SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
JULY 2011 PART 2
A famous Chinese warrior, Wu Song. The picture is reproduced from http://www.orientaloutpost.com/proddetail.php?prod=2wusong
Question 1
I have some other questions about some other topics. I don't know if it is my imagination, but I was wondering if you may be could offer me some advice on the following that happened.
A few weeks before the Wedding Celebrations and the Small Universe Course, during practice at home, I "saw" this transparent face of a tiger in front of me. I actually never felt a connection or something special about the tiger, so I started wondering if it was also a spiritual animal, like the dragon. I didn't pay much attention to it, only that I was planning to buy a statue of a tiger when I had a chance during my stay in Malaysia.
— Name Removed as Requested
Answer
This is not your imagination. It is real, though at a supra-mundane level. Your have close affinity with the Tiger.
The Tiger is one of the five divine animals in Shaolin, the other four being the Dragon, the Snake, the Leopard and the Crane.
Question 2
I saw a tiger statue in the window of a teashop in Georgetown and bought one there. Before I found my statue, we were having lunch in a small restaurant in Georgetown.
There, for a few moments Bodhisattva Guan Yin appeared in the air, completely in white. I didn't pay much attention to the image. I experienced it as very natural, I just was very happy with everything - to be visiting Chinatown and having all these great blessings, like attending the Review Courses.
Answer
Congratulations. The great Bodhidattva Guan Yin showered blessings on you.
Pindola, the Taming-Tiger Lohan. The picture is reproduced from http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/lohans18.htm
Question 3
I don't know if it was a coincidence; but the next day, when going out in Georgetown at night, when the Review Courses ended, I started feeling a presence of a tiger next to me. It felt very real. I could hug her or him, and then my heart really opened
I felt this connection/ loving energy, like I knew the tiger for a long time. I could also feel the long hairs in the throat were very good, and the short soft hairs on the back of the tiger when petting, for example.
There were signs for me that I was not imaging, but now this has all diminished a bit. I start wondering if it was me just making this all up. I can still "feel /see" the tiger and feel the loving connection if I have a small thought about it.
Answer
You are not making it up. Someone making a story up, wittingly or unwittingly, would not have such details and depth of feeling. It was real, but at a supra-mundane level.
Question 4
When sitting in the tea shop that day, I kept getting this image in my mind of a person holding a staff, and next to him a tiger. They were standing on top of a mountain or cliff, looking out over trees and greenery.
My "ego" I guess, wants me to believe that I am this person, because at the end of the day I could imagine a staff attached to my back and the tiger next to me quite clearly. But that is just me and my ego. Siheng Andreas told me it was my third eye opening, and that I was riding the tiger.
Answer
That personality could be Wu Song, a warrior famous for killing a fierce tiger. He was also known for his staff technique.
One may wonder how could a tiger have an affinity with Wu Song when he killed a tiger in his human life? That happened in the mundane world. In the supra-mundane sphere, things may work differently. In Western culture, this is sometimes expressed as "God works in mysterious ways."
Or the personality could be Pindola, also known as Taming-Tiger Lohan, as he was known to tame a tiger.
Interestingly you looked quite like either of them.
You could be a reincarnation of Wu Song or Pindola.
Sifu Wong Chun Nga and other participants at a Wuji Stance during an Intensive Chi Kung Course. The Wuji Stance is both simple and very profound.
Question 5
I am quite curious about the meaning of all this but I also realize I shouldn't attach myself too much to these experiences. I'm sorry if I wasted some of your time with my long story, but I thought it would be good if I shared this experience.
Answer
Yes, you are right not to be attached to the meaning behind all these experiences. Just enjoy them, and feel great you could be a reincarnation of one of these great personalities.
Of course you have not wasted my time. Indeed, thank you for telling me these wonderful experiences. Your Shaolin Wahnam brothers and sisters would be delighted to hear them too.
Question 6
I wonder if you would help me with the following question which has puzzled me for more than 3 years?
My favourite way of practicing chi kung is to stand in Wuji. After Christmas 2006 I began to practice Wuji Stance which I held for 10 minutes each time, usually at night between 11pm and 1am, when my neighbours were asleep.
After 3 days I developed a cold, with some low grade flu-like symptoms. I decided to proceed with my 10 minutes every night despite the cold and flu because I suspected these might be cleansing symptoms. The problem was 5 weeks later I still had a cold.
How I got rid of my cold was to hold the Three-Circle Stance for about 5 minutes, once per day, every day for 3 days. I immediately felt better on the first day and by the third day my symptoms had disappeared.
I have been left thinking what would have happened if I'd continued to practice and wait for the Wuji Stance to take its time.
I have had a life-long interest in chi kung, especially zhan zhuang, I have trained one-on-one with a kungfu master for 8 months, and later had my standing postures checked and corrected by a zhan zhuang master.
— Andrew, UK
Answer
Your cold might or might not be due to your Wuji Stance, and your recovery might or might not be due to your Three-Circle Stance. There may be other factors involved. Nevertheless, you are probably right to think that your Three-Circle Stance helped you to overcome your cold, because it built energy more readily than the Wuji Stance, and the extra energy overcame the cold.
But you need not worry whether your cold was really due to the Wuji Stance and your recovery due to your Three-Circle Stance, or what other factors were involved. Once you start to worry and intellectualize, there will be no end because all these are only possibilities, and there is no sure way to determine what the exact causes were. The mental stress that results, even if your answer were correct, would be more harmful than whatever benefit, if any, your intellectualization may bring.
In our school the three golden rules of practice are as follows:
- Don't Worry.
- Don't Intellectualize.
- Enjoy your Practice.
