Stillness (back in June) in which he described deeksha Eric Isen's remote reading of the future effects of on me certain advanced Flying Phoenix Meditations on me. At any rate, when one correctly completes just the basic level of the Flying Phoenix Qigong, one is channeling a purest form of healing Qi--one from a divine source. But qi from FP practice feels more "personal" - as opposed to energy drawn purely from heaven/earth. Yes, the Chi cultivated by FP Chi Kung feels totally personal in the beginning because it is healing and transformative of body and mind. Later, with mastery of just the Basic level of FP Chi Kung, the energy being conducted through one’s body will feel part of something much, much greater--the “trunk of FP energy” that I described earlier in this thread. Btw, I don’t know what “energy drawn purely from heaven/earth" means. I have experienced my own internal energy cultivated through Tao Tan Pai Neikung, Tai Chi Qigong, Eight Sections of Energy Combined (Bot Dim Gum), Flying Phoenix Chi Kung, Ten Thousand Buddhas’ Meditations (54 parts), energy drawn from Heaven, and I have also experienced energy drawn from earth and ”below earth.” But I have never experienced an “energy drawn purely from heaven/earth” that has any healing potency. Please explain what that is and how the medical qigong system that you are trained in channels that energy. The basic fact is: the higher one's yogic cultivation becomes, the more "pure" one's personal healing chi becomes--regardless of from where one says he or she is "getting" the energy. If one subscribes to the philosophy that one should heal only with the pure energy drawn from Heaven/earth, for fear of having one’s personal energy drained, I would say two things: (A) First, make sure that one has actual demonstrable command over such macrocosmics energy flows before one does any healing. ( B ) Second, regarding holding fears of draining oneself of one's Chi or vital essences, I would say "man up" or "woman up" and take a little risk, make the absolute minimum personal sacrifice to heal your fellow person. And if one's intent and will to heal is so weak, obsessive or unfocussed such that one becomes drained of one’s personal energy, or else causes one to catch or take-on the patient’s symptoms, thus becoming a “sin-eater”, then one is NOT ready to do healing work. Instead, one needs to practice a lot more Qigong and Kung-fu with superior instruction—to attain develop strong physical and spiritual immunity--called the “impeccability of the warrior” by Carlos Castaneda—before trying heal others. For by its definition, the “impeccability” of the warrior means mastery of the art of preserving one’s energy. If one is not whole and strong physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually to begin with, then one starts out as a wounded healer who will gradually and inevitably become drained, worn down and broken. Castaneda put it quite simply: “A warrior who drains himself cannot live.” So, will using qi from FP practice deplete my energy in any way? NO. Unless you are mentally and/or emotionally unbalanced and unstable. And is it safe for my patents? Yes. Assuming, of course, that you are fully healed of any physical or mental afflictions. I suspect that with continued practice and cultivation, that energy will touch my patients anyways, whether I intend it or not. That is a very accurate speculation. As you continue to practice the FP Qigong through to Volume 5, please read my earlier postings about the spontaneous healing effects of FP Energy both upon the practitioner and those in his/her proximity. You will see that as the cumulative effects of FP Qigong training increases your “normal” energy level, and connects your nervous system more to the Universe, everyone around you—depending upon their natures--may be positively influenced. Thanks for your questions, Slava. Some were quite perplexing to me, and in trying to figure out what you were asking and what assumptions caused you to ask those questions, I was led to write this contrasting description of how FP Healing Chi generally works. Best, Sifu Terry www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Yes, sihing Garry. In the album I think called "Artworks of John Nesbit". Not all of them (for his body of work is immense), but a collection of my favorite works by John. he is a terrific artist. One of my Tai Chi and FP Qigong students in L.A. is also a very fine painter, Yury Chudnovsky, classically trained in St. Petersberg at one of the great art academies, and Yury absolutely loves John Nesbit's work. I recall that Yury long ago described John's sensibilities as very special and said that his high facility of rendering subtle changes in light is very, very difficult master but that John is able to do easily. I'll have to look back a couple of years, but Yury's comments on Facebook to me about John's art is like how we talk to each other about our arts and levels. Best, Sihing Terry

