Departure

  In life, we often say goodbye to different people in different circumstances, though the hardest departure is when a loved leaves the Earth realm.

     When people can’t say good-bye, it can possibly make the other soul linger and unable to leave, becoming Earth-bound. Is it love or attachment?

Attachment can cause more pain but love will give the freedom to let others go. 

Instead people often wonder:

“Why did they leave me alone?”

“I wish they’d stay with me.Where do they go? ”

“How long will I go through this pain?”

“My life will never be the same without them.”

When we lose a beloved one, the sorrow, regret and poignant feelings can be overwhelming and many have described the tears as flowing like an endless ocean. Most people will experience the process of three stages:

Grieving, remembering, and new life-celebration. After all, we will all need to face the departure of loved ones and some day will become our own turn to leave the Earth.

In traditional cultivation, some actually know when they are leaving and even how to leave. One of the most famous true stories is about a Zen master named Deng YinFeng, during the Tang Dynasty. When this master was a little boy, he was too wild to be disciplined by his parents,  so they sent him to a Zen monastery. Later, he became an enlightened Zen Master. When he decided to leave the Earth, he asked his disciples: “Have you ever seen anyone die with their body upside down?” His disciples said: “No, we have not.”

“I will show you how tomorrow.” He replied.

 The next morning, he was found standing upside down, in the middle of the courtyard, so, as they wanted to take his body down, they realized it was unmovable. His sister was also a very advanced cultivator, so she shouted: “Brother! You have always been messing up things and putting things upside down. Now you have passed, you are still doing this, it’s enough.” Then his body fell down flat on the ground.

The true cultivators not only can choose when to leave, but also how to leave the World. That is wisdom and freedom.

Though the majority of people leave unexpectedly, and much sooner than their family wish for. That’s because naturally, it’s very challenging for people to endure the pain from physical separation, and mostly the mental and emotional attachment. 

One phenomena is that afterwards, some people have experienced the deceased loved one coming back in their dreams, talking to them as if it was real life, the saddened family members then feel better and happier that they are still connected.

So, if you can gift a loved one something, what can they receive on the other side?

A good deed in their name, a prayer?

The best gift is wisdom from this Heart Sutra:

jiē dì jiē dì bo luo jiē dì bo luo sēng jiē dì pú tí sà pó hē 

Go! Go! Go beyond! Go completely beyond! Awakening! Hail! 

This way, when you send a spiritual gift to your loved one on the other side.

You both gain wisdom on seeing what life and death really about. Both can overcome the attachment and deeply understand that:

Someday, you will meet again.

Written by Chiyan Wang

Editing Credit to Simon Rimbert

The hourglass of cultivation

    The Earth we live on is an interesting place, and is very different from other consciousness realms. There are days and nights, light and dark, yin-yang polarities and even TIME! In the past, humans used hourglasses to measure time. Today, I would like to use the hourglass as a symbol for an important teaching. 

    You can imagine that when you started an inner cultivation journey, the hourglass of your spiritual life started counting as well.

    Cultivators come to Taoist Light Wellness for various reasons:

Healthy people looking for peace and longevity;

Individuals with illnesses looking for health and recovery; 

Healers studying abilities to master Qi and help others to heal;

Spiritual students looking for an ancient and authentic inner alchemy cultivation practice;

Taoist enthusiastics looking to obtain Tao...

During the process of Qigong practice, teachers usually emphasize on this: “ Please don’t let your Qi leak! (Lou Qi)”.  You might remember what we learned in Taoist Light practice: contract the perineum, keep your fingers together, don’t have a runny nose,  let Qi settle in the lower Dan Tian (a Qigong term for the area in the lower abdomen) and don’t let your thoughts wander a thousand miles away, etc.

Through sincere and diligent self cultivation and following correct guidance from a teacher, most students soon start to obtain transcendental abilities. For example: The third eye opening to precognition (ability to perceive the future), retro-cognition (ability to perceive the past), telepathy (the ability to transmit or receive thoughts) or even teleportation (going from one realm to another instantly), etc.... but these are certainly not the goal of cultivation.

Then what is it?

