In the practice of chi kung, the same side effect can be either positive or negative! A side effect that some literature talked about is "trapping of chi" in certain parts of a practitioner's body. The general advice is that it is bad for the body and should be avoided; and if it happens to a student, a qualified coach is to be consulted. Dropping out of the practice may end up to be the unavoidable final solution in severe cases. And, if the trapped chi is inside one's head, it might lead to severe headache or can even trigger an onset of psychosis! Doesn't it sound scary?!
Chi is powerful energy. When it is trapped in certain parts of our body, it will try to "reach out" and to "neutralize" itself. The target of reaching out is another chi (or excited) point. In the most generalized situation, it will try to reach out to our stretched hands (and fingers). For seasoned practitioners it will also reach out to their feet and stretched toes. For the most seasoned practitioners, it will reach out to any internal points energized by the practitioners themselves through subtle body adjustment, breathing and mental focusing. These internal points are essential for training. In tai chi chi-kung, these are our joints (that's why tai chi classics says: opening our nine joints), plus our Dantian. In meditation, they are our chakras. In microcosmic circulation, it is our spine.
Now for practitioners who are progressing along their learning path (which incidentally include the most seasoned practitioners), there will be cases, during chi movement, when such chi is blocked in certain parts of our body. With a path is blocked with chi still coming along the way, chi will be highly concentrated in one point (or small area), making the practitioner feel very uncomfortable. It can be quite scary when one experiences it the first time. This is the negative aspect of chi kung side effect. Some students will drop out when they encounter this.
Luckily there is a positive side. Trapped chi is really a challenge to a practitioner who aims high. With or without the help of his teacher, a courageous student/practitioner will try out methods (subtle movements and mental focusing) advised by his teacher. However such teacher-suggested solution is likely to be inadequate because a teacher does not share his student's same internal sensation (a good teacher of course can infer and deduce through observation and touching), and without feedback to any progress (with such progress being difficult to verbalize). Only with good feedback can a student further fine-tunes his solution accordingly. Therefore, in addition to his teacher's advice, a student will also need to try to improvise, and by trial and error, divert chi through the path that has been blocked, say frontal attack to clear the blockage or gently move chi sideways to bypass the blockage and soften it in the process.
His improvisation and trial and error methods, using his own body as his experimental subject, a student will be able to make big progress in his practice - both opening (or softening) the blockage and in the process understand his own body better. Courage and dedication to his art is essential. And only through such experience (which can be many, and will be getting more and more controllable/manageable), can a practitioner progresses to the highest level and become a true master of the art himself. Chi kung is a sophisticated and complex internal discipline. Only masters who have gone through such experiences (and benefited from them) who are qualified to teach.
The above comes from my own experience: learning and teaching.
(edited on 13 Dec 16)
Showing posts with label Meditation 101. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meditation 101. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
How to breathe in doing tai chi
How should we breathe when we do our tai chi form, of whichever lineage? The correct, but not so correct, answer is 'normal breathing'. Why not so correct? It is because we have to learn power breathing first before we can do proper tai chi form using normal breathing. And tai chi form has to be done using normal breathing that can have the effect of power breathing. If the above doesn't sound too strange to you, read on!
Before we can put down something we have to lift it up in the first place! It is essentially the same in the practice of tai chi. Tai chi is moving meditation. A student has to do it slowly with a meditation mind in a meditative zone. And only in a meditative zone can a student relaxes his joints and allow his breathing muscles to do their proper job, in addition to allowing inertia and the force of gravity to take part. Such meditative approach however will be ineffective without prior conditioning of one's body - or "lifting it up first".
How to train our body (or lift up our body)? There are two basic areas to be trained: the first one is opening one's shoulder and hip joints, our major joints, primarily using the method of "finding points maximum resistance", and the closely related second one is learning how to do power breathing.
I have explained the former in previous posts. Breathing needs more explanations here.
Firstly, tai chi breathing, when doing tai chi forms, requires a practitioner to be able to generate chi both while inhaling or exhaling. When a student can do it this way, he can forget about when to breathe in, when to breathe out; his simply needs to breathe as his movement flows.
Secondly, while breathing (inhaling and exhaling), our breathing muscles (primarily our diaphragm) must be able to open our joints (hence joint opening has to be/is being trained together with power breathing). Power breathing is like weight lifting. The weight to overcome here is the "sluggishness of our joints".
Thirdly, such power breathing has to be trained separately (with some prior joints opening training) and preferable with the personal guidance of a good teacher.
Traditionally, such training is to be done separately from tai chi form. And it is traditionally call tai chi nei-gong or tai chi chi-kung.
The training sequence should be: first tai chi chi-kung (both power breathing and joint opening), second tai chi form and finally tai chi chi-kung and tai chi form in sequence during a training session.
Before we can put down something we have to lift it up in the first place! It is essentially the same in the practice of tai chi. Tai chi is moving meditation. A student has to do it slowly with a meditation mind in a meditative zone. And only in a meditative zone can a student relaxes his joints and allow his breathing muscles to do their proper job, in addition to allowing inertia and the force of gravity to take part. Such meditative approach however will be ineffective without prior conditioning of one's body - or "lifting it up first".
How to train our body (or lift up our body)? There are two basic areas to be trained: the first one is opening one's shoulder and hip joints, our major joints, primarily using the method of "finding points maximum resistance", and the closely related second one is learning how to do power breathing.
I have explained the former in previous posts. Breathing needs more explanations here.
Firstly, tai chi breathing, when doing tai chi forms, requires a practitioner to be able to generate chi both while inhaling or exhaling. When a student can do it this way, he can forget about when to breathe in, when to breathe out; his simply needs to breathe as his movement flows.
Secondly, while breathing (inhaling and exhaling), our breathing muscles (primarily our diaphragm) must be able to open our joints (hence joint opening has to be/is being trained together with power breathing). Power breathing is like weight lifting. The weight to overcome here is the "sluggishness of our joints".
Thirdly, such power breathing has to be trained separately (with some prior joints opening training) and preferable with the personal guidance of a good teacher.
Traditionally, such training is to be done separately from tai chi form. And it is traditionally call tai chi nei-gong or tai chi chi-kung.
The training sequence should be: first tai chi chi-kung (both power breathing and joint opening), second tai chi form and finally tai chi chi-kung and tai chi form in sequence during a training session.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
To practise in order not to practise
I have often heard students of the internal arts complained that they do not have enough time to practise. As a result, their progress become slow, and when they are busy with other chores in their busy life for a couple of months, they may give up their practice all together. The positive thinkers' approach is to condemn the "lazy" students: "You have to find time to practise!" But how much time is enough? My approach to this issue is "To practise in such a why that you do not need to allocate special time in your daily life to "practise". But how?
One obstacle of the internal arts (like chi kung, tai chi and meditation) is that progress is slow, in particular in the beginning stage (how long is the beginning stage depends on each student and depends on how his sifu teaches; and of course also relevant is his attitude in learning). The reason is that a student needs to loosen his major joints (shoulder and hip) to a certain degree, plus the internal sensation that he can direct his internal chi to nano-ly "move his major joints. In traditional lingo it is called "change of Jing" (換勁). Fair to say, the tradition lingo is not explanatory!
This stage can be jump-started with the good coaching of an experienced sifu. The time needed varies. I have students who can get the gist of it after a few lessons. And I have students who can only get it to a proficient level after more than three years! (Honestly speaking, I have also seen people, not my students, doing the internal art for decades and still failed to get it).
The second stage is a stage of self exploration. In this stage a student, armed with opened major joints (traditional lingo: Song 鬆), will explore changes in his internal sensation (or experience) while doing zhan zhuang, seated motivation or moving forms). At this stage good communication with an experienced sifu will be helpful. Such communications however need not be very frequent, because most of the time a student has to explore rather than to ask. And in asking, chances are that it will be more like: "Sifu, this is my internal sensation, am I on the right track?" In my coaching experience, the best approach for a student in this stage is to focus on healing his specific ailments (like back pain). The reason is that firstly a student will have the necessary motivation, and secondly changes in his internal sensation will come to be experienced as more distinct when he focuses on his own problems.
After these two stages, a student can decide how much time he spends on his practice. To maintain his level of proficiency in the art, he only needs very little to practice. Very often, he can incorporate such fine-tuning in his daily life (for example, when he is commuting in the subway: the way he stands and the way his connects different [his chosen] parts of his body.) If a student wants to further progress, in addition to learning more techniques from his sifu, he should try to teach what he has learned to other people. Teaching the art is far from easy, any one who has taught the art and are honest enough to measure the progress of his students (vis-a-vis time spent in coaching and practice) can appreciate the depth and breath of the internal arts. Yet, to maintain one's level of proficiency at stage two, one really doesn't need to spend much extra time in practice!
One obstacle of the internal arts (like chi kung, tai chi and meditation) is that progress is slow, in particular in the beginning stage (how long is the beginning stage depends on each student and depends on how his sifu teaches; and of course also relevant is his attitude in learning). The reason is that a student needs to loosen his major joints (shoulder and hip) to a certain degree, plus the internal sensation that he can direct his internal chi to nano-ly "move his major joints. In traditional lingo it is called "change of Jing" (換勁). Fair to say, the tradition lingo is not explanatory!
This stage can be jump-started with the good coaching of an experienced sifu. The time needed varies. I have students who can get the gist of it after a few lessons. And I have students who can only get it to a proficient level after more than three years! (Honestly speaking, I have also seen people, not my students, doing the internal art for decades and still failed to get it).
The second stage is a stage of self exploration. In this stage a student, armed with opened major joints (traditional lingo: Song 鬆), will explore changes in his internal sensation (or experience) while doing zhan zhuang, seated motivation or moving forms). At this stage good communication with an experienced sifu will be helpful. Such communications however need not be very frequent, because most of the time a student has to explore rather than to ask. And in asking, chances are that it will be more like: "Sifu, this is my internal sensation, am I on the right track?" In my coaching experience, the best approach for a student in this stage is to focus on healing his specific ailments (like back pain). The reason is that firstly a student will have the necessary motivation, and secondly changes in his internal sensation will come to be experienced as more distinct when he focuses on his own problems.
After these two stages, a student can decide how much time he spends on his practice. To maintain his level of proficiency in the art, he only needs very little to practice. Very often, he can incorporate such fine-tuning in his daily life (for example, when he is commuting in the subway: the way he stands and the way his connects different [his chosen] parts of his body.) If a student wants to further progress, in addition to learning more techniques from his sifu, he should try to teach what he has learned to other people. Teaching the art is far from easy, any one who has taught the art and are honest enough to measure the progress of his students (vis-a-vis time spent in coaching and practice) can appreciate the depth and breath of the internal arts. Yet, to maintain one's level of proficiency at stage two, one really doesn't need to spend much extra time in practice!
