Chinese Shamanism

[DalTheJigsaw123]

Great link!

Thank you!

[JustARandomPanda]

I prefer a method like B.K. Frantzis' inner dissolving process, where you feel some sort of feeling or emotion, and you follow it. If images keep popping up in your mind (from the subconscious, for example) you follow it down towards the subconscious, and you work with it directly.

 

Some of the western mystery books I've been reading call the process you just described Pathworking. Dolores Ashcroft-Nowiski has several books using it. It can either be directed or spontaneous - both of them very Taoist-like.

[Sloppy Zhang]

Some of the western mystery books I've been reading call the process you just described Pathworking. Dolores Ashcroft-Nowiski has several books using it. It can either be directed or spontaneous - both of them very Taoist-like.

 

Thanks for the recommendation!

 

While it's hard enough to find good books on eastern methods, I find it's even harder to find books from western authors and western systems that are anything but fluff so it's good to hear there are some good books from other people than the usual suspects

[Gerard]

Updating this thread with an excellent page about Taoist physiognomy (including Gnostic knowledge) by Russian I Ching expert Sergey Leonidovich Panphilov:

 

http://www.emotions.64g.ru/en.htm

 

I am quite imnpressed for a non-Chinese expert to produce this quality of work. My feeling is that he must have got a little help by a shaman.

 

Anyway kudos to him for making this available to the general public for free.

[Vajrahridaya]

Durkhrod,

 

Check out the book Riding Windhorses.

 

I had a lucid dream experience of my Rinpoche running up my spine but within a tunnel riding a horse with wind blowing all hair on both Rinpoche and the horse back... moving very fast, and Rinpoche was slapping all my main chakra points with a stick, his eyes wild with bliss, love and radiance and at the end he was churning me, my awareness stuck at the crown of my head and this heat baking me on the top of my head like in an Native Bread oven, he was looking at me with this fierce bliss! I've heard that the windhorse is a synonym for kundalini? What's up?

[adept]

I had a lucid dream experience of my Rinpoche running up my spine but within a tunnel riding a horse with wind blowing all hair on both Rinpoche and the horse back... moving very fast, and Rinpoche was slapping all my main chakra points with a stick, his eyes wild with bliss, love and radiance and at the end he was churning me, my awareness stuck at the crown of my head and this heat baking me on the top of my head like in an Native Bread oven, he was looking at me with this fierce bliss! I've heard that the windhorse is a synonym for kundalini? What's up?

 

Stay off the weed maaan !

[Vajrahridaya]

Stay off the weed maaan !

 

That's not a problem, since I don't like the stuff anyway.

[ben]

Hello everyone, I wanted to share some experiences I have had with a form I learnt. The form is Chinese in origin and involves stepping out the points of the Big Dipper constellation in a clockwise square formation while making various mudras and chanting. Supposedly the form was passed down through female adepts and is of shammanic origin. When I learnt it I honestly thought it was a con, I know a lot of chi kung forms and this one seamed silly, their was no obvious effects. I persisted with practising it daily and soon enough some very odd things started to occur. Firstly, I started having visits from female looking beings, and other beings wearing masks, some of thease "people" looked very old but definitely Asian. No big deal, I have had a lot more crazy shit than that happen so I kept practising and eventually animal like spirits started to visit or merge within me, culminating in a praying mantis spirit bonding with me - bizzare. This last event was quite disconcerting particulary because it was a insect, it would sit in my chest and sing..! the other beings of Asian appearenece stared to shape shift into preying mantises when they appeared and then shift back to their human form...well you get the idea, crazy stuff. I decided that I wanted a normal nights sleep again and I stopped practising the form, eventually things setteled down though I still "see" them sometimes. I don't have a clue what to make of the whole experience, it was very shamanic you could say but I felt like I did not know what I was playing with, also I run a business and have enough to deal with. Chow for now.

[Gerard]

Hello everyone, I wanted to share some experiences I have had with a form I learnt. The form is Chinese in origin and involves stepping out the points of the Big Dipper constellation in a clockwise square formation while making various mudras and chanting. Supposedly the form was passed down through female adepts and is of shammanic origin. When I learnt it I honestly thought it was a con, I know a lot of chi kung forms and this one seamed silly, their was no obvious effects. I persisted with practising it daily and soon enough some very odd things started to occur. Firstly, I started having visits from female looking beings, and other beings wearing masks, some of thease "people" looked very old but definitely Asian. No big deal, I have had a lot more crazy shit than that happen so I kept practising and eventually animal like spirits started to visit or merge within me, culminating in a praying mantis spirit bonding with me - bizzare. This last event was quite disconcerting particulary because it was a insect, it would sit in my chest and sing..! the other beings of Asian appearenece stared to shape shift into preying mantises when they appeared and then shift back to their human form...well you get the idea, crazy stuff. I decided that I wanted a normal nights sleep again and I stopped practising the form, eventually things setteled down though I still "see" them sometimes. I don't have a clue what to make of the whole experience, it was very shamanic you could say but I felt like I did not know what I was playing with, also I run a business and have enough to deal with. Chow for now.

