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Zhao Bi Chen (趙避塵, 赵避尘) is famous primarily because he is one of the first practitioners to write a comprehensive book (Xing Ming Fa Jue Ming Zhi, 性命法訣明指, 性命法诀明指) describing in detail the methods and practices of Internal Alchemy. He tries [...]]]> Question: What is Zhao Bi Chen’s system of Internal Alchemy? Where did it come from?

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Zhao Bi Chen (趙避塵, 赵避尘) is famous primarily because he is one of the first practitioners to write a comprehensive book (Xing Ming Fa Jue Ming Zhi, 性命法訣明指, 性命法诀明指) describing in detail the methods and practices of Internal Alchemy. He tries to describe the practice in relatively plain language, so that your average person (with a teacher) could understand it. It is important to realize, however, that the book is still quite difficult as written words can only go so far to explain this very esoteric practice.

Zhao’s book was translated into English as “Taoist Yoga: Alchemy & Immortality” by Charles Luk (Lu Kuan Yu, 陸寬昱, 陆宽昱), one of the last of a generation of British trained scholars fluent in both Eastern and Western cultures. It is the most complete, publicly available work on Internal Alchemy in the English language. This is not to say that it provides a complete description of Nei Dan (內丹) nor is it suitable as a practice guide without a teacher.

In some regards, Zhao broke with the tradition of secrecy by writing the book. However, it is not believed that he expected someone to learn the practice from the book. Rather he intended the book to be a type of roadmap or check against which a student could measure what he learned from a teacher. Zhao was very much concerned about false teachers, having encountered more than a few, and wanted future students to have a “yardstick.”

Zhao’s system was influenced by several sources. He is considered to have inherited the essence of the Longmen Pai Nei Dan (Bei Zhong, Northern School). He was also influenced by the Wu Liu Pai (itself a Buddhist/Taoist synthesis), Chan Buddhism, and the Nan Pai (Nan Zhong, Southern School). It is worthy of note that the Wu Lu Pai was only one source of Zhao’s teachings with the Longmen Pai probably being the most influential source. In any case, Zhao’s teachings are not, of course, fully described in his book.

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Here is a partial list of our Chinese teachers.

They have all made important contributions in some way but in terms Taoism and Nei Dan, the following are most relevant to your question:

Li Laoshi: Technically from the southern Zhong-Lu school, he was also [...]]]> Question: Could you tell us a little more about your Chinese Internal Alchemy teachers?

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Here is a partial list of our Chinese teachers.

They have all made important contributions in some way but in terms Taoism and Nei Dan, the following are most relevant to your question:

Li Laoshi: Technically from the southern Zhong-Lu school, he was also a synthesizer and a scholar. His knowledge was encyclopedic. He answered a lot of questions and filled in a lot of holes. His teaching is the probably the most significant influence on our cultivation.

He Laoshi: Longmen and Taijimen (a secretive Taoist sect, not to be confused with some modern groups that use that appellation). An iconoclast, despite being the abbot of a Taoist temple, he prided himself on never having worn Taoist robes. His use of Qigong for healing and foundation building was a strong influence on our teaching. He organized and explained the principles of using Qigong for healing very thoroughly and systematically.

Chen Laoshi: Wudang Longmen (a branch of the Northern Quanzhen School) He taught a great number of classical Qigong forms, but we had greatest affinity with the Taiyi Qigong material. He taught a system of Nei Dan that most closely resembles Zhao Bi Chen’s system.

We also learned a system of martial alchemy. You can read a little background on it here.

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The Taoist say there are 3600 doors and 72 more side doors, but only one Elixir.

The Buddhists say there are 84,000 methods.

This is because each person is different and will have affinity for different types of practices.

The Internal Alchemy [...]]]> Question: Why are there so many different schools and techniques in Internal Alchemy? Which one is best?

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The Taoist say there are 3600 doors and 72 more side doors, but only one Elixir.

The Buddhists say there are 84,000 methods.

This is because each person is different and will have affinity for different types of practices.

The Internal Alchemy teachings usually consist of three parts. Collectively they serve as a guide to inform your understanding and practice.

1. Dao: Usually available to anyone who is interested.

2. Fa (Methods): Generally available to most students, although occasionally certain methods are considered secrets

3. Shu (Techniques): Rarely written down and when they are, certain key parts are usually omitted. These secrets are reserved for indoor students.

