Ling Bao Bi Fa is divided into three volumes, it was collected and published in the Supreme Pureness section (Tai Qing Bu) of the "Authentic Daoist Canon" (Zheng Tong Daocang). In the prologue of Ling Bao Bi Fa, Ancestor Zhongli quan stated that he had studied classics and consulted with many friends to learn about the great Dao, later he had found 30 volumes of "Ling Bao Jing" in Mount Zhongnan. In it "the first section called the Golden Words, written by the Jade Pure One; the middle section called the Jade Book, written by the Supreme Pure One ; the last section called True Origin, written by the Grand Pure One. Together made of several thousands words." Ancestor Zhongli ponders deeply on the materials and ultimately discovered the true meaning within: "To transcend the mundane and achieve Sainthood, which can be summarized in three levels of methods." He named it "Ling Bao Bi Fa" and transmitted it to Ancestor Lu Dongbin.
"The Daoist Teachings of Zhong and Lu" had mentioned that "Ling Bao Bi Fa" is divided into 10 volumes on 12 topics. Each topic has Six Yi, six ways of explaining the topic, they are : Golden Words (Gin Gao), Jade Book (Yu Shu), True Origin (Jhen Yuan), Analogy (Bi Yu), True Code (Jhen Jyue) and Essence of Dao (Dao Yao).
The content of Ling Bao Bi Fa can be divided into three volumes of ten gateways (or three levels of ten methods):
The first Volumes is called "Minor Methods for Good Health and Well Being", the four methods are Pairing the Yin and Yang number one, Collection and Dispersion of Water and Fire number two, The mating of Dragon and Tiger number three and Cooking the Cinnabar Medicine number four. This is the foundation method of building the neidan, following the methods can leads to good health and well being.
The second volume is called "Intermediate Methods for Longevity" which contains three methods, The Golden Crystal Flying Up from the Side number four, the Jade Liquid Restorative Cinnabar number five, the Golden Liquid Restorative Cinnabar number seven. These are the method to complete the neidan cultivation. The method can leads to longevity.
The third volume is called "Great Methods for Transcending from the mortal Realm" which contains three methods, Facing the origin to refine the qi number eight, Internal Viewing and Swapping number nine and transcension and Subdivision number ten. These methods can lead to transcendency.
In each method, it is explained from six different angles called the Six Yi, they are different ways to interpret and explain the method. Golden Words, Jade Book and True Origin were written by the Three Pure Ones who use the great Dao, the Heaven and Earth to explain the method. Analogy use the the ten thousands things as analogies to explain the qi and shen of the human body. True code and the essence of Dao summaries the methods and important points to watch out for during the practice.
From the practice point of views, the three volumes of Ling Bao Bi Fa is explaining the 45 segments of actual practice in the Three Immortal Methods. By following the TTIM, one should be able to archived the corresponding goals stated in Ling Bao Bi Fa. It is called "Bi Fa" because it is a complete and systematic methods of the Great Dao.
Dandao is also called neidan, it came from Waidan (external cinnabar), by referring to the methods of creating the external cinnabar, one can then easily comprehend the neidan system. The main process in waidan is the following: choose a auspicious location, setting up the stove and the cauldron, put the medicine and water into the cauldron, start the fire in the stove, boil the water and cook the medicine. The medicine will then move in the water, when the water have been completely evaporated, the medicine condensed and form the cinnabar.
Neidan method is very similar the waidan methods. It uses yin and yang to create the dan (cinnabar). The difference is that in neidan, one need to condensed and create the dan three times. The first time the dan is created, it can be used to refine into dan medicine ; the dan medicine can then be used to create a refined dan ; keeping cooking the refined dan more and one can create the golden dan. The three levels of cultivation in Ling Bao Bi Fa, "Human Immortal Methods", "Terrestrial Immortal Methods" and "Celestial Immortal Method", are precisely the methods to create and refine the dan three times.
The "Human Immortal Methods" use the body as the cauldron, the qi as the medicine, the heart as the fire, the kidney as the water, nine restorations and seven reversals, Kan and Li combine and the Golden Elixir Restorative Cinnabar created.
