Truth Seeker

Even if you're new here, you should recognize the rudeness of raising this question in a thread dedicated to the deceased person. Would you show up at a eulogy and start questioning the deceased person's ethics? If you have questions about charging money for health services, that could have easily been brought up in a new thread. In addition to being thoughtless, you also did not do much research. He did not charge his students for exams or qi treatments, only herbs/pills IF they were needed (not everyone needed them). The medicine was expensive because the ingredients are expensive - large quantities of high quality wild rare herbs, for which the market in China is highly inflated. So he had to pass along his costs in the medicine, as well as make a living, support his family, build two hospitals and employ several staff members. All that said, his lifestyle was much less lavish than that of the typical US doctor, even though his skills and knowledge were exceedingly rare. So to answer your question, his compassion lay in dedicating his life to a system of medicine little understood by any culture (even his own) and one that is open to constant skepticism; curing patients who sometimes could not find success anywhere else; teaching his art openly when most masters are very selective in who they teach; and literally giving his life in the effort to try to save a dying patient - and after all that, to still be second-guessed by anonymous people on internet forums who know little yet are quite sure masters shouldn't be allowed to make a good living.

Jiang Feng's passing is a jarring tragedy on many levels. The simplest, he was only 51 and a father, husband, and founder/leader of two hospitals with staffs and hundreds of patients who respected and admired him. The broader view is that he was also Shifu to dozens of students worldwide, to whom he embodied a potential of human development that would otherwise seem the half-believed wish of legends or fantasy. He made the impossible possible simply by being able to do it himself. In a still broader view, this is an incredible loss to the world because of the knowledge he had attained and the skill he had developed - considering both in combination, he was sincerely among the rare few in human development. His traditional knowledge gained from a decades-long apprenticeship with the monk Xuan Kong, combined with his university education, his long professional experience, and his clear-sighted individuality, forged him into someone who routinely achieved the incredible. I've lost count of the testimonials I've been told or read about how he quickly diagnosed an ailment, or healed someone who had been suffering for years and couldn't find relief through Western medicine. It was only a few years ago that he opened his first hospital, which was a major victory in his long struggle to openly practice Classical Chinese Medicine inside China. Perhaps the greatest loss is the influence he could have had on the spread of this knowledge in the world - the influence of a practitioner whose qi development and demonstrable skill ultimately forces a rethinking of the nature of what we are and how we can be healed. Lastly, we can't fail to miss the evidence of his compassion, in that in trying to save a dying patient he pushed himself so far and so selflessly that it cost him his life. His death, an incredibly painful loss, is made still worse in the realization that this deficit will never be made whole.

That was a typo, should have been "does not." Thanks for catching it, I've edited it. Can't recall which famous figure it was from the '60s who grew discouraged with psychedelic drugs and quit, saying to the effect that drugs allowed him to see reality better, but then sobriety showed that it was just a convincing illusion.

That statement implies that this modified posture will yield the same results as half or full lotus, which isn't entirely accurate. The balance and structure are different, therefore the results must necessarily be different. I used that modified method myself when starting out and found it helpful to take my mind off my inflexible body, which allowed me to relax. But with stretching over time, I could do regular half and then full lotus, and preferred the results I got with them, and so dropped the modified posture. It all depends on what type of meditation you want to do - many people simply sit in a chair to meditate, or even lay down. But if the goal is "flexibility" as OP stated, and doing true half or full lotus, then stretching is necessary.

This woman has a number of videos on stretching in regards to lotus: We all have to work with the limits of our body while increasing those limits over time. Half-lotus is good, and switch positions when your knees (especially) or your hips hurt. As the hips open, it will take pressure off the knees.

There's no shortcut to flexibility, just stretch every day. It took me a year of stretching to get into full lotus. Drugs are a fantasy, not insight. They're pleasant obviously, that's why people take them, and they can cause dramatic visions, but in my opinion it is a lot of randomness and a small amount of internal symbolism, but not real knowledge. If the "truth" does not persist when you are sober, then it's not really truth.