Friday, August 7, 2015
Why meditation can be harmful to certain types of personality
"Why meditation can be harmful to certain types of personality" is a sensitive subject. In the capacity of a student of psychology and a reader of Carl Jung, I venture to tackle this subject. Certainly this is an exploration rather than any attempt to draw any conclusive recommendation.
Carl Jung had warned against Westerners mindlessly follow the Eastern path of enlightenment which boiled down to deep meditation. Two types of personality had been warned against by Jung: firstly those who have a particularly strong ego and secondly those have very weak ego. In short, according to Jung, it would be harmful for personalities at the extreme. For those who have super-strong ego, deep meditation can boost up his ego even further, and he can become more ruthless in his daily life as a result of his meditation. Meditation on love and compassion become love and compassion towards oneself. For those who have super-weak ego (like someone in depression), any unwelcoming images released from the unconscious can scare his ego to deep depression; in addition he may become psychologically dependent on his teacher, coach or master, however it is named. When our personality is too lop-sided, according to Jung, a psychological breakdown becomes a real possibility.
For those with a more balanced ego (which means most of us), meditation can change our personality in a positive way. We become knowing ourselves better. We can appreciate our own kindness and at the same time accept the fact that we have our darker side. We will become more compassionate to the sufferings of others and at the same time won't overate our success. All at our free choice. A self-actualized person choosing to become a better person despite accepting his own shortcomings. In short, we will become a better person without the need to seek other's approval. In Jung's terminology: self actualization.
In future posts, I shall discuss how we can achieve these positive results with the help of appropriate meditation techniques.
Carl Jung had warned against Westerners mindlessly follow the Eastern path of enlightenment which boiled down to deep meditation. Two types of personality had been warned against by Jung: firstly those who have a particularly strong ego and secondly those have very weak ego. In short, according to Jung, it would be harmful for personalities at the extreme. For those who have super-strong ego, deep meditation can boost up his ego even further, and he can become more ruthless in his daily life as a result of his meditation. Meditation on love and compassion become love and compassion towards oneself. For those who have super-weak ego (like someone in depression), any unwelcoming images released from the unconscious can scare his ego to deep depression; in addition he may become psychologically dependent on his teacher, coach or master, however it is named. When our personality is too lop-sided, according to Jung, a psychological breakdown becomes a real possibility.
For those with a more balanced ego (which means most of us), meditation can change our personality in a positive way. We become knowing ourselves better. We can appreciate our own kindness and at the same time accept the fact that we have our darker side. We will become more compassionate to the sufferings of others and at the same time won't overate our success. All at our free choice. A self-actualized person choosing to become a better person despite accepting his own shortcomings. In short, we will become a better person without the need to seek other's approval. In Jung's terminology: self actualization.
In future posts, I shall discuss how we can achieve these positive results with the help of appropriate meditation techniques.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Where phycial fitness and mental healing meets
Internal martial art, like tai chi, is about physical fitness. On the other hand, meditation, like Zen and Taoist meditation, is about mental healing. They are both internal arts. The question is: where do they meet?
To answer this question, we must first identify which part of our body can be both responsible for physical fitness and mental healing.
To answer the above identification question, we have to look at a practice that can be used both for physical fitness and mental healing. And then we have to answer why it can achieved the results of both physical fitness and mental healing.
The practice is the now rather popular zhan zhuang - standing meditation.
Empirically, the good benefits of zhan zhuang for both physical fitness and mental healing have been reaped by countless practitioners around the world, quite naturally mostly in the East with increasing number in the West. Decades ago, motivational speaker Tony Robbins said in his unlimited power seminar (I paraphrase): "you don't need to understand everything about the internal wiring to get the benefit of electricity. Your only need to know how to switch on the light!" True, and more true for zhan zhuang. Reading my explanations doesn't mean you can get the benefits out of zhan zhuang, while practitioners who don't know anything about its internal logic can still get good benefits, well, with the help of a good teacher! What I am also saying is that "you still have to practise after understanding!"
The gist of the matter is, if a practitioner can activate a certain group of muscles he can deliver both physical fitness and mental healing benefits. Such connection, in physiological terminology are muscles being connected/excited by their connecting fascia. And in chi kung's terminology, a practitioner can fill chi in that particular muscles group during mindful breathing. I mean chi-sensation (得氣感).
Where is the fascia/muscle group? In zhan zhuang, it starts with our big toes, running up through our inner thigh, via our pelvic floor muscles, Dan Tien, diaphragm, passing through our heart's fascia and up to our throat and tongue.
Readers who have some experience in internal martial art (such as tai chi) can perhaps understand why their teachers asked them to use their toes to grasp the floor (actually it should primarily be their "big toes") and to touch their pallet with their tongues (actually it should be "to energize your throat and tongue"). And readers who have some meditative experience can perhaps understand why their teachers ask them to visualize "a loving or passionate heart". Those who are familiar with Taoist meditation, may perhaps recall the requirement of "breathing from your ankles" (呼吸以踵) (seated meditation is from ankles rather than big toes).
If you still don't understand what I am talking about, not to worry, just follow your teacher's advice, practise, and you can get the good benefits. On the other hand, if you smile, perhaps you have experientially understood what I am talking about, then I find a kindred soul. Most others, assuming that they are interested in the subject matter, need more time to explore.
To answer this question, we must first identify which part of our body can be both responsible for physical fitness and mental healing.
To answer the above identification question, we have to look at a practice that can be used both for physical fitness and mental healing. And then we have to answer why it can achieved the results of both physical fitness and mental healing.
The practice is the now rather popular zhan zhuang - standing meditation.
Empirically, the good benefits of zhan zhuang for both physical fitness and mental healing have been reaped by countless practitioners around the world, quite naturally mostly in the East with increasing number in the West. Decades ago, motivational speaker Tony Robbins said in his unlimited power seminar (I paraphrase): "you don't need to understand everything about the internal wiring to get the benefit of electricity. Your only need to know how to switch on the light!" True, and more true for zhan zhuang. Reading my explanations doesn't mean you can get the benefits out of zhan zhuang, while practitioners who don't know anything about its internal logic can still get good benefits, well, with the help of a good teacher! What I am also saying is that "you still have to practise after understanding!"
The gist of the matter is, if a practitioner can activate a certain group of muscles he can deliver both physical fitness and mental healing benefits. Such connection, in physiological terminology are muscles being connected/excited by their connecting fascia. And in chi kung's terminology, a practitioner can fill chi in that particular muscles group during mindful breathing. I mean chi-sensation (得氣感).
Where is the fascia/muscle group? In zhan zhuang, it starts with our big toes, running up through our inner thigh, via our pelvic floor muscles, Dan Tien, diaphragm, passing through our heart's fascia and up to our throat and tongue.
Readers who have some experience in internal martial art (such as tai chi) can perhaps understand why their teachers asked them to use their toes to grasp the floor (actually it should primarily be their "big toes") and to touch their pallet with their tongues (actually it should be "to energize your throat and tongue"). And readers who have some meditative experience can perhaps understand why their teachers ask them to visualize "a loving or passionate heart". Those who are familiar with Taoist meditation, may perhaps recall the requirement of "breathing from your ankles" (呼吸以踵) (seated meditation is from ankles rather than big toes).If you still don't understand what I am talking about, not to worry, just follow your teacher's advice, practise, and you can get the good benefits. On the other hand, if you smile, perhaps you have experientially understood what I am talking about, then I find a kindred soul. Most others, assuming that they are interested in the subject matter, need more time to explore.
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Learning meditation from a fish
In my previous post Huge fish Opah as chi kung master!, I talked about the amazing fish Opah that is able to maintain endodermic in deep water. It works like a chi kung student who can send chi to warm up specific parts of his body. Tibetan monks practising Tummo Yoga can dry up a piece of wet cloth wrapped around his meditating body in outdoor snow mountain. An average chi kung student can take cold shows. What can a chi kung or meditation student learn from a fish? Presumably the limited cognitive skills of Opah makes it unable to learn from humans!
A fish swims gracefully in water. When one part of a fish's body move, the other parts of its body move in turn, like a piece of rubber or a single piece of muscle. Inside the bag of tricks of a chi kung students is a trick or technique called visualization. One common visualization is to visualize oneself swim in water while doing movements. Simply put: visualization himself as a fish!
So, is it simply through imagination that we can do singular muscular movement like that of a fish? The answer is a definite no. The way to do it is to move our body in air as if we are moving our body surrounded by water - do without the annoying fact that we cannot breathe under water, since it is as if. The fish has a definite advantage here, it does not need to breathe, it gills can catch the oxygen, so to speak. It swims as a fish, not as if!
And is it simply switching our mind-body into a mode of "as if" and then all is there? If it is so simple, everybody can a chi kung master on day one. No, he needs to learn something more.
Being anatomically not built from a single piece of muscle, special training is needed for human. Firstly he needs to open blockages to facilitate connectedness, which blockages primarily centre around his major joints (hip and shoulder joints). Secondly, he needs some mechanism to connect the now more-ready-to-get connected muscles. The mechanism to enable connectedness is our breathing muscles, primarily our diaphragm. And in order to make use of our diaphragm and other breathing muscles for this purpose, we need to cultivate a meditative mind.
You can now appreciate why meditation (seated or standing) is so important for the learning of chi kung, tai chi and other internal arts.
A fish swims gracefully in water. When one part of a fish's body move, the other parts of its body move in turn, like a piece of rubber or a single piece of muscle. Inside the bag of tricks of a chi kung students is a trick or technique called visualization. One common visualization is to visualize oneself swim in water while doing movements. Simply put: visualization himself as a fish!
So, is it simply through imagination that we can do singular muscular movement like that of a fish? The answer is a definite no. The way to do it is to move our body in air as if we are moving our body surrounded by water - do without the annoying fact that we cannot breathe under water, since it is as if. The fish has a definite advantage here, it does not need to breathe, it gills can catch the oxygen, so to speak. It swims as a fish, not as if!
And is it simply switching our mind-body into a mode of "as if" and then all is there? If it is so simple, everybody can a chi kung master on day one. No, he needs to learn something more.
Being anatomically not built from a single piece of muscle, special training is needed for human. Firstly he needs to open blockages to facilitate connectedness, which blockages primarily centre around his major joints (hip and shoulder joints). Secondly, he needs some mechanism to connect the now more-ready-to-get connected muscles. The mechanism to enable connectedness is our breathing muscles, primarily our diaphragm. And in order to make use of our diaphragm and other breathing muscles for this purpose, we need to cultivate a meditative mind.
You can now appreciate why meditation (seated or standing) is so important for the learning of chi kung, tai chi and other internal arts.