 

Nice stuff.

 

That's how shamanism was developed though interaction with spirits of the Yin world.

 

Some Silat stuff has got similar sort of training where you absorb the power of spirits and animals. Maybe Vajrasattva could chime in and gives us sme insight into this. I am no Silat expert though.

 

Who taught you that Qigong form, anyway?

 

I am curious. Thanks.

[Gaelicrock]

Very wonderful find! This is just what I have been looking for. Thank you for sharing.

[Vajrahridaya]

Does anyone know what Windhorse symbol is in Shamanism?

[Taomeow]

Does anyone know what Windhorse symbol is in Shamanism?

Shamans of many cultures refer to all techniques used to enter altered states and thence alternative dimensions as their "horses" -- the meaning is close to "meditation," which (contrary to popular belief) is a "means of transportation," a method whereby you "get somewhere." Meditation is as valuable to the meditator as a horse is to a rider, but riding a horse "recreationally" vs. riding a horse because you have somewhere to go are different activities. Shamans don't ride horses recreationally.

 

A shamanic "horse" is the method of meditation -- whether rhythmic drumming, spinning, not-doing, ingesting entheogens, "dreaming," fasting, singing... techniques are numerous, different shamans use different ones, the same shaman uses different ones for different purposes... but they all are thought of as "horses" (or occasionally other beasts of burden, sometimes jaguars, sometimes dragons, sometimes cranes...) used to teleport the spirit (and occasionally the body too) to other realms. A "windhorse" is a fast one. (There's a frog in the rain forest in Peru... a "windhorse" for hunters. Takes one elsewhere instantly. The "elsewhere" is not different from where you were a moment before, but you are a hundredfold faster, your eyesight is a hundred times more acute, your sense of smell, touch, hearing... everything amplified. So this "windhorse" takes YOU out of your ordinary body and transports you into an extraordinary version of your body, without interfering with your spirit or the dimension you are in. Just one example, out of thousands.)

[Vajrahridaya]

Shamans of many cultures refer to all techniques used to enter altered states and thence alternative dimensions as their "horses" -- the meaning is close to "meditation," which (contrary to popular belief) is a "means of transportation," a method whereby you "get somewhere." Meditation is as valuable to the meditator as a horse is to a rider, but riding a horse "recreationally" vs. riding a horse because you have somewhere to go are different activities. Shamans don't ride horses recreationally.

 

A shamanic "horse" is the method of meditation -- whether rhythmic drumming, spinning, not-doing, ingesting entheogens, "dreaming," fasting, singing... techniques are numerous, different shamans use different ones, the same shaman uses different ones for different purposes... but they all are thought of as "horses" (or occasionally other beasts of burden, sometimes jaguars, sometimes dragons, sometimes cranes...) used to teleport the spirit (and occasionally the body too) to other realms. A "windhorse" is a fast one. (There's a frog in the rain forest in Peru... a "windhorse" for hunters. Takes one elsewhere instantly. The "elsewhere" is not different from where you were a moment before, but you are a hundredfold faster, your eyesight is a hundred times more acute, your sense of smell, touch, hearing... everything amplified. So this "windhorse" takes YOU out of your ordinary body and transports you into an extraordinary version of your body, without interfering with your spirit or the dimension you are in. Just one example, out of thousands.)

 

Awesome explanation! Thanks so much for your time and help!! Naaauyce!!

[ralis]

Hello everyone, I wanted to share some experiences I have had with a form I learnt. The form is Chinese in origin and involves stepping out the points of the Big Dipper constellation in a clockwise square formation while making various mudras and chanting. Supposedly the form was passed down through female adepts and is of shammanic origin. When I learnt it I honestly thought it was a con, I know a lot of chi kung forms and this one seamed silly, their was no obvious effects. I persisted with practising it daily and soon enough some very odd things started to occur. Firstly, I started having visits from female looking beings, and other beings wearing masks, some of thease "people" looked very old but definitely Asian. No big deal, I have had a lot more crazy shit than that happen so I kept practising and eventually animal like spirits started to visit or merge within me, culminating in a praying mantis spirit bonding with me - bizzare. This last event was quite disconcerting particulary because it was a insect, it would sit in my chest and sing..! the other beings of Asian appearenece stared to shape shift into preying mantises when they appeared and then shift back to their human form...well you get the idea, crazy stuff. I decided that I wanted a normal nights sleep again and I stopped practising the form, eventually things setteled down though I still "see" them sometimes. I don't have a clue what to make of the whole experience, it was very shamanic you could say but I felt like I did not know what I was playing with, also I run a business and have enough to deal with. Chow for now.

