Dear J Thank you for your email. I wonder what the Yijing says about our interaction? This would be a good experience in aligning the text with material conditions - a process mediated by our own 'intentions'. Of course, material conditions and intentions continuously change - but the Yijng text remains constant. The efficacy of translation merely allows us to peer into the historicity of the text - to a lesser or greater accuracy. Indeed. 'words' are the business we are engaged in - and a question lingers as to whether it matters how these words are generated and received. An open-ended enquiry might allow for possibilities of 'being' that are firmly closed-off by precise answers. This is 'why' the individual lines of the Yijing 'move' and 'transform'. All Best Wishes Adrian
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Modern medicine is obviously correct and always developing. Over the last two-hundred years or so, the human understanding of how the human body and mind functions has increased dramatically away from the thinking that dominated the primitive tribal formations of early human civilisation. Having made this point clear, I would also like to clarify that other great cultures have also developed their own particular types of medicines and models of what it means to ‘fit’. In this respect, modern medicine has probably evolved from the Greco-Roman tradition which culminated in the Renaissance (14th-17th centuries CE) in Florence (Italy), the Enlightenment (17th-18th centuries CE) in France and the Industrial Revolution (18th-19th centuries CE) in England. However, far more ancient civilisations – such as Egypt, India and China – also developed their own quite often sophisticated systems of medicine premised, it is true, on as much myth and religious notions as it was upon the sound observation of material processes! In many ways, whilst lack the modern dependency upon materialism, the ancient doctors had to take into account many more cultural and superstitious elements when formulating a guiding medical principle that culminated in the treatment of physical symptoms. Although the Western and Eastern models of medicine have both developed the aloof professional dispenser of medical knowledge – the Eastern model of medicine, particularly that of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), allows for an entire genre of what might be called ‘self-healing’ in the sense that this system of health maintenance is considered ‘preventative’ in nature. In other words, the daily or weekly health regimens an individual puts themselves through, are expected to ‘prevent’ the build-up of negative energy in the mind and body, and therefore remove a foundation forming that allows major diseases to form. Of course, a weakness of this method is that a practitioner can never be fully sure just what his health regimen has ‘prevented’ from forming – as there is no available (physical) evidence that records all the illnesses that have been avoided! This does mean that preventative medicine does not work, because even modern medicine allows for the idea that a healthy lifestyle tends to diminish the chances of major illnesses developing in the mind and body. This is a logical approach, as leading a reckless and irresponsible life has definitely been recorded as shortening life-spans! Furthermore, living in poor or difficult circumstances (through no fault of oneself) can also lead to a diminished life expectancy. As somebody of part-Chinese ethnicity – and who has been brought-up with a traditional Hakka Chinese culture – TCM is far more than a doctor’s office and his medical cabinets! It is far more than acupuncture and seated massage, etc. Firstly, the power of TCM (within a traditional Chinese cultural context) stems from the (ancient) family Clan Name. Our name is pronounced ‘Chan’ in the Cantonese dialect, Chin in the Hakka dialect and Chen in the Putonghua language. The old ideogram for ‘Chan’ is ‘陳’ and this is one of the original ‘One Hundred Surnames’ of China. The centre of village life is the ‘Name Temple’ within which the remains of the ancestors reside in specially built ceramic jars. This is usually next to a temple to Buddha, Guan Yin and/or various Daoist or other spiritual beings. The Daoist God of our family is ‘Wong Tai Sin’ - the God of Medicine and Healing. When we bring flowers to the temple and light incense sticks – we are paying our respects to our Clan Ancestors, the Buddha, Confucius, Laozi, Guan Yin, Wong Tai Sin and a number of village gods (that live in the ground, the water, the sky and trees, etc). Practicing our martial forms and strengthening inner and outer exercises in this temple is also considered ‘an act of worship’. The Clan Ancestors pass on to us the (inner) Ancestral Qi when we are conceived in the womb – and the (outer) Ancestral Qi through the traditions associated with our Hakka Chinese village – which includes reading, writing, hunting, fishing, farming, medicine and martial arts practice. According to the old ways – these traditions belong to our lineage (and village) only – and to reveal them to disrespectful outsider has the effect of taking away the inherent and accumulated cultural and spiritual power! As someone who lives in the West and respect science – I can say that TCM exists in parallel to modern medicine - sometimes fulfilling similar tasks – sometimes fulfilling quite different tasks. Inner fitness, for instance, has no equivalent in Western medicine. Inner fitness is the ability to allow the inner qi-energy to flow smoothly and feely through the inner body channels regardless of the health of the body. For instance, if a practitioner has an injured knee and has problems weight-bearing and moving properly during conventional exercise – through the directing of the qi-energy through the area in a non-confrontational manner – the joints works ‘freely’ and without pain despite the injury still being present. Indeed, subjecting an injured part of the body to this ‘medical’ process (usually through an appropriate qigong sequence), the injury itself begins to speed-up its healing capabilities. Although this is sometimes described as being ‘all in the mind’ I can attest that there is a definite physical component to this process. Alternatively, it is ‘not all in the knee’ - but an integration of appropriate psychological processes and physical manipulation. As an injury is an injury – no amount of positive thinking will help a practitioner ‘ignore’ a knee’ injury as the body and mind simply does not work in that way. I suspect that certain aspects of ancient medical systems are very advanced despite the superstitious and cultural nature of its support-structure, and that the Western medical system, as advanced as it is, will one day ‘discover’ these processes for itself!
