Teachings & Stories


Grandmaster Mingtang Xu

New! Diagnosis and Healing of Energetic Disease-This article was printed in Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine, An Interdisciplinary Journal of Energy and Informational Interactions. This is a peer reviewed scientific journal published by The International Society for the Study of Energy and Energy Medicine (www.issseem.org), and is a transcript of Mingtang's Keynote Address at their 2006 Conference. (click here for PDF)

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Maybe Earth Will Change Soon

At one time when all the continents were separate, religious teachings worked to some extent.  Christianity taught Christians to love each other and love God; Buddhism taught Buddhists to follow rules of not killing, etc.  Many people followed these religious doctrines.

Then travel became easier and the religions met.  People started to compare and saw differences in each other and each other's beliefs.  War began.  So the beings in the spirit world are trying to figure it out—how to solve all these problems and conflicts and violence in this world.

Maybe that is why they are all communicating with me, realized Buddhist beings, Taoist beings, Christian teachers, Islamic teachers, Jewish teachers, Native American teachers, Tibetan teachers… They come and show me their systems. (See The Albuquerque story about Native American spiritual contact below)  Maybe that is why there are more and more people, especially children, who have extra-ordinary abilities.  In Taiwan a study found that in the past about 30% children were born with some extra-ordinary abilities.  Now that has risen to 70%.  More and more adults, after some practice, can develop their extra-ordinary abilities too. In about 30% of adults who have not practiced, and who come to see me, I find that their third eye is ready to be opened.  I help them. (See Mimi Santal's story—in the "What Others Say" section)

Altogether there are fifteen senses all of us can have at our disposal.  When people have the use of more senses they can understand each other better.  There will be fewer secrets, fewer lies.  People will understand the Earth better, understand the universe and how we humans fit into the universe better.  People will have a more complete view, more perspectives, and they will see the bigger picture more easily.

Our behaviors come from our consciousness.  When our consciousness changes, so will our behaviors.

Maybe that's why the Earth will change soon.

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The Albuquerque Story
Contact with the Native American Spirits

My student Lydia came to me and told me, “You should go to this Science and Consciousness conference in Albuquerque because there will be many interesting people from different countries.  There were about eight hundred people attending, and many scientists, professors and Shamans from countries like Brazil.”  I looked at the program and saw that the author of The Tao of Physics was presenting.  I read the translation when I was in college.  I felt the matter and said, “Okay, let's check it out.”  So Ernst and I went to the conference with Lydia.

May 3, 2002 after doing healing sessions in the morning, we flew out of Seattle.  When we arrived in Albuquerque, it was midnight.  We were tired and went straight to sleep.  I laid down and didn't even feel the time passing.  It was early morning.  I felt good but it was very strange.  I said to Ernst, “I didn't sleep last night.”  I didn't pay too much attention to it.  The next night, I didn't sleep again.  I thought maybe the spicy New Mexico food was causing it.  So the third day, I decided not to eat dinner.  But I felt that something was about to happen.  So I sat in bed and meditated for a while.  Then I laid down and continued to meditate.  It was about twelve or one in the morning, it was like a window opened, and I saw an old man and old woman came to my room.  They talked to me about many things, but I didn't understand.  The only words that I remembered were “ceremony cave.”  But with the second heart I understood that they wanted me to help their people.  Many of their people died, they needed my help.  But I couldn't be sure whether it was illusion or truth.  Even if you have a good third eye and third ear, when you open your eyes you see your room, when you close your eyes you see other things.  From the way they looked and dressed I knew they were Native Americans. 

In the morning, I again told Ernst, “I didn't sleep again.  Do you know if there are places around here where lots of Native Americans were killed?  Because we need to go there.”  Ernst knew that there were places but he didn't know their exact location.  So at the conference we asked other people whether they knew of these places?  They said, yes, there are a few places.  There was one place where around seven hundred were killed.  At another place a lot of people starved to death.   So I told Ernst, “We need to go there tomorrow.  Let's rent a car.”  In the afternoon I told Lydia that we need to go somewhere to do something to help the Native Americans.  I don't know what or where.  But we are going to go tomorrow.  Lydia told me, “We already have a car.  My husband and I would like to go with you.”  So we decided to go the next day after right  after the morning conference.  That night, again, the old Native woman and man came to me during my meditation.  For me, when I open my eyes, I see this world.  But when I close my eyes I see a world where there is light everywhere.  There is no darkness.  So when they talked to me, time just passed so fast, and I didn't feel anxiousness or anything.  They showed me a picture of this mountain, as if I was looking at it from a plane flying over it.  Then it was morning again.  I hadn't slept for four nights now.