The "Terrestrial Immortal Methods" use the shen as the cauldron, the qi as the medicine, the sun as the fire, the moon as the water, seeking treasure in the deep ocean, walking in the sky to see the moon, Yin and Yang perfectly matched.
The "Celestial Immortal Methods" use the shen as the cauldron, the true-self as the medicine, the wisdom as the fire, the stillness as the water, the nine palaces indestructible, the heaven and earth circulate forever and the heaven and man become one.
Practicing neidan is a way to refine yin and yang for creation, the process for rebirth.
Ling Bao Bi Fa is a systematic method to build the bridge between the mortals and the immortals. It is the pinnacle and the greatest of all methods in neidan. It is a ladder to the understanding of the Dao as told by Laozi 3000 years ago.
Finally Ling Bao Bi Fa showed us the Youwei method of using the shen to refine the qi, the Wuwei method of us the the qi to refine the shen and the Wubuwei method of combining the shen ling. All this theory must be put into practice, using real and tangible results to verify the content of Ling Bao Bi Fa. To study Ling Bao Bi Fa require very a meticulous and flexible mind.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Brief Introduction to the "Daoist Teachings of Zhong and Lu"
The "Daoist Teachings of Zhong and Lu" (DTZL) recorded the daoist transmissions from Zhongli Quan to Lu Dongbin in a questions and answers format. The earliest historical record of this text can be found in the Northern Song Dynasty, in "Xuan He Shu Pu" volume 19 stated that Lu Dongbin was a disciple of Zhongli Quan and "there exits books of their dialogue and poems etc", the "dialogue" should be referring to this classic. The "Dao Shu" In the Song dynasty has collected this classic and called it "Collection of Daoist Transmissions". The 14th to 16th chapters of the "10 books on Cultivation" in the Doaist Canon, "Collection of Ancient and Modern Books" (Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji Cheng) and "Essentials of Daoist Canon" had also a copy of this classic.
"Daoist Teachings of Zhong and Lu" consists of the questions and answers between the two ancestors on the 18 specialized topics in cultivation ( "On true Immortals", "On Great Dao", "On Heaven and Earth", "On the Sun and the Moon", On Four Seasons", "On Five Elements", "On Water and Fire", "On Dragon and Tiger", "On Cinnabar and Medicine", "On lead and mercury", "On Extraction and Deposition", "On River Car", "On Restorative Cinnabar", "On refining the form", "On returning to the origin", "On internal viewing", "On Demonic Obstacles", "On verifications"). The book fleshed out the concepts clearly, revealed the different layers in each topic and it is full of wonderful discussions. This book had revealed to the world previously closely guarded daoist secrets. It is not an exaggeration to call this book the most important classic of the five ancestors and the seven sages and all the saints that followed them. DTZL is a more comprehensive discussion of the dandao of Zhong and Lu than any other publicly available classics.
To get to know the Zhong and Lu dandao better, the 18 topics of DTZL can be divided into 6 sections.
1. The Purpose. The goal of Zhong and Lu dandao is to become an immortal through cultivations. So what is an immortal? How to cultivate it? The answer is in "On true Immortals".
2. The Theory. Dandao is the fruit of the fusion between the great dao and the daoist culture. So how can we understand dandao from the point of view of the great Dao? The answer is in "On Great Dao".
3. The Theory from Yijing. Dandao culture was built on the backdrop of the idea "Heaven and Man become one". The "Heaven" in this idea consist of at least two levels of meaning. The "pre-heaven" (xiantian) stage of the universe and human, these had all been incorporated in the theory of "Zhou Yi". Secondly, how can we get to know the laws of the Yijing from observations of the circulation between of the heaven and earth, the movement of the Sun and the moon and the transitions between the 4 seasons and use these observations to help us understand the practical aspects of dandao. The different stages of the process in "Heaven and Man become one" are method of earth, method of heaven and method of Dao and they are explained in "On Heaven and Earth", "On the Sun and Moon" and "On the four seasons".