The ‘Yi’ (intention) acts like a magnet 'attracting' a piece of metal toward it. However, all is set in motion by the fact that the ‘magnet’ is always moving just slightly ahead of the piece metal (say a metal ball) causing it to continuously 'roll' toward the source of 'attraction'. As it is a process of 'attraction' that is never completed or allowed to completely succeed - the metal ball is made to continuously 'roll' due to the conditions it exists within, attempting to fulfil the dynamics of the 'attracting' force it is being exposed to. Qi and jing flow side by side and merge together - whilst both being 'pulled' by 'yi' (intention) in the desired direction. These energies are 'purified' and 'integrated' due to the process of flowing through the 'dantian' or 'fields of energy transformation' of which there are 'three' - one located in the centre of the ‘third-eye’ (situated between the eyes in the centre of the forehead), the solar plexus and two inches beneath the navel, etc. This combined universal essence 'drips' into the centre of the brain and the 'third eye' area - generating a still mind, an expansion of awareness that permeates the entire universe, and the understanding that all is 'empty' and 'full' simultaneously - with any contradiction or hindrance. Things are not just 'empty' and not just 'full' - but a perfect integration of the two complementary states of being - as one cannot exist without the other.
The Chinese ideogram ‘意’ (yi4) is often translated into English as ‘intention’, ‘thought’, ‘opinion’ or even ‘idea’, etc, and is comprised of a lower and an upper particle. The lower particle is ‘心’ (xin1) - which is used to refer to the anatomical ‘heart’ (hence its shape), and for the ‘thinking’ mind. It is believed that like ideas in Medieval Europe – the anatomical ‘heart’ was assumed to be the seat of human ‘thought’ in ancient China. In the modern-era, when science confirmed that the anatomical ‘heart’ and the ‘thinking’ mind (brain) were recognised as two different anatomical organs performing two very different biological functions – the ideogram ‘心’ (xin1) was continued to be used within modern China to refer to the ‘thinking’ mind (as opposed to ‘脑’ [nao3] which refers to the physical organ of the ‘brain’) - although this tends to refer a more ‘profound’ or ‘deep’ mode of thought as associated with ‘philosophy’ or ‘spirituality’. The upper ideogram is ‘音’ (yin1) which is ‘mouth’ (‘口’ kou3) with a ‘tongue’ sticking-out (‘舌’ she2) - although a more complex structure of the following ideogram - which denotes the tongue ‘moving’ (‘言’ yan2). Therefore, ‘音’ (yin1) refers to the act of ‘speaking’, ‘saying’ or ‘talking’, etc. There is some research which suggests that the particle ‘䇂’ (qian1) might have been used in earlier manifestations of this ideogram (this denotes a ‘knife’ which marks the external body of a ‘criminal’ for identification purposes). However, ‘䇂’ (qian1) might be a replacement particle for ‘中’ (zhong1) - which refers to the ‘centre’, ‘middle’ or ‘heart’ of something. When all this data is added to together, then the meaning of ‘意’ (yi4) can be expanded to include ‘heart’, ‘soul’ and ‘conscience’. As regards self-development training methods found within traditional, Chinese spiritual culture – the term ‘意’ (yi4) refers to a ‘profound’ and ‘guiding’ awareness that permeates the entire body and integrates the ‘mind’ and the ‘heart’. This type of permanent inner transformation penetrates the body cells to the very centre of the mind and body, and which acts like a magnetic force which draws the essential nature and vital force through the energy channels, unblocks all barriers and which strengthens the mind and expands the consciousness! Authentic ‘intention’ drops the bodyweight, aligns the bones and directs the rebounding force! The body and mind are strengthened and calmed by the presence of intention’ which brings inner peace and outer tranquillity. The disciple ‘listens’ to the universe and ‘hears’ what the Master has to say. Once the instructions are received, the mind focuses the effort so that immortality is achieved. Listening correctly is the essence of developing a profound ‘intention’...
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AuthorAdrian Chan-Wyles (內丹 - Shi Da Dao) - Qianfeng Lineage: Zhao Bichen (1860-1942), Charles Luk (1898-1978) and Richard Hunn (1949-2006). Acknowledges Master Zhao Ming Wang (赵明旺) of Beijing as the ONLY Lineage Head of the Zhao Family Lineage of Qianfeng Daoism in China and the world. Archives
February 2024
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