The Way Is Virtue

Stigweard said: "The trinity of Tian, Ren, Di -- Heaven, Man, Earth" Anyone know of any specific Taoist texts which delve into this concept in any depth? Stig, do any of Ni Hua Ching's books go into detail on this? Can this be thought of as depicting different functions or forms of tao? After doing some reading from various taoist writings, I get the definite impression that some taoist writings can be read from different perspectives, and thus can seem to be speaking to different things depending on the perspective. The Tao Te Ching, for example, would seem to be of this sort. At face level it seems to be a basic philosophy of life, but if one takes a different perspective, requiring deriving meanings from within meanings, it seems to speak to something quite different. Perhaps within this second 'layer' of meaning there is yet another layer of meaning, etc. This has conjured up the image of Earth, Man, and Heaven in my mind, hence the interest in delving into this concept a little deeper.

I came across an interesting article which contains explanations of the Taoist internal alchemy cultivation diagram. Since there seem to be some people here who have a fair bit of experience/training in Taoist internal alchemy, I am wondering what people think of the information in this article? Anyone have any comments or corrections in regards to this: http://duversity.org/elixir/ .

A few people have commented that they think that this demo of burning a hole in paper looks to them like it was done with a laser. To me it doesn't look like this was done with a laser at all. A laser that is strong enough to burn a hole that quickly in a sheet of white printer paper would be very bright, and likely would be reflecting bright laser light off of the white paper at various angles, as bright lasers tend to do, including into the video camera lens. Lasers also emit very narrow bandwidth light and are most commonly available in color ranges of red, green, or violet/purple, and the light they reflect off of something like white paper is usually fairly easily recognizable as laser light. I don't see any of this in this video, and also the light spot on the paper gets bright and bigger for a moment, and then disappears for a moment, and then slowly goes from a small spot to bigger spot as the hole burns in the paper. For people who were there in person, if a laser was used I think it should have been fairly obvious that a laser was shining on the paper, so the reporters interviewing Dr. Jiang would likely have to have been in on the deception as well. I'm not saying that it is definitely not a trick, but just that to me it doesn't look like a laser was used to burn the hole in the sheet of paper in this video. Chemicals are another possibility, but personally it wouldn't surprise me at all anyway if this qigong paper buring demo is legit. Yes, the workshop fee and possible extra fees such as herbal remedy fees does seem very expensive, and it is understandable that many people could not afford that much money, or would not want to pay that much money for a workshop from a teacher that most people have not even met before or know much about. Then again, no one has to attend if they don't want to. It is easy for anyone to make assumptions, but it takes more effort and risk and is more difficult to really put aside one's beliefs and assumptions and try to determine what is really true and what is not based on real effort and real experience and knowledge. That's my two cents' worth on the matter anyway. Regards...

This one is from a Taiwan website, but I don't know the origins of the painting, except that it is of Feng Bo: The webpage I found it on is here: http://content.teldap.tw/main/dc_detail.php?dc_id=2020393

An apparent Korean version of Feng Bo:

This image is located on a Japanese site, but the description is 風伯神, which I believe translates as Feng Bo God. Looks like possibly a Japanese version of Feng Bo. Anyway, if you search on 風伯神, you may come up with other images. I am guessing that you were probbaly not looking for images like this however.

Here's a story regarding statues of Deities. One time I went to eat at a Chinese restaurant with a group of friends. The restaurant was decorated with statues of what appeared to be possibly taoist deities. These statues were about a foot and a half to two feet high or so and were made of bronze or brass, as I recall, and were sitting in alcoves built into the walls in the restaurant, and the alcoves were sealed over by panes of glass. We noticed the statues because they looked antique and some of them were partially turned inwards to different degrees towards the back of the alcoves, instead of facing forward, and one statue was turned almost fully inward with the back of the statue facing outward, instead of the front of the statue facing outward. We asked the owner of the restaurant why the statues were turned inward like that and she said that she had originally placed the statues all facing to the front, but slowly over time the statues had turned inward like that. She said the statues originated from temples, (I think temples in China). I suppose that if the restaurant was not on a really solid foundation or had a floor that was inclined to bounce and vibrate that vibrations over time might have made the statues turn, but the statues were not small and were made of bronze or brass, so the statues probably had a fair bit of weight to them. Anyway, that's the story.