4. The theory of alchemy. The main idea in dandao is the theory of creation and rebirth, i.e. the creation of embryo from yin and yang, the embryo is nurtured until rebirth is possible. "Dao give birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, Three gives birth to the ten thousands things". Creation is not possible without Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang is from "One", then where does "One" comes from? See "On the five elements". And how does "One" gives birth to Yin and Yang? See "On Water and Fire". How does Yin and Yang give births to the yang within yin and the yin within yang ? See "On Dragon and Tiger". How does Yin and Yang give birth to "Three", the embryo? And how do we nurture the Embryo ? See "On Cinnabar and Medicine". And how about the yin and yang in the embryo? See "On Lead and Mercury".
5. The theory on the cultivation method. Cultivation methods follow the laws of the nature, the theory in Yijing and the circulation between heaven and earth. How does one get the yin and yang, and how do we use the yin and yang? See "On extraction and deposition". How do we make the ying and yang follows the rise and fall (circulation) between the heaven and earth ? See "On River Car". How does one refine the quality and increase the volume of Yin and Yang? See "On restorative cinnabar". How does one cleanse the body with Yin and Yang? See "On Refining the form". How does one achieve transcension? See "On returning to the Origin". How does one see the process? See "On internal viewing". How does one overcome psychological obstacles? See "On demonic obstacles. The 10 methods and 45 segments of Ling Bao Bi Fa are precisely the practical methods to complement these theory.
6. On verifications. Since one has the methods, so we should also have verifications of the methods. To know the verifications in each stage, see "On Verifications". How does one assess the result and the achieved level of the immortality? See "On true immortals". How does one understand the great dao through cultivation ? See "On the Great Dao".
Looking at the content of DTZL, we can see that Ancestors Zhongli and Lu were standing and teaching us at a level unimaginable to mortals, they taught us true neidan and true methods, they told us that there are 5 levels of immortals: ghost immortal, human immortal, terrestrial immortal, shen immortal, celestial immortals. There are three levels of cultivation, minor cultivation, medium cultivation and great cultivation. Minor cultivation can grant one human immortal status, to live well and healthy on earth ; medium cultivation method can grant one terrestrial immortal status, to enjoy longevity; great cultivation method can grant one the shen immortal, celestial immortal status, to transcend from the material world. The method of neidan came from the great Dao, it states that the human body is a universe in itself, that's why one needs to imitate the circulation of the heaven and earth, the conversion of the 5 elements, the interactions of the sun and the moon in the body. To extract the Xiantian yang from the kidney water as the ingredients of dan, to mate the true yin and true yang, to mix and merge them, to circulate in the 3 fields, using yang to cook the yin and use the yin to refine the yang. By conversion of essence to qi, qi to shen, shen to the void and refine the void to Dao, then the golden dan can be formed and the yang shen can transcend. Jump out of the gate of heaven into the world of the three pure ones. The classic had detailed the 12 levels of internal refinement methods, they are Pairing the Ying and Yang number one, Collection and Dispersion of Water and Fire number two, The Mating of Dragon and Tiger number three, Burning and cooking the cinnabar medicine number four, The golden sphere flying up form the side number five, The jade liquid restorative cinnabar number six, the jade liquid refinement of the form number seven, the golden liquid restorative cinnabar number eight, the golden liquid refinement of the form number nine, returning to the origin to refine the qi number ten, internal viewing number eleven, transcension and subdivide number twelve. Combining sixth and seventh into one method, and the eighth and ninth into one method, reducing the twelve methods into ten, this is Ling Bao Bi Fa.
DTZL has established the venerable position of Zhong and Lu dandao: it inherited from the three pure ones and bequeath this treasure to the mortals in next one thousand year. It is the pinnacle achievement of the ancient daoist tradition; it wakes up the internal shen and ling of man and connect them to the external space and time. It is a comprehensive system of dandao cultivation, it revealed to the world the extraordinary wisdom of the daoist tradition and give people a glimpse of it's effective health and wellness method.