The question that is often asked is “Why are there secrets?” The most basic answer is for all the reasons anyone keeps secrets. But one of main reasons is because the specific techniques and methods can be varied by the teacher to suit the unique needs of the individual students.

For this reason, it is hard to say “there is only one best method/technique/school”. Not that it keeps people from saying that anyway…

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Internal Alchemy does not rely on the theory-proof model as it is commonly understood in the West. It is accepted by its serious practitioners that the methods and practices of Nei Dan were empirically validated by previous masters. For this reason, [...]]]> Question: I’ve read the theory of Internal Alchemy and Immortality. How can anyone prove it?

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Internal Alchemy does not rely on the theory-proof model as it is commonly understood in the West. It is accepted by its serious practitioners that the methods and practices of Nei Dan were empirically validated by previous masters. For this reason, the teacher’s role is not to prove, but rather to transmit. It is the student’s responsibility to validate the training for himself. That is, you are not required to believe it to be true, but to practice the methods and experience them for yourself. Neither belief not proof is required, only realization.

This is a key point. One of the things that can quickly alienate a traditional Chinese teacher is a student showing up expecting them to prove, for example, that it is possible to become a Tian Xian (Celestial Immortal.) For many teachers, they are not there to “prove” anything, but to transmit the principles and techniques. It is expected that the student has already decided that they accept, for example, that it is possible to become a Tian Xian, and simply wants to know how.

Most of the good teachers do not, however, expect you to accept what they say on blind faith. They expect you to be committed to your practice and thereby validate the method for yourself. There are levels of understanding which are based upon the student’s commitment/success in practice.

All a teacher can do is teach. You have to do your own practice.

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I understand that you are inquiring about the specific techniques of the Building the Foundation stage. I appreciate that you limited your question to that part of the practice. It is probably the stage of the practice that could [...]]]> Question: How can I start practicing Nei Dan? I am very interested in the foundation building practices.

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I understand that you are inquiring about the specific techniques of the Building the Foundation stage. I appreciate that you limited your question to that part of the practice. It is probably the stage of the practice that could most readily be described in writing, although it would take at least a small book to do it justice. To put it in perspective, we take three days to introduce the first stage of Building the Foundation (Ju Ji) in our Internal Alchemy course. This is only after preparing them with three days of basics and nearly a year of personal practice!

However, it is also important to understand that there is no single answer to your question. That Westerners, as part of our general education and conditioning, expect a single answer to a question is one of the great cultural barriers that has to be crossed in order to understand these practices. You will likely find that each school has a slightly different approach and even within a school there would be variation among teachers and their students.

If you are serious about wanting to study Nei Dan, but do not have a teacher, then the best advice I can give without knowing you would be to establish a diligent Qigong practice of some sort. By diligent I mean daily and committed. A committed daily practice is essential to success in cultivation. There is a saying “Those who start the (Internal Alchemy) practice are as numerous as the hairs on an ox. Those who finish are as rare as the dragon’s horns and phoenix’s feathers.” That is, many people learn it, but few are committed enough to follow through with the practice. If you have a good practice, you will have a good foundation to learn Internal Alchemy when the time, place, and people are right.

It is important to note that I made no assumption about the level of your experience or of those reading this topic. The Foundation practices are where most everyone new to Nei Dan will start. Having prior experience with meditative and movement arts, as well as language skills are all very useful, but in Nei Dan, that is only the starting point.

If you are simply interested in learning about the general principles of this stage, you might take a look at Fabrizio Pregado’s translation of Wang Mu Foundations of Internal Alchemy: The Taoist Practice of Neidan

It provides a rather detailed discussion of the principles and terminology. Although the texts in question are from Nan Pai, other schools will use them as well. You will also find his translations of Zhang Boduan  (張伯端)  Awakening to Reality: The “Regulated Verses” of the Wuzhen pian, a Taoist Classic of Internal Alchemyuseful as well.

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The terms Superior Virtue and Inferior Virtue have, as do most other Alchemical terms, multi-variant meanings depending upon the context. Previously, [...]]]> Question: I read Zhao Bi Chen’s book on Internal Alchemy and came across the idea of the Virgin Body. Does the term Virgin Body related to purely physiological activities? How is this related to virtue?

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The terms Superior Virtue and Inferior Virtue have, as do most other Alchemical terms, multi-variant meanings depending upon the context. Previously, we were talking about “Instant Realization” as it relates to Wu Wei and You Wei. Superior Virtue and Inferior Virtue have a specific meaning here as it relates to Xian Gong and Dao Gong.