Hi Slava, Here are answers to your question in the order that they appear inyour post: I would like to ask, how will FP affect my energy healing practice (if at all)? • As I posted at the start of this thread and many times throughout it, Flying Phoenix Spiritual-Healing-Work--my latest English translation of "Fei Feng San Gung"--is a purely medical qigong system that will most definitely empower and even possibly supplant any energy healing method that you happen to practice. I'm glad to hear you're working on Volumes 1 through 3 and are about to start the Long Form Meditation in Volume 4 and the five short but powerful meditations in Volume 5. You are just beginning to feel and know tangibly what the Flying Phoenix healing energy is and how it works. And your questions about the function of the Flying Phoenix Healing Energy are understandable at this point in your training and due to the fact that you are interested in becoming proficieint with energy-healing and have taken training towards that goal. Does FP have a specific medical qigong healing system or protocol? • Yes, there are specific healing procedures to employ the FP healing energy cultivated by this Qigong system but the overall method is quite simple once one is well-practiced in FP Qigong. I am wondering whether this energy can be used in healing, and whether or not it's a good idea to use it that way. Of course the FP energy can be used in healing! That's what it was created for in the first place! I'm going to stop here temporarily and come back later and complete this post--because I have to attend to hours of business matters-- with probably a pretty long dissertation in response to all your other questions which are very interesting to me...because I'm going to address the strange teachings you have acquired that have greatly imprisoned your mind in terms of what real Qigong is, what Flying Phoenix Qigong in particular is for, and what the nature of energy healing is, including its spiritual dimensions. So thanks for your questions and i look forward completing this post! Best, Sifu Terry

Hi John, Welcome to the thread and thank you for participating. Having started Flying Phoenix Qigong actually back in the late 1990's when the training was on VHS cassette, I recall, I think that you're probably my longest-standing--or seated--FP correspondent student! I think that the FP community will appreciate your advice on FP practice because you come from a strong athletic background and also have experience with TM, and zhan zhuang and aikido. But I am especially looking forward to hearing more of your experience with FP Qigong's transformative effects in expanding creative consciousness as an accomplished painter. Cheers, Sifu Terry

Yesterday, after I led my Tai Chi class through extensive warm-ups and stretching, followed by two rounds of "Moonbeam Splashes on the Water" (taught on Volume 3 of the Chi Kung For Health series) before proceeding to an hour and half of Yang style solo form and sword form practice. Besides further cultivating the same FP healing energy mustered in the preceding basic standing FP meditations, the postures throughout this longer meditation are extremely powerful and over time will naturally enhance any martial art practice. For example, the rearward left leaning and rearward right-leaning postures and their transitions (three moves before the end of the meditation) greatly expands one's range of evasive maneuvers and provides strength, fullness of energy, and rootedness in postures that would be "empty" if assumed by most martial artists! This conditioning is gradual and the effects are subtle. But with diligent practice, one's unattackability is tremendously enhanced. Just do it! -- and discover this aspect of FP conditioning! Sifu Terry Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

With respect to Monk Serves Wine #2 (50 40 30 20), the resting breaths between each repetition of the cycle of movements can be done with hands at the tan tien or hands on top of the knees. I prefer hands at the tan tien in the earth position. Best, Sifu Terry

Hi Sihing Garry, Very nice clip of relaxed springy energy. Very powerful. It's always a pleasure to take a break from Flying Phoenix and see a related Doo Family system done perfectly! I use similar method in BDG and in Tai Chi Chuan to cascade the springy energy downward and then straight-ahead on a horizontal line. The extra inflection point to redirect the geng forward from its downward path (at the bottom of the chan su jin/ diagram), for you Chen style practitioners) profoundly increases the compression of energy already at a high! Best, Sihing Terry