Therefore when we read DTZL, we need to ourselves in between the heaven and earth, time and space, to view and think about them from mutiple angles, the corporeal and concrete, the corporeal and formless and the incorporeal and formless. To see how can "heaven" and "man" become one? How does the "heaven" and "man" correspond to each other? What is being merged from "heaven" and "man" ? etc ..etc...
"Daoist Teachings of Zhong and Lu" consists of the questions and answers between the two ancestors on the 18 specialized topics in cultivation ( "On true Immortals", "On Great Dao", "On Heaven and Earth", "On the Sun and the Moon", On Four Seasons", "On Five Elements", "On Water and Fire", "On Dragon and Tiger", "On Cinnabar and Medicine", "On lead and mercury", "On Extraction and Deposition", "On River Car", "On Restorative Cinnabar", "On refining the form", "On returning to the origin", "On internal viewing", "On Demonic Obstacles", "On verifications"). The book fleshed out the concepts clearly, revealed the different layers in each topic and it is full of wonderful discussions. This book had revealed to the world previously closely guarded daoist secrets. It is not an exaggeration to call this book the most important classic of the five ancestors and the seven sages and all the saints that followed them. DTZL is a more comprehensive discussion of the dandao of Zhong and Lu than any other publicly available classics.
To get to know the Zhong and Lu dandao better, the 18 topics of DTZL can be divided into 6 sections.
1. The Purpose. The goal of Zhong and Lu dandao is to become an immortal through cultivations. So what is an immortal? How to cultivate it? The answer is in "On true Immortals".
2. The Theory. Dandao is the fruit of the fusion between the great dao and the daoist culture. So how can we understand dandao from the point of view of the great Dao? The answer is in "On Great Dao".
3. The Theory from Yijing. Dandao culture was built on the backdrop of the idea "Heaven and Man become one". The "Heaven" in this idea consist of at least two levels of meaning. The "pre-heaven" (xiantian) stage of the universe and human, these had all been incorporated in the theory of "Zhou Yi". Secondly, how can we get to know the laws of the Yijing from observations of the circulation between of the heaven and earth, the movement of the Sun and the moon and the transitions between the 4 seasons and use these observations to help us understand the practical aspects of dandao. The different stages of the process in "Heaven and Man become one" are method of earth, method of heaven and method of Dao and they are explained in "On Heaven and Earth", "On the Sun and Moon" and "On the four seasons".
4. The theory of alchemy. The main idea in dandao is the theory of creation and rebirth, i.e. the creation of embryo from yin and yang, the embryo is nurtured until rebirth is possible. "Dao give birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, Three gives birth to the ten thousands things". Creation is not possible without Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang is from "One", then where does "One" comes from? See "On the five elements". And how does "One" gives birth to Yin and Yang? See "On Water and Fire". How does Yin and Yang give births to the yang within yin and the yin within yang ? See "On Dragon and Tiger". How does Yin and Yang give birth to "Three", the embryo? And how do we nurture the Embryo ? See "On Cinnabar and Medicine". And how about the yin and yang in the embryo? See "On Lead and Mercury".
5. The theory on the cultivation method. Cultivation methods follow the laws of the nature, the theory in Yijing and the circulation between heaven and earth. How does one get the yin and yang, and how do we use the yin and yang? See "On extraction and deposition". How do we make the ying and yang follows the rise and fall (circulation) between the heaven and earth ? See "On River Car". How does one refine the quality and increase the volume of Yin and Yang? See "On restorative cinnabar". How does one cleanse the body with Yin and Yang? See "On Refining the form". How does one achieve transcension? See "On returning to the Origin". How does one see the process? See "On internal viewing". How does one overcome psychological obstacles? See "On demonic obstacles. The 10 methods and 45 segments of Ling Bao Bi Fa are precisely the practical methods to complement these theory.
6. On verifications. Since one has the methods, so we should also have verifications of the methods. To know the verifications in each stage, see "On Verifications". How does one assess the result and the achieved level of the immortality? See "On true immortals". How does one understand the great dao through cultivation ? See "On the Great Dao".