Unbound, welcome. And congrats on your upcoming trip, it sounds like a very worthwhile endeavor. Since you will be without electricity (internet) and unable to travel to meet any teachers, it seems you're not really in a position to follow any particular teacher/school during your travels. My advice would be to not focus on following any path or dogma right now, or try to sort out who can do what, but rather take this time to focus inward. What's more true, that which you read about or that which you find within? Any genuine practice has the foundation of stilling the mind, seeing a new view of yourself and the world in that quieter, clearer state, and doing the work of removing from your mind/character that which is a hindrance or a veil. That alone can take a lifetime. If you do that for 2 years, you will be in a much better state then to consider a path or school. Sit comfortably, in half-lotus or full lotus if you can, relax deeply and still your mind. It may take many months before you can keep thoughts out of your head for more than 5 seconds. But the more you meditate and the longer your session is (half-hour is not bad, an hour or more is good) the better you become. Eventually you reach new states of awareness, I suspect it's a never-ending ascent. You'll know it when it happens, and that is the beginning of the work. It's not something someone can teach you, you can only reach it yourself. In the meantime, there is much you can read to expose your mind to different schools of thought - not to follow them, but to consider them, their strengths and weaknesses. All the books you read were very recent. To explore classic works of brilliant thought in a few different directions, I'd recommend: Vitality, Energy, Spirit, a Taoist Sourcebook by Thomas Cleary: great anthology of Taoist works Kashf Al-Mahjub by Ali Ibn Usman (Hujwiri): brilliantly spiritual classic by a sufi master, with wisdom from many sufis Great Swan by Len Hixon: an Indian perspective and reminder that the heart of spirituality is love The World We Used to Live In by Vine Deloria: thought-provoking collection of first-hand accounts of amazing phenomena among Native Americans Magic and Mystery in Tibet by Alexandra David-Neel: fascinating and insightful chronicle into Tibetan Buddhism in early 1900s I'm sure there are brilliant Christian works out there too, I look forward to exploring that realm some day. Best wishes to you.

That's what I was going to recommend. I see that ChiDragon responded and obviously he's the one you should consult with. Perhaps doing a lot of that particular qigong and a lot of physical exercise are sending mixed messages to your body and you simply need to adjust the mix. I can also concur though that 3 hours is a lot of time on qigong, and it may just be overloading your energy system. So while perhaps "more is better" for some people, you may have pushed it too far too fast. Hope it evens out for you, let us know.

I'm not interested in arguing this ad nauseum either. The evidence is there, as well as Micah's rebuttal. People can make up their own minds. If new evidence arises, we can talk more then. As final clarifications: 1. Jim does know the full 3-word name of the head of Mopai. It's in the letter from John Chang that he still has. However, Jim usually uses an abbreviated form of the name with a mispronunciation that would lead one to assume the initials are "YK." 2. The Indo students were clear in saying they know all current advanced students (meaning students of the current head), not just old students of John.