The next day, we went to Old Town and had lunch.  Then we looked at the map to find which place to go.  All I knew was that at this place a lot of Native Americans were killed.  When we looked at the map, Lydia and Ashley said it was impossible to go to this place because it takes six hours both ways.  There was another place when lots of Native American died, but it was too far as well.  So they said it was impossible.  I asked them, “Where is the ceremony cave?”  Lydia said, “I know there are many many caves at many places!”  Now we had no idea where to go.  So I said, “Let me ask the old man and woman where to go.”  Here we need to use our developed communication skills.  I asked them, “Tell me where to go.”  They put their finger on the map.  My finger followed theirs.  I also saw that there are high beams of energy at this place, so I told Ernst and Lydia to go to this place.  Lydia said that she knew there were hot springs there and others told her the energy is strong there.  I didn't know if this is indeed the same place.  Ernst felt that it was somewhere close to this place but not exactly that place.  Before we left, I was passing by a gift shop.  They told me to go in there and get this music.  I went into the gift shop, and there the tape was—flute music by Robert Tree Cody.  So we started driving.  We drove for hours.  Then we were stopped.  The road was closed.  We must turn to another way.  Also on the way the mountains didn't look right to me either.  We started down another road.  But still the mountains didn't look right.

Then we arrived at a National Park with a museum of how Native Americans used to live.  I discussed with Ernst, maybe we should go back to the place where there are beams of energy.  But we decided to go into the park and see what it's like.  We drove into the valley and to the gate of the park.  Out of my expectation, there was another park.  I saw this square, so I meditated there and said, “This is not the place.”  I was a little disappointed.  Then Ernst came to me and said, “Quick!  It's getting dark.  We must enter the park now.”  We passed the gate of the park.  All of a sudden, my eyes brightened, like electricity coming into my body.  I saw the mountain and the stone—the same as the old man and woman had shown me.  And the old man was in a stone, and the old woman was lying in another big stone.  The stone looked like an old man.  They welcomed us.  I used Zheng-Gong to communicate with them.  Now I know it's the right place.  Ernst said again, “We need to move quickly because the caves are still three miles away.  We have to walk fast!”  I heard the old man telling me, “Take your music.”  I said, “Oh, I need the audiotape of music.”  But we were already far from the gate so I thought maybe it was too late now to get it.  Lydia's husband said, “I want to go another way.  So why don't you go first.  I'll catch up.”  Ernst led the way.  As we followed him, he said, “ You know, just now I saw a huge snake!”  I said, “Do you believe it was a real snake?”  He said, “I am sure of it!  It was a real snake.”  But my feeling was that it wasn't a real snake.  Images came to me that it wasn't real.  But in Ernst's eyes, it was definitely a real snake, one that was huge, and which quickly disappeared into a hole.

Then we reached the cave.  The cave is almost toward the top of the mountain and only reachable by a series of long ladders.  We climbed up.  When I reached the cave, I was very surprised, because the name of the cave is actually “Ceremony Cave.”  I have heard the name so many times.  Now we are in it.  We practiced.  But I felt that we still needed something.  I climbed down to the lower chamber of the cave, they call it “kiva.”  We sat and meditated.  At that moment Ashley came in with the tape and started to play it.  That was a big help.  I started to do ceremonies, to open the sky and the earth to find the dead souls.  I found a lot of souls who were killed and were still suffering.  (Now try to get the image.  It's like I am watching a movie.  Don't just read the words.  You lose part of it just getting the words.)  It's a practice to open the earth and take their souls up to our world, then open the sky and send them onto their world.  I saw that the old man and woman with others were waiting for these souls.  After one place, I opened another place and took the souls up.  One thing scared me.  During the ceremony, I saw a huge snake that was lying on top of the mountain.  I told Ernst, “I saw this huge snake!”  I didn't understand why I would take the souls and the snake took over the souls from the top of the mountain.  I have always been afraid of snakes growing up.  I hoped that it wasn't a mistake.  Because Ernst saw the snake before, and he reads a lot of books, he thinks that the snake must be part of the Native American practice.