Hi Charlie, So glad to hear that your daily seated FP Practice over a couple of months has given a boost to your 'spiritual' practice. You've just proven to yourself and given testimony to the thread that this Qigong system lives up to its formidable name. As Sifu Garry started to point out, Fei Feng Sunn Gung means "Flying Phoenix Spiritual Achievement-Work-Mastery". And, yes, FP Meditation will do away with all traces of the monkey-mind. For monkeys are not allowed in Heaven--except, of course, in the Chinese novel, "Monkey", aka, "Journey to the West"! (btw, the stage musical-popera by the same title is currently playing Lincoln Center [ http://monkeyjourneytothewest.com/ ] to sensationally mixed reviews): http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/monkey-journey-west-theater-review-58239 Peace, out. Sifu Terry

PureTruth, I just back-tracked and found your July 4 posting here. Somehow I missed it when I got back to the FP thread about a week ago--by not going far enough on the timeline--when my attention was called to uprooting weeds that had crept into garden. Nice 2 cents. Always a good idea to study the history and spiritual history of Ehrmeishan as background to FP Qigong practice. As stated earlier on this thread: (a) Flying Phoenix Chi Kung is a Taoist art, created by Taoist monk Feng Tao Teh. (b ) GM Doo Wai wrote out his name for me in five Chinese characters as such. (c ) GMDW never described Flying Phoenix Qigong or any art under the Bok Fu Pai banner or "umbrella" as anything other than a Taoist art. (d) GMDW made a surprising comment when I showed him the advanced neigung of the Tao Tan Pai system known as the Five Dragons. He said to me authoritatively, "Those are Buddhist meditations" and then explained that Tao Tan Pai was a Taoist-Buddhist syncretic tradition. Take special note that Sifu Garry made of the fact that Ehrmeishan was first a Taoist center for hundreds of years before Buddhism started taking hold in the first century. And even though Feng Tao Teh created or "channeled in" the FPHHCM system during the time when Buddhism had been firmly established as the dominant religion at Ehrmeishan, he was a Taoist monk whose presence was also recorded at Wudangshan. This could be something. If you track vajrayana to and from emeishan you may find something. Does fp lead to immortality? I dont see how it could not given the size of the system the results that practitioners gets and so on. ***The attainment of "Immortality" is by any exercise alone, no matter how powerful. How about a lifetime of Good Works and sacrifice that leads to a karma-less existence? Below is some pics of emeishan for everyones enjoyment. And nice pics of Ehrmeishan! Such a pleasure to replant such fruitful images here. Thanks for posting. Sifu Terry

Yes, getting there. Thanks again, Sihing Garry, for pointing out this actually terrifying fact inherent in the Chinese name of Flying Phoenix Qigong that provides ample retort to someone's hallucinogenic statement that "nobody on this thread cares about spirituality." Sihing Terry

Pitisuhka, here is an alternative to your "observations" of the situation with which you are sugar-coating into fiction and unreality: Isn't realizing the empty nature of awareness a goal in every spiritual path? No. Flying Phoenix Qigong is a concentrative meditation, not insight meditation. As I stated, no doctrines, no dogma no beliefs whatsoever are necessary to open oneself to Wisdom of the Tao through Flying Phoenix Qigong practice. Besides, the nature of awareness is always full. For if it's the Zen concept of "no mind" that you're referring to, No Mind functionally means being TOTALLY PRESENT and penetrating every moment--not absent-minded, lackadaisical. or seemingly deranged, although many great Chan and Zen personages would feign stupidity or insanity in order to disguise their true strengths and talents in order to be overlooked by tyrants or parasites. Only the beginner's mind needs to be "empty". In the Taoist tradition as in many other spiritual traditions, one must first attain and perfect one's abilities and even attain one's ambitions before one has anything to renounce. Once the mind is fully experienced in truth and wisdom from "doing" (--i.e., the Buddhist 8-fold Path, the Way of Tao, or Castaneda's path of the warrior, ), then it will naturally turn into no-mind and proceed with not-doing, as the Tao Te Ching describes. Mindfulness is the goal and it does not come easy. [As Christ also taught--hint: in the Book of Mary (Gnostic Scriptures)]. Isn't the give and take of the last posts, going in the opposite direction? The give and take of the last posts is Sifu Garry's attempt to saw down a tree of ignorance. Defending what seems to be ourself and attacking what seems a separate self.. No, defending Truth with the Vajra Sword, the Cutter of Doubts and Lies. Sifu Terence Dunn