Yes, Micah, these discussions get tedious. I too chastise myself for spending time on them rather than training. So why do we do it? Because for those of us who care about Mopai, when something smells like a fraud, it triggers a sense of responsibility to investigate and expose it. And since every answer you give fails to clear your name, I don’t see this ever ending until you are finally truthful. You maintain you are being truthful, but I’ve investigated this enough to know you’re not. Still, you answered my questions and asked to be left alone, so to be fair I will not ask you more questions right now. I’ll simply respond to each answer you made and leave it to readers to judge for themselves. Completely false. Jim’s post, which Micah read, contained the short description that Shifu Lin has repeatedly given for himself in ebooks and emails: an older Chinese man who lives at least part-time in the US and has a long background in neijia martial arts. The Indonesian students who posted know every advanced student in their small school and have said that description does not match anyone in their school. It appears that is was actually during the course of the email chain in question that “Shifu Lin” stopped signing his name (January 2012). He signed the early emails but not the later ones. Even in the ebook “Questions and Answers On Learning Mo Pai Nei Kung” he signed the first letter “Sincerely, Shifu Lin.” No signature on later letters. Since I have never emailed with Micah, I cannot speak to his signing habits. As to why "Lin" would suddenly sign "Micah," the answer is simple: pick a fake name and try to remember to sign it on 500 emails. I guarantee you'll eventually slip up and sign your own name. People, the point is “Lin” increasingly calls attention, period. No one is trying to "out" him. The Indonesian Mopai school is so small that there is no way he could escape having his identity discovered – if he existed. Again, we have students on here who state they know every other advanced student. Thus how hard could it possibly be for the head of Mopai (who certainly knows every advanced student) to figure out who “Lin” is if he existed? Do you really think the head is wracking his brains, unable to figure out who it could be? Or do you suppose that he suspects someone but doesn’t want to cause a fuss, so he’ll allow the “offical” website of Mopai and other such insulting nonsense to continue? No, the obvious reason "Lin" has made it this long without being discovered and expelled is because such a student doesn’t exist in the first place. Micah didn’t make sense there. Jim didn’t know YK’s name yet he confirmed it? A person can’t confirm something he doesn’t know. And YK is the student of John who then "taught Shifu, as well as John"? Either those are typos or Micah is using incoherent writing to avoid answering. But to correct Micah, Jim has known the name of the head of Mopai (whom Lin calls “YK”) for years. In fact, the name of the head is written in a 2005 letter from John to Jim, which I have seen firsthand. Lin has always said he was taught by “YK.” The problem, as I pointed out last time, is that the head’s initials are NOT YK. They sound like they would be YK when Jim mispronounces the name, but no Chinese speaker would make the mistake Jim made. Thus there is no reason that “Lin” would make the mistake of using YK as the initials, unless “Lin” did not know the head’s real name. Without even being asked, Micah’s martial arts students came here to defend his name. So considering the massive amount of allegations heaped against “Lin” as being a fraud, yes, I am very skeptical that so few of the supposed dozens of people who have met Lin face to face will show up here to confirm it. I did not suggest that “Lin’s” identity be revealed, merely that verifiable breathing people show up to share their experience in meeting him. I don’t think that’s a strange expectation at all. But I think Micah and I have different perspectives on many things. I am glad we were able to discuss evidence rather than throw insults around. I thank Micah for being willing to do that. Unfortunately, everything he has written only makes the argument stronger that Lin does not exist. Micah speaks with confidence and a weary, peaceful humility when put on the spot, but when one takes a step back and views the story dispassionately, it simply does not add up. The evidence paints the picture that "Shifu Lin" is a false persona and Micah is orchestrating an elaborate false school.

Micah, I agree with you that insults are a waste of everyone's time and energy. I think it's good that you've come here to address these allegations. But I doubt I'm alone in wishing you would do just that - address the specific allegations, rather than politely dismiss the whole situation. These threads would not exist were there not strong evidence that you are in fact Shifu Lin. So to make this direct and productive, and to answer the most prominent accusations on the public record, please respond to the main arguments (recapped below) that Shifu Lin is a persona created by you: 1. Mopai in Indonesia has repeatedly stated through multiple students that there are no students matching the basic self-description of Lin. They've unequivocally called this a scam. Therefore how can this advanced student "Lin" exist? 2. You are writing emails for Lin from his email address, as evidenced by the prospective student who had a long back-and-forth communication with "Lin" in which you repeatedly signed it "Shifu Lin" until a later email in which you slipped up and signed it "Micah." I've seen these emails myself. How do explain writing emails from Lin's account? 3. "Lin" has stated that a major reason for his secrecy is to avoid trouble with the current Mopai head. How do you then explain all his actions to the complete opposite, such as the many ebooks and launching the "official" website of Mopai? It's plainly marketing, and the website in particular is insulting to Mopai Indonesia and has already been condemned on this forum by Indonesian students. If there is a "Lin", his above actions would be nonsensical, for he's just calling attention to himself and asking to be expelled. How do you explain this? What does make sense is the allegation that the ebooks, website, Facebook forum (which "Lin" has never even appeared on), etc. is entirely you marketing two businesses at once - your sanszu.com business and your business as "Lin." 4. As explained in Jim's post, "YK" is not the correct initials for the current head of Mopai. That was a mistake made by Jim and apparently continued by you. If "Lin" is truly a student of the current head, why would he use the incorrect initials used by Jim? 5. You've stated that there are "dozens" of people who first trained with "Lin" in kung fu and then trained with him in Mopai. We've heard from a few people who know and praise you as a martial arts teacher - it's been made clear in no time that you are indeed a martial arts teacher, no one examining the evidence can seriously doubt that. So why is it so hard to find people who will step forward to say they've met "Lin" in person? You and Jamyang Dorje seem to be the only two people who are on record anywhere as saying they have met "Lin" face to face. Can you not produce more (verifiable) people from among the dozens who have met him, to share their experiences? As has already been pointed out, you have a history of not responding to the more difficult allegations, and instead you wish everyone the best and say you have to go train now. I have summarized the primary allegations against you in direct, specific questions. I think many people would find it easier to make up their minds about this situation if you would please give direct, specific answers. If your teacher exists, naturally you'll want to consult with him first, so that you may answer completely on his behalf. You are, after all, his constant spokesman. If you simply suggest that people email him for answers, you'll understand if that is viewed as evidence of an evasive, guilty man. Thanks, Micah.