After the ceremony, I said, “Now let's go back.  I have done what I can.”  When we were walking back, we stopped at a place.  I was told that I needed to practice more.  So I told Ernst, Lydia and Ashley that we all needed to dance to the music.  During the dance, “they” told me about the snake.  They already knew that I was afraid of the snake.  They showed me their past like a movie.  It seems that at one time, there was a lot of flooding on earth.  People had to go toward the top of the mountain.  When people had a hard time climbing up, the snake came and laid down, so the people can go through his stomach, climb up to the top of the mountain like going up a ladder.  He gave up his body to help.  I also saw a big bird, like an eagle with the old man and woman helping the people.  At that moment, I felt so thankful.  I thought even a snake can use its own body to help people during a dangerous moment.  Then how could we fight each other?  My understanding is that there are no boundaries between humans and animals.  Even though animals are at a lower level than human beings.  They still try their best to help human beings.  Why are there so much hate, war and fighting between humans?  Why don't we help each other to live in this happy world?  Where is our level comparing to the snake?  I understood there are no boundaries between races, nationalities, and animals.  I said, “Thank you for teaching me a lesson about life.”  The feeling is that I felt my spirit change, and my heart become more kind.  Before, I passed judgments: ‘These people are not good, these are good.'  Now I don't feel that way.  Then they presented me with a gift.  Suddenly, I realized that this is the gift my teacher told me ten years ago that I would receive in the United States.  Then I wondered at the long period of time and the connections in the universe that are beyond our own understanding.  We finished everything just as the sun was setting into the mountains.  It looked just like the picture I was shown earlier.  When something good is done, the environment shows its beauty.  In an otherwise cloudless sky a single white cloud made a bridge over the canyon from one canyon wall to the other.

Now we have finished everything.  I said let's go into Santa Fe and have a big dinner.  Four days now I haven't been eating much.  I really wanted to have a good dinner.  But it was already past ten in the evening, most restaurants were closed.  So we had pizza and beer, and drove back to the hotel.  We arrived exactly at midnight, like the first night.  I went to bed directly.  I was very tired and it seemed that I fell asleep right away while Ernst was still reading.  Maybe about twenty minutes later, I woke up again.  I began to feel angry.  Who is disturbing me now?  I said, “Just go.  I don't want to hear.  I don't want to listen.  I don't want to meditate.  I just want to sleep.”  But they didn't pay attention to my complaints.  They used some tools to open my head, pull open the skin, and put another piece of skin inside.  I could even see the blood on that piece of material.  It was like some kind of brain into my brain.  It was like a cap on the brain.  They opened one side and put a piece in.  They opened the other side and put another piece in.  I was sleeping.  I didn't want to open my eyes.  But I knew what they were doing.  Again, morning arrived very quickly.  As soon as I opened my eyes, I felt my head.  It was okay.  I looked down at my pillow.  There was no blood.  Later I learned that this was a procedure from Native Americans.  It means that in my brain there is the same kind of spiritual knowledge.  I still don't know what it is.  It's like our teaching in Fourth Level ZY Qigong.  We get something.  We don't quite know what it is until we use it.  In ZY Qigong, we know that there are nine layers of the brain.  It was like they changed a layer for me.  Many years ago my teacher taught me how to bring souls from one world into another.  This was the first time I used it.  Now I understood why I needed to learn to do this.  (Usually when people first die, their souls stay around here.  It's easy to help them.  But the Native Americans died long ago.  Their souls would either need to be reborn or go down.  So they got stuck in a lower world.  So I needed to know how to open the earth.)  One thing I now know is that we are now deeply connected with the Native American spirits, and they protect and help us.  I felt there are some teachings, some roots between ZY Qigong and Native Americans.  This experience also shows that human beings have the same roots.

Lydia:
We have traveled much in this area.  And we saw a lot of drawings of snakes connecting heaven or earth, or in a spiral.  They are symbols of knowledge and connection with heaven and earth.

Ernst:
On reflection I'm no longer so sure that I saw and heard a “real” snake.
I did remain confident, however, that Bandolier was the right destination for several reasons: First of all, a Scottish Taoist adept we had met at the conference assured me Bandolier was the right place. Second, seeing Mingtang's night visitors guide his hand on the map after lunch.  Additionally, there was my own unusually firm sense or intuition about Bandolier being the right place.

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Getting Rid of Greed, Anger & Ignorance 
Studying with Rinpoche Duoshi & Professor Chen
Summer 2003
by Claire GuYu Johnson

See photos for this story here.

This trip almost didn't happen. When SARS broke out, we waited and waited until July. By then we decided to cancel the trip and filled up our schedules. When the World Health Organization lifted the travel restrictions to China at the end of July, mother and I made all arrangements in space of a few days and flew to China. More obstacles continued: the jetlag, the 24-hour train ride to Lanzhou, and the four-hour taxi ride on the flooded and badly eroded dirt road up the mountain. We arrived in a pitch-black village on top of the mountain at midnight.