Alles, definitely close your windows. I wrote very early in the thread that all the FP Qigong exercises must be done in a quiet and secluded environment totally free from sudden physical contact/impact or loud noises or of course noxious smells. The FP Meditations especially the seated MSW meds. all highly sensitize the body so that all sensory input is amplified and felt more acutely through the nervous system. Just a telephone ring next to one can disturb one's internal energy. Too loud a sudden noise that causes a severe start or an unexpected physical impact can damage the subtle flows of internal energy. Everyone finds out for themselves in some way how much the FP Meditations sensitize the body and makes it vulnerable to concussive sounds and the like. Regards, Sifu Terry www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Hi Growant, You are mixing up the spiritual traditions of Taoism and Buddhism with an energy-based but "spiritually-neutral" or "a-spiritual" medical tradition, TCM. Taoism and Buddhism have the same experience of spirit and the supramundane as western spiritual traditions and therefore have the same meaning of spirit as western esoteric spiritual traditions--but eastern exoteric doctrines may differ greatly from western religious doctrine. To understand clearly the religious and spiritual influence of china's religions on TCM, read the voluminous classic, Joseph Needham's "Science and Civilization in China". One area where there is substantial difference between eastern and western doctrines is with regards to reincarnation ( transmigration of the soul). Western religions that do not have a meditative vehicle do not have the experience of that reality and therefore no doctrine concerning it. Thus they have life and "afterlife" and so many theories and speculations about the latter. "Shen" means spirit in Chinese, and more specifically a rising spirit as opposed to a sinking or earthbound spirit (kwei). Shen also means psychic awareness. e.g., Tao Tan Pai has specific Shen exercises to develop psychic awareness. To understand the meaning of "Shen" outside of one's FPCK or other meditative practice, read "Secret of the Golden Flower" by Cleary, and "Tibetan Yoga And Secret Doctrines" by W.Y. Evans-Wentz. They are required reading of all my martial arts students. As I stated throughout the thread from the start, FP imparts health, longevity and higher consciousness by bringing all organ functions under the regulation of the subconscious mind. It thus affects the entire body including the mind because it works through the nervous system. Total mind-body integration--which occurs in a most blissful manner in FP meditation-- is a given. "Immortality" is the same functional concept in both Buddhism and Taoism. It means liberation from the cycle of deaths and rebirths. Liberation from what the Buddhists call sangsara--the "round", the sorry-go-round as opposed to the merry-go-round, as Alan Watts put it. "Immortals" in Taoism more specifically refers to powerful saints (same as Boddhisattvas in Buddhism), liberated souls who don't have to but choose to reincarnate in order to help liberate all sentient beings. Taoist Immortals are imbued with divine magical powers. The Tao Tan Pai system is attributed to Lu Tung Pin, a real personage, who transcended to heaven after a lifetime of great works and is revered as the leader of the "Eight Immortals." Feng Tao Teh of Ehrmeishan, the founder of Bok Fu Pai and FP Qigong, Chen Xi-Yi of Huashan, the creator of Liu He Ba Fa, Tai Chi Ruler and other Yogas, and Chang San-Feng of Wudangshan, creator of Tai Chi Chuan, are all saintly sage figures in the Taoist tradition. In "western" religion, the miraculous works of saints and great prophets are chronicled throughout the Holy Bible and the Quran. Sifu Terry

You're very welcome, bew. Thank you very much for your kind words. We are all looking forward to helping you further your practice of Flying Phoenix. Sifu Terry

Yes, as in "Fei Feng Sunn Gung", "Flying Phoenix Spiritual Work-mastery". Thanks Sihing Garry, for this perfect question--the answer to which seals off Ant's parting shot about no one on this thread being interested in spirituality! . By virtue of its Chinese name alone, "Flying Phoenix Heavenly Healing Chi Kung" is a spiritual-power-work that does NOT NEED a church or a religion to support or dispense it! It was given to mankind to experience some of Heaven's blessings directly. As I've stated repeatedly FP Qigong is complete, sufficient in itself, and self-explanatory. Not to mention so easy and safe to do without the supervising presence of a qigong master. Thus it requires no additives, no embellishments, no "tips" from other Taoist or Buddhist traditions to explain how it works, how to do it, or how to improve it in any way. Just do it, for Heaven's sake. Sihing Terry