Thanks, Formless Tao. Being Western myself, I was a bit hesitant writing about the Asian perspective, but I'm glad I at least landed in the ballpark.

I don't see it as a similar recurring psychological pattern at all. The clan warfare starting over water rights was a zero-sum struggle over something needed to survive. It triggered "kill or be killed" instincts and escalated from there. The current East-West flare-up is mainly over hurt feelings and differing views on teacher-student responsibilities - more akin to a family squabble. No one wants to physically hurt anyone else, and no one "needs" Mopai in order to continue living. So again, I respectfully say that the stretch you made in making that comparison is just not valid. What I will agree with you on 100% is that it would be great if the underlying issues were explored and addressed. But that is far beyond the abilities of this forum since we're mostly just watching through the window at the real parties involved.

WOAH!! I see validity in your take on student/teacher relationships - the models you mention certainly do take place, as do the models I mentioned. A lot depends on the dynamics of each individual case. But PLEASE do not compare old clan warfare to the communication breakdown between Asian and Western Mopai students. That is completely false, and inflammatory to the point of irresponsibility. Those old clans wanted to kill each other. Most, if not every, student in the West (and probably many in the East) would actually like to practice together in harmony, as a worldwide brotherhood. It has always been the actions of a few people that have ruined it for everyone. MASSIVELY DIFFERENT than some recycled widespread clan warfare. Please do not add fuel to an already unfortunate fire.

"Jamyang Dorje", I had a feeling you'd show up - you're the ONLY person on here who ever backs Micah's BS about there being a Shifu Lin. You write like Micah, have the same interests as Micah, and claim to live near Micah. If you believe "Dorje" is just another alias for Micah, raise your hand. Mine is way up high.

Hi, YMWong. In response to your post, please note this quote from my first post. We seem to actually be saying the same thing. We also seem to have stolen the same photo for our avatars. ;-)

