Hern Heng

From what i can tell, John Chang is one of the higher level masters of Qi around today. There are, reportedly people who've grasped it better than him, but you are talking about a very small number of people. Seems to be a genuine guy, seems to give off a good and down to Earth vibe from what i've picked up on the videos. Magus and Nei Kung seem to have a lot of information in them that is useful to people who've already been working pretty extensively with Yang Qi. Personally, i think they describe more in about a dozen or so interspersed pages of Nei Kung, than most books do in hundreds of pages. Take the far out descriptions however you will, but the videos seem to speak for themselves that limits are only as real as we have been conditioned to make them. Beyond that, i would caution you that there are a number of charlatans who cannot replicate ANYTHING (not even common mastery of Yang Qi that any descent Kung-Fu teacher can demonstrate), and yet claim to have acheived levels of mastery parallel to advanced levels of the Mo Pa'i tradition. If someone is telling you that they can offer you this or that for a certain about, know up front that they are hustling you. You're not going to link up with Chang or his students (in any tangible way), on the Internet. Use those two books in conjunction with face to face training with at least a descent master of Yang Qi (not so difficult to find), and incorporate what they are saying into supplemental practice that you Shrfu gives you. This will take you further than folks charging you fees for internet forums, or thousands to hear about public seminars.

No, i actually just had a feeling (when i saw your name as the most recent post), that you'd have gotten to my comments. i had stopped checking after a couple of days (busy with a paper haha). Anyway, when practiced correctly it looks a lot like fast T'aiji with the sinking/drawing step of Xingyi and Mizong footwork of the Bagua Kuo bu and Bai Bu stepping (though not circular). It doesn't do any of these arbitrarily, but i see all of these in it. The style is very long and northern, and would otherwise look like very technical Wu Ye forms. A good practitioner is relaxed and full when doing these. You could perhaps characterize it as "Internal-External" as some do for Chen T'aiji and Bajiquan (though it is not "hard" breathing) like Baji training. These are forms that accentuate what are said to be more ancient techniques. i can't attest to how old the forms are, but the techniques, including the "missing" step footwork and a type of "radar" tracking is said to be from the T'ien Shan Szu fighting techniques. Check out the website for more descriptions beyond that.

Been flipping through Magus, looking for the page where Chang references Zhang, San-Feng dying at 200. Can someone direct me to the page number where this conversation goes down please? Thank you in advance for your help!

What's unfortunate is that fellas like David Icke (who is likely schizophrenic), and various "UFO Convention" types poison the well of cross-cultural information here. The subject is actually fascinating, as there are parallel descriptions, accounts, mythologies of Sirian origins throughout ancient world religious traditions. i can't attest to any truthfulness at all in where the "Convention" types have taken the subject, but there is a great deal of impressive information there that is written by non-nut-jobs.

Not suggesting the two are related at all, but T'ien Shan Pa'i purports to be from the T'ien Shan themselves. The deceased Great Grandmaster of the system lived in Taiwan as did almost all prominent Martial Artists facing Maoist persecution (he taught at the Central Kuo Shu Institute), and it spread from there by his students. Not sure what persecution he faced, but everything seems to be based out of Taiwan around the same time. The Pa'i doesn't claim to be from there though. The system teaches primarily Shaolin based Kung-fu early in the curriculum, but the Pa'i forms are purported to be Daoist in origin (as is the originating T'ien Shan Szu). Though it is quite likely that there is no connection between the two (whether they know it or not), i say this to point out that they both claim to be Daoist, both claim to be from T'ien Shan and both claim to be approximately the same age. That's all.

