THE THREE GOLDEN RULES OF PRACTICE
The Small Universe
Question
I was overjoyed when you shared a glimpse of chi kung healing at the course. In the past people would come to me, and out of nowhere I would talk about their ailments, and my heart would go out to them and I would think only if there was a way to help them.
After reciting sutras at night an image appeared in my third eye and it was a figure of a yogi in the lotus position with three marks across his forehead and holding a pitchfork with a snake wrapped around him. Sifu, would you suggest that the connections with the symbol of a 'snake' is a warning to become more mindful of my snake like mind, and to be aware of 'Mara' ?
When I was in Malaysia I had a dream where I heard crying and people being swamped by water. I suddenly awoke and knew something was wrong. I sent a text message to Joel to check for tsunami warnings but there was nothing. I also noticed that birds and butterflies were flying in odd directions, and the chi in the air was displaying unusual patterns. Later I discovered through news that there had been a tsunami and an earthquake in Indonesia
I wish to be able to harness this ability and not lose it. Is there a way that I can do this through our Shaolin Wahnam Arts? Is it alright to send a blessing to the suffering people? Is there more I should do to help?
-- Parveen, UK
Answer
Most, if not all, your questions will be answered by following the three golden rules I mentioned above, namely
- Don't Worry.
- Don't Intellectualize.
- Enjoy your practice.
For example, will you become a chi kung healer in future helping other people? Don't worry about it. Don't intellectualize on what will happen if you achieve or not achieve this aspiration. Enjoy your daily practice.
When you have progressed further in your practice, you will be in a right position to decide whether you wish to become a chi kung healer. Worrying or intellectualizing now does not help at all. It only adds to your confusion. But by not worrying and not intellectualizing, and by enjoying your daily practice, you are actually preparing yourself for that decision. And when you have arrived at that point of time, you will have the mental clarity and courage to make a wise decision.
Similarly, don't worry about and intellectualize on whether your vision of a yogi was a reminder of your being mindful of your snake-like mind, or worry about and intellectualize on how you could harness your ability of pre-monition to help people in distress. Just enjoy your daily practice, and as you progress you will come to a point of time when you can make wise decisions on such matters.
Irrespective of your worrying and intellectualizing, you are in no position now to know for sure that your answers are correct. Not only worrying and intellectualizing are unfruitful and therefore are unnecessary, worse they make you stressful and are detrimental to your progress But by enjoying your daily practice, you will progress to a stage when you can have right answers.
Notwithstanding this, I can give you some wise advice. Practicing high-level chi kung will give us a lot of wonderful benefits, including helping other less fortunate people, but it does not make us become God. In other words, there are many things high-level chi kung practitioners cannot do, one of which is to stop earthquakes and tsunamis.
You did not actually ask me how to harness your chi kung ability to stop earthquakes and tsunamis, you asked me how to harness your ability to see events happening across space and time. I have given you a good answer. Stop worrying, stop intellectualizing, and enjoy your practice. When the time is right, you will develop this ability. Many of our instructors and even students have this ability. But we do not highlight it, and we do not give this development top priority in our training.
If we attain this ability of seeing through space and time, it is wonderful, and we make very sure we will always use this ability for good. If it doesn't come, fine.
We never make attaining miraculous powers an objective or an aim of our training. Our aims are to have good health, vitality, longevity, mental freshness and spiritual joys. In the case of those practicing Shaolin Kungfu or Wahnam Taijiquan, we add combat efficiency. In this way we make our life and the lives of other people meaningful and rewarding. We never set out to save the world or to become champions in tournaments.
Are we being selfish? Of course not. We are being realistic. While we realize our abilities, which are generally higher than what many people have, we also know our limitations. If we can save lives and help others, we certainly would. But when we know that we can't, we would not deceive ourselves and others that we could. We would ask those in need of help to seek other more qualified people.
On the other hand, there may be occasions when we have the ability to help, yet it may not be right for us to help! This involves what we call "heaven's secrets". For example, you may have a vision that someone is going to die in an accident. From the human perspective, you may think you would do him a great service by helping him to avoid the accident. But from the cosmic perspective, you might be doing him a great dis-service. But you can send him a blessing, just like you can send the tsunami and earthquake victims your blessings. It is safe to say it is never wrong to send blessings.
How does one differentiate between human perspective and cosmic perspective? Most people can't, and many do not even believe in cosmic perspective. But how would you, as a Shaolin Wahnam student, develop cosmic perspective and awareness? A good answer is "Don't worry, don't intellectualize, and enjoy your practice". Some people may find the answer trite, but it is a good and fruitful answer. You already have much cosmic perspective and awareness, especially after the Small Universe Course. Just continue your daily practice.
How do you know you have arrived at a stage when you can make wise decisions regarding human and cosmic perspectives, or regarding other important matters? As a prosaic analogy, it is like asking how do you know when a mango is ripe enough for you to eat. You will know when the time is right. In other words, you will know when the mango is ripe, or when you can make wise decisions. Of course those who don't have a mango, or don't have a high-level art to practice, will never know regardless of how much they worry and intellectualize.
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