Of course, don't worry doesn't mean don't care. You practice as correctly as you comfortably can. And in your case where you were taught and checked by masters, you can be assured that your practice is correct.
In our school where our students can generate an energy flow, even if they make mistakes, they don't worry about them or intellectualize on them. Their chi flow from the practice will be more than sufficient to clear away any harmful effects the mistakes may have caused.
I would like to add that these three rules of practice are applicable to our students who are able to generate an energy flow. It does not apply to other students who do not have this great advantage of chi flow as a safety precaution.
As you continue to practice and enjoy it, you will naturally build up enough energy to overcome cold or prevent it. A very common feed-back from our students is that their colds and fevers which they used to have before are remarkably reduced as they progress. Eventually they do not succumb to any illness at all.
Studnets performing the "Merry-Go-Round" at a regional chi kung course in Spain
Question 7
I would appreciate your guidance in a health related matter. It really is the major one for me. Smaller issues have disappeared. I can't remember being sick for the last year and a half. Whenever I felt an onset of, say, flu, I practiced, went to bed with some sour sensations around my body, and woke up feeling fine.
The major outstanding health problem I have relates to my digestive system. Could you please offer me some advice as to how I might overcome this problem? These are the problems I've had with my digestive system:
- I feel bloated/ windy all the time; so much so that there is often some pain.
- I digest my food very quickly. That is, I feel like going to the toilet straight after eating.
- I cannot eat certain foods, particularly dairy products, without feeling sick immediately.
- I feel sick to my stomach if the weather changes dramatically.
— Warren, South Africa
Answer
Here are my answers to your problems.
- I feel bloated/ windy all the time; so much so that there is often some pain.
Practicing "Merry-Go-Round" will help to overcome this problem directly.
Practice about 10 times each session, once in the morning and once in the evening or at night. Turn your body a big circle to one side 5 times, then 5 times to the other side. As you breathe in gently while turning half a circle, gentle visualize good cosmic energy flowing into you, and as you breathe out with your mouth wide open while turning the other half a circle, gently visualize chi massaging your stomach, and simultaneosuly breathing out negaive wind, pain and whatever rubbish from your stomach.
Then jump to have your feet togeher and enjoy a vigorous chi flow. Generally don't think of anything while enjoying the flow, but once a while you may gently thnk and feel that you are free from the bloated wind and pain.
- I digest my food very quickly. That is, I feel like going to the toilet straight after eating.
Don't take a full meal each time you eat. Eat to just about 70% or 80% full. Go to the toilet every morning after washing up, and try your best to abstain from going to the toilet after food. It may be a bit difficult at first, but you will succeed eventually.
- I cannot eat certain foods, particularly dairy products, without feeling sick immediately.
Eat just a very little bit of food which might make you sick. But the amount you eat is so little that it does not make any difference whether you eat it or not. Assure yourself that this very little bit of food will not make any difference. Feel fine.
Repeat the procedure the next day, but just increase the amount by a very little bit. The increase is so litle that it does not really make any difference even if you had not increase it. Feel fine.
Repeat the procedure for one week. The increase per day is so small, that it does not make a difference on a day-to-day basis. But there is a difference between the first day and the last day of the week. But still the amount of food on the seventh day, though more than on the first day, is little compared to an amount that could make you sick. In otherwords, you still feel fine despite taking this amount of food on the seventh day.
For the next week, just take this amount of food every day without increasing it. You give your body system a full seven days to get used to this amount of food. Everyday feel fine, and remind your mental system that you can handle the food well.
For the third week, increase the amount by a very small bit like you did in the first week. Repeat the procedure, i.e. increase by a very small amount everyday for one week, then stay with the same amount everyday for another week. In this way you will be able to take the food and stay healthy in an amount that previously could make you sick. Depend on your progress, it may take a few weeks or a few months.
- I feel sick to my stomach if the weather changes dramatically.
When you notice that the weather is about to change dramatically, practice any chi kung exercise to have a gentle chi flow. While enjoying the chi flow, assure yourself that your flowing chi, even when you have completed the exercise and are engaged in other activieis, will keep your healthy despite any dramatic weather change.
Question 8
I've had these problems since I was a teenager. They have been significant in my life. I'm not even sure what having a healthy digestive system involves. But I feel that the solution is in chi kung, rather than consulting a dietician. Siheng Anthony, Siheng Andrew, and Sijeh Joan have all overcome seemingly severe problems. I think that I can do the same -- if I can match their dedication.
Answer
You are certainly right in your observation. You will overcome this problem with your chi kung practice.
Your blockage is karmic. Some thing happened in one or more of your previous lives that caused this blockage. If it were an ordinary blockage, you would have cleared it long ago.
Karmic blockage can be cleared too. And you don't even have to know what caused the blockage, karmic or otherwise. Regular chi flow will clear blockage. If it is karmic, it will take a longer time to clear, but it will be cleared nevertheless. In some literature, it is refered to as erasing bad karma.
In Western terms, the blockage is in your spirit or soul. In modern terms, the blockage is in your memory or mind. High-level chi kung like ours purifies the spirit, or clear the mind. When your spirit is pure and your mind clear, your problem will go away as a matter of course.
Knowing that it is a karmic problem will speed up the process of recovery. You can also speed up the recovery by cultivating good karma. Do a good deed every day, not matter how small or insigbifcant it may seem to other people, like smiling to yourself and saying an encouraging word to a friend.
LINKS
Selected Reading
- Can We Learn Chi Kung and Kungfu from Books, Videos or an E-Mail?
- Abstinence from Sex?
- Tiger Claw in Grappling and Kungfu
- The Weakness of Double Yang
- Combat Applications of the Shaolin Flower Set