As in another thread current on TaoBums, there is plainly a huge cultural divide between the Indonesian students and the Americans, and every post just seems to flare up more anger. That’s not going to calm down until both sides understand how their cultural perspectives are coloring their ideas. I’ll take a stab at laying out some fundamentals, please correct any mistakes I may make. In the Asian perspective: the student owes the teacher loyalty and obedience, and the teacher is responsible for making sure the training is correct and the student is training safely. There is no “long term contract” though, and at any time the teacher may end the teaching for any reason if he feels that’s the right thing to do. The teacher points to the mountain and explains some things about it, but the student is responsible to climb it alone, at his own pace, and without much hand-holding. Therefore: John Chang has done nothing wrong. He did a Western thing in following his logical mind rather than his spirit ancestors, and he taught the West, because logically all people are the same, so there should be no problem. When problems did arise, he stopped teaching all Westerners, which was his right. Jim and other Westerners were then responsible for finding their own paths. Shifu Chang actually suffered himself by being removed as head of Mopai, and was in no position in any way to help any Westerner continue in Mopai. In the American perspective: a long-term teacher-student relationship often involves emotional intimacy and becomes something of a father-son relationship. The teacher is invested in the student’s progress, and in turn the student feels an obligation to work hard and advance steadily. They go up the mountain together, sharing the experience on an emotional as well as intellectual level. The teacher only ends the relationship if there is a major problem they cannot resolve, and even then the teacher likely feels an obligation to help the student find another teacher. Therefore: Shifu Chang was right to expand Mopai to the West, he just wasn’t careful enough in choosing students (e.g. Verdessi). However, Jim had been a good student up to that point, therefore it was a breach of trust for Shifu Chang to expel him along with the other Westerners. Furthermore, Shifu Chang did not tell Jim personally and did not take any responsibility for Jim’s continued training, such as pointing him in another direction in which he might pursue a similar or “next best” training. And so Jim was angry at Shifu Chang for failing to uphold his teaching responsibilities as defined in the West. Complicating factors: 1. John Chang does not speak English well, so he could not personally fully explain to Jim why Westerners were being kicked out. 2. John Chang, it seems, also has the Asian trait of wanting to avoid personal conflict or criticism. Shifu Chang apparently never told Kosta to his face, “Why the hell did you write the book that way?” And also he did not try to personally explain to Jim (e.g. with an interpreter over the phone) why his training must end, as would be absolutely expected of any Western teacher. In Asia, this trait in Shifu Chang shows a gentle person who values harmony, and other people used to this trait would intuitively understand him. In America, this frustrates people and makes them feel like they’re being avoided and they can’t get a straight answer. 3. Westerners usually don’t perceive ancestor spirits in the way Asians do, and clearly Jim and Shifu Chang view the spirit of Ancestor May in totally opposite ways. In Asia, not only are spirit ancestors your elders and superiors, but they also have vision and wisdom that we do not because they’re in the spiritual realm. There is a difference between the spirits of departed people (especially high-level masters) and spirits which are often called demons, elementals, djinn, lower devas, etc. – beings who are not human in origin and who should generally be avoided, as Shifu Chang has advised. In (Christian) America, a non-Christian spirit that is trying to guide you is a demon and should be avoided at all costs. And that, my friends, is 75% of why we’re seeing these arguments. The other 25% is emotion, egos, and personality conflicts. 100% of it is surmountable with patience, understanding, and a deflation of egos. But will that happen? Sadly, I seriously doubt it. The obvious problem here is that you can’t hold someone in another culture to the standards of your culture. When a student studies with a teacher, that student has to play by the teacher’s rules. Jim was in Sifu Chang’s world and had to live by those norms. Unfortunately they never had a conversation about what would happen if Sifu Chang could no longer teach, so when that traumatic day came, it was too late to understand each other and avoid very painful feelings.

