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Chi Gong
Note on pronunciation: you see Chi Gong spelled “Qi Gong”, to indicate that the sound is harder than our ‘sh’ but softer than our ‘ch’. This is not a good way. How would you look it up in the dictionary? The sound has always been rendered by ‘chi’ in English, and frankly, we do not care about the technically correct Chinese sound. We do not speak Chinese. But for now, when researching it on the web, you will have to check out the q’s, and look for what’s under ‘Qi Gong’.
Origin
When the Communists came into power in China, they asessed their position. A good many of the medical personnel had left the country, and the population was nearing a billion. It did not compute. China simply did not have the medical establishment to care for the health needs of its burgeoning populace.
In studying the crisis, it emerged that the people who did Nei Gong had a very small percentage of the medical problems that most folks had. So they called in the Nei Gong teachers and ordered them to create a system of Nei Gong for the masses. (If you do not, we will cut off your income.)
This was done, and the system that resulted was called Chi Gong. Then the government went into the workplace, and ordered all the workers to begin doing this new set of exercises. They had to prove to their employers that they had attended their Chi Gong sessions, or they would not be paid.
It worked. The health crisis was averted. One of the reasons might be that certain Chi Gong exercises stimulate and increase the flow of lymph, thus strengthening the immune system.
On YouTube I saw a demonstration by John Chang, an Indonesian Chi Gong adept who is a healer, in which he held his hand over a crumpled-up newspaper and caused it to burst into flames. My attention was riveted. I knew there had to be something there. I never saw that degree of mastery of energy come out of India.
I asked about it on Yahoo Answers, in the days before Yahoo Answers deteriorated, and was chided by a scientist who assured me that this was trick photography, and that the Taoist traditions, such as TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) were “pre-scientific”.
Then I got another response, from another scientific-type, who said, “Oh, no. I was the person who actually filmed that, and this was authentic. It was not a trick.”
There had to be something there. I got a book on Kindle, called Daoist Nei Gong; The Philosophy of Change, by Damo Mitchell (pronounced ‘day-mo’), and was introduced to Taoism by it. Of course I had read and treasured the Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tsu, many years ago, but had never really looked into Taoism as a developed philosophy.
East is East and West is West, and ne’er the twain shall meet. For a westerner to study Taoism requires a paradigmatic shift. But there had to be something there. So I read Damo Mitchell’s book, which contains the fundamentals of Taoism, since those are his philosophic roots.
Then I read it again. Then I read it again. Then I read it again. With each new reading I was able to pick up more because of what I had already assimilated in previous readings. In all, I probably re-read the book 7 or 8 times, and I became able to embrace and begin navigating about, this new and different paradigm. In a sense, it was to enter another world.
I think I can make it easier for western thinkers to grasp. To begin with, it is necessary to know that what is meant by “Tao”, or “The Tao”, is simply what we mean by the word “spirit”.
There is only one substance in the universe, and it is the substance of Brahman. Matter resolves into molecules, molecules into atoms, atoms into subatomic particles, subatomic particles into even finer stuff, until finally it is light, or thought. But ultimately it is Brahman.
So there is only one substance. Most people are comfortable with the concept of prana, which is equivalent to what the Chinese call “chi”. If you try, you can see prana in the air. In the right kind of light you can see it streaming out of your fingertips. So prana, or chi, is one level of the substance.
There is a lower level of chi, which is called ‘jing’. Jing flows more like water than chi; chi flows more like air than jing. We get jing from sleeping and eating, and it gets routinely transformed into chi, which we use as energy.
Similarly, there is a higher level of chi, which is called “shen”. Shen is equivalent to consciousness; that is its vibratory level. Just as jing gets transformed into chi, so does chi get transformed into shen. These transformations are perfectly natural, and are happening all the time.
Shen, in turn, can be transformed into tao, or spirit. These transformations are effortless, and are occuring in three centers in the body, called the Dan Tien. There is an upper dan tien, a middle dan tien, and a lower dan tien.
Jing, chi, shen, and Tao. All different vibratory levels of the same substance.
By rotating the dan tien in a forward direction and governing with the imagination, it is possible to cause the transformations to happen much more rapidly.