Looking at the content of DTZL, we can see that Ancestors Zhongli and Lu were standing and teaching us at a level unimaginable to mortals, they taught us true neidan and true methods, they told us that there are 5 levels of immortals: ghost immortal, human immortal, terrestrial immortal, shen immortal, celestial immortals. There are three levels of cultivation, minor cultivation, medium cultivation and great cultivation. Minor cultivation can grant one human immortal status, to live well and healthy on earth ; medium cultivation method can grant one terrestrial immortal status, to enjoy longevity; great cultivation method can grant one the shen immortal, celestial immortal status, to transcend from the material world. The method of neidan came from the great Dao, it states that the human body is a universe in itself, that's why one needs to imitate the circulation of the heaven and earth, the conversion of the 5 elements, the interactions of the sun and the moon in the body. To extract the Xiantian yang from the kidney water as the ingredients of dan, to mate the true yin and true yang, to mix and merge them, to circulate in the 3 fields, using yang to cook the yin and use the yin to refine the yang. By conversion of essence to qi, qi to shen, shen to the void and refine the void to Dao, then the golden dan can be formed and the yang shen can transcend. Jump out of the gate of heaven into the world of the three pure ones. The classic had detailed the 12 levels of internal refinement methods, they are Pairing the Ying and Yang number one, Collection and Dispersion of Water and Fire number two, The Mating of Dragon and Tiger number three, Burning and cooking the cinnabar medicine number four, The golden sphere flying up form the side number five, The jade liquid restorative cinnabar number six, the jade liquid refinement of the form number seven, the golden liquid restorative cinnabar number eight, the golden liquid refinement of the form number nine, returning to the origin to refine the qi number ten, internal viewing number eleven, transcension and subdivide number twelve. Combining sixth and seventh into one method, and the eighth and ninth into one method, reducing the twelve methods into ten, this is Ling Bao Bi Fa.
DTZL has established the venerable position of Zhong and Lu dandao: it inherited from the three pure ones and bequeath this treasure to the mortals in next one thousand year. It is the pinnacle achievement of the ancient daoist tradition; it wakes up the internal shen and ling of man and connect them to the external space and time. It is a comprehensive system of dandao cultivation, it revealed to the world the extraordinary wisdom of the daoist tradition and give people a glimpse of it's effective health and wellness method.
Therefore when we read DTZL, we need to ourselves in between the heaven and earth, time and space, to view and think about them from mutiple angles, the corporeal and concrete, the corporeal and formless and the incorporeal and formless. To see how can "heaven" and "man" become one? How does the "heaven" and "man" correspond to each other? What is being merged from "heaven" and "man" ? etc ..etc...
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
2002 - A retreat with friends
An old friend from Beijing wanted to attain the Channel SHO, she had practiced for many years and has a good foundation. Since I also wanted to try my new teaching methods and daigong techniques so I had agreed.
The four of us went up to Xing Long Shan for a retreat, my plan was to stay for 10 days but she succeeded on the 9th. She was my first successful student since Taoyuan. What was difference from before was that the Channel SHO was attained due entirely to my own power. The entire process worked out perfectly according to my plan, it showed that my ideas and techniques had improved greatly.
There is always a flip side to everything, I can help other to open up the SHO but the questions are:
(1) From the technical point of view, what kind of persons will succeed and who won't? What's condition of their health? How long do they need to have practiced? Will any illness be severely detrimental to the process?
(2) From the morality point of view, who should I help and who shouldn't be helped? Unfortunately there are people in this world who are unethical. You helped them with their practice but not only are they not grateful to you, they slander you behind your back. Helping them is the same as harming yourself. That's why the daoist classics always remind us to never teach the unscrupulous.
(3) From the actual result point of view, once they attain it during the seminar, can they keep it afterward? What can be done to help preserving the result?
Since I had always been only concentrated on the first question and ignored the other two, it had brought me a lot of troubles afterward. I did gain a lot of valuable experience though but I paid the price to grow up and to mature into a better practitioner and teacher.