Dao Zhen, yes, this has been what i've seen too. Most of the aggressive, "physical" types (of any variety, "jocks" or even avid external martial artists), often take the longest to feel their qi. A good artist is using full body movements and expressions of qi when they paint, draw or whatever. There is no technique to master, techniques are used to express the qi. These sorts merely need to be told how to look for the qi (or that it is there to look for), and then how to retain and build qi. The Laozi says to be a like a newborn, like a woman, like water, like unhewn wood. All of these things are yin, to be acted upon and to "re"act in a passive manner that over comes the aggressor (e.g. newborns survive plane crashes while all others die, women defeat men in bed, water carves out canyons, wood is carved into masterpieces by yang tools that are blunt, ugly and express nothing but utility). Jesus said the man must be like the woman and the woman must be like the man. Just some food for thought.

Seems like David Verdesi and this guy could give financial seminars on scamming people with big dreams and little scrutiny.

Dude said everything that i have noticed, except he noticed it FROM THE INSIDE. http://www.thetaobums.com/To-those-who-pla...y-it-t4724.html i'm making my way through the threads. As i noted to Harry/Sunshine, and then to Darebak, you don't need to eat poisonous plants to know that they are poisonous. Jesus (one of my favorite Daoist Immortals), said you know a tree by its fruits; non-poisonous types do not automatically produce poisonous fruit one day and poisonous ones do not produce non-poisonous fruit one day. You know because of the collective experiences of others. Kongzi said "To learn the new, study the old." It is good to see the "old" experiences of someone from the inside concur with my observations and those of so many on the outside.

Women and non-aggressive men have the easiest time feeling qi first. Do standing meditation daily for a few months and you should start to feel it. Continue this regularly and you should have no problem.

Very good opportunity! You mean one doesn't have to pay $250 per question? Amazing!

The Vampire and jinni-l-`amaar connection is a big chunk of the same book too. Yes, it's ALL connected. Just the myths themselves obfuscate things a bit, but at the core there is a common thread that runs through all of them. Order the book, you won't be sorry. i have an old article with Sufi Shuyookh claiming that George Lucas interviewed them in the early 70's. From Sufism Lucas got both Yoda (al-Khidhr), the story of Luke and Yoda by in Dagoba (Moses and Khidhr in the Qur'aan), and the term "Jedi" (Al-Jedi), itself. The "lightsaber" is based on ahadeeth about `Ali ibn Abi Taalib being given a sword that would "activate" with light when necessary. The sword was given to him by Jibreel (Gabriel), who is described as we would describe an extraterrestrial today.

Veganism is ideologically a kind ideal. It is more difficult to obtain proper heat with such a diet (but it is possible). Personally, i think the ovo-lacto vegetarian diet (with the ovo and the lacto being from "clean karma" sources, not from factory farms), is the all-around healthiest. i say this having tried an omnivorous, vegan and lack and ovo-lacto diet for years at a time each. i think most "vegans" are vegan because they disagree with factory farming and such more than they disagree with consuming animal products that do not harm the animals. In terms of "Dao"-ism, if one sees themselves as a facet of a symbiotic whole, then they must take into account the suffering of all; and if suffering need not be incurred then one should ask themselves why they chose to incur it. Is it to leach the qi from a big animal or from skinned alive rabbits at a David Verdesi seminar? This sort of power is no different than the famous TV repair man "qi" video; where the man "charges" temporarily with the electricity of the television's capacitors. This sort of power is limited to how much you can continuously absorb from "others" (a dualistic power scheme). Though Dao"ism" has had it's fair share of meat consumption historically, it serves to reason that the ideal behind abstaining from meat is as consistent with a Dao"ist" ethic of Oneness as it is with Buddhist doctrines.

You can build more muscle with meat, there is no doubt about this. You can boost your testosterone as well with meat, there is no doubt about this. The question is longevity. Steroids can make you very strong for a time, but long term they are bad for you. It is similar (though an extreme example), with meat. It is very steroidal, but it is ultimately the sort of thing that tends to tax the glands, and Kidneys sooner than a plant based diet. Again, i'm not just talking theory, i'm talking about documented instances of longevity. Cavity-wise, i've never come across any notion of vegetables causing cavities. Traditionally, pelu bark and miswak have been the sorts of vegetation-derived sources of CLEANING teeth before tooth brushes. This seems exaggerated. Meat can fit into any dietary balancing equation, but it is not essential. Again, if it was then ol' Li would have been dead a long time before he was and Sun would have had his ass kicked over and over. To me, real world examples speak louder than book theory.