Oh, so true: no one on this thread is interested in spirituality. Sifu Hearfield and I are ordained Taoists (plus a quite a bit more)--and neither we nor any of the 265,580 readers of this thread since Nov. 2009 are interested in spirituality. But yes, we do understand your questions. We understand them perfectly well, Antares. Good bye. Sifu Terry Dunn

What kind of Shit - O - Meter you talking about? WHERE I lied about you or give fallacy information? Quote it. If you don't quote it then you should apoligize for your statement. • The kind that spelled out all of your recent lies, purposeful misquotes, over-generalizations and self-serving switching of contexts. Your LIES are clearly exposed in my Post #2401. No apology will ever be issued to an incessant and incorrigible liar with a dishonest agenda bent only on disruption and irritation. • The kind of Wierd-Shit-O-Meter that spots this as another freshly concocted lie: You used to say that FP is fucking shit. I had quoted one time my 31-year old student Al J. Lee as saying this in celebration when he first experienced FP Qigong's healing energy in his generation's vernacular. And you attribute the saying to me as if I am cursing the FP System, the system that I've been practicing for 22 years and at present am the only instructor and preserver of this art in the world besides GM Doo Wai. Knowing Mr. Lee quite well as one of my indoor students, I don't think he would appreciate having his words turned around and used against me. • That just goes to show that you are a master of creating interesting new karma, Antares.• Did I say any bad word to your side that you turn on your magic Shit-o meter? Yes. Please read Post #2401 again since by this question you didn't get it the first time. My Wierd-Shit-O-Meter is always on, and it registered high in the red-scale when I read your posts. The last time that happened was with "Sillum", who I surmise is perhaps "your friend who studies with GM Doo Wai". Just keep up your imbecilic rants and you will follow him into exile--and not just from this thread. (ah, that is not a threat, btw, but prophecy). I am reffering to the GMDW' friend who says that GM himself said that there 18 levels with 36 meditations in each level. That person has the video where GMDW says that THIS IS LEVEL 18. Oh that friend! Hmmm. I recall in the early 90's that there was a certain student that ran so afoul of GMDW that the GM issued several online public condemnations and disavowments of him, the first one on his Myspace page. You can also find one or more on Youtube. I don't know him and I never speak of him. But I heard about him for all six years that i trained under GM Doo Wai. I know that for students who went so far south on GM and vexed the GM so much with their demands, GM Doo Wai would straddle them with elaborate "made-up" nonsense meditation systems as punishment and red herrings to get them out of his hair. So we apparently have two versions of FP Qigong. One that I've published in DVD in 2003 with GM Doo Wai's tacit and written approval (as seen on my website) that he told me and my peers in the 1990's was completed once one mastered of the Long Form Standing Meditation on volume 4. And a second one, which "your friend who studies with GM Doo Wai" says has 18 x 36 Meditations = 648 Meditations. I am quite content with my practice of the Basic Level of FP Qigong that consists of the Meditations on my DVD series plus about a dozen more seated MSW Meditations. I am content with that beauty of a meditation, "Moonbeam Splashes on Water" on Volume 3, which I encourage all FP Students to pay more attention to, for I have not heard feedback from students on this thread that indicates that anyone has established it well enough to experience and understand its benefits. I would say further to all FP Practitioners who believe that I have been teaching the false Flying Phoenix system for the past 22 years, as you insinuate, to by all means please follow Antares' friend and start a commune called "648 Plieades Breathes" around the two of them. --Please, anything to get