That Which Is Eternal In Us Must Be Awakened
The sexual energies are persistently drained out by activities of modern culture. Our hopes and desires—our entire life waves—are intertwined with their use or misuse. When one treads the path of implosion instead of explosion they are on the way to spiritual immortality.
INTERNAL ARTS
Dragon with Pearl – The Eastern dragon is not the gruesome monster of medieval imagination, but the genius of strength and goodness. The Dragon represents that which is common between the furthest depths of our soul and that which is beyond the outer periphery of space – across those borderlands which separate us from our origins. The pearl is the cosmic energy – the fusion of the five elements, flowing through all life – and is controlled by our developing consciousness through the breath. It can be circulated through the Microcosmic Orbit. The force goes where the consciousness goes.
There has been a growing fascination in the West with the Oriental martial arts, Kung Fu, Aikido and Tai Chi, which focus on internal chi energy, rather than Karate, Tae Kwan Do and Thai Boxing which focus more on external physical training – though mental training is very important in most schools. Having read some of the translated sacred texts of the Orient I knew that there was an underlying energetic process behind the various martial arts, but for many years so little was to be found on exact procedure for full control of this energy. Fragments would appear here and there in books, indicating that there were methods of rejuvenating the body and raising it to high levels of energy.
In the mid 1970’s the book Taoist Yoga — Alchemy and Immortality by Lu Kuan Yu (Charles Luk)23 became available. It described in some detail the process of the Microcosmic Circulation, the act of moving ones chi energy through the two main acupuncture channels, the Functional (or Conception) meridian which goes from the perineum up the front of the body to the tip of the tongue, and the Governor which goes from the perineum up the spine to the crown of the head and down to the palate. By touching the tip of the tongue to the palate the two channels are connected and the energy is circulated from the navel up the spine and down the front to the navel again. From there the energy may be taken to other centers and transmuted into higher forms. Mr. Luk’s book, while being quite revealing and an important work, was still a bit obtuse and difficult to completely grasp and it left many questions only an experienced teacher could answer.
About ten years after that a Taoist master, Mantak Chia, began issuing books, the first being Awaken Healing Energy Through The Tao.24 Master Chia’s books are much more in detail and quite helpful to those who wanted to (or had to) practice without a physical teacher on hand. He has studied and mastered the entire Taoist internal system and is in the process of revealing it to the world.
Master Chia’s books cover in very specific terms the energetic process of Taoist internal yoga from basic awareness of the energy, on through the entire internal alchemy, further on through an amazing healing system Chi Nei Tsang25 (Internal Organ Chi Massage), on through the development of the immortal foetus and release from the thraldom of the wheel of life. This is the first complete revelation of this extremely ancient system and there are centers springing up all over the world for those who want to learn it. It matters not if you worship Guan Yin, Jesus, Mohammed, all-of-the-above, or none-of-the-above, this is an energetic system of physical, emotional and spiritual health which can be applied by all humans.
The Chinese National Chi Kung Institute began issuing a mail order course on the internal Taoist circulations in the mid 1980’s. This course is now available on the internet at various sources.26
A bit of internet searching will pay of well on all these subjects, as now there is more information available than there is time to evaluate and process it.
SOMETIME TODAY
In this day and age we are all concerned about our health and the prospects of degenerate disease. Our inner health is directly related to our outer health and the healing of the planet can only come about through a collective inner organization. Many people following the Western Esoteric Traditions have prejudices towards these oriental influences, yet we are all on the same planet and can learn from others’ enlightened viewpoints. The Western Traditions will die out unless they are vitalized through a pragmatic approach towards cultivating our vital energies. Dr. Wilhelm Reich’s discovery of the orgone energy provides a lynch-pin for the western scientific mind to begin to probe these areas, and Dr. Rudolf Steiner’s many lectures provide further clues for a modern vitalistic approach to science and esotericism to emerge. Trevor Constable has presented a cogent overview of the Western Esoteric approach to the vital energies in The Cosmic Pulse of Life30 which should be read by all who seek to understand the finer forces of nature. But as westerners we are at the beginnings of discovering the vitalistic approach to the world, in the process of learning we can look to those of other cultures who have mastered the art of cultivating their inner force and connecting it with the universe. Through synthesis and metamorphosis we all grow towards a common goal. There are lifetimes of knowledge to be learned.
CHI PRESSURE
One major purpose of the Taoist meditations is to increase the chi pressure in the system to reduce the possibility of disease entering the organism. Negative emotional energy is transformed to pure energy. Negative energy in the organs is vented off via various exercises such as the Six Healing Sounds.
Proper breathing exercises are at the base of all of these methods. In The Amazing Secrets of the Masters of the Far East31 exercises are given for generating the vital force through breathing exercises termed pranayama. This book is a good introduction to the Indian approach to cultivating inner force.