Check out "Biogenesis: The Creation of Mankind by an Angelic Species" on newdawn.dharmahost.biz It has extensive quotes from a 7 hour interview with Credo Mutwa. Almost 500 pages and has Chinese-relevant correlations to the "Dragon Kings" as well. The best book on the subject in print.

There is no doubt that vegetarians in equal environments, with roughly equivalent exercise patterns, stress levels and the like are healthier in the long run than meat eaters. Human beings are primates. Primates are primarily equipt for a plant based diet. Our rabbit-horse-cow-like flat front teeth, long digestive tracts, our rotating jaw (for grinding), lack of panting (sweating), lack of instinctual urge to hunger for a living animal, and so on, are all natural indications that meat eating is contrary to how we emerged on the evolutionary scene. Some primates eat some meat, but none eat a lot. Still, though we "can" eat meat, it does not mean that we are appropriately equipt for it, nor does it mean that in the long run detrimental effects will not manifest. In the short term you do get benefit from limited meat eating, but in the long run the best effects are from a moderately hot plant based diet. If anyone can show me a meat eater who's lived into his third century then i'll gladly reconsider. Interestingly, the patriarchs of the Torah who were said to live for so many centuries did so (according to the text), on a plant based diet. i'd find it unlikely that all of this is coincidental.

i hope my sense of humor isn't being lost on anyone.

i'm curious how one purports to know whether vegetarianism was known in China before Buddhism or not. This is pure speculation. Clearly Buddhism made it more popular, but there were vegetarian traditions throughout the world long before Buddhism. Moreover, if you eat meat then you eat meat but bear in mind that there have been plenty of Daoists who do not eat meat. Sun, Lu-T'ang was vegetarian, many Daoist martial artists besides him have been, so was Li, Ching-Yuen, the famous Bagua and T'aiji practitioner, OMD and 256 year old "immortal" (documented by the Chinese government and documented up to about 200 years by the New York Times and Time Magazine. Might be worth considering, as most of the "immortals" who put such a heavy emphasis on how important meat is to your diet end up dying before they reach Bob Barker's age. Just saying, don't believe what every TCM book tells you; those author's have a bias just like everyone else; if they eat meat, they want to justify why it fits best within the framework of TCM to do so. Lastly, and humorously, i've seen a lot of talk here about "Karma," and indeed there is talk of "Fa" throughout religious Daoist history (since Buddhism came to China). Still, i haven't noticed anyone shrugging this notion off as a "Buddhist" concept. Truth is truth, no matter where it came from and no matter who commented on it.