The four of us went up to Xing Long Shan for a retreat, my plan was to stay for 10 days but she succeeded on the 9th. She was my first successful student since Taoyuan. What was difference from before was that the Channel SHO was attained due entirely to my own power. The entire process worked out perfectly according to my plan, it showed that my ideas and techniques had improved greatly.
There is always a flip side to everything, I can help other to open up the SHO but the questions are:
(1) From the technical point of view, what kind of persons will succeed and who won't? What's condition of their health? How long do they need to have practiced? Will any illness be severely detrimental to the process?
(2) From the morality point of view, who should I help and who shouldn't be helped? Unfortunately there are people in this world who are unethical. You helped them with their practice but not only are they not grateful to you, they slander you behind your back. Helping them is the same as harming yourself. That's why the daoist classics always remind us to never teach the unscrupulous.
(3) From the actual result point of view, once they attain it during the seminar, can they keep it afterward? What can be done to help preserving the result?
Since I had always been only concentrated on the first question and ignored the other two, it had brought me a lot of troubles afterward. I did gain a lot of valuable experience though but I paid the price to grow up and to mature into a better practitioner and teacher.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
2002 - Annotations of the Three Classics
The first time I read Ling Bao Bi Fa was in 1987, then I read the Taoist Teachings of Chong and Lu, these two books complement each other. When I wrote Walk on the Great Path, I had read the relevant classics I had found. Beginning in 1995 when I was concentrating on researching Channel SHO, I started a detailed study of these two classics. In my specialized seminars, I also tried to use the two classics to explain the methods and the applications. After I had completed "Channel SHO study from 100 persons", I began to study these two books exclusively and I attempted at my own annotation of them.
It was a most awe-inspiring endeavor, when you really tried to understand the explanations of Ancestor Lu with your heart, you will find that each word has great meaning, each sentence is brilliant. To interpret the books from the point of view of the great Dao, they were written as tools to help you tackle "Dao De Jing". From the point of view of Yijing, the two books are demonstrating the world as described by Yijing. From the point of view of the theory of qi, they are talking about the Xiantian qi. Combining them with "Huang Di Nei Jing", they underpinned the traditional Chinese medicine theory. From the point of view of the theoretical aspects of practical methods, the two classic bridge the mortals to heaven, as long as there is an authentic teacher to lead you...
The two classics were full of wonders, I always exclaimed in admiration whenever I read the particularly brilliant sections. The wisdom of the great ancestors far exceeds the capability of our imaginations, it showed you the amazing level of achievement of our civilization. Tears fill my eyes whenever I am reminded of the compassion of the great ancestors, they have left us with great treasures, always hopping that we will be led to transform our lives into higher level.
I sent my annotations to Master Wang, he was very pleased with it. He told me more about Ling Bao Bi Fa on the phone and suggested that I also annotate "Tai Yi Jin Hua Zong Zhi" (*). I updated my manuscripts with Master Wang's suggestions. Later I annotated Tai Yi Jin Hua Zong Zhi and I sent the complete manuscript of the three annotations to Master Wang. After he was satisfied with it, the book was ready for publication. (**)
Translator's notes:
(*) An important longmen pai classic, translated in the west as "The Secret of the Golden Flowers"
(**) The book was published in Aug. 2008. (Only available in Chinese)
It was a most awe-inspiring endeavor, when you really tried to understand the explanations of Ancestor Lu with your heart, you will find that each word has great meaning, each sentence is brilliant. To interpret the books from the point of view of the great Dao, they were written as tools to help you tackle "Dao De Jing". From the point of view of Yijing, the two books are demonstrating the world as described by Yijing. From the point of view of the theory of qi, they are talking about the Xiantian qi. Combining them with "Huang Di Nei Jing", they underpinned the traditional Chinese medicine theory. From the point of view of the theoretical aspects of practical methods, the two classic bridge the mortals to heaven, as long as there is an authentic teacher to lead you...