When you take Superior Virtue and Inferior Virtue with regard to the early stages of Nei Dan, we are talking about the Virgin Body (Tong Zi) in contrast to the broken body. The key point is that in this context we are still using the terms to discuss the methods of Xian Gong.

Zhao Bi Chen and other authors of some of the Nei Dan texts use the Hexagram Qian and Kun to describe the normal process of life. Qian is made up of the Unbroken Yang bars and Kun of Yin bars (broken Yang bars). Aging is modeled in 8 year terms for men and 7 year terms for women.

The 8 year cycle (for males) is simply a heuristic. It varies greatly by the individual, but provides a relatively simple explanation for the process of growth, decline, and death and how it is reversed. When discussing the Virgin Body the key point to understand is that we were distinguishing between the youth with “unbroken Yang lines” and the adult with “broken Yang lines”.

Although I am not certain that it is fair, Zhao Bi Chen is sometimes criticized as having an overly physiological bias. The distinction between the virgin body and broken body implies more than just physiological processes. It can also refer to the overall constitution and nature. Therefore, sexual activity is not the only thing that can “break” the body, if you will. The 10 Excesses and the emotions (5, 6 or 7 thieves depending upon the school) can do the same thing. These factors generally become aggravated in puberty, as anyone who knows teenagers will confirm!

Second, remember that, while most of the alchemical texts were written from the male perspective, practically speaking it holds true for females as well, although the specific details will vary somewhat.

What this means is in application is there are probably few people, especially Westerners, who would qualify as Tongzi. Almost everyone will need to start with building the foundation. An exception could be the case of a child who has an affinity with cultivation (especially if the child has a calm, untroubled spirit, without a lot of emotional “pollution.”) In this case, if you can get them started in the practice before they become sexually active, they could progress faster.

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This reminds me of the instant vs. gradual debate in Buddhism, although I have rarely heard Taoist practitioners arguing about it. Many [...]]]> Question: I have heard that there are various stages of realization in Internal Alchemy 100, 10 month, 9 years. On the other hand I have heard that it happens instantly. Which one is it?

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This reminds me of the instant vs. gradual debate in Buddhism, although I have rarely heard Taoist practitioners arguing about it. Many of the Taoist practitioners I have met accept that the moment of realization is “instant” but it takes a lot of hard work “Kung Fu” to get there.

The above quoted numbers are merely a heuristic – that is, a general guideline which can vary greatly from person to person depending upon where they start and their own aptitude and dedication to the training. The varied practices expounded by the different schools of Nei Dan may also result in somewhat different models of progression in their training.

As one might imagine the slides were of the children playing together on the playground, going to the library, learning basic [...]]]> I recently attended a function at my daughter’s kindergarten class themed “A Day in the Life of a Kindergartner”. Her teachers put together a slide show with pictures of the class during their daily activities.

As one might imagine the slides were of the children playing together on the playground, going to the library, learning basic skills and all the typical things 21^st century kindergartners do these days

It was great to see my daughter engaged with her classmates through the photos in the slide show. All pretty typical and ordinary stuff that any parent loves to see. Then one very specific slide transitioned into view… it was all eighteen of the children sitting on the floor on their mats cross-legged in an almost lotus position with their eyes closed and their hands resting palms up on their knees.

One of her teacher’s remarked that “The children are now able to sit in silence for up to two minutes after recess and before they start their school day.  The class room is much more peaceful and the children seem to be more cooperative.”

At this point I’m grinning from ear to ear. For you see, last year I was teaching meditation to a group of teachers from this very same school and of course my daughter is blessed with having one of those teachers this year leading her kindergarten class.

So important has the notion of stillness become to these teachers, that they are also using one or two simple Tai Chi moves that I taught them to help settle and ground the kinetic energy of the kindergartners.

What is so remarkable about this? The next time you have eighteen children together in the same room, take the challenge and ask them to close their eyes and sit still for two minutes. Let me know how you make out. This is a gift that these teachers are giving these to kids at such a young age.

For those of us that have come to meditation and the energy arts later in our lives, we know that these treasures require discipline to integrate into our day. Just imagine how it might be if somewhere a kindergarten teacher makes meditation or stillness so ordinary and so matter of fact that it becomes a part of our children’s lives and they are able to settle into it without any resistance. What a gift!! And I am still smiling about it.