Celibacy in Spontaneous Adjustment?

[Long Yun]

For those who've gone to one of Jenny Lamb's seminars or used her DVD, I was just wondering if there is a 100 days celibacy period like what I've heard of Kunlun. Is this part of the Spontaneous Adjustment (Yigong) system?

[bamboo]

Hey Long yun,

 

I've got Jenny Lamb's yigong dvd, no mention of the 100 days on it though. Sunya wrote a review on here about his yigong seminar with jenny and someone asked him whether jenny mentioned the 100 days, and he said she didn't.

 

The 100 days is for the initial transformation of jing to chi though. So if that's what you're shooting for, then you gotta do it. Also if you loose your jing, then you loose your chi. Then it's a case of no water in the boiler, no steam in the pipes, and you got nothing to work with when you do yigong

 

The other purpose of the 100 days is to purify the energy channels. As the Hatha Yoga Pradipika of Indian yoga says:

'The yogi who has perfected himself in the yamas [the first stage of the yogic path] will purify his nadis [chi channels] in three months [of meditative practice].'

 

During the 100 days you don't even think about sex [sexual desire], even thoughts stir up the jing and interfere with the transformations. Need i say anything about physical expresions of desire. As Master Nan Huaijin says, 'when desire arises all the elements go into motion, and are all sustaining damage equally.'

Edited February 23, 2011 by bamboo

[onelove]

Hey Long yun,

 

I've got Jenny Lamb's yigong dvd, no mention of the 100 days on it though. Sunya wrote a review on here about his yigong seminar with jenny and someone asked him whether jenny mentioned the 100 days, and he said she didn't.

 

The 100 days is for the initial transformation of jing to chi though. So if that's what you're shooting for, then you gotta do it. Also if you loose your jing, then you loose your chi. Then it's a case of no water in the boiler, no steam in the pipes, and you got nothing to work with when you do yigong

 

During the 100 days you don't even think about sex [sexual desire], even thoughts stir up the jing and interfere with the transformations. Need i say anything about physical expresions of desire. In Arya Nagarjuna bodhisattva's exposition on the Perfection of Wisdom sutras there are 43 analogies on the dangers inherant in desire, a couple of my favourites:

The desires are like a thinly covered grove of knives, like flowers covering filth.

Those engaged in desires are like convicts in a prison, like a peaceful man cought up in military combat.

 

The higher you go, the higher the stakes are, and the more damage you can do yourself.

 

If you have a question along these lines, I would recommend e-mailing Sifu Jenny; she likes to receive questions about the practice and regularly updates the FAQ on her website with the questions she receives;

 

I will share what I have heard from Sifu Jenny at her seminar and later her retreat:

 

Do not engage in sexual activity 24 hours before or after your practice, as this is damaging/depleting. She has also shared stories of fellow practitioners who practice total abstention, to great result - the particular story that sticks in mind is the story of a push hands master who trains standing post/wuji qigong 3 hours a day, abstains, and has tremendous strength. She discusses the importance of training the mind to remain in non-dual awareness, and tracking the origins of all thought, desire, and emotion.

She does not advocate rigid adherence to abstention however, and treats every individual case differently. If strength and power are your goal, abstention might be beneficial. Her teachings are quite straightforward - train your mind to remain in non-dual awareness and good qi flow and development will follow, health with follow, understanding and wisdom will follow, your own path will become clear to you. Applying rigid codes of behavior or specific alchemical processes to the practices she teaches does not work. That is not to say that these processes and behaviors are invalid, they are simply not a part of her system as she teaches it. Finally she advocates finding a system that resonates with you and sticking with it with all of your heart, and not mixing systems/processes/energy practices from different teachers/lineages.

 

This is what I can quickly remember and paraphrase from my time with Sifu Jenny - please check in with her for a more complete or accurate answer.

 

Happy cultivating to all, and to all a goodnight!

[gendao]

^ Sounds like good advice.

 

I heard that Kan has been practicing celibacy for a long time now. I don't know how true that is, but if so it could possibly demonstrate the eventual difference in results..

[bamboo]

@onelove

In cultivation practice celibacy is an absolute requirement. In taoism it goes by the name non-leakage, bramacarya to the yogis, discipline in buddhism, celibacy in christianity. All traditions have it, because without it, you'll be spinning your wheels going nowhere.

 

Qigong is part of the cultivation practice of the taoists. As such, it is their method of opening the channels, and speeding up the process of transforming the body in order to aid their cultivation. The yogis have yoga. The tibetans have trulkhor [and other things]. These are practices they use to help at the stage of intensified practice, for transforming the physical body, in conjuction with celibacy. This is not rigid dogma. Anytime you have these type of guidlines in cultivation systems, it is to point out the dangers along the road. If people are practicing energy exercises as part of an ordinary life, while giving free rein to their desires, then they are using these tools totally out of context, and possibly doing themselves great harm. These exercises are part of the spiritual path, and need to be carried out within certain peramiters.

 

If you lose your jing, it's hard to make progress. No jing means no chi. No chi means no chi channels opening, and thus no chi to shen transformations and samadhi states. In other words, no water in the boiler, no steam in the pipes. This is cultivation 101. Ignore this rule and you get no progress.

Edited February 24, 2011 by bamboo

[Spectrum]

Having a regular diet of sex creates a wave which is ridable. Not having sex is ok too, you learn to surf anyways life is music to ride to .

[onelove]

@bamboo:

I do not disagree with you or anything in your reply, particularly when you look at long term spiritual cultivation.