Monday, June 22, 2015
Inspired by Midnight Diner
Shinya Shokudō (深夜食堂 Midnight Diner) is a Japanese manga series by Yarō Abe. It won the 55th Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga and it was nominated for the 2nd Manga Taishō. It was adapted into a 10-episode television drama in October 2009, followed by second season in October 2011, and then third season in October 2014. In 2015, a film was released by director Joji Matsuoka starring Kaoru Kobayashi as The Master, released in Japan in Jan 2015. The movie is currently showing in Hong Kong. The show is about a late night canteen in the side street of Shinjuku opening from midnight to 7 am and the stories of its fringe patrons as portrayed under the relaxing and supportive ambience created by the Master (chef). Each episode in the television series featured a special meal. One-point advice will be given to the preparation of each featured meal.
Popular and very entertaining. To pay tribute to the Shokudo and the artists who made it all happened, I shall write a few posts as inspired by Midnight Canteen.
The first post I shall write is "One point advice for the internal arts". The second post I shall write is "The concept of Fringe and Chi Kung". The third post is "Zen and the Japanese personality". Stay tuned.
Both the manga and the television series are available free on-line, for those who can understand either Japanese or Chinese.
Popular and very entertaining. To pay tribute to the Shokudo and the artists who made it all happened, I shall write a few posts as inspired by Midnight Canteen.
The first post I shall write is "One point advice for the internal arts". The second post I shall write is "The concept of Fringe and Chi Kung". The third post is "Zen and the Japanese personality". Stay tuned.
Both the manga and the television series are available free on-line, for those who can understand either Japanese or Chinese.
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Combat stance zhan zhuang and visualization
Visualization plays a pivotal role in the internal arts, including chi kung, internal martial art and meditation, the subject matter of interest in this blog. Without visualization, meditation is just passive resting while internal martial art becomes external in essence. Meditation is all about visualization and oftentimes comingled with religious or spiritual belief. It is a vast subject that I shall leave for future posts. Here, I shall only tackle physical visualization using combat (zhan zhuang) stance as illustrative example.
In chi-disciplines, one essential objective is to have a chi-filled body (and mind too, as it is about mind-body exercise). Combat stance in my definition includes all kinds of stance at combat readiness, which means including Master WangXiangZai's combat stance, tai-chi's seated and bow stance and the popular San-ti stance. Here, I shall use Master Wang's combat stance as example, because it is more structurally rounded and individually complete.
Zhan zhuang trains good structure. Combat stance, as an advanced zhan zhuang form, is more so in its structural training. Internal martial art trains from the inside. A practitioner has to "listen" (in tai chi lingo: ting jing 聼勁) deeper and deeper into his body to activate power from the deepest part. In addition to a meditative mind, a practitioner's "bag of tricks" includes the powerful tool of visualization. With vivid visualization of "external event/action acting upon one's body", a practitioner then digs deep inside to activate far-away muscles and tendons to direct energy to counteract such visualized "external event/action acting upon one's body". The internal feeling is chi or jing traveling from deep inside to outside contact points - made vivid through visualization of events "outside one's body". Such outside event can be situated quite far away (in deep meditation, it is from Big Dipper for certain practice!)
In order to cultivate a strong structure, chi or jing must flow out to all directions. Meaning that if force is applied to one part of the body (like when blocking a punch), the whole body will be engaged to serve the objective of neutralizing the external force (and deflecting it in the process). Good visualization needs to serve the above objective. There are many visualization methods. The following are two that I commonly use in my teaching:
1. Visualize pushing a cart downhill.
2. Visualize oneself being push or pull separately in six directions (the XYZ axis).
One last question: why use the method of internal martial art? Why don't we just pick up a Muay Thai kicking pad and ask a training partner to kick? Isn't it easier to teach and learn that way?
The benefits of training from the inside are that firstly it can be used for all levels of initial structural strength, without risk of injury, and secondly, the internal method can serve a much wider spectrum of healing and training purposes for all walks (and all phases) of life. Having said that an internal martial art student should not mystify on the super-powerfulness of internal power (Jing). The training method of the internal art is smarter rather than more mythical. It is a mind-body exercise, and therefore it can also be called thinking (in the sense discussed above) body conditioning art. A student needs to think (engaging mind) and need to experience (engaging body) at the same time for good training results.
Good luck with your training!
In chi-disciplines, one essential objective is to have a chi-filled body (and mind too, as it is about mind-body exercise). Combat stance in my definition includes all kinds of stance at combat readiness, which means including Master WangXiangZai's combat stance, tai-chi's seated and bow stance and the popular San-ti stance. Here, I shall use Master Wang's combat stance as example, because it is more structurally rounded and individually complete.
Zhan zhuang trains good structure. Combat stance, as an advanced zhan zhuang form, is more so in its structural training. Internal martial art trains from the inside. A practitioner has to "listen" (in tai chi lingo: ting jing 聼勁) deeper and deeper into his body to activate power from the deepest part. In addition to a meditative mind, a practitioner's "bag of tricks" includes the powerful tool of visualization. With vivid visualization of "external event/action acting upon one's body", a practitioner then digs deep inside to activate far-away muscles and tendons to direct energy to counteract such visualized "external event/action acting upon one's body". The internal feeling is chi or jing traveling from deep inside to outside contact points - made vivid through visualization of events "outside one's body". Such outside event can be situated quite far away (in deep meditation, it is from Big Dipper for certain practice!)
In order to cultivate a strong structure, chi or jing must flow out to all directions. Meaning that if force is applied to one part of the body (like when blocking a punch), the whole body will be engaged to serve the objective of neutralizing the external force (and deflecting it in the process). Good visualization needs to serve the above objective. There are many visualization methods. The following are two that I commonly use in my teaching:
1. Visualize pushing a cart downhill.
2. Visualize oneself being push or pull separately in six directions (the XYZ axis).
One last question: why use the method of internal martial art? Why don't we just pick up a Muay Thai kicking pad and ask a training partner to kick? Isn't it easier to teach and learn that way?
The benefits of training from the inside are that firstly it can be used for all levels of initial structural strength, without risk of injury, and secondly, the internal method can serve a much wider spectrum of healing and training purposes for all walks (and all phases) of life. Having said that an internal martial art student should not mystify on the super-powerfulness of internal power (Jing). The training method of the internal art is smarter rather than more mythical. It is a mind-body exercise, and therefore it can also be called thinking (in the sense discussed above) body conditioning art. A student needs to think (engaging mind) and need to experience (engaging body) at the same time for good training results.
Good luck with your training!
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| Combat stance - a famous student of Master Wang |
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Zen meditation and zhan zhuang
Zhan zhuang is sometimes called standing meditation (and tai chi moving meditation). Meditation has different meanings in different disciplines, in Tibetan and most Hindu traditions, it is at-oneness with a spiritual figure, in most cases one suggested by a student's teacher according to the personality of a student, this is serious meditation. Or meditation can mean the modern mindfulness meditation tailoring to today's busy company executives looking for an easy way to rejuvenate one's tired body and mind. This is a kind of watered-down Zen meditation focusing on the here-and-now however one defines it.
Zhan zhuang is also about internal focusing or mindfulness. It focuses our attention to the internal dynamics of our chi cultivation, growth and balancing. In particular it focuses on our muscles and tendons, and the connectivity of these to deliver power, in tai chi lingo, such power is called Jing 勁。An internal perception of chi is crucial to the activation of Jing because its activation runs a route (chi channel) connecting our core to our peripherals. Delivery of power at peripheral (e.g. fist) is transmitted from the core (e.g. feet and pelvis) through an internally perceivable running route, the chi channel.
Many practitioners of zhan zhuang will have a good mental side-effect. His or her personality will become calmer. Most do not know why and therefore do not know how to manage it to get better results. This aspect actually has been promoted in the tradition of the art. Master Wang XiangZai was said to have conned the term "Martial art and Zen as one" 禪拳合一。
The essence of Zen meditation according to the Six Patriarch Hui Neng is "find one's true self" (明心見性)。How to find one's true self? A self which is not influenced by external events. For example, when we are frustrated by our spouse, this is not our true self. What is you? A common question in Zen Buddhism. Answers are very simple: for example, if you got a mirror, your can look at it to see your self; if you got people around looking at you (e.g when you are talking to them), you can infer your self from their facial expressions etc. Finding your self in a meditative state should be logically as simple as the above.
When you are doing Zen meditation, you are not distracted by colors and movements (your close your eyes), not distracted by the weather (you keep not warm and not cold), not distracted by smell (no tasty meals around and certainly you are not eating while doing meditation!) and not distracted by sound (no music and no sweet voice from your wife or whoever). You are then (forced to be) mindful to your internal sensation. With little meditative experience, your internal sensation will be close to zero and your mind will wonder around (this by the way is a psychological fact), and you fail your mission! With continual practice, say after a period of hourly-sessions, you begin to feel a different internal world.
With zhan zhuang, you have already created a condition ready with lots of internal sensations. In intermediate or advanced level, you have trained to control your breathing muscles, you have trained to open your shoulder joints and pelvic joints and you have trained to connect your muscles and tendons. While doing meditative zhan zhuang, you should forget about everything, including your training together with the fact that you are undergoing training. You breath calmly. And your breathing starts to move internals, a whole new world of internal experience opens. Gradually you can feel the tiniest bits of your internal happenings. In time you become your internals. You are your internal sensation. You are at-one with your self. You are onto true Zen meditation. And you will love it!
Zhan zhuang is also about internal focusing or mindfulness. It focuses our attention to the internal dynamics of our chi cultivation, growth and balancing. In particular it focuses on our muscles and tendons, and the connectivity of these to deliver power, in tai chi lingo, such power is called Jing 勁。An internal perception of chi is crucial to the activation of Jing because its activation runs a route (chi channel) connecting our core to our peripherals. Delivery of power at peripheral (e.g. fist) is transmitted from the core (e.g. feet and pelvis) through an internally perceivable running route, the chi channel.
Many practitioners of zhan zhuang will have a good mental side-effect. His or her personality will become calmer. Most do not know why and therefore do not know how to manage it to get better results. This aspect actually has been promoted in the tradition of the art. Master Wang XiangZai was said to have conned the term "Martial art and Zen as one" 禪拳合一。
The essence of Zen meditation according to the Six Patriarch Hui Neng is "find one's true self" (明心見性)。How to find one's true self? A self which is not influenced by external events. For example, when we are frustrated by our spouse, this is not our true self. What is you? A common question in Zen Buddhism. Answers are very simple: for example, if you got a mirror, your can look at it to see your self; if you got people around looking at you (e.g when you are talking to them), you can infer your self from their facial expressions etc. Finding your self in a meditative state should be logically as simple as the above.
When you are doing Zen meditation, you are not distracted by colors and movements (your close your eyes), not distracted by the weather (you keep not warm and not cold), not distracted by smell (no tasty meals around and certainly you are not eating while doing meditation!) and not distracted by sound (no music and no sweet voice from your wife or whoever). You are then (forced to be) mindful to your internal sensation. With little meditative experience, your internal sensation will be close to zero and your mind will wonder around (this by the way is a psychological fact), and you fail your mission! With continual practice, say after a period of hourly-sessions, you begin to feel a different internal world.