Books
The following two books are recommended:
1. Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body, by Bruce Frantzis, who is the only occidental lineage holder in the Taoist Water Tradition. (At Amazon for about $25, but you can find it used for about $8.00)
2. Daoist Nei Gong: the Philosophical Art of Change, by Damo Mitchell. (On Kindle for $13.99, and at Amazon, for various prices -- you can find it used.)
Bruce Frantzis’ book gives a Chi Gong exercise called “Cloud Hands”, which he stresses, and says that if you only picked up one Chi Gong exercise, then this should be the one.
Transformations
Chi flows through “meridians”. These are pathways which have long been mapped -- they are featured in acupuncture, which is part of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), an area which is Taoist.
The Dan Tien are spherical metaphysical areas which are located at specific points of the physical body, on a line which is called the “thrusting meridian”.
The thrusting meridian has two branches. The front branch proceeds from the mid-point of the perineum (this mid-point is called the Hui Yin), passes through the centers of the three dan tien, and culminates at the Bai Hui, at the center of the top of the skull.
Much of the focus of Chi Gong is on the lower dan tien, located below the navel and above the Hui Yin, about two inches in diameter, visualized as spherical and crystaline.
The lower Dan Tien is where jing is transformed into chi. (Jing is stored muchly in the kidney area.) According to Damo Mitchell, it is normal for the lower Dan Tien to rotate forward once in 24 hours. As it does so, jing is naturally and effortlessly transformed into chi.
It is important to realize that these transformations are very easy -- natural and effortless. The Dan Tien are doing it all the time -- it is no problem. If we try to apply effort, our focus becomes less subtle. We facilitate the subtlety also by keeping our focus somewhat indirect.
Jing to Chi
Sit upright in meditation posture. Breathe slowly, deeply, and rhythmically, visualizing jing descending on the outbreath from the kidney area of your lower back to the vicinity of the lower dan tien, 2 inches in diameter and located on the thrusting meridian below the navel and above the hui-yin.
Now let’s begin to cause jing to be transformed into chi much more rapidly. So we are going to rotate the lower dan tien forward, which is easy to do, while we direct the chi to a destination, such as the brain, or into the meridians.
Imagine that you can make the sphere of the dan tien rotate by means of a metaphysical belt, as though it were a pulley. Rotate the belt -- rotate the pulley. Pull down on the front part of the belt and up on the back.
The dan tien are sentient, and remarkably intelligent. If you send the chi “into the meridians”, that’s where it will go. You might not have an accurate idea of where the meridians are, but the dan tien know.
Into the meridians is a good place to send chi. Another is to the vicinity of the middle dan tien, in the chest at the level of the heart and in the middle of the chest cavity. I call this area “lake Chi-cargo”, the place most convenient for the use of the middle dan tien, and your system will very quickly learn what that means. This is important for the next step of our exercise.
Chi to Shen
Use the same ‘belt’ technique to rotate the middle dan tien (located at the level of the heart, and in the middle of the chest cavity) and transform chi into shen. Amazingly, you find that you can actually create consciousness in this way.
Now you have to be very careful about where you send this shen. If you just dump it into the brain it can make you go crazy, along the lines that you would become insane if you ever did.
The safest place to send shen is into the meridians. If you do so, you will very soon realize that your bodily intelligence has increased, and you are much more able to do one thing with one hand and another with the other. Your moves improve, and you get faster. Oriental martial artists on film have been demonstrating such prowess for many years.
I find that if I send shen to the “consciousness body”, my word-play increases and improves. (See Damo Mitchell’s book, Daoist Nei Gong: the Philosophical Art of Change, for an explication of the consciousness body)
Shen to Dao
In the same way, you can send shen to “Lake Bra-in”, the place most convenient for access by the upper dan tien, located behind your eyes and directly below the bai-hui. (Remember that all three dan tien are on a straight line between the hui-yin and the bai-hui.)
Rotating the upper dan tien in the same way, shen is converted to tao, which is to be sent upward through the bai-hui, either as a general or specific offering to deities and/or divinities of the spirit world, or to the highest level of your individual self which is willing to manifest and govern it. Tao is not easy to visualize -- it is the clear white light. It feels sort of like love.
There are a number of levels of the individual self -- the highest level that does not wish to directly participate right then should delegate to the next level down, until a level is found that desires to take a part, raising the level of your motivation.
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