ChiDragon

When I say "good night, Mango" to my bird, then he says "bye bye, Mango" and went into his mating box.....

I talk to my bird, Mango, all the time. He konws what I am talking about. You don't need any specail lessen to talk to a bird. If you talk long enough, the bird will understand you....

Is there an ultimate happiness...??? Is there a complete method to kept one alive...??? Now, what should we do...??? What are we depending on...??? What are we evading...??? Where do we settle at...??? What are we pursuing...??? What are we discarding...??? What do we like....??? What do we disdain...??? The most adorable things are: rich, prestige, longevity, and fame. Hence, the most things we like would be a healthy body, good foods, nice clothes, attractive colors, and nice musics. The most despicable things are: poverty, low-level, death and a bad reputation. The most torments are when one is comfortable but without the gourmet foods, not wearing beautiful clothes, the eyes cannot see the beautiful colors, and the ears cannot hear the melodious music. If one cannot have all things, then one is perturbed. However, having this kind of method for cultivation, isn't that a little ignorant...??? Those who are rich labored their bodies to accelerate the accomplishment of their affairs. Thus they gain lots of wealth but cannot use them all. That was placing oneself outside of the self-cultivation. The noble ones are mentally too busy distinguishing the good from the bad daily; wasn't that too remote from self-cultivation...??? People are born with troubles, those who lived long become muddled and living in worries but not passed away; how sad? Hence, that was definitely too remote from self-cultivation and preserving one's life. Giving up the fame was considered to be good by the people but it cannot sustain life. I don't know this kind of goodness is really good or not? If I reckon it was good, then it cannot keep me alive. If I reckon it was not good, then it can keep others alive. Therefore, it can be said: "With a sincere heart to advise someone to correct and cease a mistake but rejected, then, stepped back with no rigorous quarrel." In the past, Wu Zi Xu(伍子胥), was persisted to advise his ruler and brought harm to himself. If he did not persist to advise the ruler, then, he won't become famous. Come to think of it, is there really any "good"? Nowaday, people reckon the so-called happiness, I don't know is really happiness or not? I'd observed that people reckoned as happiness, they all do not hesitate to pursue this happiness. It seems they were determined and affirmatively cannot stop, thus they thought that was happiness. However, I reckon that there was nothing to be enjoyable. Also, there is nothing that is not enjoyable. Was there really any happiness or not? I reckon that there is no need to verify what is enjoyable, but people in the world think that would be an extreme torment. Thus I would say: "The ultimate happiness is no vexation and no happiness; a perfect appraisal is not to be appraised." The rumors in the world were proven that they are not true. Hence, one can determine what is a rumor does not require any physical strength. The ultimate happiness and survival that almost can be accomplished is only by being Wu Wei(无为). Let's try to analyze it: Heaven can be clear and vacuous was because of Wu Wei, Earth can be in serenity was because of Wu Wei. Therefore, both Heaven and Earth are integrated by Wu Wei. All things become vitalized and existed. It was obscure and didn't know where they came from. It was obscured without a definite image or form. There are reproduction of all things with many kinds; they all came from Wu Wei. Thus it can be said: "Heaven and Earth are Wu Wei and there was nothing that they cannot be accomplished. Who can understand the principles of Wu Wei and follow after it...!!!

Ahhhh.... You'd jumped the gun. The answer is in the last two paragraphs...

Important points: 1. The first line he wrote: 內練一口氣 Internal practice is a mouthful of breath. 2. At 2:50, he says: "When you practice Chi Kung(練氣) and NeiGong(內功), actually, you are practicing breathing." When the Chinese talk about Chi Kung, the emphasis is on "breathing". When translated to another language, it was treated as Energy Work which put them on the wrong track and looses the Chi flavor.

ZhuangZi was telling us do not apply our own standard into another system. It may not be suitable and may cause a disaster; such as serving the sea bird with human foods and wine. Anyway, the lessen here was suggesting that not to be blinded yourself with a standard that was best for you; but maybe the worse for others. If a standard was not applied adequately, then the outcome maybe unpredictable.