As I rose the next morning and lifted the blinds in our hotel room, I was stunned by the lush greenness filling the entire window. Neatly planted fields were embraced on the far side by emerald mountains and on the near side by a crimson red wall decorated with bright, characteristically Tibetan designs. The green seems more luxuriant compared to the soft, high and open sky—just like what you would see in Tibetan photos. The mountain is on the edge of the Tibetan plateau, about 2,500 meters in elevation.

Daily living situations continued to be difficult at the Rinpoche's home, where we were invited to stay. The beds were so hard that we woke up stiff and sore night after night. An all-pervasive dampness compressed the bedding into wet, hard, cold lumps. For the first week, I wore everything I brought, five layers, and was still cold. During the day, we were followed by swarms of flies, and at night the mosquitoes took their shift—Tibetans Buddhism forbids killing. And when the power was out, there was no running water.

Rinpoche Duoshi is the best-known Tibetan scholar in China. He has translated the most esoteric Tibetan Buddhist texts into modern Chinese language. During the school year he is a professor of Tibetan Buddhist studies at the Lanzhou University. He is often summoned by politicians, CEOs, religious and social organizations for private meetings and public speeches. Every summer Rinpoche comes to live at the Tiantang Monastery for peace and quiet. Yet he receives several groups of visitors a day, and gives lectures in Tibetan to the more than sixty monks of the monastery.

He is an elderly man in his late sixties, bald, smallish eyes and big glasses. When he looked at you, his eyes were at times stern and serious, but other times they were the most kind and grandfatherly. At first I was a bit afraid of him, knowing how he was chosen at age seven to be the re-incarnation of an earlier Rinpoche, then studying and teaching all his life, having thousands and thousands of students. I couldn't tell if he could read my mind or if he had extraordinary powers. At one point, mom being as direct as she is, actually asked him whether he had extraordinary powers. He said no, he didn't. I believed him. Mom never did. She said that in Tibetan Buddhism, one is strongly discouraged from showing special abilities. So I continued to wonder about Rinpoche Duoshi.

Two Cantonese men had been staying at Rinpoche's home for a few days already. At dinner we found out that one of them is the head of a government department, and the other the communist party leader of that department. They had been praying to hidden statues of Buddha for decades. Unlike mom and I, they seemed to be familiar with and follow the rituals of Tibetan Buddhism. Mom on the other hand never follows rituals. She says that the most important thing is the heart. The two men played their familiar roles, an initiator and a conciliator, all through the days we spent together. Then there was Little Ding, a computer whiz and head of a small computer distribution company. He had been here three summers in a row now, and he played the advisor role to us newbies. Rinpoche appointed Little Ding as his computer advisor. He often asked Little Ding to come up to his office for hours at a time. Rinpoche was fond of learning new things.

I came on this trip with mom with a clear purpose. It was the purpose that brought me here, not mom's insistence. Lately I had been feeling that indeed the three miseries of humankind described in Buddhism, greed, anger and ignorance, were indeed the cause of all my miseries and unhappiness, and the biggest and most difficult obstacles in my growth spiritually and simply as a person. I wanted to learn practical ways to lessen these characteristics in me. Mom met Rinpoche Duoshi last year on the tail end of her Tibet tour. She discovered his book at a metro stand, and thought that he was an enlightened being. So she changed her plans and went to met him. As a result of that meeting, she started to organize a group to study with the Rinpoche. That plan had to be canceled because of SARS. So she and I came by ourselves. Mom is a scholar of Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. She had already been doing practices from Tibetan Buddhism. She came with many questions, some about the differences and similarities between the three practices, and others about her own practice and teaching.

Visitors of the day and the five of us, Little Ding, the two Cantonese men, mom and I, always filled a large round table at mealtime around Rinpoche. We chatted not only about our practices and philosophies, but a smorgasbord of topics. Heated talk of politics and the world situation often moved from the meal table into the flower filled courtyard. The talk went on for hours until we were summoned for the next meal. On sunny days, our talks were accompanied by trying some of the most tasty local fruits and delicious homemade white yak yogurt. One thought stayed with me from these discussions. Discussing world religions, Rinpoche commented that science is a religion, too, with plenty of theories that are not supported by hard data. Because science is not based on compassion, he said, technologies end up hurting humanity and the world more than helping. Without compassion, more technology can mean more suffering.