 

 

Where did you learn it?

 

ralis

[ben]

Hello again. Sorry to take so long in replying I have been busy. Also I had some trepidation about viewing the responses to my post e.g. get help you nutter.... so thank you for your understanding. The lineage holder of the form is Master Jiang Nan, I believe he lives in Beijing. I learnt the form from a teacher in Wales, U.K. who had learnt it from Master Jiang in China. The teacher in Wales is affiliated with Micheal Winn and the Healing Tao organisation. I am NOT affiliated with Healing Tao but have studied some M Winn's chi kung DVDs in particular Wuji Qi Gong. I found Wuji Qi Gong to be a very empowering practise and since learning it I have kept an eye on what M.Winn was up to. In 2008 Winn claimed to have learnt a new form that he called Seven Star Step Shamanic Qi Gong, naturally my eyes lit up and I made a resolve to learn it. I actually flew from Queensland, Australia to U.K. to learn the form- so maybe I am crazy..ha! I intend to start practising it again when I have more time to explore the effects. The funny thing is, after all that what happened from practising the form insects and some crazy, crazy experiences I miss practising the form, it has such a unique feel to it. By the way I live in Noosa, Queensland Australia and would be happy to teach it to any one wishing to learn it but make no mistake it is very full on. Ben

[Green Tiger]

Shamans of many cultures refer to all techniques used to enter altered states and thence alternative dimensions as their "horses" -- the meaning is close to "meditation," which (contrary to popular belief) is a "means of transportation," a method whereby you "get somewhere." Meditation is as valuable to the meditator as a horse is to a rider, but riding a horse "recreationally" vs. riding a horse because you have somewhere to go are different activities. Shamans don't ride horses recreationally.

 

A shamanic "horse" is the method of meditation -- whether rhythmic drumming, spinning, not-doing, ingesting entheogens, "dreaming," fasting, singing... techniques are numerous, different shamans use different ones, the same shaman uses different ones for different purposes... but they all are thought of as "horses" (or occasionally other beasts of burden, sometimes jaguars, sometimes dragons, sometimes cranes...) used to teleport the spirit (and occasionally the body too) to other realms. A "windhorse" is a fast one. (There's a frog in the rain forest in Peru... a "windhorse" for hunters. Takes one elsewhere instantly. The "elsewhere" is not different from where you were a moment before, but you are a hundredfold faster, your eyesight is a hundred times more acute, your sense of smell, touch, hearing... everything amplified. So this "windhorse" takes YOU out of your ordinary body and transports you into an extraordinary version of your body, without interfering with your spirit or the dimension you are in. Just one example, out of thousands.)

 

I hadn't heard much about Chinese use of entheogens. It seems like most entheobotanists study South American culture or African culture for their rich and diverse shamanic use of plants.

 

My impression has been that a Chinese shaman was more likely to use things like movement, chant, musical instrument, or some form of meditative self-hypnosis. While that may be true, there does appear to be some evidence that they used cannabis in a ceremonial context, although not how you might expect.

 

 

By the fifteenth century B.C. the Chinese book known as the Rh-Ya was compiled, and in it there is mention of the herb Ma, the Cannabis sativa plant. Not only were there fibers and potent resins employed at this time, but the Rh-Ya describes the first ritualistic or shamanistic use of the plant.

 

The most detailed early account of the uses of Cannabis sativa in early China is to be found in the Shu-King, written in 500 B.C. When the plant grows under favorable conditions, the main stem becomes highly lignified, or woody. It was the practice of the early Chinese to carve this wood into the likeness of a serpent coiled around a rod (not unlike the caduceus or Staff of Aesculpius, which has its origin in the Greco-Roman world and is still with us as the traditional symbol of the physician). This image was used in curing rituals; a relative of the patient beat on the sickbed with the snake rod in order to dispel evil spirits.

 

From Ritual Use of Cannabis Sativa by William A Emboden, Jr.

 

 

So did they not smoke it? They just carved it into a snake rod used to beat on a patients bed?

 

Does anyone know of any other entheogens the Chinese shaman might have used?

Edited July 23, 2014 by Green Tiger

[deci belle]

A link it is, A thread it is not.

 

Thank you for the link!