There's a major point-of-view gulf between the Indonesian Mo Pai students posting here and some of the other posters. I'd like to encourage everyone to navigate this by keeping it civil and remembering to not shoot the messenger. Tongosong and ThunderIndo don't make the Mopai rules, they just follow them, and in Asia you simply don't second-guess your teachers and ancestors, especially teachers and ancestors with proven esoteric knowledge and deep development. Some high tensions have arisen due to misconceptions. For instance, no one in Mopai has the ability to heal Jim's cancer, so to get angry at them for not healing Jim is nonsensical. Some other questions posted have been well covered in other threads, and yet the Indonesian students have shown patience in repeating answers. These students don't have to come here, and frankly their task to squash misunderstandings seems hopeless because other people keep hurling judgements despite having little knowledge of the complicated aspects of Mopai. For instance, quite a few people seem angry because Mopai won't teach Westerners. The generally accepted reason, even among Indonesian Mopai students, is that Ancestor May lived in a time when Westerners exploited the East, so mistrust has been handed down though the generations. This strikes a lot of us as illogical, since it's distant history. But has anyone stopped to think about what the situation would be like today if Westerners weren't removed from Mopai 10 years ago? Perhaps Verdessi would have even more knowledge that he'd be selling to the highest bidder, or perhaps it would be Micah or someone else like him reaching Yin-Yang fusion and hawking it in his pathetic ebooks. And how would characters like this use deadly power? How quickly would someone be hurt or killed, by accident or intentionally? The point is there are people calling for more widespread knowledge of Mopai without realizing that this is not knowledge that SHOULD be widespread because it would lead to abuse, to cheap and degraded versions of the teachings, to massive greed for power (Mopai is a magnet for that like no other training), and other ills. So before you call Ancestor May a racist, consider that just maybe he actually saw a bad future for everyone and this was the way to short-circuit it. Just a possibility. At the very least, I think it's been proven that teaching Mopai over the internet comes with serious pitfalls, so I understand a teacher only taking on students from his community, so he can better watch and influence them. Whether there is inherited racial animosity behind it or not, there are definite trust and control advantages. Micah seemed like a good student over the internet, right up until he stabbed Jim in the back. Had they been tied together more strongly by community and culture, and met regularly in person, perhaps Jim would have guessed his true character earlier, and perhaps thoughts of betrayal would not have so easily entered Micah's mind. But most importantly, we have to be respectful of the decisions Sifu Chang and the current headmaster have made to protect the practice that they've dedicated their lives to and are responsible for. If the door opens to Westerners again in the future, great. If not, there are indeed other practices and an endless Tao to be explored simply by quieting our minds. Let's please have the conversation continue with respect and open-mindedness, and without judgement. I am, by the way, a Westerner and a friend of Jim. More interesting things will be coming in the next few days. If you stay tuned, I'm sure you'll notice when it happens.

I take wu wei to mean acting in the way that is most natural to my true being and most natural to the universe, which should be one and the same thing if I am in true harmony with the universe. If all comes from one, then all should be able to act in harmony. To be out of harmony, due to confusion, emotion or following desires, is actually more work and pain than to be in harmony. And so "no action" is understood as "no action out of harmony." If I'm flowing with the stream, I am moving with little to no effort and going where I need to be. If I'm going against the current, I am "acting" and acting wrongly.

The fact that there are so many divergent opinions here and acknowledged areas of overlap between qigong and neigong suggests how little difference there can be between the two in terms of qi development. Neigong often refers to a martial purpose, such as in taijiquan or baguazhang, while we usually see qigong being used to develop, circulate and even transmit qi for health. However, some people use qigong exercises to develop their qi for martial arts, and some neigong practitioners use their qi for healing. So as long as the result of the training is limited to the development of qi - regardless of its later use - there seems to be small difference in whether you call it qigong or neigong, and small difference whether you're starting with the MCO or harmonizing organs, or whether you're focusing on the breath or the qi itself. There are qigong AND neigong forms that increase qi, store qi, move qi, and transmit qi. So honestly, if one practice gets similar results as another practice, then how much value can be placed in calling one system neigong vs. qigong, or vice versa? And yet there IS an area in which qigong and neigong differ greatly. Unless I missed it, no one has brought up the "A" word yet - alchemy. Since there are few alchemical masters teaching publicly, we mostly have to go by ancient texts. Reading them, we see that non-martial ancient neigong was not simply about developing qi but using all three treasures (jing, qi and shen) to transform ourselves on the energetic, physical and spiritual levels. Qigong has much more modest goals. Hence the fascination with modern neigong master John "Chang." Many people see him light a paper on fire and say, "Cool!" But the real attainment is the physical/energetic transformation he achieved by developing and combining yin and yang centers, as well as his accompanying spiritual pursuits that led to visions and spirit communications. This is conscious transformation through training, and is fundamentally broader and different than qigong.

Interesting, Joe. Since the vasectomy you actually feel activity in the testes when you have sexual thoughts? Crazy. What does that feel like?