Yu Hui(颜回) is travelling to the east to visit the State of Qi2 (齐国), Confucius has a worried look on his face. Zi Gong(子贡) stepped away from his seat and asked: "May I ask you, teacher? Yu Hui(颜回) is leaving to the State of Qi2, you look worried, but why? Confucius said: "Good question. In the past, Guan Zi(管子) had a saying; 'I reckon it was very nicely said. He said: "A small bag cannot be hold big items, a short rope cannot suck up the water of a well.' Hence, it was because of this, our lives are fixed individually, the physical shapes are made to fit each individually, they cannot be added nor subtracted. I am afraid that the stories from the past examples that he is going to present to the ruler of Qi may not be very convincing. The ruler will be resented and perplexed. If he cannot understand then he will become perplexed. If one has worry and perplexed will be worried to death. Besides, haven't you heard? In the past, there was a sea bird flew over to the outskirt of the State of Ru. Lord Ru took it the Great Temple, and held a banquet and play music to entertain it. Gave it the best food there is. However, the bird was faint, irritated, and sad. It was afraid to eat a piece of meat or drink a cup of wine. After three days, the sea bird died. That was a human self-raising method to raise a bird, instead of a bird raise method. The method used to raise a bird is suppose to have it live in the frost, loiter in an deserved island, float on a lake or a river catching fishes, follow a flock of birds flying and make stops and live freely as they can be. Birds are disdain to hear human voices. Especially, attending this kind of noisy party. If this kind of human music was played in a vast desert, all the birds will be flying away; and the animals will be running away. Even fishes will sunk to the bottom of the water. There must be some differences among them. Thus, what is best or worse for them are very different. That was the reason why in the past sages handle affairs using different methods in accordance with the ability of each individual. Nomenclatures are only limited to what it is with reality. The reasons are designed to fit the characteristics of different category. Hence, this was said to be the basic reasoning in reaching all the directions and also maintain the virtue of happiness."

Would you please put this in an comprehensible language....??? Thanks...

Chapter 18 　世上有没有至极之乐呢？有没有可以全生保身的方法呢？现在应当有何作为？以何为依据？回避什么？安处在哪里？趋就什么？舍弃什么？喜欢什么？厌恶什么？ 天下所最崇尚的，就是富有、尊贵、长寿、善名；所最喜欢的，就是身体安逸、丰足的美味佳肴、漂亮的服饰、悦目的色彩、悦耳的音乐；所卑贱的，就是贫穷、地位低下、夭折和坏名声；所苦恼的，就是身得安逸，口不得丰厚的美味，身上穿不到美丽的服饰，眼睛看不到悦目的色彩，耳朵听不到悦耳的音乐。如果不能得到这些，就大为忧惧，这样的养身方法岂不是大愚蠢了吗！ 富有的人，劳苦身体加速做事，多积财富而不能尽数享用，这是求养身于外呀！高贵的人，夜以继日，思虑分辩为善去恶，这对养身不是太疏远了么！人一生下来，就与忧愁同在。长寿的人衰老得胡里胡涂，长处忧愁而不死去，何等苦恼啊！这与养生健体更离得远了！ 殉名之上为天下人称善，却不能使自身生命得以保存。我不知道这种善确实是善呢，还是不善呢？如果认为是善，又不能使自身存活；认为是不善，又使他人存活，所以说：“以忠诚之心去匡正谏止而不被听从，就退却而不强争。”以前伍子胥因为强谏，而身遭残害；然而不去谏争，他也不会成名。 这佯说来到底还有没有善呢？现今世俗之所为与所乐，我也不知那果真是乐呢，还是不乐呢？我观察世俗之所乐，所有人都争着奔向所乐，坚定果敢的样子好象没法停止似的，而他们都以为乐，我认为没有什么可乐，也没有什么不可乐。果真有乐没有呢？ 我认为无为确实是可乐的，而世俗之人又认为是大苦。所以说：“最高的快乐就是无忧无乐，最完美的赞誉就是不赞誉。”天下之是非确实是不定的。虽然这样，无力却可以定是非。最高之快乐与存活自身，唯有无为差不多可以作到。请尝试讲一下：天由于无为而能清虚，地由于无为而得宁静，故而天地两者无为相合，万物都化生出来。恍惚暗昧，不知从何所出！暗昧恍惚，又没有一定形象！万物繁杂众多，都从无为生殖出来。所以说：天地是无为，又是无不为的。人谁能懂得无为之道而效法啊！

What is the purpose of RB...??? Can it be performed by any individual at any time...???

Yes, high adequate level of oxygen in the blood will provide and maintain a maximum number of white blood cells in the immune system to fight off any disease. As soon some white blood cells died, with a constant amount of oxygen provided to the body will be continuously re-manufacture new white blood cells to replace the old or dead ones. People with a weak respiratory system seem to have poor health due to hypoxia. The Chi Kung practitioners know how to breathe in a good amount of oxygen to provide energy fuel for the body. That is why they are so energetic and almost never get sick.

Thank you for showing the video. Now, I know why you are having pain in your legs. This stance is actual Zhan Zhuang. Bending the knees 90 degrees was too advance for you. All beginners should start with a small bending angle and increase the angle progressively. Some ZZ practitioners take years to reach the 90 degree bend.

