Rodney J Owen
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Returning to Gongfu

2/29/2020

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​The essence of our practice is the nurturing and accumulation of gong.  Gong, as defined by Yang, Laoshi is "constant improvements in balance, coordination, agility, and power through the accretion and replenishment of Qi,..."(1).  There are, of course, lots of practices we utilize to accomplish this.  For the practitioner of Chen-style Taijiquan, the crucial component in this is Yilu, or the first form.  In Chen Taiji, the Yilu is considered the Gongfu form.  This should be the form to which we return again and again, the most practiced, as this is where we develop and reinforce basic skill and gong.

It is necessary to understand and apply this, as we have so many basic practices that are also important.  It is important, crucial even, to focus on the basic gong-jin: Qigong, Silk Reeling (Chansi-jin), Neigong, agility training, strength training, and meditation.  But for the practitioner who has advanced to the stage of first form, training this on a very regular (daily if possible) basis is just as crucial as it builds on the gong-jin, but also adds other criteria that are important for advancement down the path of Gongfu, such as coordination, fan-song, ling-jin, technique, cognitive training, et al.

As we progress, we begin to learn new and more complicated forms, which along with constant focus on basic gong-jin, will takes to depths previously unimagined.  But we must return again and again to Yilu to build on and reinforce these skills.  Further, we can always go deeper with and build on Yilu, no matter how long we have been training.  That is the beauty of this practice, there is no end, only constant adjustment and improvement.

Note:  (1) Yang, Yang.  Taijiquan: The Art of Nurturing, The Science of Power; 2005.  pp. 14
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Reversing The Process of Manifestation

2/19/2020

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The process of awakening is a process of reversal.  By awakening, I am referring to the discovery of our true selves, physically, energetically, and spiritually.  I am not implying enlightenment, at least as that term is typically construed.  I'm not comfortable with the concept of some "final awakening", "all my troubles are now over", idea which tends to elevate said enlightened one above the rest of us.  It also implies following a "path", typically directed by above-noted enlightened one, sage/guru, that is eventually complete with an ending, a goal--that no one except our overly-referenced and revered sage/guru ever reaches.  I don't ever intend to convey such thinking with my choice of words.  I do believe we can change--a lot--and can wake up to a previously unknown and immensely rewarding sense of life and being.  That is our inherent nature.  By awakening I mean the process of self-discovery which inevitably leads to better health, less stress, easier living, and a clearer conception of higher consciousness.  As I have said countless times: there is no means to an end--it's all means.

The process of reversal is based on ancient paradigms of cosmic manifestation, for the creation of universes, our world, mankind.  If we look at these paradigms metaphysically, we can reverse the path through intentional physical and internal practices to return to the Source.  This is the process of yoga, tantra, Daoism, and many related shamanic and martial practices.

What I don't advocate is getting bogged down in the original paradigms themselves.  For lack of a better way to say it, these are metaphorical explications of a process that is inexplicable.  In the end, there are no words to adequately describe this process, but ancient sages of various cultures have found tools of language to help make it clearer, as long as you understand they are in the end poetic in nature.  For our purposes, that matters as we reverse the process, much more than understanding the original process.  We don't need to understand the process of manifestation as much as we need to understand the process of awakening.  In short, you don't need to understand nuclear engineering to benefit from the electricity generated from a nuclear power plant.  If you do want to understand the engineering, that's OK too.  It's just not the focus of this teaching.

Does any of this really matter?  Well no, not really.  We can and should just live our lives as they unfold.  Again, I refer to the nuclear engineering comparison above.  However, it is possible to live life on a different level with better health, clearer thinking, higher, clarified energy levels, with spiritual understanding.  To that end, if one is interested in the benefits of esoteric Daoist or yogic practice, then this approach can be helpful.  Below are two links describing different approaches to this process.  Consider these:


​http://www.scholarsage.com/restoring-illumination/

https://in2qi.wordpress.com/2015/01/21/a-microcosmic-view-of-the-sequential-processes-of-cosmic-manifestation/

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