Rinpoche paid daily attention to his flowers, and they responded with blossoms all summer long. The tall, blue orchids especially were full of blossoms and they became more and more vibrant each day. Everywhere, sunflowers grew from unintentionally dropped seeds. The soil here is not only rich for plants but also for spiritual development. Tiantang Monastery was the largest Tibetan monastery north of the Yellow River at the turn of the century. The Cultural Revolution wiped everything out. Now it's in a rapid process of re-building, with support from newly rich Chinese business people. But it still isn't on foreign visitors' maps yet.

On the third day I began to get a strange headache. I so rarely get headaches. This one was so different that I couldn't tell what was wrong with me. The headache kept on moving from one spot to the next the entire night. I woke up many times whimpering with pain. The next thing I knew someone was knocking on our door very loudly, saying that we were going to climb the Maya Mountain and pay reverence to the Buddhist sights. It was six am. My ears were ringing, too. So mom got up and went. I stayed home pouting. The headache and the ringing ears went away hours later. I realized that I wasn't sick. It was just high altitude reaction. Then, for days, I heard at every meal how I had missed the chance of a lifetime.

After about a week, Rinpoche gathered the five of us for the morning, and taught us the Green Tara practice. It seemed all quite straight forward. Rinpoche taught us the practice without much mystery, almost like any kind of exercise, step by step. Then, we were on our own to practice whenever we chose to. When we asked about group practice, Rinpoche simply said, “Just practice in your room.”

We had been here for eleven days now; I still didn't feel that I believed in Tibetan Buddhism and its practices. Every morning when mom and I went around the temples to pay reverence to the Deities, I still couldn't bring myself to do the Tibetan full-body prostrations. My body was killing me from all the discomforts. My urges to leave were getting stronger and I felt antsy. That afternoon in Rinpoche's bookshop I saw a young woman—perhaps in her mid thirties—exchanging Tibetan jewelry and buying an expensive set of beads. Little Ding gave her lots of smiles, and called her his Little Buddhist Sister. That evening at dinner I learned that her name is Ms. Zhang. She lives in Canton. She had donated six hundred thousand yuan to build the Wenshu (Manjushri) Hall and Library. That's about seventy five thousand dollars. She is thirty-nine. Aka Gadan, head administrator of Rinpoche's house, invited her to the biggest and best dinner we had had so far. After dinner, Rinpoche received her privately.

All this made me feel more and more uncomfortable. I told mom that Ms Zhang seemed successful and very capable to me. She was also definitely the center of attention which made me feel jealous. Mom said she felt it too, but she hit her head to get rid of the idea as soon as it appeared. She told herself to “yu ren tong le”—to be joyful along with others when they are happy. Yes, that is the right way, I said, because she is doing such a good thing. So what she has characteristics that I don't care for? That's another matter. I should feel glad and show my gratitude toward her. Then I hit my head too and decided to adopt mom's method. It's funny that this wasn't the first time mom had told me about this method of hers. But this was the time I finally let it in. Right away I felt happy because perhaps this was why I needed to come here, to learn from mom how to get rid of the seed of negative emotions by knocking the beginning of a negative idea out of my head. I felt thankful.

To continue to benefit from my newfound modesty, mom taught me how to sit without back support by visualizing the Green Tara and chanting the mantra. I sat on a pillow cross-legged and began the practice. I started by cleansing myself through breath, and as usual I yawned a great deal. As soon as I saw the Green Tara and started chanting, my entire body became instantly quiet, then calm, deeper and deeper. I felt as if there were weights between my hands and on my tongue. They became heavier and heavier as the rest of my body became less and less felt, until all the rest of my body seemed to have disappeared except the two heavy weights. I saw the Green Tara smile and I felt happy. I saw Rinpoche smile at me, so clearly. I felt thankful to Ms. Zhang. I felt really thankful to mom. And I felt thankful to everyone. Then emptiness. Just the mantra and Green Tara. Complete emptiness. Time disappeared. Space disappeared. I disappeared.

I became the Green Tara. My heart expanded. Joy and thankfulness to everyone and everything filled the expanse. Then it changed. Joy melted into immense sadness for everyone and everything. Tears filled my eyes and rolled down my face. Is this the Bodhi heart I hear about? I, the Green Tara, extended my green light to every living being, helping them ease the sadness in their heart and their suffering. I extended my green light, offering to all my teachers and Buddhas, all the two thousand nameless Buddhas who came before Bodhisattva and taught him… In my own body and spirit, I experienced and understood why the Buddhist method is correct and has been the path for many for so long. I gave my thanks to Rinpoche's teaching. He smiled again, full of benevolence and compassion. All through the sitting, Rinpoche appeared seven or eight times, each time smiling kindly. When the existence of my body came back, I felt that the kinks in my back had eased, and I was sitting straight without effort. My body felt warm and my heart full of love.