"On a different note if anyone happens to know about Feng Shui is it bad to have Guan Yu standing right above my head while I sleep?" I personally don't know, and you may well get different answers on that depending on who you ask. You may get an informed answer if you ask this question of the people at http://studytaoism.com/. You can email them at: info at studytaoism dot com Regards

"Also known as the Three Pure Ones." No, the Three Pure Ones are the highest Deities in Taoism, I believe. They are not the same as the Three Star Deities. Regards

Yes, I believe you have statues of the 'three star gods'. In order of appearance in your attached picture, I believe it is Fu (star/deity of good fortune), Lu (star/deity of prosperity), Shou (star/deity of longevity). It's interesting that the statue of Lu that you have, actually appears to be depicted the way Guan Yu is sometimes depicted. Not sure why that is. It may be that the manufacturer didn't know the difference and mixed up the images. Your 'Lu' statue really appears to be a Guan Yu statue. Best wishes...

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Everyone has their own opinions and own experience, so in the end you have to go with what is available and what seems to work for you. I haven't tried Zhineng qigong, but it seems to be quite popular and have a good reputation in China as a good form of qigong for healing. IMO, it certainly wouldn't hurt to give it a try a see how you like it. From what I have seen, lots of people try various types/styles of qigong for awhile but then either don't practice much, or just practice for a couple of months or so and if they don't feel much going on yet they assume it is not working and give up and maybe start looking for something else. The thing is that with certain types of chronic health problems, it may take many months or even more than a year or longer of regular practice to really start seeing results. A person has to be patient. One way to try to help assess a qigong system is to talk to other students and get their feedback on how long they have been practicing and how often they practice and what results they feel they have achieved. Tai chi is very good for helping a person build up their health when they are weak, but with tai chi it can take a fair bit of time as well before a person starts seeing progress. Adding a good qigong practice can really help to bring results somewhat faster. If you have to practice on your own for the time being but want an effective and simple form of qigong practice, I personally have had very good results with standing qigong (AKA zhan zhuang). I went through a period of being quite on the weak side with low energy and chronic health problems in the past and tried a lot of things as well including tai chi practice, but only really started seeing really noticeable improvement after starting to do standing qigong practice regularly over a period of a year. It seems to be very effective for building up and restoring essence and qi, and therefore overcoming illnesses related to low energy and deficiencies, such as chronic fatigue and related. You may well have to practice regularly and give it lots of time for these types of problems, depending on the exact nature of the problem, but if you are weak you can just stand for 5 to 10 minutes at a time to start and practice two or three times per day. Slowly over time you can increase your standing time. Don't stand longer than you can without straining. Once you are straining you will lose the benefit. Over time you will be able to stand longer. If you can get to the point of being able to stand fairly comfortably for 20 to 30 minutes per session, and practice at least twice per day such as morning and evening if you can, you should start slowly over time seeing improvement to your situation. In my experience chronic fatigue or related such as low energy can take a fair bit of time of regular practice to really start seeing results. If you regularly practice the first standing form as demonstrated by Lam Kam Chuen in this video, you should start seeing some good improvement if you are patient and give it lots of time. Whatever form of qigong you practice, as long as it is a decent form of practice, the key is always to practice regularly, and to keep going even if you are not feeling much going on or seeing much results at first. If you are really feeling weak or have very low energy, practicing daily, both mornings and evenings, is best. Standing qigong helps to build up energy and start opening blockages and balancing imbalances quite quickly overall, in my personal experience. In some internal martial arts schools such as taiji and xing yi, standing qigong practice was the 'secret' of building up energy quickly, and sometimes only shown to personal students but not shown when taught publicly. Today many internal martial arts schools teach the forms but may neglect the standing practice to help build up internal energy. It can be a bit awkward to stand like that at first if you haven't practiced zhan zhuang before, but you should get more used to it after several weeks of practice or so, and it doesn't take much effort to just stand. Good luck in your practice.