With zhan zhuang, you have already created a condition ready with lots of internal sensations. In intermediate or advanced level, you have trained to control your breathing muscles, you have trained to open your shoulder joints and pelvic joints and you have trained to connect your muscles and tendons. While doing meditative zhan zhuang, you should forget about everything, including your training together with the fact that you are undergoing training. You breath calmly. And your breathing starts to move internals, a whole new world of internal experience opens. Gradually you can feel the tiniest bits of your internal happenings. In time you become your internals. You are your internal sensation. You are at-one with your self. You are onto true Zen meditation. And you will love it!
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| Master Yu YongNian |
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Build a pair of powerful lungs for meditation
How to build a powerful and healthy pair of lungs? The most simple method is jogging. You only need a pair of good running shoes (aka Rockport, no commercial intended) and the perseverance to do so. This method is for the young and athletically inclined. Apart from athletes, there are other professionals who need to train up their pairs of powerful lungs, for example, professional singers and windwood instrumentalists. For them jogging helps too, and much so the training method of the internal arts, in particular those with meditation as an essential element.
When we say "to train our lungs", we are talking about training the power of our breathing muscles which are responsible for forcing air in and out - against atmospheric pressure. Since our lungs are housed inside our body, expansion and contraction of which will necessitate pushing some of our body parts outwards. In normal breathing at rest, we unconsciously choose the least resistance which comes from our ribcage being pushed slightly upward and outward. This is usually called shallow chest breathing. Power breathing on the other hand is traditionally called abdominal breathing, which involves both the abdomen and the chest. In the limiting case, it involves our whole body.
How to train for power breathing in the internal arts? Like any muscular training, we have to create resistance for the responsible muscles resulting in breathing that uses as much lung capacity as possible without creating shortness of breath. In other word, the requirement is to use maximum capacity to be done in a relaxed way. Seasoned meditators can be seen as very relaxed as are professional singers and windwood instrumentalists. Without adequate relaxation, the meditators, singers and instrumentalists can possibly breath to full capacity, but cannot possibility perform to a satisfactory standard in their respective art forms.
In creating resistance, a student has to mindfully connect his lung muscles (i.e. muscles responsible for breathing) to his body parts which in the first steps (101 and 102) involves our two major joints: his shoulder and pelvic joints. and in order that such connection can be meaningful, a student first has to open his shoulder joints and pelvic joints (and make them into "spring-like"). The latter for tai chi or chi kung systems is called slow movement exercise and for Indian yoga, it is called asana. With a trained supple body, a student is ready to learn the art of power breathing.
In chi kung systems there are always two parts: movement forms and stationery forms. In Yoga, there are asana and pranayama. All have to be done with a meditative mind, otherwise no effective connection will be possible. The concept of points-stretched-body-relaxed is also very important. It is never total relaxation, otherwise there will be no work being done. However, a student must know which points to stretch and how to stretch and what parts to relax. The details of which will go beyond this article. Suffice to say, without such (empirical) understanding there, again, will not have effective work being done.
A pair of powerful lungs is essential for students who aim for a deep understanding of the internal arts and to explore into the interesting subject of meditation. Without a pair of powerful lungs, our mind cannot effectively relax, not without much conscious mind control [for example "let me relax (be mindful) here, and then let me relax (be mindful) there"]. Last words: a student cannot effectively meditate when his conscious mind is needed to command him to relax. Or lightweight meditation never works.
When we say "to train our lungs", we are talking about training the power of our breathing muscles which are responsible for forcing air in and out - against atmospheric pressure. Since our lungs are housed inside our body, expansion and contraction of which will necessitate pushing some of our body parts outwards. In normal breathing at rest, we unconsciously choose the least resistance which comes from our ribcage being pushed slightly upward and outward. This is usually called shallow chest breathing. Power breathing on the other hand is traditionally called abdominal breathing, which involves both the abdomen and the chest. In the limiting case, it involves our whole body.
How to train for power breathing in the internal arts? Like any muscular training, we have to create resistance for the responsible muscles resulting in breathing that uses as much lung capacity as possible without creating shortness of breath. In other word, the requirement is to use maximum capacity to be done in a relaxed way. Seasoned meditators can be seen as very relaxed as are professional singers and windwood instrumentalists. Without adequate relaxation, the meditators, singers and instrumentalists can possibly breath to full capacity, but cannot possibility perform to a satisfactory standard in their respective art forms.
In creating resistance, a student has to mindfully connect his lung muscles (i.e. muscles responsible for breathing) to his body parts which in the first steps (101 and 102) involves our two major joints: his shoulder and pelvic joints. and in order that such connection can be meaningful, a student first has to open his shoulder joints and pelvic joints (and make them into "spring-like"). The latter for tai chi or chi kung systems is called slow movement exercise and for Indian yoga, it is called asana. With a trained supple body, a student is ready to learn the art of power breathing.
In chi kung systems there are always two parts: movement forms and stationery forms. In Yoga, there are asana and pranayama. All have to be done with a meditative mind, otherwise no effective connection will be possible. The concept of points-stretched-body-relaxed is also very important. It is never total relaxation, otherwise there will be no work being done. However, a student must know which points to stretch and how to stretch and what parts to relax. The details of which will go beyond this article. Suffice to say, without such (empirical) understanding there, again, will not have effective work being done.
A pair of powerful lungs is essential for students who aim for a deep understanding of the internal arts and to explore into the interesting subject of meditation. Without a pair of powerful lungs, our mind cannot effectively relax, not without much conscious mind control [for example "let me relax (be mindful) here, and then let me relax (be mindful) there"]. Last words: a student cannot effectively meditate when his conscious mind is needed to command him to relax. Or lightweight meditation never works.
Friday, January 16, 2015
The ultimate Zen experience
Some of my friends are skeptical about people who are deep into the internal discipline of meditation. “Look at those masters on the internet. They are more liked people stoned with drugs…and look at those gurus in the street of Mumbai, as seen on TV, with ordinary citizens offering life’s essentials to them and they mumble intelligible and incomprehensive phrases in a trance state. I don’t want to train myself into someone like them!”
That is another extreme of the water-downed meditation of Mindfulness.
Honestly speaking, the ultimate Zen experience according to Chinese tradition is an experience hardly recognizable in people that we meet. The experience itself does not necessarily come from (sound) meditative practice, though the sustaining of which depends on good practice.
The Zen master whipped the body of the young witty monk several times, and pressed the young monk with the question: “Do you feel pain or not?” Before the young monk could uttered a reply, the master said, “If you do not feel pain, you are as cold as a piece of stone and have no potential to be Zen-enlightened. And if you feel pain, you are just human and will harbor the feeling of hatred, and therefore have no potential to become Zen-enlightened.”
The Zen master was Sixth Zen Patriarch Hui Neng (惠能) and the young monk was one of his top students Shen Hui (神會). The master himself got enlightened first (just by hearing the Diamond Sutra) and then learned meditation from the Fifth Patriarch. Nothing was said about the learning experience of the young monk. The story was reported in the famous Platform Sutra. One thing for sure, these masters were neither stones/trance-like gurus nor corporate executives taking time out to relax at Mindfulness Classes periodically.
A contemporary master with an ultimate Zen-like experience is exemplified by his Holiness the Dalai Lama who doesn’t consider himself a Zen-master, nor a guru at all. “I am just an ordinary monk” said his Holiness. And he is probably right!
The Zen master whipped the body of the young witty monk several times, and pressed the young monk with the question: “Do you feel pain or not?” Before the young monk could uttered a reply, the master said, “If you do not feel pain, you are as cold as a piece of stone and have no potential to be Zen-enlightened. And if you feel pain, you are just human and will harbor the feeling of hatred, and therefore have no potential to become Zen-enlightened.”
The Zen master was Sixth Zen Patriarch Hui Neng (惠能) and the young monk was one of his top students Shen Hui (神會). The master himself got enlightened first (just by hearing the Diamond Sutra) and then learned meditation from the Fifth Patriarch. Nothing was said about the learning experience of the young monk. The story was reported in the famous Platform Sutra. One thing for sure, these masters were neither stones/trance-like gurus nor corporate executives taking time out to relax at Mindfulness Classes periodically.
A contemporary master with an ultimate Zen-like experience is exemplified by his Holiness the Dalai Lama who doesn’t consider himself a Zen-master, nor a guru at all. “I am just an ordinary monk” said his Holiness. And he is probably right!
Friday, January 2, 2015
Doing it light-weight or doing it heavy-weight?
Chi-related disciplines can be done light-weight or heavy-weight. Shall we do it light or heavy? Most people will probably answer in a safe way: it depends on the conditions of a student. My contention is that: it should of course depends on the conditions (and also training objective) of a student. Yet the best approach is always to do it in a heavy-weight manner, relative to the conditions (and training objectives) of each student. Let me explain.
Recently I talked to a friend of mine who is the training manager in a multi-national corporation. She told me that the in-thing nowadays is a program called "Mindfulness". My readers might have noticed that I have written a post previously on the subject - after I watched a local TV news program featuring Mindfulness training in Hong Kong. Essentially Mindfulness is a light-weight meditation program (beautified with modern management lingo, and it is becoming more posh after Google management are onto it wholehearted, as was reported in the media). Mindfulness exercise was also featured in 60 minutes some time ago. The presenters and gurus (local and 60 alike) always focused much on the effectiveness of the program (to the much delight of would-be students) its ease of learning (i.e. light-weight), effectiveness being supported by research, academic and otherwise. And in this 60 minutes episode, the master stressed one point: It is not New Age! (as if New Age is bad) And most Mindfulness guys proudly present their art as "non-religious". It is an attitude, a mental elevation to the state of "being" (remind us of "Being and nothingness" of existentialism which is now arcane in most part of the intellectual world), it is not an additional task, but a state of being "outside all tasks", focus on the present, and there is mindful eating, mindful walking....etc etc. Sounds grand!
"Not a cult, but a revolution to Americans' well-being (...or something like that)" proclaimed an American politician and a student of Mindfulness!
A few years ago, I met an Aussie lady in Australia who told me that she had taken meditation lessons for more than three years. She told me loads of theories and benefits about meditation/mindfulness and its relation with modern psychology and physiology. After knowing that I am good at chi kung, she ventured to ask me whether I had ways to cure pains at her back and neck. I asked her to do her normal meditation pose for me to see. She sat down and rest her palms on her laps and she quickly got into a calm meditative state. After her mediation session (which lasted for 15 minutes), she told me that she felt relaxed and happy. And she told me that she could do it for an hour or more. Her mind was clearly engaged during her session, just like what I later observed on TV on those students of Mindfulness. I told her that she needed to add something more to her meditation: to actively engage her body with chi cultivation.