The two classics were full of wonders, I always exclaimed in admiration whenever I read the particularly brilliant sections. The wisdom of the great ancestors far exceeds the capability of our imaginations, it showed you the amazing level of achievement of our civilization. Tears fill my eyes whenever I am reminded of the compassion of the great ancestors, they have left us with great treasures, always hopping that we will be led to transform our lives into higher level.
I sent my annotations to Master Wang, he was very pleased with it. He told me more about Ling Bao Bi Fa on the phone and suggested that I also annotate "Tai Yi Jin Hua Zong Zhi" (*). I updated my manuscripts with Master Wang's suggestions. Later I annotated Tai Yi Jin Hua Zong Zhi and I sent the complete manuscript of the three annotations to Master Wang. After he was satisfied with it, the book was ready for publication. (**)
Translator's notes:
(*) An important longmen pai classic, translated in the west as "The Secret of the Golden Flowers"
(**) The book was published in Aug. 2008. (Only available in Chinese)
Saturday, September 13, 2008
2001 - The Door within Door
"Refining the body to accumulate qi" (RBAQ) is the foundational method of Ancestors Chong and Lu's dandao, "Yin Xian Fa" is the core component of RBAQ. So editing the portions of my book on Yin Xian Fa is an important task.
When I wrote "Walk on the Great Path", I collected as much information on Yin Xian Fa as taught by Master Wang as possible. Then I removed the overlapped materials, converted them into words that is as easy to understand as possible but without distorting what Master Wang actually said so that the reader would not be misled. It was mainly a job of reorganization existing materials, I didn't put any of my though into it. That was the first edition.
When I rewrote "Walk on the Great Path", I followed the principle of "each level has its methods and each method has several stages". Yin Xian Fa has 12 methods, each method has its goal. In order to reach the goal, I concentrated on each step that is needed to be followed and for each step, I detailed the exact ways that it needed to be done. For example, the first method is "Collect your mind to sit quietly", the objective is clearly stated in the name but how to sit ? how to sit quietly ? and how to collect yout mind? So I divided "Collect your mind to sit quietly" into three segments :
(1) Sit crossed leg. (2) Sit Quietly. (3) Collect your mind to sit quietly.
When I wrote "Walk on the Great Path", I collected as much information on Yin Xian Fa as taught by Master Wang as possible. Then I removed the overlapped materials, converted them into words that is as easy to understand as possible but without distorting what Master Wang actually said so that the reader would not be misled. It was mainly a job of reorganization existing materials, I didn't put any of my though into it. That was the first edition.
When I rewrote "Walk on the Great Path", I followed the principle of "each level has its methods and each method has several stages". Yin Xian Fa has 12 methods, each method has its goal. In order to reach the goal, I concentrated on each step that is needed to be followed and for each step, I detailed the exact ways that it needed to be done. For example, the first method is "Collect your mind to sit quietly", the objective is clearly stated in the name but how to sit ? how to sit quietly ? and how to collect yout mind? So I divided "Collect your mind to sit quietly" into three segments :
(1) Sit crossed leg. (2) Sit Quietly. (3) Collect your mind to sit quietly.
2001 - Editing "Walk on the Great Path"
I sent my "Channel SHO study from 100 persons" to Master Wang, he asked me to reorganize and refine the portions on the practice methods, this is the same as preparing a new edition of "Walk on the Great Path".
When I wrote "Walk on the Great Path", I only had a superficial understanding of dandao and only I only concentrated on the beginner materials. After 14 years of practice, 10 years of teaching experience and 4 years of research on Channel SHO, I had reached a new level of understanding. When I was preparing the new edition of "Walk on the Great Path", I should add my own thought into it:
(1) "Walk on the Great Path" concentrates on the foundational portion of Ancestor Chong and Lu's dandao, i.e. the level of "Refining the body to accumulate qi". I must present the materials from the point of view of practicing Ling Bao Bi Fa by demanding the same level rigor as required in TTIM, so that more students can be successful and "enter the door".
(2) Due to the great compassion of Master Wang, he has revealed to the world the complete foundational practice of Longmen Pai. The remaining question is whether the world know its value? How much can they understand and how much can they accomplish?