I am not quite sure what you are looking for exactly when you say practice, but you posted this in the taoist forum so I would guess you are looking for some 'taoist' practices. It sounds like you are already doing some good practices. IMO, a very good overall practice is quiet stationary standing and sitting meditation. Relax the body as much as possible and calm the mind, keep the back naturally and comfortably straight, bring your awareness to lower dantian for a moment, with breathing slow, soft, deep, natural, and relaxed, and then forget about everything and think about and focus on nothing in particular and continue meditating. This can be done in sitting or standing posture. This can be described as taoist 'wuji' meditation/cultivation practice, although various other traditions may have similar practices. Practicing both postures (standing and sitting) is advantageous in my experience. If you have any health issues, giving more emphasis to the standing posture may be more beneficial at first. This practice is very simple and requires little space, however this is a very direct and very effective internal cultivation practice in my experience. Other forms of moving qigong are useful as a supplement in further helping bring the body and meridian/channel system into balance, and also in providing needed exercise to the body if you don't get much physical exercise otherwise. Moving qigong practices can also help to prevent qi stagnation and can further balance out the qi after practicing the sitting and standing meditation, but you can also do the same by practicing a qigong closing routine after meditation practice such as patting down the full body with the hands and massaging the neck and shoulders and back of head area. Really that is the essence and core of internal cultivation practice, and the potential is there to go far with this simple practice, and it doesn't cost a cent to learn as well. Sure there are no complicated or mysterious esoteric looking moves and such to catch and hold the mind's fancy; but, in my own experience anyway, this is a very beneficial and effective and very direct cultivation practice. If a person practices simply and practices regularly (daily is best), and is able to properly calm and relax the mind and body and just allow things to progress naturally without interference from the the mind (without paying too much attention to or focusing on the body or any sensations effects that may arise), and without trying to control things or trying to cause things to happen, then beneficial results should come at a natural pace. It is advisable to learn under the guidance of an accomplished teacher to assist with any questions or issues that may arise and to help keep things progressing in beneficial way, but if a person doesn't have access to a teacher they can still make good progress in improving health and improving well being *if* they practice naturally and in a balanced way such as described above. That is a big if though, as many people do end up varying from the above guidelines in various ways even though they may think they are practicing naturally and not using the mind to interfere with the process, and think that they are relaxing, etc. For that reason it is advisable to be learning from and be under the guidance of an accomplished teacher. If a person doesn't live in close proximity to a good teacher, there may be opportunities to learn at workshops and continue practice on their own between visits to the teacher. Good luck in your practice. P.S. I wanted to clarify something. Although standing meditation is a stationary form of internal qigong meditation, when practiced properly it does boost and promote qi and blood circulation, balance and improve the function of the internal organs, and also acts as a form of exercise for the ligaments, tendons, muscles, and bones etc. in various ways. Therefore standing meditation can be a very good overall practice when one doesn't have much space for practice. Also, in standing meditation, arms can be down by the side with palms somewaht turned to face behind to keep the armpit area open, or palms can be held with arms circular (with shoulders down and relaxed) facing the navel area or the mid chest area in embracing tree fashion. Palms down by your sides or facing navel area is probably better for beginners, although some teachers from martial arts traditions teach holding palms facing the mid chest area right from the start, for some reason. Not sure what the reasoning is for that, but my former tai chi teacher taught me all these posture variations.