I taught her zhan zhuang. She got the feel of it quickly. After a ten minute session of zhan zhuang she told me that she had a completely new experience. She felt her whole body being engaged (without the need to mindfully asking her body to do). It all came so naturally, and she could feel chi filling her body. "Now I understand what is chi!" She was happy. I told her that with regular practice her body would be strengthened and could probably be free from pains, those pains had inconvenient her for many years.
The beauty is that with zhan zhuang engages both your body and mind, a student will not need to listen to initiating talks and reasoning of some guru who needs to be there to lead you in light-weight programs. In heavy-weight program, the most important teacher is your body, your body will teach you the inner details. The most important teacher being within, not outside.
In a future post, I shall talk about how middle-age and old-age students can practice tai chi and chi kung in a heavy-weight manner.
PS: Mindfulness in Chinese is 内觀, literally meaning inner observation. This is an essential requirement of all chi-related and meditative practices (in tai chi lingo it is called 聼勁, literally meaning listen to your internal power flow). Modern Mindfulness practice borrows this classic concept for their own light-weight disciplines. It is not bad, it is only light-weight.
Recently I talked to a friend of mine who is the training manager in a multi-national corporation. She told me that the in-thing nowadays is a program called "Mindfulness". My readers might have noticed that I have written a post previously on the subject - after I watched a local TV news program featuring Mindfulness training in Hong Kong. Essentially Mindfulness is a light-weight meditation program (beautified with modern management lingo, and it is becoming more posh after Google management are onto it wholehearted, as was reported in the media). Mindfulness exercise was also featured in 60 minutes some time ago. The presenters and gurus (local and 60 alike) always focused much on the effectiveness of the program (to the much delight of would-be students) its ease of learning (i.e. light-weight), effectiveness being supported by research, academic and otherwise. And in this 60 minutes episode, the master stressed one point: It is not New Age! (as if New Age is bad) And most Mindfulness guys proudly present their art as "non-religious". It is an attitude, a mental elevation to the state of "being" (remind us of "Being and nothingness" of existentialism which is now arcane in most part of the intellectual world), it is not an additional task, but a state of being "outside all tasks", focus on the present, and there is mindful eating, mindful walking....etc etc. Sounds grand!
"Not a cult, but a revolution to Americans' well-being (...or something like that)" proclaimed an American politician and a student of Mindfulness!
A few years ago, I met an Aussie lady in Australia who told me that she had taken meditation lessons for more than three years. She told me loads of theories and benefits about meditation/mindfulness and its relation with modern psychology and physiology. After knowing that I am good at chi kung, she ventured to ask me whether I had ways to cure pains at her back and neck. I asked her to do her normal meditation pose for me to see. She sat down and rest her palms on her laps and she quickly got into a calm meditative state. After her mediation session (which lasted for 15 minutes), she told me that she felt relaxed and happy. And she told me that she could do it for an hour or more. Her mind was clearly engaged during her session, just like what I later observed on TV on those students of Mindfulness. I told her that she needed to add something more to her meditation: to actively engage her body with chi cultivation.
I taught her zhan zhuang. She got the feel of it quickly. After a ten minute session of zhan zhuang she told me that she had a completely new experience. She felt her whole body being engaged (without the need to mindfully asking her body to do). It all came so naturally, and she could feel chi filling her body. "Now I understand what is chi!" She was happy. I told her that with regular practice her body would be strengthened and could probably be free from pains, those pains had inconvenient her for many years.
The beauty is that with zhan zhuang engages both your body and mind, a student will not need to listen to initiating talks and reasoning of some guru who needs to be there to lead you in light-weight programs. In heavy-weight program, the most important teacher is your body, your body will teach you the inner details. The most important teacher being within, not outside.
In a future post, I shall talk about how middle-age and old-age students can practice tai chi and chi kung in a heavy-weight manner.
PS: Mindfulness in Chinese is 内觀, literally meaning inner observation. This is an essential requirement of all chi-related and meditative practices (in tai chi lingo it is called 聼勁, literally meaning listen to your internal power flow). Modern Mindfulness practice borrows this classic concept for their own light-weight disciplines. It is not bad, it is only light-weight.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Why Zen meditation does not work (and how to make it work)
Zen meditation, as it is now commonly practised, does not work. It was asserted by a prominent Taoist meditator in Taiwan master Zhan RuoShui 湛若水, in his book Taoist Immortal breath (道家真氣).
Why? Before we can tackle this assertion, we have to answer two questions: How is Zen meditation (zazen) commonly practised today? What standard has been used when asserting Zen meditation does not work?
Nowadays Zen meditation classes make things easy for beginners. One sits down with or without leg folded, depending on the flexibility of each participant (participant as distinguished from student which implies more complex techniques needed to be learned). And a participant is asked to focus on his or her immediate/here and now, which when put into operational terms, usually means a focus on breathing and counting breathes if simple focus cannot drive away your disturbing thoughts. The following are typical instructions (I Googled from a Zen meditation site):
In zazen, we focus on the breath. Breath is the vital force; it’s the central activity of our bodies. Mind and breath are one reality: when your mind is agitated your breath is agitated; when you’re nervous you breathe quickly and shallowly; when your mind is at rest the breath is deep, easy, and effortless. It is important to center your attention in the hara. The hara is a place within the body, located two inches below the navel, inside the body. It’s the physical and spiritual center of the body. In zazen, you will begin to develop a relationship with the hara. You will practice putting your attention there; putting your mind there. As you develop your zazen, you’ll become more aware of the hara as the center of your attentiveness.
Does it work? Surely it does for some, assuming that enough practice time has been put into it. According to master Zhan, he knew many senior practitioners or monks of Zen Buddhism use this method. And they do get good chi generation and are able to get into a good trance state during meditation. Sometimes they call this direct method which is easy to learn. Hence one has only to participate in zazen rather than follow complicated instructions like the Taoists do.
In short, for the occasional participants, they can have a nice half hour's mental rest during zazen to refresh their mind, like going to a spa or soaking in a hot Japanese bath. And for the serious masters, they can get the same benefits (perhaps take a bit more time) as the Taoist meditators who (stupidly) trying hard to get chi going up and down.
So what is the problem?
Next we have to analyze the standard of Zen meditation. In all classic Zen and Taoist texts, the definitive guideline for good meditation is that one has keep the same internal sensation in all situations: Walking, living, sitting and lying down (行住坐卧).
The problem with modern zazen is that although a participant or a serious meditator can get into the meditative zone when his is doing zazen, when his mind is less than the almost sleeping state of zazen he will be out of zone. In order words, he cannot maintain his internal sensation when he is out of seated meditation.
In order that a person can be in the meditative zone when he is in a relaxed mood during walking, living, sitting and lying down, he has to train his breathing muscles to drive chi to the extremities of his body (in Taoist lingo, breathing with one's heels). It takes time and patient practice and will be impossible without the conscious stage of boosting up one's chi level. In Taoist lingo it is called Turning physical energy into chi energy (練精化氣), the beginning stage of the Taoist internal alchemical process.
To achieve this one needs much more training than just sit down, close your eyes, count your breath to drive away your thoughts. There are many ways of training. Master Zhan's suggestion in his book is to start with internal martial art before one tackles seated meditation. The easiest way is to start with zhan zhuang.
Why? Before we can tackle this assertion, we have to answer two questions: How is Zen meditation (zazen) commonly practised today? What standard has been used when asserting Zen meditation does not work?
Nowadays Zen meditation classes make things easy for beginners. One sits down with or without leg folded, depending on the flexibility of each participant (participant as distinguished from student which implies more complex techniques needed to be learned). And a participant is asked to focus on his or her immediate/here and now, which when put into operational terms, usually means a focus on breathing and counting breathes if simple focus cannot drive away your disturbing thoughts. The following are typical instructions (I Googled from a Zen meditation site):
In zazen, we focus on the breath. Breath is the vital force; it’s the central activity of our bodies. Mind and breath are one reality: when your mind is agitated your breath is agitated; when you’re nervous you breathe quickly and shallowly; when your mind is at rest the breath is deep, easy, and effortless. It is important to center your attention in the hara. The hara is a place within the body, located two inches below the navel, inside the body. It’s the physical and spiritual center of the body. In zazen, you will begin to develop a relationship with the hara. You will practice putting your attention there; putting your mind there. As you develop your zazen, you’ll become more aware of the hara as the center of your attentiveness.
Does it work? Surely it does for some, assuming that enough practice time has been put into it. According to master Zhan, he knew many senior practitioners or monks of Zen Buddhism use this method. And they do get good chi generation and are able to get into a good trance state during meditation. Sometimes they call this direct method which is easy to learn. Hence one has only to participate in zazen rather than follow complicated instructions like the Taoists do.
In short, for the occasional participants, they can have a nice half hour's mental rest during zazen to refresh their mind, like going to a spa or soaking in a hot Japanese bath. And for the serious masters, they can get the same benefits (perhaps take a bit more time) as the Taoist meditators who (stupidly) trying hard to get chi going up and down.
So what is the problem?
Next we have to analyze the standard of Zen meditation. In all classic Zen and Taoist texts, the definitive guideline for good meditation is that one has keep the same internal sensation in all situations: Walking, living, sitting and lying down (行住坐卧).
The problem with modern zazen is that although a participant or a serious meditator can get into the meditative zone when his is doing zazen, when his mind is less than the almost sleeping state of zazen he will be out of zone. In order words, he cannot maintain his internal sensation when he is out of seated meditation.
In order that a person can be in the meditative zone when he is in a relaxed mood during walking, living, sitting and lying down, he has to train his breathing muscles to drive chi to the extremities of his body (in Taoist lingo, breathing with one's heels). It takes time and patient practice and will be impossible without the conscious stage of boosting up one's chi level. In Taoist lingo it is called Turning physical energy into chi energy (練精化氣), the beginning stage of the Taoist internal alchemical process.
To achieve this one needs much more training than just sit down, close your eyes, count your breath to drive away your thoughts. There are many ways of training. Master Zhan's suggestion in his book is to start with internal martial art before one tackles seated meditation. The easiest way is to start with zhan zhuang.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
The problem with mind-only meditation
Isn't meditation all about mind? What is the problem?
In the modern world of consumerism, a student can have anything. On the positive side, he will be exposed to the formerly inner circle stuff (like this blog). On the negative side, there exists teachers selling him anything he asks for. One such thing is mind-only meditation.
The fact is many meditation classes tell their students that they only need to sit down comfortably, clear their mind (if Zen orientated, observe the immediate, whatever that means, or whether it makes any sense, to a student), listen to some soothing music, let loose their mind and THAT is meditation. It is true that the teacher will talk about many things (otherwise how to convince students to come), mostly about the supposed benefits of meditation. One or two may add a bit of wisdom talk (like focus on the immediate) to satisfy the curiosity of the more intellectually minded students.