The next day I told my experience first to mom then to Rinpoche. I felt that I had learned methods to work on the three miseries of humankind, from a day to day practical method to stop the thoughts before they began, to a meditation practice method to grow my own compassion and feel the connectedness with all. Of course just when I thought I had got it, some thoughts became words and actions before I could jump on them. After briefly feeling defeated, I smiled again. My life is my process. As long as I keep on working on my practice, day after day, there will be gradual results. So this trip didn't bring me enlightenment. I'll be patient.

Time accelerated the last couple of days. I had forgotten or had gotten used to all the inconveniences and discomforts of the remote area. But it was time to go home. Saying goodbye to Rinpoche wasn't easy because he had become my grandfather in my heart. Soon we were driven to the hand-built, swaying and dilapidating suspension bridge on the edge of the village, walked across, got into a pre-arranged taxi, and two and half hours later mom and I were in Xining. We took the twenty-eight hour train back to Beijing the next day.

Back in Beijing, mom introduced me to Professor Fuyin Chen, a doctor, scientist and qigong master. We met in a quiet teahouse one afternoon and began talking about anything and everything. He spoke with clarity, precision and an undeniable passion. As wonderful thoughts poured out of his mouth, sparks danced in his eyes. A few simple thoughts stayed firmly in my mind. I asked him what he thought of the quality of compassion in Tibetan Buddhism. Professor Chen began to talk about how we all know how much work it was for our mothers to bring us into this world. Just imagine carrying several pounds of weight for nine months, walking, eating, and sleeping without any break. All her organs are making room for you; her skin is stretched to the limit, the nausea, the need to eat often and go to bathroom often, the change of diet… And finally the pain at birth. How could we not owe our mothers and be thankful always? What we forget is that we wouldn't have the kind of life we lead without other human beings and other living creatures giving us a roof to live under, warmth, food, and all the comforts of modern living. The moment we are born into this world we already owe everything to every living creature before us and around us. How could we not give back? How could we not be serving others?

A question had been on my mind for quite a long time. So I took the opportunity to ask Professor Chen. I had an unresolved question about teachers. In the past, I would find a teacher who is really good at teaching something. A while later I would find qualities that I don't like so much about the teacher, for example, too rigid, too traditional, or philosophical but no real practice, or lack of compassion or principle, etc. I wondered what to do with these weaknesses I perceived in my teachers. I once read a book by an American Tibetan Buddhist teacher who talked about the Empty Teacher. He said to list all the good qualities and all the weaknesses of your teacher. Then go down the weaknesses list and use it as a mirror for yourself. Whatever you see as a weakness in others resides in you, too. As soon as you have gotten rid of a weakness, you won't see it in others anymore. I asked Professor Chen how he sees the search for the right teacher? He smiled. His eyes shone, and said finding the right teacher is not difficult; finding the right practice for you is not difficult; attaining enlightenment is not difficult. It doesn't even take that long to attain enlightenment. The key and the most difficult step is to go into yourself. Ask yourself what it is that you really want. Clarify, clarify and clarify. Once you are clear about your life goal, you'll know clearly who your teacher is, and your practice will progress fast as well. Perhaps in two to four years you may attain enlightenment.

Now I am back in the States. People tell me that they see or feel changes in me. They ask me what I have learned on my trip. It's not so easy for me to notice my own progress because I often still find myself in negative thoughts and feeling miserable about something without catching the thought at its bud. The peace in my heart gets disrupted more often than I like—though my heart does seem to return to peace sooner now than it used to. But my awareness is coming in sooner now and it comes from the heart. Then, day after day I come back to what I've written, I fill in more changes I have noticed in myself. Now when I practice qigong, some unfamiliar, deep feelings rise up from my heart. This thankfulness, this connectedness, shows up during many of the exercises that I have been practicing for years. I not only know but I FEEL the big picture. I feel the presence of the living universe. I feel the present moment in my body, in my heart, in my spirit. When I am teaching, oftentimes tears rise up in my eyes. I feel my heart directly communicating and receiving warmth and compassion with others' heart. I am thankful and glad that others are on this path, sharing their heart with me. There is something that I know I have learned. That is without giving up on the practices I have learned, this progress will continue.