Interesting video. The number of sunspots the sun produces follows an approximate eleven year cycle; i.e., the number of sunspots being produced on average on the sun goes from one sunspot cycle maxima to the next sunspot cycle maxima following a fairly sinusoidal shape over approximately eleven years. I am not sure what the person speaking in the video is basing his prediction on that the sunspots will be noticeably 'different' for six years, but it is true that solar scientists are currently predicting the sunspot maxima for the current solar sunspot cycle (cycle #24) to be the lowest maxima (lower average amount of sunspots at the maximum point in the current sunspot cycle) to occur in about the last 100 years. This sunspot maxima for the current solar sunspot cycle is currently predicted to occur somewhere in the Spring of 2013. So, the average number of sunspots being produced by the sun in this current solar sunspot cycle is predicted to be quite a bit less than it has been for about 100 years. That is one identifiable difference in sunspots that seems to be occurring right now. There could be other differences as well in regards to sunspots that can occur. This has to do with the magnetic type classification of sunspots. Sunspots can be classified into magnetic types of Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Beta-Gamma, Delta, Beta-Delta, Beta-Gamma-Delta, and Gamma-Delta. More than 50% of sunspots typically fall into the Alpha and Beta classes (see http://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/help/the-magnetic-classification-of-sunspots). Delta class sunspots have the potential to be very active and produce the most intense solar flares. So, another way that sunspots could be 'different' is for there to be more occurrences of certain classes of sunspots than usually occurs on average. I don't know if scientists have ways of predicting what classes of sunspots are likely to occur other than by basing on current observed trends. Taoists tend to view the body as a microcosm of the universe, with changes/effects occurring in the cosmos relating directly to changes/effects in the body. I don't know exactly what the speaker in the video is referring to when he says the sunspots will be 'different' for six years, but any changes in sun activity/behavior should relate directly to changes happening within people as well, according to the Taoist view, although this may possibly be very subtle and well below the average person's awareness level.

Depending on where you live on this planet, tomorrow the planet Venus will pass in front of the sun (i.e., in line between the Sun and the earth). In North Amrerica, this will start around 5 PM Central time tomorrow (Tues June 5, 2012). The sun is much too bright at that time of day to look at the sun with the naked eye, and you wouldn't be able to see Venus against the sun anyway without a specially equipped telescope, but none the less the event will happen tomorrow. Does it have any significance for culitvators? I have no idea, but just thought I'd mention it anyway. :-) http://www.kansas.com/2012/06/03/2359295/venus-to-flit-across-sun-in-rare.html

Where are you getting this passage from which you are attributing to Lao Tzu? I personally see little relation between what you wrote above and what is written in the Tao Te Ching. Did you get this passage from somewhere else? One can spend a lifetime in the mountains and one may live a peaceful and more wholesome life there, but I personally think that has little to do with sainthood. Sainthood is nothing more than a label that is sometimes put on people who cultivate and embody virtue to a much higher extent than your average person. Whether I read the words attributed to Buddha, Lao Tzu, or Jesus, etc., the main emphasis seems to be on cultivating and doing our best to truly embody virtue, in order to cultivate onseself. One may certainly be able to cultivate qi better in remote natural locations where the air and environment is more pure, and where there are much less distractions, but this has little to do with 'sainthood', in my own opinion anyway. In my view the cutivation of qi can certainly assist us on our journey, but the the cultivation of qi without emphasis on culitvating virtue will likely at best only lead to improvements in health and possibly longevity, and may well improve martial arts ability, etc., but will not do anything much by itself to help one expand/cultivate mind/spirit. A person may spend much of their lifetime cultivating qi in a remote place, and may be very healthy and strong and may even be able to do extraordinary things like jumping up onto the roof of a house in a single bound, etc., but will they be any more enlightened or spiritually cultivated than anyone else who lives in society? What makes the difference then? Again, if I read the words attributed to Lao Tzu, Buddha, Jesus, etc., I am inclined to think the person who is more cultivated will be the person who truly embodies virtue to a fuller extent. This is just my own personal opinion on the matter however. Everyone has their own perspective and interpretations. Best wishes to you...