Classical Taoist meditation is all against mind-only meditation. A sound mediation practice MUST involve the body. And chi-generation is the key to manage the process (I will not talk about the actual process of chi generation here, many previous posts covered the subject). In Taoist meditation (and any good meditation practice), the first step is to transform our body with our mind, the next step is to nurture the mind by the body, and the last step is to transform the mind without any hindrance or conditioning (prior or prenatal) from the human body. Most modern men (me included) do not need to go through the last step, which is a form of personality overhaul towards sainthood or immortality (and with its own pitfall for the too adventurous - e.g. turning himself into a self-proclaimed superman or super-prophet!).
What is the problem with mind-only meditation? In short, mind-only mediation is day-dreaming. To be fair, for some people day-dreaming can relax their mind and can be beneficial. But it has nothing to do with true meditation. I have a friend who, conditioned by some now unconscious events when he was a child, will have his mind switched off from time to time. He will find himself in a very beautiful garden (each time the same garden). There he feels happy and relaxed. After an indefinite time (no more than half an hour), he will come back. He cannot control when he will be affected (when his mind is fully engaged into solving a real world problem, this condition won't happen). For safety reason, he never drives a car.
Do you want to relax with day-dreaming? If yes, perhaps you can condition joining a "meditation class" that teaches mind-only meditation.
In the modern world of consumerism, a student can have anything. On the positive side, he will be exposed to the formerly inner circle stuff (like this blog). On the negative side, there exists teachers selling him anything he asks for. One such thing is mind-only meditation.
The fact is many meditation classes tell their students that they only need to sit down comfortably, clear their mind (if Zen orientated, observe the immediate, whatever that means, or whether it makes any sense, to a student), listen to some soothing music, let loose their mind and THAT is meditation. It is true that the teacher will talk about many things (otherwise how to convince students to come), mostly about the supposed benefits of meditation. One or two may add a bit of wisdom talk (like focus on the immediate) to satisfy the curiosity of the more intellectually minded students.
Classical Taoist meditation is all against mind-only meditation. A sound mediation practice MUST involve the body. And chi-generation is the key to manage the process (I will not talk about the actual process of chi generation here, many previous posts covered the subject). In Taoist meditation (and any good meditation practice), the first step is to transform our body with our mind, the next step is to nurture the mind by the body, and the last step is to transform the mind without any hindrance or conditioning (prior or prenatal) from the human body. Most modern men (me included) do not need to go through the last step, which is a form of personality overhaul towards sainthood or immortality (and with its own pitfall for the too adventurous - e.g. turning himself into a self-proclaimed superman or super-prophet!).
What is the problem with mind-only meditation? In short, mind-only mediation is day-dreaming. To be fair, for some people day-dreaming can relax their mind and can be beneficial. But it has nothing to do with true meditation. I have a friend who, conditioned by some now unconscious events when he was a child, will have his mind switched off from time to time. He will find himself in a very beautiful garden (each time the same garden). There he feels happy and relaxed. After an indefinite time (no more than half an hour), he will come back. He cannot control when he will be affected (when his mind is fully engaged into solving a real world problem, this condition won't happen). For safety reason, he never drives a car.
Do you want to relax with day-dreaming? If yes, perhaps you can condition joining a "meditation class" that teaches mind-only meditation.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
The most neglected point in meditation
Some time ago I met a lady meditator from Australia who had many years of meditation experience. She explained to me that years of meditation changed her life completely. She had been stressful, depressed, paranoiac for decades partly due to her orthodox religious background and having raised in such a family. Although severed from her former religion for decades, having a loving husband and a son starting up his career, her previous conditioning still lingered on with her. She sought help from her clinical psychologist, and finally it was meditation that put a final touch on her recovery.
She sought my help not for psychological problem, which she had solved. She complained of periodic energy concentration in certain parts of her body, causing pain and much irritation. I asked her to meditate in front of me for my observation. She was seated and did a common mudra with her thumb touching and her middle finger in both hands. I touched her fingers and hands. I knew the answer.
The steering wheel controls the direction where a car goes, our fingers control where our chi goes. Without a proper conditioning of our fingers, the more chi we have built, the higher chance that it will be stuck here and there. For most people, chi is built when we physically and mentally handle our daily chores, for this lady, in addition to that, it comes from her diligent practice of meditation.
I gave her a lesson of zhan zhuang. In particular, I instructed her the way to move her chi, which stopped at the center of her palms, to her fingers. She had already been trained in chi generation for years through seated meditation, no sooner, she could feel very slight tingling sensation in her finger tips, moreover, she felt that the muscles around her scapulars were pulling at themselves (i.e. contracting to soothe their own tightness). She promised she would do her zhan zhuang practice at least twice a day for fifteen minutes each time. Two days later when our group of friends dined in a Chinese restaurant, she amazingly found herself able to handle her chop sticks with ease, and she could use her chop sticks to finish her whole meal without, like her husband, asking for a pair of folk and knife. She said she had never succeeded in picking up Chinese food with her chop sticks before. Her husband was amazed too. Her chi had been transmitted to her fingers. She told me that she now had stronger sensation at her fingers while doing her new zhan zhuang and her regular seated meditation.
Advice to meditator: practice stretched hand/fingers meditation (preferably while doing zhan zhuang) first. Do not venture to do complicated mudras before you can feel ample chi with your stretched hands and fingers. In addition, you can get chi faster with zhan zhuang than with seated meditation, because you can focus solely on your hands rather than being side-tracked by your uncomfortable folded legs.
She sought my help not for psychological problem, which she had solved. She complained of periodic energy concentration in certain parts of her body, causing pain and much irritation. I asked her to meditate in front of me for my observation. She was seated and did a common mudra with her thumb touching and her middle finger in both hands. I touched her fingers and hands. I knew the answer.
The steering wheel controls the direction where a car goes, our fingers control where our chi goes. Without a proper conditioning of our fingers, the more chi we have built, the higher chance that it will be stuck here and there. For most people, chi is built when we physically and mentally handle our daily chores, for this lady, in addition to that, it comes from her diligent practice of meditation.
I gave her a lesson of zhan zhuang. In particular, I instructed her the way to move her chi, which stopped at the center of her palms, to her fingers. She had already been trained in chi generation for years through seated meditation, no sooner, she could feel very slight tingling sensation in her finger tips, moreover, she felt that the muscles around her scapulars were pulling at themselves (i.e. contracting to soothe their own tightness). She promised she would do her zhan zhuang practice at least twice a day for fifteen minutes each time. Two days later when our group of friends dined in a Chinese restaurant, she amazingly found herself able to handle her chop sticks with ease, and she could use her chop sticks to finish her whole meal without, like her husband, asking for a pair of folk and knife. She said she had never succeeded in picking up Chinese food with her chop sticks before. Her husband was amazed too. Her chi had been transmitted to her fingers. She told me that she now had stronger sensation at her fingers while doing her new zhan zhuang and her regular seated meditation.
Advice to meditator: practice stretched hand/fingers meditation (preferably while doing zhan zhuang) first. Do not venture to do complicated mudras before you can feel ample chi with your stretched hands and fingers. In addition, you can get chi faster with zhan zhuang than with seated meditation, because you can focus solely on your hands rather than being side-tracked by your uncomfortable folded legs.
Monday, December 23, 2013
The biggest secret in meditation
In this post I am going to talk about the biggest secret in meditation, with the beginning meditator as my audience in mind. Meditation can go very deep into the human psyche. It has been documented in recent observations (from reputable and trust-worthy sources like that from the honorable master Nan Huaijin) that deep meditation for a couple of days can cause initial time space disorientation for the meditator. Furthermore deep inner experience is hard to describe by our rational mind, if meaning can be put (classic Taoist or Buddhist practices dissolve all meanings into Tao or Buddha in the final analysis), like Carl Jung's Red Book, its impact can be disturbing to the meditator himself. These issues are not what I am going to tackle (Those who think otherwise can safely end their reading here without wasting their valuable time... ).
What then am I going to talk about? I am going to talk about what is the most important thing that a beginning meditator should learn and why most meditation teachers do not teach it (assuming that they know what it is about).
If you read any beginners' meditation book or meditation web site, or even meditation classes, the teacher there will spend most of the time explaining to you the benefits of meditation. Next in line, he or she will talk about techniques. The techniques boil down to slow and/or deep breathing, relax your body and mind, listen to some meditation music, (a few) chanting a mantra, or (a few) focusing on some part of your body. Some zen meditation teachers may also ask you to focus on the immediate, the understanding of which, most of the time, beats all rational thoughts of a beginning meditator. Yet some of you will feel happy and relax. Time and money well spent. But are these the inner circle meditation techniques?
Let me consider a question: what is the most powerful technique in getting a person into a half-sleeping stage for inner exploration, the quint-essential meditative state?
It is hypnosis. Some New Ages spiritual seekers use self-hypnosis as their key tool to attain their objectives.
The learned scholar and writer Emberto Eco has this interesting remarks about the effectiveness of hypnosis, as a technique, in his latest fiction The Prague Cemetery:
A medallion or a key is waved before the patient, who is told to watch it closely: within the space of one to three minutes the subject's pupils develop an oscillatory movement, the pulse slows down, the eyes close, the face relaxes, and drowsiness may last for up to twenty minutes.
In the famous text Taoist Yoga (translated by Zen master Charles Luk into English), it has this to say about our third eye and its gazing, in its first chapter talking about the first technique of Taoist meditation:
Question: Will you please give me the exact position of the original cavity of spirit?
Answer: It is (in the centre of the brain behind) the spot between the eyes. Lao Tsu called it "the gateway to heaven and earth"; hence he urged people to concentrate on the centre in order to realise the oneness (of all things).
Whether it is a medallion, the third eye (or belly button, tip of nose, a candle, the setting sun etc), they all involve subtle and controlled movement of our eyes. Such subtle movements open the door to our inner world.
Why meditation teachers do not teach?
Subtle eye movements by oneself is difficult to learn and need continual practice with patience. The progress depends on individual, oftentimes a teacher cannot help, for one thing you need to close or at least half-close your eyes during meditation. In our modern world, tuition will be paid for things that can be taught. Why should I pay someone for something that he can't teach me? An honorable meditation teacher will have no student!
What then am I going to talk about? I am going to talk about what is the most important thing that a beginning meditator should learn and why most meditation teachers do not teach it (assuming that they know what it is about).
If you read any beginners' meditation book or meditation web site, or even meditation classes, the teacher there will spend most of the time explaining to you the benefits of meditation. Next in line, he or she will talk about techniques. The techniques boil down to slow and/or deep breathing, relax your body and mind, listen to some meditation music, (a few) chanting a mantra, or (a few) focusing on some part of your body. Some zen meditation teachers may also ask you to focus on the immediate, the understanding of which, most of the time, beats all rational thoughts of a beginning meditator. Yet some of you will feel happy and relax. Time and money well spent. But are these the inner circle meditation techniques?
Let me consider a question: what is the most powerful technique in getting a person into a half-sleeping stage for inner exploration, the quint-essential meditative state?