(3) The Nu Dan Gong revealed by Master Wang is a highly structured and integrated system, each level has its methods and each method has several stages. The Three Immortals Method is also integrated and "each level has its methods and each method has several stages", hence this is the principle I used when preparing for the new edition of "Walk on the Great Path".
When I wrote "Walk on the Great Path", I only had a superficial understanding of dandao and only I only concentrated on the beginner materials. After 14 years of practice, 10 years of teaching experience and 4 years of research on Channel SHO, I had reached a new level of understanding. When I was preparing the new edition of "Walk on the Great Path", I should add my own thought into it:
(1) "Walk on the Great Path" concentrates on the foundational portion of Ancestor Chong and Lu's dandao, i.e. the level of "Refining the body to accumulate qi". I must present the materials from the point of view of practicing Ling Bao Bi Fa by demanding the same level rigor as required in TTIM, so that more students can be successful and "enter the door".
(2) Due to the great compassion of Master Wang, he has revealed to the world the complete foundational practice of Longmen Pai. The remaining question is whether the world know its value? How much can they understand and how much can they accomplish?
(3) The Nu Dan Gong revealed by Master Wang is a highly structured and integrated system, each level has its methods and each method has several stages. The Three Immortals Method is also integrated and "each level has its methods and each method has several stages", hence this is the principle I used when preparing for the new edition of "Walk on the Great Path".
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
2000 - Detailed Research
Since I requested that all participants to write a practice diary that need to be turned in to me and also that they send me any progress they made at home, I had collected a huge amount of first hand experience and all the phenomenona associated with Ling Bao Tong. These are very precious materials, when combined with our methods and the classic texts, a coherent picture connecting the theory, methods and verifications had emerged. I had done a meticulous study of these materials and produced a series of reports on each specialized topic :
(1) "Summary of the Specialized Study Group" : An overview of the four Channel SHO study group.
(2) "The moment of attainment" : all the phenomenona that happened at the moment of attaining Channel SHO from every student that had achieved it. All physiological transformations that happened the days before and after attaining of Channel SHO together with each person's unique body and mental condition and their practice habits. This is very helpful for me to improve on the methods.
(3) "Special report on individual" : specialized report on a few unique individuals.
(a) "Nu Dan Gong 1" : The complete record of the woman who successfully finishing the entire Nu Dan Gong (Female Practice).
(b) "Nu Dan Gong 2" : Report on attaining "Cut the Red Dragon".
(c) Achieving Channel SHO for 80-year-old.
(d) Achieving Channel SHO for 78-year-old.
(e) Practice record on The Three Immortal Method.
I compiled everything into one volume "Channel SHO study from 100 persons". There are of course materials that I didn't include in the volume, they are mainly techniques that I had developed and my experience as the teacher.
To me this is a record of my endeavor in the area, the process is still continuing but it has been a major step from theory into practice, from the ethereal into the tangible.
(1) "Summary of the Specialized Study Group" : An overview of the four Channel SHO study group.
(2) "The moment of attainment" : all the phenomenona that happened at the moment of attaining Channel SHO from every student that had achieved it. All physiological transformations that happened the days before and after attaining of Channel SHO together with each person's unique body and mental condition and their practice habits. This is very helpful for me to improve on the methods.
(3) "Special report on individual" : specialized report on a few unique individuals.
(a) "Nu Dan Gong 1" : The complete record of the woman who successfully finishing the entire Nu Dan Gong (Female Practice).
(b) "Nu Dan Gong 2" : Report on attaining "Cut the Red Dragon".
(c) Achieving Channel SHO for 80-year-old.
(d) Achieving Channel SHO for 78-year-old.
(e) Practice record on The Three Immortal Method.
I compiled everything into one volume "Channel SHO study from 100 persons". There are of course materials that I didn't include in the volume, they are mainly techniques that I had developed and my experience as the teacher.
To me this is a record of my endeavor in the area, the process is still continuing but it has been a major step from theory into practice, from the ethereal into the tangible.
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