Daoism and Other Pursuits

[Kongming]

To what degree are the path and practices of Daoism, whether meditation or qigong/neigong or neidan, compatible with other pursuits and activities?

 

In particular I was curious if things like lifting weights (not necessarily for either serious strength training or trying to be like Arnold Schwarzenegger) or boxing/Muay Thai/other non-qi based or traditional martial arts could possibly get in the way of serious Daoist praxis. So for example, would lifting weights be bad for qigong practitioners? Would having a vested interested in working out and/or martial arts such as those mentioned get in the way of someone committed to neidan or is a balance possible?

 

In short, when one is truly dedicated to the Daoist path and seeing it through, is there enough time/energy left over to be dedicated to other pursuits?

[voidisyinyang]

I was told the qigong master said lifting weights seriously over age 45 burns out the liver energy.

 

There are many factors involved.

 

But for example Dr. Shin Lin documented no electrical conductivity increase from weight lifting, whereas Tai Chi/qigong increased electrical conductivity 35% from just 15 minutes of advanced practice.

 

So you can use qigong to increase your energy for other activities. Yan Xin gives a detailed example of how he super charged a weight lifter - in his book https://www.scribd.com/doc/101462079/Yan-Xin-Secrets-Benefits-of-Internal-Qigong-Cultivation

 

Also his teacher, Master Haiden of Shaolin - did martial arts training. Qigong/neidan is considered the highest level of martial arts. Shaolin is Ch'an Buddhist but how much Taoist influence is debatable.

 

http://qigongmaster.com is martial arts training as Taoist alchemy also but that master Zhang, Yuanming is also the abbott of a nearby Buddhist temple.

 

 

[Kongming]

Thanks. It seems to me that Daoism and qigong, things like Taijiquan, etc. tend to emphasize softness, fluidity, flexibility, lightness, etc. whereas things like weight lifting and boxing seem a bit "harder" or perhaps more violent. Therefore not only does the whole aura seem contrasted, but I also was curious if lifting weights could be detrimental to the goals of qigong and neidan. 

 

An example you often see is of the ideal Daoist or even Daoist inspired warrior....usually a more gracile, gentlemanly type who wields a jian sword, etc. One just wonders if one could simultaneously be a muscular Conan the Barbarian type while also fully engaged in the Daoist path.

 

Another factor of interest: how about social life? Serious Daoists often are associated with hermits, mountain ascetics, monks, wanderers, etc. To what degree does a social life become harmful or an obstacle?

[voidisyinyang]

14 minutes ago, Kongming said:

Thanks. It seems to me that Daoism and qigong, things like Taijiquan, etc. tend to emphasize softness, fluidity, flexibility, lightness, etc. whereas things like weight lifting and boxing seem a bit "harder" or perhaps more violent. Therefore not only does the whole aura seem contrasted, but I also was curious if lifting weights could be detrimental to the goals of qigong and neidan. 

 

An example you often see is of the ideal Daoist or even Daoist inspired warrior....usually a more gracile, gentlemanly type who wields a jian sword, etc. One just wonders if one could simultaneously be a muscular Conan the Barbarian type while also fully engaged in the Daoist path.

 

Another factor of interest: how about social life? Serious Daoists often are associated with hermits, mountain ascetics, monks, wanderers, etc. To what degree does a social life become harmful or an obstacle?

 

Have you watched the traditional Shaolin training vid?

 

Check this out?

Quote

 

 I have the great good fortune to be the disciple of a Shaolin
priest (yes, the real thing, not the current Chinese gov'ts Wu Shu
clones).    He is 75 years old and a Dragon's Door Taoist
grandmaster, as well as Shaolin - he says he's just starting to
figure this stuff out and he's been doing it for 70 years.

I have seen him mend bones (over a period of time, of course), heal
stress fractures, relieve the pain of cancer and arthritis, as well
as put out a candle from 20 feet away and knock down a 250 man
without touching him.

 

 

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.martial-arts/Z3ncfj9sUJc

 

I just emailed this dude - Michael J. Formica who made this statement in 1996!!

 

I can guess who this is - but the person I think it is, I did not know they were also a Taoist "Dragon Door" aka Dragon Gate alchemy master as well.

 

So I'm quite curious to see who this is.

 

Now the Taoist training - the soft and hard external - can go together.

 

He says:

 

Quote

Wai Chi Zhi Lao is an arcane Taoist practice which allows the
practioner the opportunity to intermingle his/her chi with that of
an individual who is ill or injured in order to facilitate healing.  
This is possible because, remember, your body is not solid and your
chi field is not bounded except to the degree which you bind it.

 

If you fully open the third eye - and more importantly get beyond physical death - then you can "integrate" back into society - get married, etc. because with every breath you are accessing the Yuan Qi beyond death.

I know this from the qigong master who befriended me - he has this ability - and told me how he was "integrating" and then he married someone half his age - more or less. haha. http://guidingqi.com

 

He was a kungfu master in the 1960s - so he told me about the liver qi deal as told to him about lifting weights by http://springforestqigong.com

 

So he said how that Chinese master did blast apart marble with his qi energy from a distance but it was "too violent" so he focused on doing healing.

[Michael Sternbach]

In my view, whether those activities you mentioned would be conducive to a Daoist way of life or not is mostly a question of how you do them.

 

A "hard" martial art like Karate can become like Taiji eventually, if you focus on relaxation, development of ki, hitting pressure points rather than brute force - and meditation, of course. There is a reason why it's called Karate-do sometimes ( "do" being "dao" in Japanese) - and why so many other martial arts have this word in their name as well.

 

Weight lifting can be a kind of "hard qigong", if done a certain way. Actually, Jwing Ming Yang categorizes it as such in one of his books. We once had a thread on this. I will see if I can retrieve it later...

 

Having a social life and meeting people? Well, here again, whether this would be supportive of a Daoist way of living  depends on how those people affect you - and that involves how you handle and affect them! Are the encounters exhaustive and pulling you down? Or strengthening and uplifting?

 

I think the question that this boils down to is: Are you looking as Daoism as a set of rules and exercises? To me, Dao is something highly personal. As personal as it gets, actually. Following the wishes of your innermost self will set you on your way and bring you to a state of wu wei or effortless action. This is the essence of Daoism, in my understanding.