It is hypnosis. Some New Ages spiritual seekers use self-hypnosis as their key tool to attain their objectives.
The learned scholar and writer Emberto Eco has this interesting remarks about the effectiveness of hypnosis, as a technique, in his latest fiction The Prague Cemetery:
A medallion or a key is waved before the patient, who is told to watch it closely: within the space of one to three minutes the subject's pupils develop an oscillatory movement, the pulse slows down, the eyes close, the face relaxes, and drowsiness may last for up to twenty minutes.
In the famous text Taoist Yoga (translated by Zen master Charles Luk into English), it has this to say about our third eye and its gazing, in its first chapter talking about the first technique of Taoist meditation:
Question: Will you please give me the exact position of the original cavity of spirit?
Answer: It is (in the centre of the brain behind) the spot between the eyes. Lao Tsu called it "the gateway to heaven and earth"; hence he urged people to concentrate on the centre in order to realise the oneness (of all things).
Whether it is a medallion, the third eye (or belly button, tip of nose, a candle, the setting sun etc), they all involve subtle and controlled movement of our eyes. Such subtle movements open the door to our inner world.
Why meditation teachers do not teach?
Subtle eye movements by oneself is difficult to learn and need continual practice with patience. The progress depends on individual, oftentimes a teacher cannot help, for one thing you need to close or at least half-close your eyes during meditation. In our modern world, tuition will be paid for things that can be taught. Why should I pay someone for something that he can't teach me? An honorable meditation teacher will have no student!
 |
| Meditation third eye |
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Towards a theory of meditative wisdom
Can meditation bring about wisdom?
This is a difficult question to tackle. Those who are
onto philosophy will search for an answer among ancient Eastern texts, and their contemporary commentaries. Most
ended up with a more confused mind than that in the beginning. Most of the time a commentator, oftentimes translator of the ancient texts, explained a text cross-referencing more ancient texts. Making his readers, if not himself, more confused. These people oftentimes are University professors or scholars
whom we ordinary folks awe at their in-depth knowledge of their respective specialty. Yet most of us remain to be confused and unconvinced (with some pretending to be not confused and convinced!)
Teachers of meditation and chi-related disciplines usually
treat their subject matter as mind-body exercise (religious gurus treat theirs
as religious practice, however the argument remains the same). In our modern society,
these teachers are professional service providers like piano teacher, swimming coach or dojo sansei
who sell their particular knowledge and skills to any eager student. They are knowledgeable at their particular field, but
generally not considered wiser than the rest of us.
For the scientifically minded people, or wisdom seekers,
both approaches failed their honest, and earnest, expectation.
If reading mind-boggling translated Eastern
philosophical texts can give us wisdom, our wisest mind will be in our
Universities’ Eastern philosophy departments.
If fold our legs and close our
eyes can give us wisdom, we don’t need to send our young people to institutions
of higher education.
Fair comments.
What is wisdom? As a
virtue, it is a habit or disposition to perform the right action under given
circumstances. Why do we seek wisdom? Because we believe we have not been doing
the right things under our current circumstances. In search of wisdom, we are
in fact in search for a new, or more creative, way of perceiving and
understanding things. And this new way is going to lead us to a better course
of action.
I will leave my comments to the philosophical approach for
another post. Here I shall only tackle the practice aspect of meditation.
The difficulty in comprehending meditation is that when a
practitioner talked about his practice, he would use his own personal
experience and which experience was narrated within the theoretical or metaphysical constructs of his school of teaching, with metaphors and theories. And the bewildering variety of meditative methods boggle the mind of anyone interested in the subject.
When we are not satisfied with our current action, based on our analysis of the current circumstances, we say our mind is stuck. And
we need to think outside the box. It is easier said than done! We can check up loads of books in management and psychology proclaiming the virtue of thinking outside the box. With tricks and methods which were said to work or have proven to work as claimed by the author.
It is inconceivable that we can think outside our brain. Isn’t it
that with all our training and learning, our brain have already programed us towards the
choosing of the best possible alternative constrained by our own intellectual limitations? Aren’t we asking the impossible? Or aren’t we
simple asking our brain to work harder, or we take action to learn more, to
take one more University degree? In a nutshell, all suggestions boiled down to: Use your brain better.
As a seasoned meditator and chi-kung practitioner, I’m as
puzzled as anyone else.
In trying to solve the puzzle, I have avoided the theoretical route and seek
for the anecdotal or detail analysis of individual cases. In particular, over the past decade or so, I have carefully noted the
change in my own mind as well as the mental state of some of my students through my personal interactions with them. There are two conditions that I concluded can result from a sound practice of meditation (the first person singular is used for exposition purpose):
- Meditation
does not increase my knowledge (which I have to learn from someone with
that particular knowledge) but it increases my practical problem solving
ability which organize my knowledge in a novel way in novel situations.
- I can appreciate myself not as an unchanging self, but a self that develops and changes over time - not a theoretical postulation but an empirical (psychological) perception. The perception of a changed/new self can be felt most significantly over a period years, and less significantly over a period of months.
My postulation: wisdom (or the increase of wisdom) is only achievable with this necessary condition: one can free from the mind-body constraints on the self.
This is how meditation works its magic:
During meditation a practitioner’s mind focuses on the
singular task of keeping our mind in a state of Void, Emptiness or
Nothingness. Different schools use
different methods and different metaphors. The gist of the matter is the human
mind must engage in something (total lack of stimulation will create
hallucination, a key reason behind chi-kung or kundalini syndromes). During meditation, a practitioner strives to put all his psychic energy in keeping his mind in a state of Nothingness (and maintaining the integrity of his self at the same time, the failure of which will be insanity). If he is successful, his mind will be totally focused on the subject matter (of keeping his mind in such a state). And he loses consciousness of the his empirical or usual self (his self as he perceives it in his everyday waking moments). The consciousness of such a state of being out-of-consciousness is the physical requirement of enlightenment (needless to say enlightenment is more than its physical requirement).
Now without going into a philosophical discussion of enlightenment, let's look at the physical act of letting go of our focus in Nothingness when we end our meditation. For those who are not familiar with meditation, a mental focus on chi-balancing and chi-management on the total body (usually via managing the chakras) can consume all our psychic energy, making the condition of achieving Nothingness possible.
For those historical account of sudden enlightenment (for example into
Sainthood in various religions), my postulation is that the mind goes back to a totally new site in
the brain (neurologists tell us that we only use a small portion of our brain).
In the lingo of psychology, it is called total personality change. Which of course is very
rare. For those who seek the more modest task of wisdom, only a slight shift of the site will be
needed. I believe it is achievable by most of us.
The difficulty for such successful shift, both in religion and in the pursue of wisdom, is that first you have to
believe it can happen, second, you have to learn a good practice of meditation, third, you
have to ask for it to happen, four, there is the unyielding factor of chance happening.
Good luck with your practice.
 |
| Wisdom |
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Meditation: Techniques vs objectives
In modern (western) thinking, techniques and objectives are usually dissociated in any discipline. In our University's MBA programs, our professors (supposedly, successful or not is another matter) teach their students how to run a business organization and how to deliver a profit. For the MBA students morality is a matter of the Law, , or religion if some of the students happen to be religious. The same for meditative training.
Meditation (Taoist or Buddhism) originally arose form religious practice, as one tool to help a pious person to form a pious personality despite "his natural selfishness through being human" (or the original sin in Christianity). Meditation however is not a sufficient condition to build such a super-human personality. Understanding(rational enlightement) and religious disciplines are also essential. In actual fact, the learning and practice of understanding and religious disciplines are essential foundation requirement; oftentimes named as essential prerequisite to successful high-level meditative practice, by some masters.
Nowadays people learn techniques only. Formulate one's objectives and morality is each individual's private matters. As long as we follow the law, nobody will bother us and couldn't care less how we set our objectives and how serious we take the commandments in our daily lives. This is progress - the secularization of our society.
It was not the same in the old days. Take the teaching of the master of Zao Bi-Chen (author of Taoist Yoga) Liu Ming Rui (劉名瑞) as an example. His nine essentials for the cultivation of Taoist spirituality, in his Complete Works, are as follows (my comments are bracketed):
1. Understanding the centrality of the heart/mind 原心章第一 (understanding)
2. Reasoning how life comes upon and where death leads 究竟章第二(understanding)
3. Understanding Tao with real examples 實證章第三 (understanding)
4. Breaking illusion (the principle of Nothingness 破幻章第四 （understanding)
5. Acceptance of what is given 安分章第五 （understanding)
6. Essential of dual Mind (conscious and Unconscious mind) and Body (mind/body in modern lingo) training 神氣章第六 (meditation techniques)
7. Training our Body of illusion 修幻章第七 (meditation techniques)
8. The essential element of an absolute quiet mind (mind/body) 靜通章第八 (meditation techniques)
9. Practise religious disciplines 戒行章第九 (religious disciplines)
For those who are serious about their meditative practice, a sharp dichotomy between techniques and objectives seem not good enough for their practice. I think Taoist Liu's approach makes some good sense, and can be adapted for the modern practitioner.
Meditation (Taoist or Buddhism) originally arose form religious practice, as one tool to help a pious person to form a pious personality despite "his natural selfishness through being human" (or the original sin in Christianity). Meditation however is not a sufficient condition to build such a super-human personality. Understanding(rational enlightement) and religious disciplines are also essential. In actual fact, the learning and practice of understanding and religious disciplines are essential foundation requirement; oftentimes named as essential prerequisite to successful high-level meditative practice, by some masters.
Nowadays people learn techniques only. Formulate one's objectives and morality is each individual's private matters. As long as we follow the law, nobody will bother us and couldn't care less how we set our objectives and how serious we take the commandments in our daily lives. This is progress - the secularization of our society.
It was not the same in the old days. Take the teaching of the master of Zao Bi-Chen (author of Taoist Yoga) Liu Ming Rui (劉名瑞) as an example. His nine essentials for the cultivation of Taoist spirituality, in his Complete Works, are as follows (my comments are bracketed):
1. Understanding the centrality of the heart/mind 原心章第一 (understanding)
2. Reasoning how life comes upon and where death leads 究竟章第二(understanding)
3. Understanding Tao with real examples 實證章第三 (understanding)
4. Breaking illusion (the principle of Nothingness 破幻章第四 （understanding)
5. Acceptance of what is given 安分章第五 （understanding)
6. Essential of dual Mind (conscious and Unconscious mind) and Body (mind/body in modern lingo) training 神氣章第六 (meditation techniques)
7. Training our Body of illusion 修幻章第七 (meditation techniques)
8. The essential element of an absolute quiet mind (mind/body) 靜通章第八 (meditation techniques)
9. Practise religious disciplines 戒行章第九 (religious disciplines)
For those who are serious about their meditative practice, a sharp dichotomy between techniques and objectives seem not good enough for their practice. I think Taoist Liu's approach makes some good sense, and can be adapted for the modern practitioner.
 |
| Taoist master Liu Ming Rui |
Monday, March 25, 2013
Subtle muscular control and healing
What is healing? The best starting point for any on-line research is Wikipedia. And there it says "Healing (literally meaning to make whole ) is the process of the restoration of health
to an unbalanced, diseased or damaged organism. Healing may be physical
or psychological and not without the mutual reception of these two
dimensions of human health." In the arena of psychological or spiritual practice, healing oftentimes refers only to psychological healing, and depression in particular, a condition that seems to be affecting more and more modern men and women.