Antares to stop bothering this thread with the "real truth" of Flying Phoenix from his "friend who studies with GM Doo Wai"!!! I could not concentrate on FP solely for 6 months bc I did not have enough information about system and thought to mix with something else. Thousands of people in the U.S. and throughout the world for the past 10 years have found that the information published on my DVD series was quite adequate to guide them through beneficial practice of FP Chi Kung. They have done quite well with the 12-month Training Schedule posted online--as reported throughout this thread. What more information could you possible have gotten that would have enabled you to concentrate on FP solely for 6 months? If you do not have Attention Deficit Disorder, or PTSD, or are on mind-altering medication, or are abusing narcotics or alcohol, your statement above indicates that you do not have the slightest discipline or minimal focus to follow the simple instructions that i set forth in the DVD series to learn a most simple yet powerful Qigong system. For you have posted no accounts of actual FP Qigong practice even though you say you had practiced it for 6 months by mixing it with "something else." Your postings of the past 20+ days reflects no experiential basis for discussing FP Qigong. Yet you've argued throughout that I am holding back about secret "transmissions" (there are none) and knowledge of your friend's alleged "18 levels" of FPCK. So please, don't practice FP Qigong if you must mix it with something else. Practice that something else that has 18 levels. For the Flying Phoenix Qigong that I teach on DVD and will comment upon on this thread has one level and that one level is quite enough. I know couple people who quit FP practice bc they did not know about all these levels and were not sure if need to meet you in US. Not knowing there were other levels of FP and whether they needed to see me in the US is an incredible reason for anyone to stop practicing FP if they are actively deriving its healthful, life-enhancing benefits. There are FP Practitioners in Spain, France, UK, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Turkey (Hi, Cihan!) not to mention all over the United States and Canada who are far from Los Angeles and who know they will probably not see me, and who yet continue their FP practice. As I said, FP Qigong is not for everybody. Some people are just too tense physically and narrow and dense mentally or encrusted with self-conceit to feel any of Flying Phoenix Qigong's "heavenly" effects--as Tao Stillness recently described their sublimity. Just in the same way that stupid people don't need to meditate; for to them, everything is cathartic. "all these levels" of FP practice are irrelevant to the Basic Level of FP Qigong as taught on the DVD series--especially those dubious "18 levels". As Sifu Hearfield and I have both confirmed in recent posts, just ONE authentic FP Meditation can empower anyone to develop into gifted healer--if one has the heart and predilection. I asked you for help on the thread. And some people started abuse my personality. NIce!!!!! You asked for the type of help that I already provided in this thread (#89, #93) and I answered you directly in Post #2329--again spelled out in Post #2401 above. With regard to your repetitive claims of being "abused" for no reason as you argue, the last 8 or 9 pages show that you have only caused the perplexity and befuddlement, then frustration, then anger, and then the ire of numerous subscribers including myself with your arguments rampant with lies and pointless distortions that go nowhere and only waste time and energy--including your own. The inescapable fact is that people always get what they deserve from life. One cannot escape who they are and what they do (the working definition of karma). And your cause of derailing this thread with intent of draining every reader's and respondent's energy will have it's effect upon you--on many levels and in ways that will exceed the effects that you apparently desire. What a squandering of free will. Sifu Terry Dunn