It is best described using this expression: “Lou Jin Kong”... the hourglass is empty!

All the sand in the hourglass has finished flowing through and one has reached the end of practice in this lifetime. You have the experience and awareness that everything is empty; the earth and everything on it are illusions. The sand represents the thoughts, perceptions, senses which bring up affliction/frustration (Fan Nao) and confusion/unknowing ( Huo Ye)... so when the sand is done falling through, it means that your affliction and frustration have come to an end, and your cultivation on the Earth plane has come to completion.

This state is not about how many followers you might have, how many books you have written, nor if you have any special power to move an object with your intention or you can fly in your dream or walk on water... Here are some simple beginning guidelines:

1.  No irritations by outside world/people or internal feelings;

2.  Being with open-heart and compassion;

3. No anger or cynical ideas toward the human world, and not acting in extreme ways.

If everything on the Earth is an illusion, we can not let ourselves become caught up in it, even including the hourglass eventually.

Yes, they seem almost too simple and boring, and that is the reason so many cultivators could go on an extreme or askew path. Especially, if you are still angry and feel irritated all the time, there is a long way to go… :)

For Taoist Light cultivators, I want to say this: keep your practice going and keep your hourglass empty. The Tao is always simple and clear.

Written by Chiyan Wang

Edited by Simon Rimbert

One set of practice

Once, a student born with only one right arm went to study Martial Arts. His teacher only taught him one set of movements. Day after day, he kept practicing. Then, he asked his teacher: “Am I ready to learn more?” The teacher said: “No, you need to practice this simple movement until it’s just so precise, fast and powerful. Just keep practicing it.”

The student kept practicing without doubt, for years and years.

One day, a competition among students from different martial art schools took place.

One of his Master’s advanced students had a match with another advanced player from another school, but lost. Then, the Master asked his one-armed student to go up and fight with the champion candidate.

The one-armed student said: “But Master I only have one arm, and he is so advanced.” The Master answered: “You are ready to shine after all these years of diligent practice, you only need to do your one set of powerful move which you have practiced to perfection, this set of movements as far as I know is at the most advanced level!” 

So, the one armed student went up on the stage, and his attack was so swift and powerful and the other person just fell down immediately and the one-armed student won the championship.

The Master explained to him afterwards:“ From my knowledge,  the only way anyone can beat you from your strike is to grasp your left arm, which you don’t have, so for sure they would fall down.”

Now you know, a human being’s imperfection can be his greatest strength! I hope Taoist Light students know why Taoist Light Practice is so simple yet very advanced and powerful, and also why we need to practice and practice everyday. One day, you will find you arrive on the top of the mountain of your cultivation and your energy will just shine and shine.

Translated and written by Chiyan Wang

English Edited by Simon Rimbert

A hundred-foot pole

Once a student went to learn a practice, so the teacher told him to stand at the top of a one-foot pole stuck in the ground and to remain still. When he could do it well without losing balance, the teacher made the pole a foot higher, and so on and so forth.

The student practiced day after day and year after year persistently.The clouds coming in and out of his sight didn't matter; the bird flapping their wings into his hair didn't matter; the wind howling into his ears didn't matter; and it did not matter how tired or frustrated he felt at times. He tried to remain standing still. He made progress one foot at a time and then reached the very high level of cultivation. He stood on a hundred foot pole high up in the air keeping his balance and stillness perfectly.

Here came the master chanting a poem:

To remain still at the top of a hundred-foot pole,

Its entry has been attained yet a state is not all real,

Taking one step forward from the top of a hundred-foot pole,

Then the world in all directions becomes the complete self.

Poem written by Shi Daoyuan in <The Jingde record of the transmission of the lamp> 1004-1007 CE. Translated by Robert Smitheram

Story written by Chiyan Wang, editing credit to Simon Rimbert

King Wen's story

Most people don’t know who King Wen is, but might have heard of his book, the I-Ching, translated as the book of changes. It is a popular classic that has been used for three thousand years as wisdom cultivation or even divination to discover the changing patterns in the near future.

When King Wen contemplated this extraordinary book during the period where he was imprisoned from 82 to 88 years old by the last King of the Shang dynasty, one of the most cruelest kings in history, who killed many innocent people including King Wen’s oldest son.