Various Mahayana Buddhist Sutras translated into English http://www4.bayarea.net/~mtlee/

Pharmaceuticals can have many undesirable side effects. IMO, best to try to avoid them unless really required for health reasons.

There is no doubt that there is lots ego in the martial arts and even in the qigong world, but when you think about it, that is really no different than in anything else. I have heard about nuns who would squabble about which area of the convent was 'their area' and which chair, etc. was 'theirs', and that sort of thing. The ego is everywhere. In earlier times various cultivation practices such as qigong were not usually just openly taught to anyone in the public who wanted to learn. Often times the teacher would be very choosey and careful about whom they taught and what they taught them and when they taught them, and they would also sometimes put the student through various testing stages to see the student's true character before teaching them much of anything cultivation wise. For example, a student might be required to spend several years running lots of errands and doing chores for their teacher before the teacher would decide if they were capable and worthy of being taught anything much more than basics. It is even said that some teachers preferred to let their art die with them than to teach to some students whom they thought were not ready or capable of learning their practices or art. In some spiritual traditions the newer students may be required to do all sorts of community or other service and many chores for quite some time before they even have a chance to be considered to learn much. It is not just a way of testing the students, but also provides a structured way for the students to cultivate virtue. Qigong practice without emphasis on cultivation of virtue can potentially lead to various problems or imbalances, and perhaps at best help a person to enhance their health and mental and emotional wellbeing to some extent. Regarding your question of whether I personally think qigong makes me a better or more compassionate person, or whether it just enhances ego, I think is a wrong question to ask. I believe it is the other way around. Working on becoming a better and more compassionate person helps to reduce the tight control of the 'ego king' over us, and helps a person to become more balanced overall, and helps to open doorways to more beneficial progress in qigong and meditation and that sort of thing. Many Westerners would balk at the idea of a teacher having them spend a lot of time doing chores and running errands for their teacher and doing community service, etc., but such a teacher who places the main emphasis on such things may well have the student's best interests at heart. Again, it is an approach that is very hard for many Westerners to accept, and it certainly can open the door in modern times for students to be exploited by cult leader wannabe types, so it is no easy thing. While the teacher is assessing the student, the student might also be wise to take time to assess the teacher, unless they just feel a natural affinity and trust for the teacher right off. That's my personal perspective on the matter anyway, for what it is worth.

Some types of qigong practices can certainly stimulate one at a sexual, emotional, or mental level, and if a person is not in a good space to be able to constructively handle and assimilate that energy and stimulation, it can potentially lead to imbalances. As I mentioned previously, there can be many factors however, both external and personal. The bottom line is if something is having a negative effect on you, and if you have concerns, and your teacher can't resolve those concerns for you satisfactoraly, then it might not be a bad idea at all to stop what you are practicing. That particular practice may not be right for you, at least not at the current time anyway. Stick with what you find is positive for you and avoid that which is not. Something else to consider, one man's demon may be another man's lack of self control, but there is no question that we can all encounter harmful external influences of one sort or another from time to time. Use your best judgement, but regardless, don't cheat on your girlfriend. There's no excuse for that. Not even a demon. The issues may be closer to home than you might think. Something to consider, since you asked...

'Qigong' covers many different types of practices. There is not one qigong. There can be huge differences between different practices. What exactly a person is practicing and how they practice, and where a given person is physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, etc, are all factors. In general however some practices are good and some practices are not. The point being you can no more generalize about qigong than you can generalize about 'religion' or 'spiritual cultivation', or 'martial arts', etc. There is a lot of varied practices and traditions that fall under the category of qigong, and some practices are very definitely questionable or potentially harmful while others are very safe for pretty well anyone to practice. Again, there are also other factors such as how a person practices and where each individual is personally. Many factors to be considered...