I am not saying this right or wrong. However, I would like to analyze it objectively. It seems to me that too much emphasis was place on the movement of the tongue. The heavy concentration of the movements of the tongue will cause lots of distraction to the mind. That will put your mind, constantly, in a non-empty state. Besides, this is the first time I have heard of such practice. Indeed, I have not read anything like it in any of my native sources. Keeping the tongue touching the palate was recommended but not moving it up and down as you were told.

ohhhhhhhhh......... Sorry, my ignorance..... Sinfest.... Would you please answer my question anyway....Thank you.....

Moving your tongue like that doesn't seem right. Why don't you keep your tongue in either position whichever is comfortable for you. May I ask you how deep does your breath goes down when you breathe. In regarding to your headache, it seems your breathing was too shallow. Under the shallow condition, there was not enough oxygen supply to your brain which will cause you to have a headache. Do you think that can be in your case......????

So, your worse problem is your headache. Then, may I ask how is your normal breathing....???

It seems to me you had done "horse stance" for a long long time. Why do you still have pain and sores.....??? How long can you do it before getting the pain....???

I think it is the other way around; breathing is before jing. The deficiency of jing is due to poor breathing. We just cannot ignore the fact about the lack of oxygen which is the essence of life according to modern science. Chi Kung will help to correct any breathing problem to improve the survivability of life.

OK Fair enough. I wish they stick with the original term as, 自發功, Spontaneous Chi Kung. Very good. Thanks. It is very confusing that each individual Chinese practitioner start changing name of different methods. Then, they are translated into English, then another westerner comes along and changed the name again in English. I guess we are in the confusing world of the Martial Arts....

What you have, here, was only direct translation of Chinese characters to the English words. If I understand the term correctly, Jing dong gong, in Chinese is 靜動功. It was short for two methods, the static method and the dynamic method. The still method is like Zazen meditation without body movements. The dynamic method is a practice with body movements. By the Chinese definition of Chi Kung, both methods are require abdominal breathing. I must emphasize that the Chi Kung has to be involved with breathing, otherwise it is not Chi Kung. Chi Kung helps to build up the inner strength of the body; and that is why it can be considered as Neigong(內功).

Now I have a question...similar to the questions raised by others here. How did the Taoists come to have this knowledge? If not observable or measurable by the normal senses and equipment... Did "someone" or "something" drop on the scene and hand this knowledge to them? Did all the knowledge come from "elsewhere" via meditation, dreams, etc? For example, Jesus came and directly explained secret teachings to his followers. The gnostics speak quite a bit about this. Jesus being part man, part "god" would have known this information. He may have been "not of this Earth"...we can only speculate. Sounds like some pretty heavy duty information. With a built in protective element. I guess I also ask this in a historical sense. Were there tales of where the Taoist knowledge came from, what it's source was? I want clarify that: In Taoist alchemical terms, the origin and capability of our breathing of air/oxygen ( post-natal form) did not come from the so-called " pre-natal " qi . "Post-natal qi" is something the we eat and breathe to sustain the "pre-natal qi" as defined in the TCM. @KoffeeKommando As far as I know, in the ancient time, the Taoists had no reference sources to go by but their own imaginations and intuitive explanation of their thoughts. They had very limited scientific knowledge. Their increase in knowledge and conclusions were, basically, from learning by their naked eye observations and primitive wisdom.

The notion about the jing, qi and shen is only the imaginary terms from the ancient Taoist thinking. These terms are still not well defined. If you said there are basic elements of human life which leads for me to think that they are the body cells(jing), air(qi) and mind(shen) in modern term. IMO Neither jing nor qi can be the objects of study in Western science because these term are not well define. Since they don't have a good definition, how can anyone going to study them....??? The modern science already have the answer under its noses, but no one want to take the responsibility to admit them. What is the essence of life? Isn't the body cells are the basic unit of the human body....??? Can we consider that the body cells are the essence of life. Don't we breathe the oxygen in the air to survive. Isn't oxygen the essence of life...??? "Taoists, in fact, understand the essence of human breathing much deeper ( of course, also earlier ) than the Western science." is an understatement. Taoists know how to breathe only macroscopically; but they did not understand much deeper than the western science. Western science can go into much finer detail, microscopically, inside the lungs. For example, modern science can explain how the blood carry the oxygen to the body cells. Indeed, the ancient Taoists had no idea about that. Again, the above quote is another understatement. Qi can be said as air(oxygen) but not restricted to confine to the only definition. Qi has lots of different meaning. The user much have a deeper cultural understanding of the term Qi. Most of the westerners only known one definition of Qi as energy. Unfortunately, that was the only mischief causing the regression in their studies. Science can do a lot if you know it and how to handle it with an objective and open mind.

exorcist_1699... Thank you for expressing your outside view of the thread.