PureTruth, Thanks for the suggestion. But private online consultations have been available for quite a while as Fu-Dog (Lloyd McClelland) had reported in the first months of the thread. Anyone who is interested in private consultation by phone or Skype can contact me through PM or at this email: [email protected]. No, i don't agree that this guy cares a lot about FP Practice. I don't think he cares one iota about its practice. I think it's all a smokescreen for his intentional disruption in all directions on the thread. If you look at the effect he's had on this thread, it's nothing but weirdly selfish and paranoid disruption of the exchange and free flow of experiences about FP practice. He offers nothing whatsoever in terms of his actual experience in practicing FPCK, but only whines and insults me and Sifu Garry about not having enough info on "18 levels of FP" and spews rapid lies and pointless distortions in the same manner as this lout Sillum who was banned from the thread 1.5+ year ago., while accusing in all directions of being "abused". Who knows might be Sillum's "Mini-me" (ala Austin Powers) Regards, Sifu Terry www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

Antares, Here are my responses in black to each of your statements (brown): I used to discuss this issues with few other people who post in this thread and have practiced FPCK for a long time. And I see they have these questions too and mixing FPCK with other practices. I have adequately answered every question posted about mixing Flying Phoenix Chi Kung practice with other Chi Kung systems, practicing it alongside Bok Fu Pai Kung Fu and BFP umbrella arts, practicing it alongside other Kung Fu systems--that are not repetitive of an earlier posted question. If the others that you are talking to who are long-time practitioners of FPCK have the same questions, then they will find the answers to their questions in this thread—very clear answers that "Bubbles" was good enough to find identify by Posting number: #89 and #93. [Thank you, Bubbles]. And here is what I wrote more recently in post #2329 in response to your question: “…without the Chinese equivalent counterparts to Indian asana and pranayama--i.e., the myriad of yogic postures contained in Kung Fu forms and the esoteric cultivation of breath power that comes from mastering Chinese Kung Fu Forms, attaining the high level benefits from any Qigong (with the exception of FP Qigong and probably SYG as well, as far as I know directly) is a very difficult proposition. To get the most out of high level Qigong systems such as FPCK in the shortest time, it certainly helps if one happens to be a high adept or master of Kung Fu. As I mentioned in the thread, everyone in the learning circle that I had formed around GM Doo Wai in 1990 in Los Angeles was already an instructor in some other form of kung -fu. Those who were not, "got it" a little slower than those who were. But a Kung Fu or Tai Chi foundation is not mandatory for life-long beneficial practice of FP qigong. FP Qigong is unique in that its basic standing moving meditations can still get an absolute beginner with no Chinese martial arts or yogic arts experience to a masterful level in a relatively short time because it has a comprehensive set of kung-fu postures (equivalent of asanas) built into the standing moving meditations as seen in Volumes 3 and 4. GM Doo Wai talked in general that he could train someone in his internal arts to a high level of proficiency in six years.” These are my clear and straightforward answers that you unfortunately have miscontrued, taken out of context and also grotesquely twisted for a seemingly "weird" belief system (to use Sifu Garry's word, post #2306) and apparently unhealthy agenda of disruption (per “Bubbles”) and spewing accusations in all directions of being "abused." For example you advised to practice FP with kung fu for the best benefits. Also you mentioned how powerful was your experience learning from GMDW. And when I asked to elaborate it you said it is not relevant to the thread and that it is "silly freaky". This is just dishonest. • Your first two sentences here are correct; I have posted numerous statements to that effect. However, your third sentence in bold here is a quite deranged fabrication, a vile and diabolical lie, or perhaps both: you take Sifu Hearfield's critique of your arguments as "about nothing really" and as "silly freaky" (see #2335 ), take them out of context and accuse me of being "dishonest" by putting his words in my mouth--in answer to your question/request to elaborate about Kung Fu enhancing the benefits of FP Chi Kung practice. Up until now, I have not stated that elaborating more about Kung Fu practiced concomittant with FP Qigong was irrelevant. For I have adequately answered every question posted about combining FP practice with other qigong systems, with BFP Kung Fu and with other Kung Fu systems--including your questions. It is not an irrelevant issue, but an issue that I will no longer comment upon because that’s a dead horse that you want to beat several more times because you could not understand what I wrote in plain English--or didn’t like what I wrote. This is what Sifu Hearfield said of your postings as of July 16: The transmission is the DAO!! FP Chow Mein isnt FP The