 

I was answering the original poster's question as to how Sifu Jenny teaches, and my post is a fairly accurate representation of how I have heard her approach the topic in her seminars and retreats. She seemed to make it a point to point out the benefits of abstention as it relates to qigong and spiritual cultivation. She also makes it a point, in fact it is the heart of her teaching, to train the mind to remain in non-dual awareness, free from desire and attachment, at all times.

 

She makes it a point not to lay down rigid rules and guidelines however, especially in the beginning of one's practice. My take on her teaching is that when a person sets a rule for themselves (such as celibacy) that they are not ready for, they set themselves up for failure, emotional scarring and abandonment of their path. A certain amount of mind training is necessary before a person is ready for such changes in lifestyle. Sifu Jenny stresses a slow, steady approach to training and warms against trying to rush or force progress.

 

Her way is best summed up in a quote on her website, "Let what comes, come, let what goes go." (wow, very unintended pun in that quote!) In Sifu Jenny's system, as I have received and understand it, a sincere and dedicated student will discover all that is needed for self-realisation from within through the training of the mind. Appropriate behavior will develop naturally in due course. In the meantime her training focuses on cultivating awareness 24 hours a day, when eating, sleeping... every moment of the day is practice. A person becomes aware very quickly of just how much we leak energy all of the time, and in training the mind the person gradually works to 'plug the leaks.' She just doesn't tell you which 'leaks' to plug first, which are more important. She simply guides her students to develop awareness of all of their 'leaks' and make the choice for themselves whether they want to change their behavior or not.

[bamboo]

@onelove

Okay, fair enough. I only have the yigong dvd, i don't know about Jenny Lamb's teachings. I just wanted to point out to Long yun the purpose of the 100 days, as it pertains to cultivation practice.

 

Take care

[markern]

My meditation teacher was celibate as a Buddhist Monk for 4 years. He says that he gets about double the energetic effect of celibacy by having dual cultivation type sex. Karezza is a very easy and safe way to gett hose benefits. The dangers often present in many daoist or tantric dual cultivation methods are not present. Diane Richardsons tantra books describe an aproach to tantra that is similar to karezza. Karezza you can read about here: reuniting.info. You can also inquire with people there what gives them the most energetic benefit and the most benefit for meditation, celibacy or karezza. Many people in the forum there have extensive experience with celibacy and with karezza so you have quite some data to support the argument that karezza/tantra is more efficient than celibacy.

[Ulises]

[johndoe2012]

She also makes it a point, in fact it is the heart of her teaching, to train the mind to remain in non-dual awareness, free from desire and attachment, at all times.

 

[snip]

 

In the meantime her training focuses on cultivating awareness 24 hours a day, when eating, sleeping... every moment of the day is practice. [snip] She simply guides her students to develop awareness of all of their 'leaks' and make the choice for themselves whether they want to change their behavior or not.

 

Do you have any practical info regarding the development of this kind of awareness? Like Buddhist mindfulness?

[onelove]

Do you have any practical info regarding the development of this kind of awareness? Like Buddhist mindfulness?

 

Ok, a brief attempt to answer your question:

 

Being mindful in any practice that you are doing. The practice matters less than how you do the practice. Regulate the posture, breath, and mind. Look within, listen within, feel within. Maintain the role of observer, maintain awareness, and do not attach to any phenomena or goal.

 

Keeping this advice in mind, practices that are conducive to mind training: Standing Post Qigong - try one posture for an hour; Vipassana meditation - simply sitting and maintaining awareness, watch physical tensions, thought forms, and emotions come and go without attachment; Spontaneous adjustment Qigong - keeping the same principles of Vipassana in mind, Sleep and dream practices - too much to get into here but one of my book suggestions below gets into this topic very well - as do Sifu Jenny's teachings; internal martial arts, practiced with the development of Yi as the focus, not the development of power or skill (though those will likely follow the development of Yi).

 

And really any practice will do, just practice with the idea of developing your mind and exploring the nature of mind and the nature of all perceived reality. Turning every moment of your life into your practice helps tremendously. Direct oral transmission of wisdom teachings really helps - again I recommend Sifu Jenny - her talks cut through me like daggers and helped me cut through the veils of illusion quickly.

 

If you are the reading type, I also would recommend the following four books, they aid the cognitive mind in getting out of its own way:

 

Recommended by Sifu Jenny:

"I Am That" Sri Maharaj Nisargadatta

 

Also:

"Tibetan Yogas of Sleep and Dream" Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

"Revealing the Tao Te Ching, translation and commentaries" Hu Xuezhi

"Secret of the Golden Flower" Thomas Cleary translation

 

Finally I'll copy some of a post to another thread I made recently that may benefit:

 

"Lastly I would like to add to the discussion that these two gems connect very well in practice: Training to free the mind from judgment and the limits of cognitive thought and emotional response, while maintaining awareness, allows for the pre-natal shen to flow, relaxing tension, easing rigidity, releasing blocks, and allowing for the natural, free flow of energy to nourish body, mind, and spirit. This "mind training" for me is the heart of spontaneous qigong. And the practice of forms, particularly for me taiji, helps develop the greater Yi necessary for more effective spontaneous practice, while at the same time helping to open the channels and the physical body to ensure that spontaneous movements and expressions of energy are expressed in a free flowing, graceful, and gentle manner."

 

The whole post can be found in its original context at the bottom of the page here:

http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/4395-kunlun-and-spontaneous-movement-qigong/page__st__64

 

I hope this now not so brief attempt gets at your request for practical info. My best to you and everyone in their cultivation.

 

-onelove