Eastern Arts

[superman]

Greetings all!

I have been a regular reader of this forum, and I thought I would like to contribute some ideas. I am a current practicioner of the Wudang Martial Arts (one of them including Tai Chi Chuan) and Chi Kung (qigong in romanized Chinese).

What is Chi Kung (Qigong)?
For those of you that are unfamiliar with Chi Kung, Chi Kung is an ancient Chinese exercise system that utilizes 'Chi' to maintain health. Chi is the energy that permeates this universe... it has always been there and will always be there. It can't be destroyed nor created. This can be interpreted as God by Christians, Allah by Muslims, energy field by quantum physicists, etc.

When practiced correctly and properly, it can help cure various illnesses, enhance one's vitality, calm one's mind and expand his intellect. Martial artists such as myself also learn to harness this energy to make the body as strong as iron or to inflict damage to the opponent's internal organs with a seemingly gentle tap.


Experiences
One of the things that I experienced with Chi Kung is a raised awareness level. At times, I can see a blur of energy surrounding a person or even a tree. During meditative states, I can literally feel the chi in my body merging with the surrounding environment around me. I have been told by master that this is Satori, or a Zen awakening.

Happiness and the Law of Attraction
Another important aspect of my training is that it makes me happy. As you know from Steve's articles and from watching the Secret DVD (if you watched it), emotions are an important indicator of what you are attracting in this world. Chi Kung helps clear any emotional and physical blockages in your body, making you happy.
I can now easily see why the Chinese term for good luck is Hao Yuen Chi -- translated as the Good Circulation of Chi (or energy). When you are happy and your body is healthy, you can't help but attract positive things that will support your happiness. Due to the Law of Attraction, Chi Kung improves your luck!


How Chi Kung Keeps You in Tune with the Universe
Heres my theory (remember it is only a theory!).

Imagine the Universe. Or God. Or Ultimate Reality. In reality, one cannot describe God or Ultimate Reality in words because to do so would conceptualize it. But for the sake of convenience, just imagine this with me.

Ultimate Reality, or God, contains eternal love and bliss that everyone alive today is striving to reach. However, the majority of the people are stressed and tensed physically and emotionally. They are often sad or depressed and wonder why they cannot receive "God's Grace". But... How can they? They are tuning themselves out of the Universe's frequency of love and happiness by being tense and depressed!

Chi Kung aims to remove all blockages within the human body, whether it is physical or mental. Once all blockages are removed, God's frequency can easily be received by the body. The individual would experience a newfound joy for life. Hypothetically, to completely remove all blockages would be impossible... by then one would have achieved enlightenment! He would realize that he is no different from the trees or clouds outside. To actually experience it and to know it academically are two different things.

But even low level Chi Kung practioners benefit... they experience better blood flow, they are more relaxed and happier, etc.



Just my experience and 2 cents...


Stephen

[superman]

I also noticed some threads about Jesus and Buddha somewhere... I liked this response a lot:

This will remind us that "God" is just a word, and the word itself is not the omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotent, and that the omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotent can be represented by other words like "Dios", "Gott", "Tathagata" and "Ju Lai". If people cam realize the difference between the words themselves and what the words represent, they may be less emotive or fanatical. And if they realize that words are often interpreted in different ways, much mis-understanding and antagonism can be avoided.

Interestingly, while there may be enigma in European languages to say "There is only one God and many gods", there is no enigma in Sanskrit and Chinese because different words are used for the two different concepts: "There is only one Tathagata and many dewas" in Sanskrit, "There is only one Ju Lai and many shens" in Chinese.

God may manifest to us in numerous ways. In Christianity, the manifestations of God are expressed in the concept of Trinity, i.e. God may manifest to us as the Holy Spirit, as the Father and as the Son.

The same concept is expressed in Buddhism as the Triple Body of the Buddha, i.e. the spiritual body of the Buddha, the reward body of the Buddha, and the transformational body of the Buddha. The spiritual body of the Buddha is the Tathagata, which is omniscent, omnipresent and omnipotent.

The reward body of the Buddha are the numerous divine beings devoted followers may see or experience as a reward of their spiritual cultivation. They include the buddhas and immortals you mention in your questions, as well as bodhisattvas and devas (gods).

The transformational body of the Buddha is manifested as myriad entities in our phenomenal world, like living persons and mountains, flowers and galaxies. Two and a half millennia ago, it manifested, amongst countless entities, in the physical body of Sidhartha Guatama. In Christian terms, two millennia ago God the Son manifested in the physical body of Jesus Christ.

It is significant to note that the omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent manifests not just in Sidhartha Guatama and Jesus Christ, but in everyone of us. In Buddhist language, everyone of us is a buddha. In Christian language, everyone has the divine spark of God in us.

In prosaic, scientific terms the omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotent is the undifferentiated spread of cosmic energy. In our puny scale, we crave out a infinitesimal portion of this infinite universe and call it our world. Due to our very limited sense perception, we interpret this puny portion of undifferentiated energy as differentiated entities like persons and mountains and countless other things.

Due to our ignorance and arrogance, we think, and often insist, that this puny portion of energy is the only objective reality. It is indeed a great irony that not only this so-call objective world is just a spec in the universe, it also has no objective reality. Its appearance is subjected to our given sets of conditions, like how our eyes and brain interpret electromagnetic waves. When the conditions change, the appearance also changes, but the changes are usually too fine for our gross perception to realize. We also usually do not realize that what we perceive is less that 0.01 per cent of the known world.

Cultivated persons, in science or spiritual disciplines, may extend their perceived world. They may, for example, see gods and heavens. In Zen terms, this is "satori", or awakening to other dimensions of reality.

If they continue their cultivation, they may accomplish the highest attainment, which may depending on numerous factors happen after countless lifetimes or in the next instance. They attain enlightenment, or in Zen terms they see their original face. In Christian terms, they return to God.

On God, Buddha and Immortals

[Richful]

Hey superman,
I too practice Taijiquan and a little QiGong. It's hard to find good teachers of either in my area, so next year I'm travelling to learn some Taijijian (sword, but you probably know that) and Yang Michuan Taijiquan. I've learned a little sword already, both form and application. Sparring is enormous fun and very challenging.

I'm curious what sort of QiGong you practice. Is it primarily the microcosmic orbit or do you practice moving forms aswell? What other martial arts are included under the banner of Wudang Martial Arts? I'm guessing XingYi and BaguaZhang, any more? My QiGong is not very far along, I'm attempting to train the microcosmic orbit with little success. Still getting used to the relax and let go business.

Enough questions from me... enjoy!