ARE YOU USING A RADICAL DIFFERENT METHOD THAN THE TRADITIONAL ROUTE?

Intensive Chi Kung Course

Intensive Chi Kung Course

Question

As your intensive course can complete everything in 5 days, are you using a radically different method that side-steps the traditional route? It seems that accumulating cosmic energy in the dan tian is itself a long and arduous process. Would it be correct to say that in the course, I will learn how to accumulate, but the amount I actually accumulate will depend on how much I continue to practice?

— Leong, Australia

Answer

My Intensive Chi Kung Course covers five days, but the actual training takes only three days, with the first day and the last day for arrival and departure. It does not complete everything in the sense that all important qigong exercises like Small Universe, One-Finger Zen and Golden Bell are taught. In fact I teach only three fundamental exercises in the course, namely “Lifting the Sky", “Pushing Mountains” and “Carrying the Moon”.

But the course is complete in the sense that a fresh beginner can acquire in the course sufficient skills and techniques that enable him not only to have good health, vitality, longevity, mental freshness and spiritual joy, but also to become a real master and to attain the highest achievement if he continues to practice consistently on his own! The course is really amazing.

Many people, who are used to measuring their progress by the number of techniques they have learnt, would wonder how advanced can one get with just three techniques. They make a big, common mistake in the practice of any art. They confuse techniques with skills, and also confuse techniques with results.

They forget that techniques are means, not ends. They also forget that they practice qigong not because they want to perform qigong techniques, but because they want the results the techniques can bring, like overcoming pain and illness, having vitality and mental freshness to enjoy daily work and play, and to experience happiness and inner peace. How well they will enjoy the results will depend on how skillfully they practice the techniques.

We may relate techniques, skills and results respectively to a person's profession, performance efficiency, and abilities to satisfy needs and aspirations. Doing well in one profession is better than doing poorly in many professions. You work in your profession not for the work itself, but for the income with which you can satisfy your needs and aspirations, like buying your daily meals, going for a holiday or providing your children with quality education.

While the type of profession determines the kind of income you will get, another very important determining factor is how skillful you are in your profession. A lawyer, for example, generally earns more money than a security guard, but depending on their skills some lawyers earn three thousand dollars a month whereas others earn three hundred thousands. Similarly, choosing a right technique will give desirable results, but if you perform the technique skillfully your results can be many times better than those of someone who performs the same technique poorly.

The onus of my Intensive Chi Kung Course is on developing skills. The techniques, which by themselves are the best among a rich repertoire of Shaolin qigong techniques, are means to develop important qigong skills. The skills taught in the course are quite fantastic, ranging from the most basic to very high levels, such as

Those who have no experience of such skills will be unable to appreciate what these skills are, though they know the dictionary meanings of the skills. Some will interpret the meanings differently from what we intend them to be. For example, when we say “clearing emotional and mental blockage” we mean exactly what we say. Someone who has grief locked in his lungs may cry out loudly during a self-manifested qi movement, after which he distinctly feels relieved. But those without such an experience may also claim that their qigong exercise do the same thing as a matter of fashion, even though they only perform external qigong forms and do not really know what emotional cleansing is.

Understandably, many people may not believe that it is possible to acquire all these skills in a three-day course. What they believe or not believe is their business, and I have no intention to convince them. In fact, they have to convince me that they are deserving to attend my courses. But all my courses are satisfaction-guaranteed. Anyone not satisfied with any of my courses need not pay the course fees.

Regarding my Intensive Chi Kung Courses over the years, only four persons, who registered as a family, asked for a refund — but for a different reason, they did not understand English, and my course was conducted in English.

Hence my answer to your question whether I use a radically different method that side-steps the traditional route of hard work for a very long time to obtain desirable results, is a qualified yes. Yes, because the way I teach is very different, it is a transmission of skills from heart to heart, rather than merely giving instructions.

Moreover, I have a clear understanding of my students' needs and aspirations, a clear vision of what is the best I can teach them, and a clear direction of how I can help them to arrive at their destination. Honestly, I have never come across any other teacher in the history of qigong who has helped his students to achieve so much and to such a high level in qigong within such a short time! Twenty years ago, I myself would not believe this was possible.

Nevertheless, although I have made modifications to suit existing conditions, the method is not entirely my invention. The techniques and the skills I teach have been passed down the centuries by masters. I inherit their treasure and pass it to my students. Because of different conditions, past masters took many years to pass the treasure to selected disciples, but I take only a few days.

The standard of attainment is different. The standard of past practitioners was much higher than that of myself and my students. But the techniques and the types of skills were the same. For example, to develop internal force a Shaolin monk might take three years using “Pushing Mountains” like we do today. His internal force could be used to break a pile of bricks, but ours is sufficient only for breaking through some energy blockage.

The methodology of transmitting skills from heart to heart has been used by Zen masters throughout the centuries in the past. Their efficiency and achievement were beyond comparison. They helped their students to attain enlightenment in an instant. I merely help students to generate energy flow to overcome pain and illness, or at higher levels to expand their sprit to experience joy and inner peace.

The above is taken from Question 1 of July 2004 Part 1 of the Selection of Questions and Answers.

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