Of students and masters (11)

It could be worthwhile for those who cultivate Tao or practise neidan to spend some time to read the Taobums forum. Especially on threads started by those taught by real masters in China, and where readers may pick up some knowledge on what cultivation or neidan entails. At times, although rare, what is written therein can provide a confirmation of various minor signposts of the Way.

For example, in a recent questions and answers session in Nov / Dec 2010 between Wang LiPing and some students in the West, he was asked what the first signs of success were for an average normal practitioner of his practice. Wang LiPing of Quanzhen is a real neidan teacher recognized by the Chinese government and has gained quite a number of students in China and recently in the West.

According to his official website in English and copied over to the Taobums forum by his students, this was what he said (extracts):

“The first thing following this practice is health improvement. Your energy level increases steadily. This sign is important but is not the most important.

The most important thing is when you transform your XIN LING, when you change your soul, so that you have more wisdom and more faith.....

In a next phase the practice will change your body internals, your organs and internal functions so that your immunity will increase. You'll never get the flu again. “

While it is good that a well respected teacher like Wang Liping confirms in public that a neidan practitioner will have his or her immunity increased in the next phase; from experience, it could be circumspect to say that never to get the flu again is conditional upon continual meditation practice.

Of course if neidan practitioners still have 24/7 Qi flows even without continual meditation over a period of time, they can cure the oncoming flu with heat from their palms before the flu gets full blown. Those so interested can refer to my older entries on Thermal healing [in 2005]; and on how the Shi (masters) can help cure Swine Flu or H1N1 posted both in this blog and in the Taobums forum in 2009, to gain a better perspective on the matter.

Even if we managed to get our immunity up in this next phase and not likely to get flu again one way or other, it can be considered only a minor achievement for neidan practitioners since the ancient classics, the great masters and the Zhen Ren did not mention the immunity to Flu in their teachings. But how would I know?

Friends come (Peng Lai) (2)

It is always good to have friends whether we live in the mountains, the valleys, the countryside, towns, or cities. Even if we happen to be hermits, we may need some help from friends now and then.

So would a cultivator of Tao, and sometimes his or her friends could be special in the spiritual sense. These special or true friends may come to help if the need arises.

If we understand certain layers of meaning in Hexagram 39 Jian / Obstruction, we may know why in the midst of the greatest obstructions, friends come. (Refer to previous entry and study the entire hexagram in detail, if interested)

In case scholars and cultivators think otherwise, take at look at what the Judgment of Hexagram 24 Fu / Return say about friends:

Friends come without blame. To and fro goes the Way. (Tao)

The questions, we may need to ask are: why do these friends come, and without blame; who are these friends; and what has the occasion anything to do with Tao?

Perhaps cultivators of Tao or neidan practitioners who read this blog may know the real answer. How would I know?


Cheerio!

Friends come (Peng Lai)

The West has an adage that says, “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” The Phrase Thesaurus if you Google for the proverb, indicates that a version, “a sure friend is known when in difficulty” translated from Latin was known by the 3rd BC.

True friends come to help when we are in need, sometimes even without asking.

The ancients also knew about this, if not more, and embedded this adage in the fifth line of Hexagram 39 Jian / Obstruction in the Book of Changes for posterity:

In the midst of the greatest obstructions, Friends come. [W/B]

The pinyin for this line reads and I like it when it jumped at me at Yijing Dao before reading the Chinese characters: Da Jian Peng Lai.

No, the great did not see the mythical Peng Lai Island of the celestial immortals (Xian) as I had initially thought. And the Chinese character for the first name of the island differs from that of a friend (Peng). Therefore the W/B translation is correct.

But that is not what this short discussion is about.

This discussion is something about true or special friends that come to help in the midst of the greatest obstructions.

For deep thinkers and cultivators, does this ninth in the fifth place of Jian have anything to do with Tao?

Cheerio!