Hello there, Recently, i was forwarded a link at the following website: http://www.coach-silver.com/Qi_gong.htm (and have since seen the same material elsewhere). This letter raised a lot of questions (and red flags), but for now, i would like to simply call your attention to the "i guesses" of Sean's letter (these being trademarked "red flags of bullshit"). If the author comes across this (as i expect him to), please bear with my skepticism and mild ball-breaking, and try to keep a good sense of humor; realizing that different personality types might not see your explanation as so easy to embrace. This is not simply because of the nature of the things being discussed, but because you have not presented any verifiable achievements of you or your teacher (just claims). This would not be so bad if you were just posting on Internet forums, but you are asking for real peoples' real money. For this, i have to throw these things open to the light. Without further ado... With all due respect, "i guess" you didn't really look into the matter the deeply if you're only "guessing" that Choa Kok Sui was a pranic healer. i googled his name and found this out. No need to "guess" unless you want to act like you never really knew the guy and actually did (or your Shrfu did). In any event, and whatever the case, it is clear that you know good and well about what you claim to be guesswork on your part here. You guess? It would seem that you are the gatekeeper to David? Why guess? Just ask the man. Your Shrfu told you it is okay for you to write about him and "guess" so much as to what he thinks or doesn't think? This is strange enough, in and of itself. How ironic that Andreas still studies with John Chang and neither of the two is going to come out and argue with you on message forums and websites. Sean knows this and exploits their silence. Why would Andreas ask David (someone that was never mentioned as a student of Chang in either "Magus of Java" or "Nei Kung" - while Andreas and Kosta were), to teach when there were so many obviously more impressive to Kosta whereas David is never mentioned? What evidence is there AT ALL that David has ever even spoken to Chang, let alone been his student; let alone passed level 4!?! As well, if he has spoken to Shrfu Chang, this does not mean that he was accepted as his student, nor that he was tested through level 3 of the Mo Pa'i tradition. Amazing! Did you hear there's a new Indiana Jones movie coming out? Anyway, many problems here: If David is at level 4 then how can he gauge who is at level 20? Why do you guess what the master said? This is presumptuous and a lot of guessing. Why do you guess the answer was no? All of this guessing leads me to believe that you don't really know much about these stories, but have elaborated (in your mind, and now on the internet), on bits and pieces of things that you've heard. Do you KNOW this is part of the tradition or is there some reason you are "guessing" and can't find out? Why all the guessing? Aren't you in contact with David to ask him? Isn't he able to answer this question? How good of contact is he really in with these Shrfu if he does not even know to tell you!?! i call bullshit. You are once again "guessing" that he was inflexible before. This means that you don't know whether or not he was pretty close to doing the splits before having ingested this formula. Too much guesswork. Many problems again: Nei Kung is not unique to the Mo Pa'i tradition. Everyone does this throughout Daoism, Daoist Martial Arts and even outside of that context. Nei Kung is not some elusive thing. The level that Sean is claiming his Shrfu is at is not at all as rare as he is making it out. Kosta notes in "The Magus of Java" that he met a Tae Kwon Do teacher who had reached this level; a fact which Shrfu Chang confirmed from the description. Would you pay to meet a Tae Kwon Do teacher? Why not? Just because of this label of "Daoist?" Or is it because of the tales that Sean has posted here with so many "i guesses?" Again, he says here that David is Level 3. This is consistent (at least), with the fact that John Chang said that he has NEVER taught anyone (let alone the unmentioned David), past this level. He said that a Westerner WILL achieve it (and David alleges that Chang's Shrfu referred to him as a "Western Barbarian" who "knew too much" already), and this was with no mention of David (who supposedly would have been training with him at the time). How could David know he would achieve this level? If he actually said this to you then he is likely delusional. All one could say is that they will do it or die in the process. Chang said many students die in this process and Kosta apparently got cancer in the process of this fusion. Why on Earth are you so quick to believe that a man will do this in a time period that HE dictated? Gee, i can't imagine why people would consider you folks a cult. Moreover, TONS of people levitate. i have more than one Kung fu brother and uncle who can levitate. i have a friend who sang for a hardcore band who went to visit family in Thailand and was shown many Buddhist monks levitating in meditation as if it was no big deal (and it IS no big deal, make no mistake about it). Even his family members couldn't understand why he was so impressed. This was everyday ritualism to them. They see it all the time. So wow, David levitated? What does this mean in terms of what he is teaching and where his head's at? After many years and tens of thousands of dollars you too might be able to levitate barely off the ground? So what? Aleister Crowley could focus on a wine glass for half an hour and eventually it would crack. Neat. Practically speaking i could kill the man before he could ever lock on to the glass. What is the point? Unless a man is able to focus on the glass and crack it immediately, i don't see what the big deal is practically speaking. Why fall all over each other to learn from him when he is just beginning like so many other people (and does not apparently have anything unusual to offer that you cannot find in most old school Kung Fu lineages)? It seems that there were a lot of people who got into Chia and were really inactive physically speaking. i don't see a lot of Kung Fu Shrfu getting pissed at Chia; and most of the people i know who like his books are teachers. This is likely because the people who got chronic Kidney Yang Deficiency (as Sean says he did), were relatively inactive; wanting to sit and think themselves to enlightenment or super powers and not do and unthink their way there. More later. Peace.

