ChiDragon

Steve's user name here was '@Starjumper'. Perhaps some of you may look up his old posts on the site!

@awaken It seems no one has a good definition of Qigong(氣功). Since your Chinese and English are very good, I would love to hear the insight from you in both languages. Would you please give us a little introduction in Qigong in a simplest way as possible? Thank you! Edited 1 minute ago by ChiDragon

@awaken It seems no one has a good definition of Qigong(氣功). Since your Chinese and English are very good, I would love to hear the insight from you in both languages. Would you please give us a little introduction in Qigong in a simplest way as possible? Thank you!

Yes, Pilates do not have the same effect as qigong.

What he said is just a number. It really depends on the physical condition of each individual. The way of breathing is the key to determine the final result. Breathing coordinates with the movement; and the movement coordinates with the breathing. Breathing must breathe slow and deep down to the abdomen. If the breath did not go deep down to the abdomen, then it would be less effective in reaching the final result.

This is only a friendly discussion. Even though we disagree by not speaking with the same terms, but there is no need to get emotional about it, my friend! Peace!

"Combination" is the keyword here. The term implies two things, brain/mind, hardware/software. As long there are two things, we can talk about them each individually. There is still a distinction between the hardware and software. The hardware may be the same, but the software can be changed. That is why we have software updates. In the other hand, The brain is just an instrument. Thus the brain doesn't change, but the mind can be changed anytime. If I want to distinguish the two, individually, it is actually the software is doing all the work. If the software was changed, it can perform another function. May I say that the software is really doing all the work other than the hardware? Of course, if you insist, you can say the combination of both is doing all the work. However, I have given my reason to prove my point.

"What exactly are you trying to prove here?" I am simply asking, from zero, do you know what is "the spiritual way of life" to begin with.

Yes, that is true that one cannot interpret without an interpretative scheme. However, the interpretative scheme has to be experienced and learned from the past, but not from zero. Thus the mind has to be trained or by cultivation to store the leaning experience in the brain. Then it was used as an interpretative scheme to be compared with the sense-data. A new born baby wouldn't know how to eat or drink or what to do to get it. Just by natural instinct, the infant knows how to suck something through the mouth. As an infant grows up, needs to learn how to walk then run. Animals are different from human, their natural instinct is much less complicated than human. They almost can walk few hours after they were born and find milk from their mother. As opposed to an infant, something has to be place in the mouth in order to perform the sucking instinct.

So, this raises a question. Is the brain doing all the thinking or the mind is doing all the thinking? Can you said that you have a strong brain but a weak mind. Am I separating the brain and the mind here? In order to have a strong intelligent mind, the mind has to be cultivated. No? To cultivate the mind is to acquire knowledge from external source. No? To appreciate the value of a spiritual way of life, one has to go through the learning of spiritual way of life. Otherwise, how would you know what the spiritual way of life is?

My logic tells me that we have to start from zero. It is because we knew nothing when we were first born. The inborn interpretative scheme to make sense of the incoming sense-data has to come from something that we had learned from zero. Otherwise, we have nothing to compare to the incoming sense-data.

This happens most often in many cases! No matter what they are!

It came up by external observation. Like the universe and the phenomenon within nature around us.

The knowledge about the philosophy of WuWei was acquired externally from the Tao Te Jing. It couldn't be obtained internally. WuWei was Laotze's original philosophy. No one can out smart Laotze.

If you have a healthy dumb mind without knowing how the body functions and does not know how to treat the body or give what the body wants to enhance its health, what good is to have a good healthy dumb mind.

If the mind has the wisdow with the desirable knowledge how the body functions and gives what the body wants, wouldn't you say that the body would be more beneficial？

The former is not. To answer the latter. Yes, it does. It only gives me a healthy mind but does not enhance my wisdom without acquire external knowledge. To acquire knowledge, the mind has to be done externally.

My understanding in cultivation of the mind is to increase the mentality of the mind such as enhancing wisdom and knowledge. Thus does the good body resulted from qigong and Yoga enhance the wisdom and increase the knowledge of the mind as benefits？I would say it did not. Wisdom and knowledge have to acquired externally, not internally from the body to the mind.

"I use non contrived breathing practices to manage the bridge between body and mind" I don't understand this part. "I use mental training and certain training of other aspects or qualities (like gratitute)" Finally, this sounds like the mental cultivation of the mind. This where the separation is, the mind and body are apart. This is what I want to hear from you. Okay! I understood your approach. Your thoughts are still maintained the same approach at the beginning. You have never step into my thoughts which is okay. I guess we can stop here!

How would you interpret this question?

Cultivate the body is easy to do and understand. Okay, what is your approach in cultivating the mind?

I'd never said the Exercise is neidan. I only said that: "The way you guys are suggesting is the Neidan approach."

Part of Cultivating the mind is not to get angry. Even though you are real mad, but you must maintain the mind in a calm state. This is what cultivation is all about. Cultivation of the mind is to suppress some bad things from happening.

Again, the mind is mental and the body is physical. Cultivating the mind is for mental health and cultivating the body by martial exercise is for physical heath. What takes place inside the body is biological. It is a different approach in explanation. The way you guys are suggesting is the Neidan approach. Thus we are speaking with different terms.

Oh no, It was not your fault. I didn't mean you embarrassed me. It was my own embarrassment for making the spelling mistake.