The summer trip to China was a lamppost on my path. I want to share my experience and learning with you. Perhaps something will click for you sometime down your own path. When that happens, it would add to my joy. I would like to share something I read the day after my return to Seattle, conclusions from recent findings in biology. It summarized what I have learned in a simple, elegant way.

“Think of each organism as an entity that is not really confined within the solid body we see. The visible body just happens to be where the wave function of the organism is most dense. Invisible quantum waves are spreading out from each one of us and permeating into all other organisms. At the same time, each of us has the waves of every other organism entangled within our own make-up…each of us is supported and constituted, ultimately, by all there is in the universe.”
—Mae-Wan Ho, PhD, Reader in Biology at Open University, UK

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Deepening ZYQ Practice Through Teaching
Winter 2006
by Eric Miller

As practitioners, we often take our practice at face value. We practice in the flow of the moment, and when we are lucky, we experience the rapture of an all-encompassing energetic bliss. In many ways, to contemplate this practice on an intellectual level and attempt to reason out our experience, may seem to run counter to finding emptiness. However, when we turn our practice towards the guidance of others, leading students towards ecstatic qigong states, we are forced to understand both the rhyme and reason of ZYQ exercises. What purpose does each movement serve and to what end, energetically, does it lead?

This is not to say we should abandon the ZYQ method of teaching, from our hearts not our heads and in the moment rather than pre-planned. When teaching ZYQ, we let go of our conception of ourselves and surrender to the teaching experience. With this surrender, much like the surrender to energetic rapture, insights emerge.

The teaching qigong state is similar to the qigong state in our own practice. The main difference is that the student and their needs, their state of mind, and their physical state all become factors. As teachers, we reach deeper states by embodying the exercises we are teaching, in the moment, and by assisting the students. Our focus is not only on ourselves, becoming a tree and holding that state of being, but on holding the image of the students as a forest of trees as well. From this state, something happens which may not occur in individual practice, we truly become teachers.

An understanding emerges and small glimpses to the depth of ZY exercises are possible. For example, after long-term practice of Big Tree, we find energetic movement occurring within the “stillness” of our standing. We bring down heaven energy into the lower dantian; we bring earth energy up through our feet and legs into the lower dantian. Activation occurs. We may experience the sensation of swirling around our navel. Eventually, we feel the belt channel open, and we feel our Qi ball begin to orbit around our torso, horizontally between our navel and mingmen point below and between our kidneys.

These are subtle states, and difficult to convey to students in words, so how do we guide students to experience these states of energetic movement. In talking with other teachers, several strategies were discussed and options include everything from yoga exercises, to exercises from other qigong forms such as Taiji Ruler, to meditative awareness exercises. After trying to figure this out, a surprising realization occurred to me while teaching a ZYQ class.

Although not discussed explicitly by Mingtang, we find that the preparation exercises already address this energetic movement. Dragon Stirs up the Sea physically, addresses the hips, lower back and the kidney system. Energetically, we are rotating on a horizontal plane, using the natural movement of the hips and ankles to circle around the inside of the “tree trunk” if you will. This directly prepares us for the same energetic movement to occur internally within the lower dantian.

One evening, a student remarked, “When I am in Big Tree, I feel like I am doing all of the preparation exercises at the same time but without moving.” Energetic openness, relaxation throughout the body in “Big Tree” allows a free flow of energy to occur, the preparation exercises not only prepare us for long term standing physically, addressing the joints and such, but energetically instilling specific patterns of internal energetic movement. I would venture to say that if we begin to consider and approach the preparation exercises with this mind set, their depth and value to our practice becomes apparent.

One of the more underrated exercises in ZYQ is qigong self-massage. Really, when outside of class do you practice qigong self massage? While teaching this exercise a student asked, “Why are we tensing and releasing the areas we are massaging with our hands?” I told her that by tensing and relaxing we were exploring the difference between being open and closed energetically and in a sense learning how to relax. This is the main goal of Level One.

As we continued through the sequence, another answer emerged. While using our hands in an energetically activated state, infusing the muscles in our torso with Qi while simultaneously contracting and releasing our muscles, we are in essence doing a kind of internal Silk Reeling. We are harnessing the power of Jing.

One of my past Qigong teachers, Dr. Sun of the Yi Ren Qigong School here in Seattle, described our muscles and tendons as flour and our Qi as water. When we combine the two and begin to knead the dough, we create jing energy and infuse this energy into our bodies making it more healthy and vigorous. After years of practice on my own, I never realized that this was also the result of qigong self-massage. Yet with a student’s inquiry, and surrendering to the exercise as a teacher this insight emerged.