$10,000 USD going once... going twice...

Left Hand Path particularly traces to Qabalistic origins, though it is employed throughout esoteric traditions today. Mantak Chia references a similar description in the Taoist Secrets of Love book, and Daniel Feldman writes a great cross-cultural Qabalah text (drawing in a bit of Daoism). There are countless Qabalistic texts dating throughout at least the past 1000 years, and arguably the past 2000 that explain Left Hand as about leaching to empower the "self" while "Center" is concerned with the seamless interchange of energies (with the illusory "self" being "charged" by the power of the WHOLE); a description that Chia gives in the aforementioned book, though in purely non-Judaic terms. Since Western Occultism references "Left Hand" from borrowing purely from Masonic borrowing of Qabalism, it serves to reason that the source (Qabalistic perspective), have authority over Western interpretations of the same. Right = devotional Center = Whole Power Left = powered up fragment Personal opinions aside, i would be genuinely interested in a source from outside of Western Occultism that defines Left hand path differently.

If you'd like to intellectualize the matter, i could refer you to textual quotes if books are regarded as more authoratative than reason. i say this because it is only reasonable that Dao is balance not left or right, nor the sum of the two but what is when the two are neither this nor that. T'aiji is not Yin + Yang but contains Yin and Yang. Dao strives for Wu Wei; which is inherently NEITHER left nor right. Again, i hate "quote" wars (particularly on the Internet), but if this does not stand as reasonable enough for you then i can refer you to quotes to this end and textual definitions of Left and Right.

Kosta should contact me if he comes across this. i have had experiences with several successful cancer survivors who have used only herbs and nutritive therapy. i'd be happy to help with advise from my experiences. If the cancer isn't incredibly far along there is almost certainly a high probability that he can deal with it. If far alone it is still potentially treatable. Treating with Qi emission alone and acupuncture is not always the solution. Sometimes you need to do multiple things (in large part because diet plays such a key role in the development of cancer). i don't want this to turn into a cancer thread, but if someone is in touch with him, feel free to pass the offer along.

i know FIRST HAND from the mouths over various old school Taiwan and Beijing masters that there are PLENTY of LEGITIMATE teachers who venally take money from Westerners and teach them VERY basic shit. They see most Westerners as having a perverted obsession with stealing knowledge from cultures that they wish to suppress or destroy. They often make an over generalization, but they take the money, and send the students on their way with nothing special but a happy experience of being a Westerner who got the opportunity to learn the "Ancient Chinese Secrets." To them, you (those falling for it), are a joke. The Westerners they teach are those who prove themselves through time and effort and do not shell out buckets of money for things that they have already learned in class at home. i'm come across a LOT of lines like this. They see you - as the Daojing says - as "straw dogs" to be used then discarded and burned. You fall for it so you prove your stupidity. Charge to cover your expenses. Do not charge excessive amounts or the filthy karma of these actions is on you. Charging to weed out is ineffective as it only allows the rich to advance. Neither Wang nor Chang were charged a dime (nor could they have paid much). Should they have been weeded out?

For $10,000 i will tell anyone the secrets of life. i have to charge this much to make sure that the unworthy are weeded out. Never mind the fact that Wang, Li-Ping's teachers did not charge people (including him), nor did Chang's. Times are changing for Alchemy IncorporatedTM. If you have a school, you charge to keep the lights on. You don't charge to get rich. The only MA teachers who charge enough that they get rich are ALWAYS hucksters. Always. No one gets into MA for wealth, and be sure that MA and Daoist alchemy have ALWAYS been intertwined. i would even like a demonstration of David's Kungfu since he has supposedly been studying for 20 years. He must be quite good; i've only been training for 14 and something tells me that i wouldn't have too much trouble with him (super powers - in spite of never having passed Level 1 of the Mo Pa'i tradition before being kicked out - and all).