Thanks for the reply, ChiDragon, I for one appreciate you taking the time to explain your perspective. I'll still have to politely disagree, but maybe it's good we have 2 differing perspectives on here. I'm sure this subject has been contended in other threads on this forum. Let me explain further what I meant by "the qi grow stronger day by day." Yes, there is the slow, long-term increase in qi due to practice over the years. But on any given day, if I "emit jing" (to keep this PG-13) I will feel my qi level drop for several days. Now I do not mean the energy it takes to get through the day; I'm talking about the buoyant, tingling, powerful qi I feel during a qigong or taijichuan session. Are they the same energy? I couldn't tell you. All I know is the day after sex I'm fine to be an energetic person, but it will take several days to start getting that qi feeling back strongly. And after 2-3 weeks, it's humming in me almost nonstop. It even makes it hard to sleep sometimes because it's like a low-grade electric current running through me. It is directly tied to jing emission, as I've learned from many, many repeat experiences. As far as the "use it or lose it" philosophy, I agree to the extent that one must consistently activate the qi through meditation, qigong, taijiquan, etc. or else it will dissipate. But if you activate the qi daily, it will continue to grow - you will not lose it. I am absolutely convinced from my experiences, reading Taoist theory and talking with my sifus that to supercharge your qi requires some regulation of ejaculation. I agree that you can have sex and replenish yourself with qigong and feel normal or even better than normal, but by limiting ejaculation you can increase your qi even further. It's all a matter of what's important to people and what their goals are. I'm interested in pushing the envelope in this regard and am willing to make sacrifices for it.

Just ignore ChiDragon and test it for yourself. Once your qigong practice has been in place a few months, simply go 2-3 weeks without ejaculation and see how you feel during qigong. When I do that, I definitely feel the qi grow stronger day by day. However, who wants to be celibate for that long? So the next logical question is how to have sex without losing the qi. The Taoists answered this thousands of years ago and it has been rehashed again and again. It's all in the Jolan Chang book I mentioned, and in plenty of other books too. I don't advise the illogical, esoteric practices that supposedly send jing up the spine to nourish the brain. All I'm talking about is what's in that book, which is very simple, preserves your energy, and honestly makes sex even more enjoyable.

What did you mean by "manage" sexual energy? Many in Taoism work to harness the sexual energy and conserve jing (semen). Depleting jing uses up qi, which depletes life. The older a man becomes, the more important this becomes. By using Taoist practices you may have sex quite often, but only orgasm once in a while. Sounds shocking and weird, but it actually can make sex more enjoyable. I'll leave it there and recommend the book The Tao of Love and Sex by Jolan Chang if this intrigues you. End result is your qi (which some people equate with sexual energy) stays strong no matter how much sex you have. I wonder if body breathing refers to the sensation of drawing in qi through your whole body on the inhale. Common sensation in qigong and meditation.

Where a lot of people go wrong in a situation like this is playing out the scenario in their minds and assigning any number of personality traits and motives to a person they've never spoken to. It's not only fruitless and stressful, it's somehow un-Taoist to get caught up in fantasy arguments. Be simple, be direct. In the OP's situation, I would (and have more than once) knock on the neighbor's door, point out the issue politely and ask them to lower the noise. It's never turned into a problem for me. If it did, the next logical step is to make a complaint to the landlady. As billb pointed out, do it in writing so you have a paper trail. If the landlady can't solve the problem, you have grounds for breaking your lease and moving out. You can also call the cops. If he really is a meth-head, that may well scare him into quieting down because he certainly doesn't want cops at his doorstep. And if he smokes more meth and forgets to be quiet, hopefully the cops will find something to arrest him on. Sitting and stewing, or thinking this is a chance to work on your karma, are both ways of avoiding the uncomfortable task of expressing displeasure with another person. But you know, that's part of life, so really this is a chance to practice doing it correctly. And under no circumstance get in a fight with someone on drugs, they're often immune to pain, super-strong, and very energetic.