answer is simple do one, do it without wanting, do it cause it feels right, freaking silly questions for nothing seriously...lmao How many FP dvds do u have Ant? If you have more than one that has a heap of meditations you have a brick that inside is gold. Not only did you attribute Sifu Hearfield’s statement to me, but you reversed the order of his words: “Freaking silly” (are your questions) and for nothing, seriously. But if you want to admit that your questions are “silly freaky” as well as “freaking silly”, then I would agree with that characterization also. If I ask somebody about attainments of FPCK you say "who a fuck are you to ask these questions" - it sounds aggressive. • Again, you distort what I said and the context in which I said it . This is what you are referring to in my post of July 14 (#2368): And did you really understand those moves? --YOU ARE NOT AN AUTHORITY IN ANY YOGIC SYSTEM OR SPIRITUAL TRADITION--LET ALONE FP QIGONG--TO CHALLENGE A DEDICATED THREE-YEAR PRACTITIONER OF FP QIGONG WHO I HAVE PERSONALLY TUTORED ON THIS THREAD (AND THROUGH PRIVATE MESSAGING) ABOUT HIS OR HER UNDERSTANDING. WHO ARE YOU TO ASSUME SUCH AN ATTITUDE AND ASK SUCH A QUESTION OF ANYONE??!!! DISHONEST? WHO IS BEING DISHONEST HERE??!!! You describe your insulting challenge to Cihan—“And did you really understand those moves?” --as you sincerely asking about his “attainments” of FPCK? Do you truly believe that any literate person believes that that was the intent of your question? And then you distort my chastisement of your insult “Who are you to assume such an attitude and ask such a question of anyone???!!!” as “Who the fuck are you to ask thes questions?”—when I have never used the world "fuck" in anger during the entire 3.5+ years that I’ve been answering questions on this thread. Although I prefer not to lower myself to your level of profanity to address your perverse thinking, but because you’ve given me license by putting that word in my mouth, I will now ask you: Who the fuck are you to twist Sifu Hearfield’s words about you, “Freaking Silly”, and tell the FP community that I was the one who said them? (Not that I disagree with Sifu Hearfield one bit.) ...and then accuse me of using the word “fuck”, towards you…and in a newly contrived context that also amounts to a lie: that I said “who the fuck are you to ask these questions (plural)”. WRONG. I said, “Who are you to assume such an attitude and ask such a question of anyone?” (--that question being your ARROGANT INSULT of Cihan: “And did you really understand those moves?”—when you yourself have admitted to having practiced only 6 months but to no notable results.” I wanted to find the best approach for best benefits of FPCK practice. • You seem to disagree contentiously with everything posted by me, Sifu Hearfield, and the more experienced students of FP Qigong on this thread. If you believe you know better about FP Qigong practice from "your friend who learns from GM Doo Wai," why don’t you and he start a discussion thread of his own about FPCK practice? This is open discussion thread and people can have diff questions and diff karma. • Apart from the obvious in your statement, perhaps FP Chi Kung is not the right system for you since you have stated that you have gained no notable benefits after 6 months of practice. Perhaps that is your different karma. One priceless benefit of the FP Heavenly Healing Chi Meditations practice is that it increases discernment. Thus my Wierd-Shit-O-Meter is now calibrated finer than ever and it's fully powered by patience, general semantics, and a new form of brain activation (from inadvertantly and most pleasantly connecting to Tao Stillness's medical clairvoyant Eric Isen's high meditative states as a deeksha of Sri Bhagavan's Oneness Meditation--by merely reading or typing certain words on this thread related to Oneness Meditation). Bottom line is that every lie that you or anyone else decides to post on here in the future, Antares, will be dissected and exposed. And the result will be that subscribers following this thread--now reaching past 260,000--will all eventually come to now the workings of your mind and, yes, the INTENTION of your heart—not to mention the utter fallacy and ridiculousness of some of the information that you've posted, such as 500 Flying Phoenix meditations. With interruptions at a rate of about once a year, this thread has been a clean channel for information exchange about a heavenly yogic art that cultivates not just good health, but sanctity--and this thread is not, as someone said, a railroad station. Your weirdly spun lies and pointless distortions have been an obnoxious pollution and derailment of this forum thus far. Yes, it is an open forum, and all are free to post their questions, ideas and experiences concerning Flying Phoenix Qigong--so long as their intent is constructive sharing. But every lie and destructive comment spewed on it is pool of urine that everyone is forced to smell and something that Sifu Hearfield, I and others feel compelled to hose out, which is an absolute waste of our time and mental and psychic energy--that could otherwise be spent much more constructively. Sifu Terence Dunn www.taichimania.com/chikung_catalog.html

No, Leif. A very good post. Please don't delete. Best, Sifu Terry