My new book on beginner neidan methods

[sillybearhappyhoneyeater]

http://www.tambulimedia.com/health-books/daoist-qigong-meditation/

 

Hi all,

please have a look at my book on neidan methods.

It is one of the first books in the western world which takes a clear approach to developing jing, qi, shen, and introducing xuan men, zhou tian, sanguan santian, practice and so on.

It also has a really cracking commentary on Lu Dongbin's hundred character ancestor tablet.

No pressure to buy, but please do have a look.

[thelerner]

Could you post a page or 2 from it?   Perhaps something from the introduction and sample of a basic exercise?  That would give people a good feel for what the book is like.

[manitou]

I agree with thelerner.  I'd love to see a page or two.

 

Your voice is very good, if you are the one who wrote the description.  You sound well grounded with the grounded-ness that comes from having run the full gamut and having returned to the starting point.

 

Aah.  The Dao.  Reversion to the start.

[GreytoWhite]

Thanks! I bookmarked this as a gift for myself next month for my birthday.

[sillybearhappyhoneyeater]

Hi all,

thanks for the good feedback.

I'll ask my publisher if he can free up a couple pages to look at.

He's in manilla seeing his Silat master right now, so we may have to wait a few days.

Edited August 29, 2015 by sillybearhappyhoneyeater

[MooNiNite]

Does this book discuss shen development in terms of what to expect, what to achieve, and whether of not it is a substance to be accumulated or a light to merely let through?

[Taoist Texts]

The Nature of Doaist Meditation
by Robert James Coons

 

typo

[sillybearhappyhoneyeater]

Daoist texts: thanks for pointing that out!

 

 

mooninite:

the book only goes to the level of yuan jing practice, it is mainly geared toward beginners and intermediate level folks.

It does have quite a bit of material about how the mind manifests while cultivating yuanjing and how the mind and xuan men interact during meditation.

 

in a future book I'll be covering things like "dong che," (when the perenium begins to move and the yinqiao clears), connecting the ren and du mai, zhong mai, and so on.

I think covering the basics first is a good idea, as I don't want readers to get led off in complicatated directions.

[Chang]

If you click on this link it will show you a page or two from the book:- http://www.tambulimedia.com/2015/08/22/yin-and-yang-in-daoist-meditation-practice/

[thelerner]

Sbear, could you tell us a little about your background, teachers and school?

 

Thanks

Michael

[sillybearhappyhoneyeater]

Thelemer,

 

sure,

I primarily studied with Yang Hai in Montreal (www.internalstyle.com) who studied with Cao Zhenyang at white cloud temple Beijing in the 80s and 90s.  He also studied San Feng Pai in Tianjin and learned Daoism from multiple other people all over China.   I have also been to Taizhong to meet a practitioner named Weichen shanren who has certified my practice as being legitimate (he was cool, he could send heat and qi through my dantian and ren/dumai. very unusual).

My main practice is in translating and interpreting texts from Jin Dan Pai (Lu Dongbin especially), Zhong Pai (Huang Yuanji and Xingming guizhi), and Confucian, as well as Neo Daoist and Neo Confucians texts such as Li Ji, Zhu Xi, Wang Bi and so on.

I'm very Neidan oriented although I also do martial arts and tea ceremony.  I only do Qigong sometimes, but have a deep respect for all self cultivation methods.

My personal approach to Neidan is extremely wu wei oriented and most strongly derived from Huang Yuanji's book Dao De Jing Chan Wei, as well as the general principles and ideas of Lu Dongbin, and Cheng Yingning.

I don't practice religious ceremony, but I respect it as fundamental to the practice of any person who calls themselves "Daoshi."  I am not Daoshi, and I principally learned from normal people who practice Neidan at a high level.

 

Hope that gives some insight into my background 

[thelerner]

Thank you. 

Here's a question and I hope it doesn't throw the thread off track.  When you say you primarily do Neidan and Qigong sometimes.. do you consider Qigong involving moving techniques, and Neigong related to sitting deep inner work practice? 

 

Just interested in Sillybearhappyhoneyeater's thoughts from his background.  I don't want to throw off the thread with other peoples interpretation.

[sillybearhappyhoneyeater]

in a nutshell,

nei dan is xiantian practice based on wuwei and wu bu wei.

qi gong is hou tian practice based on converting post heaven breath into qi which runs through the blood.

although qi gong has some xiantian cross over in terms of long term effect on the body, it doesn't develop xiantian qi which can be felt in the way that nei dan does.

nei dan also doesn't develop hou tian qi in the same way as qi gong.

because you would neither wish to spend the entire day moving (too tired) or at rest (need to get the blood flowing), qi gong and neidan are wonderfully paired practices.

I also do cha dao, which is a whole other take on qi.

I believe self cultivation practices work along one continuum.

my teacher has a saying "wen yi xiu mei," or "culture and arts cultivate beauty."  that basically means that we can use culture and the practice thereof to cultivate a better lifestyle. 

I think the Daoist concept is very universal, and although Neidan is a school within Daoism, it should be treated more like a college at a university than as the entirety of Daoist pracitce.  Just reading the classics cna inform us that Daoist thinkers pretty much covered every posisble realm of study available to them at the time they were alive.

[Mudfoot]

I read the book.

I would grade it as two on a four point scale, one being obviously relevant to my personal practice, four meaning a trip to the used book-store.

 

The book feels different from, well, every other book on the subject of chinese internal arts I have ever read.

It feels very relaxed.

No control, not pushing for a goal.

No mysterious secrets.

 

I will read it again.

Might regrade it to a one.

[LaoZiDao]

in a nutshell,

nei dan is xiantian practice based on wuwei and wu bu wei.

qi gong is hou tian practice based on converting post heaven breath into qi which runs through the blood.

although qi gong has some xiantian cross over in terms of long term effect on the body, it doesn't develop xiantian qi which can be felt in the way that nei dan does.

nei dan also doesn't develop hou tian qi in the same way as qi gong.

because you would neither wish to spend the entire day moving (too tired) or at rest (need to get the blood flowing), qi gong and neidan are wonderfully paired practices.

I also do cha dao, which is a whole other take on qi.

I believe self cultivation practices work along one continuum.

my teacher has a saying "wen yi xiu mei," or "culture and arts cultivate beauty."  that basically means that we can use culture and the practice thereof to cultivate a better lifestyle. 

I think the Daoist concept is very universal, and although Neidan is a school within Daoism, it should be treated more like a college at a university than as the entirety of Daoist pracitce.  Just reading the classics cna inform us that Daoist thinkers pretty much covered every posisble realm of study available to them at the time they were alive.

 

Where did you learn this about XIantian and Houtian? Funny that there is no mention of this only until recently (the last year or so).

 

 

What School / Linage, who is your teacher?

 

 

xiantian qi which can be felt in the way that nei dan does.

 

Yuanqi cannot be felt by humans..

 

 

Regards

 

[Meroe]

for those less aquainted with chinese terminology, xiantian refers to "PreHeaven" and HouTian refers to "PostHeaven" Energies.

 

many would find familiarity in the 2 most common configurations of the 8 trigrams.