One of the accomplishments that King Wen contributed to the World was that he used straw sticks in his dark cell to create the arrangement of the sixty-four divination figures in I-Ching. And he used it to regain the power, wisdom and courage to free himself out of the jail, and prepared his son King Wu to finally win over the king of Shang, and then founded the Zhou dynasty, which was the first flourishing and prosperous dynasty in art, culture and history.

I-Ching is regarded as an extraordinary book of unparalleled brilliance and King Wen (1152-1056 BC) is regarded as the King of all kings in China by scholars.

During this quarantine time, I hope Taoist Light Qigong cultivators (who have received I-Ching Qigong training) can practice more King Wen’s I-Ching Qigong to immerse in King Wen’s wisdom, resilience, and courage.

Heart health in Summer

Greetings from Taoist Light Wellness!

I hope you are staying well and healthy.

Here comes Summer, when the Yang Qi rises rapidly. People can be more likely to experience irritation and impatience, especially with the dry-heat which is not great for our hearts. Red colored food is the best for heart health and we recommend you eat more of these: cherries, strawberries, red dates, adzuki beans, carrots and tomatoes, etc. Bitter taste food is particularly good to cool off the heat energy in the heart, to keep a calm and stable mood. Napping can become important in Summer too. A 20 min nap between 11-1pm can reserve your Yin energy and balance the high and strong yang Qi.

Our hearts like laughter, gentleness, peace and love. If we do at least one good thing a day, which particularly makes our heart sing.

Taoist Light life-energy cultivation training is now conducted Online!

Taoist Light Cultivation is a very pure and very powerful practice, suitable to each individual, simple to learn and with effective results.

You can choose to receive a private training/transmission (from the Taoist Light lineage holder to yourself) via Zoom (online video conference). Since the energy moves with intent and through high consciousness, without the barrier of distance, it does not matter whether you are in person or not. Online teaching is regularly done and most people can feel the connection and physical sensations of transmission.

The first week, you can make a 90 min. appointment. We will start with sections 1 to 3 of the training, which focuses on the physical and mental states). Afterwards you will be able to start practicing immediately on your own at home.

The second week, we will have another 90 min. training session to learn sections 4 and 5 focus on the emotional and spiritual states.

The third week, you can join our group practice on Thursdays, from 10 to 11:30 am (U.S. Pacific time), which is offered weekly every Thursday at the same time.

The fourth week, you will come back for the third private training session, to understand how the Qi works for you (for instance, what all the customized and free-flow movements in your own practice mean and to make sure your practice is on track.

After that, you are encouraged to participate in the Thursday morning group practice. This way, you will feel supported to keep your practice going.

Usually, the Taoist Light Qigong level I training session is $230/90 min, but right now most people are having a stressful financial time, so it is $160/session for one person or $280 for a couple.

The group practice and healing session on Thursdays is normally $60/session, and again it is now at a discounted fee of $45/pp.

With this authentic and powerful practice, you have what you need to get healthy, and attain the Tao (the Way)

Taoist Light Wellness is making a safer adjustment

We are experiencing tremendous turbulence out in the world. I hope you continue Taoist Light cultivation to keep your body's core Qi (life force) stable and strong. There is a cultivation term called " Wu Du Bu Qin", which means one's energy can be so powerful that the poisons from outside can not invade, but avoiding close contact among people is also wise at this time. All our healing sessions/trainings/workshops can be conducted on-line.

Taoist Light Wellness will also make some adjustment for clients safety and well-being.

1. It is recommended that private sessions (private healing and spiritual consultation) be conducted online via Zoom. If one needs to come in person, our fully disinfected office is open from 11-6pm daily except weekend.

2. Group practice/Healing held on every Thursday morning 10-11:30am welcomes trained participants to join in via Zoom video conference at $45/pp.

3. Private Taoist Light Qigong Level I on-line training is available and offered at discounted practice $160/90min (instead of $230).

We are going to focus our healing goals on:

1. Protection and energetic shielding

2. Health, stability & Inner peace

For the best of your well-being,

Chiyan