Teaching is rewarding because of the inherent value in bringing others to a practice which promotes health and well being on all levels. But as a practitioner, teaching offers opportunities to further the exploration and understanding of exercises and energetic states which may not emerge otherwise.

As a community of teachers, we can share these insights and advance our level of understanding from many different perspectives. I am glad that Grandmaster Xu has lead us to so many energetic states without strictly or narrowly defining them, and thus given us the tools to explore on our own. Our minds have not been confined to a singular or doctrinal understanding of ZYQ, its exercises and approaches. We are free to explore unfettered. Teaching is part of that journey.

More about Eric Miller

Chinese Shamanic Tiger Qigong
Laohugong
by Master Zhongxian Wu

Laohu Gong (Chinese Shamanic Tiger Qigong) is from the Emei Zhengong (Mt. Emei Sage Style Qigong) school. Mt. Emei Sage Style Qigong combines the traditions of ancient shamanism, Confucianism, Daoism, classical Chinese medicine, and the martial arts. The elements of this style are rooted in the ancient world of Chinese shamanism, which is the source of all the classical Chinese traditions. In ancient China, shamans were respected as sages, and sages were shamans. This Tiger form will be able to help practitioner channeling the shamanic power and universal Qi, especially Zhengqi ÕýÆø(righteous or correct Qi). Qi can be translated as vital energy or vital breath.

The Symbolic Tiger
As a totem that corresponds to the great Dao, the tiger holds numerous symbolic meanings: Lung, breath, Qi, respiration system, change, control, circulation, rule, rhythm, West, Metal, Venus, transparency, upright, justice, autumn, wind, the Queen Mother of the West, and the seven Chinese lunar mansions in the Western sky.
Generally, in Chinese shamanic tradition, the tiger is addressed as Baihu--White Tiger. In Chinese culture, white does not merely mean the color white; rather, it is the symbol for transparency, clarity, purification, justice, or punishment, and is also symbolic of the activities of killing and destruction. The symbol for white is equal to the spiritual quality of the tiger totem. In nature, we can learn about the spiritual White Tiger through
the "killing" atmosphere of the fall season. This killing is the process that generates new life in the spring season and is the natural way to clear out old energy and weakness and to maintain stronger life energy.

As we observe in nature, when autumn comes, strong wind not only sweeps down the leaves from the trees but also breaks down the weak and sick branches of the trees. When the next spring comes, these trees grow into a better shape. We can discover this natural-spiritual tiger "killing" function of the fall season in the body by learning the function of the Lung. Regular Lung function breaks down old energy (including dead cells), clears up stagnation, kills invading evil (virus), and maintains Qi circulation. We would get sick easily without this "killing" function of Lung.

The Function of the Tiger Qigong
Usually, the Chinese call the tiger Laohu literally meaning "old tiger", regardless of the tigers age. Chinese character Lao for old is a symbol for wisdom and shamanic power. The tiger is the spiritual animal of the western direction and is related to the Queen Mother of the West. The Queen Mother of the West is a condensation of the Subtlest Vital Breath of the Western Essence from the Vital Breath of the Dao of the Original Chaos.

The universal rhythm of the Dao can be found in the microcosm of the Lung. From a classical Chinese medicine perspective, we will never get sick if we can maintain Zhengqi in the body. Physically, Zhengqi is represented most strongly by the Lung, which
prevents Xie (evil) Qi from invading the body. Here, Zheng can be translated as correct or upright. In contrast to Zheng, Xie can be translated as incorrect or tilted. Therefore, Xieqi includes all the factors, such as emotions, food, weather, habits, attitude, posture, or trauma, that may cause illness. One of the functions of Lung is to govern and energize all the meridians of the body. Strong Lung Qi helps us maintain wellness. We will be more susceptible to illness if the Lung Qi is weak. Thus, in Chinese medicine, the tiger is the spiritual animal of Lung and stands for the essential Lung Qi and vital breath.

The Chinese Shamanic Tiger Qigong form is based on symbolic power--the essence of Chinese Shamanism--and has both medical and martial arts applications. The tiger form is the story of energy circulation from west to east, the movement of the Dao itself, as the symbolic power of the tiger communicates directly with the Dao. There are twenty-four movements in the form. Each individual movement is seasonal connected to the Universal energy to help one to improve one's life. Through regular practice of the tiger form, one will strengthen one's Lung function and tonify one's Zhengqi and increase the harmonizing Qi of the whole body. In this way, one will be able to attune the personal Qi to resonate with the Universal Qi, to discover one's true potential nature and breathe with the Dao.

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