Many people do not like the idea of visiting a shrink for fear of their condition being labeled with psychotic illness (or worse, "getting crazy"). And some simply don't like the idea of taking psychotic drugs (which their shrink might actually be taking themselves due to their heavy workload!). Luckily there are now many alternatives for less severe cases, like music therapy, drama therapy, drawing therapy, and of course tai-chi/qigong/meditation or other mind-body exercises.
It is interesting to note that seasoned athletes are usually less prompt to have psychological ailments. In the old days, harsh physical activities had been used to "cure" mental illness and criminal behaviors (and sadly to some spiritual or political dissidents too, which still happen nowadays in some places of the world).
The common element on all these healing methods is subtle muscular control by a focused mind. Take an example drawing. In order that drawing can be used for healing, a student needs to observe his objects, say three apples, carefully. And then he shall exercise his focused mind in conjunction with his body (mainly his hand) to draw the three apples as he sees them. Without a focused mind, a student might render the three apples as the same, but with a focused mind, he will be able to observe the fine differences and will be surprised to find out that each apple has a unique "personality". His focused mind will need to stay calm because he need to train his muscles to contract (and relax) subtly in order that he can deliver such differences in his own drawing. And the result is therapeutic.
In doing tai-chi/qigong/meditation, it is the same. A student practitioner has to focus his mind on the internal subtle movements of his muscles (many of them will be quite "involuntary" in the beginning). The most important muscles will be his breathing muscles. And these will act as the core muscles to subtly activate the student practitioner's whole body muscles in turn. The internal feeling of chi is the guidance for the student. For the movement form, his teacher/coach/sifu can help to check his progress - like in drawing, checking on whether what his drawing matches with what the external reality is. And the Qigong teacher's role is to give instructions for corrections, just like a arts teacher does to his students.
The situation however gets a little bit complicated with meditation, and more with seated mediation. External clues for good performance is difficult to identify even for experienced teachers. And without such clues, a teacher might not know whether the student is progressing or not. Worse, if there is no improving subtle muscular control on seated meditation, without much external stimulation, the psychological ailment of a student will get worsen instead of better. And indeed there are stories of young people going to mediation in secluded monasteries (like in Thailand where westerners find more welcoming) and come back with psychotic onset and need psychiatric hospitalization.
Meditators beware!
Many people do not like the idea of visiting a shrink for fear of their condition being labeled with psychotic illness (or worse, "getting crazy"). And some simply don't like the idea of taking psychotic drugs (which their shrink might actually be taking themselves due to their heavy workload!). Luckily there are now many alternatives for less severe cases, like music therapy, drama therapy, drawing therapy, and of course tai-chi/qigong/meditation or other mind-body exercises.
It is interesting to note that seasoned athletes are usually less prompt to have psychological ailments. In the old days, harsh physical activities had been used to "cure" mental illness and criminal behaviors (and sadly to some spiritual or political dissidents too, which still happen nowadays in some places of the world).
The common element on all these healing methods is subtle muscular control by a focused mind. Take an example drawing. In order that drawing can be used for healing, a student needs to observe his objects, say three apples, carefully. And then he shall exercise his focused mind in conjunction with his body (mainly his hand) to draw the three apples as he sees them. Without a focused mind, a student might render the three apples as the same, but with a focused mind, he will be able to observe the fine differences and will be surprised to find out that each apple has a unique "personality". His focused mind will need to stay calm because he need to train his muscles to contract (and relax) subtly in order that he can deliver such differences in his own drawing. And the result is therapeutic.
In doing tai-chi/qigong/meditation, it is the same. A student practitioner has to focus his mind on the internal subtle movements of his muscles (many of them will be quite "involuntary" in the beginning). The most important muscles will be his breathing muscles. And these will act as the core muscles to subtly activate the student practitioner's whole body muscles in turn. The internal feeling of chi is the guidance for the student. For the movement form, his teacher/coach/sifu can help to check his progress - like in drawing, checking on whether what his drawing matches with what the external reality is. And the Qigong teacher's role is to give instructions for corrections, just like a arts teacher does to his students.
The situation however gets a little bit complicated with meditation, and more with seated mediation. External clues for good performance is difficult to identify even for experienced teachers. And without such clues, a teacher might not know whether the student is progressing or not. Worse, if there is no improving subtle muscular control on seated meditation, without much external stimulation, the psychological ailment of a student will get worsen instead of better. And indeed there are stories of young people going to mediation in secluded monasteries (like in Thailand where westerners find more welcoming) and come back with psychotic onset and need psychiatric hospitalization.
Meditators beware!
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Doing Qigong with fingers
The management of our fingers is one of the most important tools for Qigong (or chi kung) practice, without a proper understanding of which, a practitioners can't go much further in his practice. A strong statement, but a true statement.
In the foundation level, a practitioner has to generate his initial chi with a pair of stretched hands, with their stretched fingers, equally separated and stretched. It is required in zhan zhuang (standing meditation), seated meditation, and in doing tai chi form, of all schools. The beginning is actually not too complicated, afterall our fingers are the most sensitive chi body parts. A tingling sensation is the most often subjective experience of a beginning practitioner.
When a practitioner's chi gets stronger through practice (how is another issue not being discussed here), the function of the fingers has one added dimension. In addition to chi generation, the stretched fingers has an added function of chi balancing and management. And in these two areas of chi generation and chi balancing, a practitioner has to work with each of his individual fingers separately. And it is in this second level that different practices differ. They differ in the way how they train each fingers of a practitioner. This is how they differ:
1. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is through the use of different and oftentimes look complicated mudras. In Tibetan folk medicine, mudras are also used for healing different bodily ailments. In the past when a poor peasant got ill, he could not afford going to see a herbal doctor for proper treatment, he had to make do with mudras taught by monks with a kind heart. And if he went to see a herbal doctor, the doctor might also prescribe one or two simple mudras to help the healing process.
2. In Taoist Neidan (meditation), it seems that the use of mudra or finger-patterns have not been widely used (there is only one Taoist mudra) but that perception is wrong. The classic Taoist mudra of covering one hand with another is actually a concealed system of versatile mudra, and it also holds the key to understanding what mudra is all about, for all chi-disciplines. With the fingers concealed, a practitioner is taught to focus on one or any combination of his fingers for chi generation and chi balancing. Unlike Tibetan Buddhism, the Taoist way does not have any fixed pattern. But how does a practitioner know what to do? The answer is that a practitioner is expected to feel chi himself and therefore is expected to be able to generate different chi by focusing on different fingers (or finger combinations) and will be expected to balance his chi accordingly, using his differently focused fingers.
3. In tai chi, the use of individual fingers has often been overlooked. The most often used method is making a powerfully stretched claw to train total muscles strength (e.g. 24 styles tai chi neigung: tiger claws), or claw with index and middle finger outstretched (e.g. QiChuen style). Understandably more for muscles strength than for healing. There is however one master who taught how to use individual fingers in tai chi for healing or health benefits, it is late Wu-style tai chi aaster Wu Tunan (吳圖南). Master Wu taught his students to use each finger (left and right at the same time) separately as leading guide to do tai chi forms (hence, using all five fingers will require doing the tai chi form five times).
As with other things in Qigong, the methods are quite simple, as my readers can see from the above. The only difficulty is to have the patience and the focus to build one's chi sensitivity step by step. In Taoist method, a practitioner is specifically require to do it. Without this key understanding, doing complicated mutras or doing the form with finger leading will seem rather silly for a practitioner, and needless to say, without much benefit.
In the foundation level, a practitioner has to generate his initial chi with a pair of stretched hands, with their stretched fingers, equally separated and stretched. It is required in zhan zhuang (standing meditation), seated meditation, and in doing tai chi form, of all schools. The beginning is actually not too complicated, afterall our fingers are the most sensitive chi body parts. A tingling sensation is the most often subjective experience of a beginning practitioner.
When a practitioner's chi gets stronger through practice (how is another issue not being discussed here), the function of the fingers has one added dimension. In addition to chi generation, the stretched fingers has an added function of chi balancing and management. And in these two areas of chi generation and chi balancing, a practitioner has to work with each of his individual fingers separately. And it is in this second level that different practices differ. They differ in the way how they train each fingers of a practitioner. This is how they differ:
1. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is through the use of different and oftentimes look complicated mudras. In Tibetan folk medicine, mudras are also used for healing different bodily ailments. In the past when a poor peasant got ill, he could not afford going to see a herbal doctor for proper treatment, he had to make do with mudras taught by monks with a kind heart. And if he went to see a herbal doctor, the doctor might also prescribe one or two simple mudras to help the healing process.
2. In Taoist Neidan (meditation), it seems that the use of mudra or finger-patterns have not been widely used (there is only one Taoist mudra) but that perception is wrong. The classic Taoist mudra of covering one hand with another is actually a concealed system of versatile mudra, and it also holds the key to understanding what mudra is all about, for all chi-disciplines. With the fingers concealed, a practitioner is taught to focus on one or any combination of his fingers for chi generation and chi balancing. Unlike Tibetan Buddhism, the Taoist way does not have any fixed pattern. But how does a practitioner know what to do? The answer is that a practitioner is expected to feel chi himself and therefore is expected to be able to generate different chi by focusing on different fingers (or finger combinations) and will be expected to balance his chi accordingly, using his differently focused fingers.
3. In tai chi, the use of individual fingers has often been overlooked. The most often used method is making a powerfully stretched claw to train total muscles strength (e.g. 24 styles tai chi neigung: tiger claws), or claw with index and middle finger outstretched (e.g. QiChuen style). Understandably more for muscles strength than for healing. There is however one master who taught how to use individual fingers in tai chi for healing or health benefits, it is late Wu-style tai chi aaster Wu Tunan (吳圖南). Master Wu taught his students to use each finger (left and right at the same time) separately as leading guide to do tai chi forms (hence, using all five fingers will require doing the tai chi form five times).
As with other things in Qigong, the methods are quite simple, as my readers can see from the above. The only difficulty is to have the patience and the focus to build one's chi sensitivity step by step. In Taoist method, a practitioner is specifically require to do it. Without this key understanding, doing complicated mutras or doing the form with finger leading will seem rather silly for a practitioner, and needless to say, without much benefit.
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| Mudra |
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