Introduction

Traditional Chinese medicine and the Chinese way of nurturing life is based on the principle of supporting the normal and expelling the Pathogenic.

Yi Gong

Awareness is the core of Yi Gong practice. Practicing Yi Gong without awareness is not Yi Gong. If you learn the practice and do not develop your awareness, you have lost the essence of Yi Gong.

Yi is mind. Gong is work, skill, method, effort, efficacy, and achievement. Yi Gong is mind training. It is techniques for awareness development. Through skillful techniques and cultivation of one’s mind, one is capable of reaching self-awakening. Self-healing or the appearance of supernatural powers is side-effects along with the body and mind’s awakening. They are not the ultimate goal for Yi Gong. Nevertheless, training one’s mind is a path to self-awakening. Yi Gong is a process of studying, practicing and harvesting. Realization is the result of that cultivation and self-awakening. Words cannot convey the knowing, the cognition, Gnosis or prajñå.

Lecture Contents include

• Chinese cosmology
• The five agents (or elements) principle and their correspondence with Qigong practice
• Health related aspects: Body, Qi and Blood, and Channels
• Time, Channels (meridians) and organ’s correspondences and relationship with Qigong practice
• Correlation of Emotion and Spontaneous Adjustment Qigong
• Proper diet plays a role in health
• The function and benefits of Spontaneous Adjustment Qigong

Ten Essential Qigong Exercises

Spontaneous Adjustment Qigong

Crucial Points for Practicing Spontaneous Adjustment Qigong

• Maintain your awareness all the time through your practice;
• Empty your mind;
• Do not interfere or guide your movement when your body is spontaneously moving;
• Do not intentionally long for anything to happen;
• Allow body healing to occur on its own sequence and schedule;
• If there is anything that causes you concern for losing your balance, open your eyes slowly or remind yourself to slowdown your movements and then mention don’t move.
• Be natural and at peace with yourself;
• Take enough time for the ending and let the body harmonize itself.

The Benefits of Practicing Spontaneous Adjustment Qigong

• Detoxification
• Improve blood circulation and release blockages
• Increase energy and Increase Immunity
• Develop balance, awareness and intuition
• Restore vitality and enhance health
• Promote longevity and general wellbeing

Contra-indications for Spontaneous Adjustment Qigong:

Opening Channels Exercises

Tapping Qigong

Strike wall with back

Contra-indications:

Indications in general

The best time to practice

For instance, the Bladder channel is the biggest detoxifying channel in the body. According to Chinese medicine, between 3:00-5:00pm, the Bladder channel is maximally active and receives the maximal Qi and Blood flow. If one wants to practice for detoxifying, between 3:00-5:00pm would be the best time for practice. In the same way, if one wants to strengthen the Kidneys or treat the Kidney deficiency, 5:00-7:00pm would be the desired time to practice.

Of course, there are many inner and outer aspects that one should consider, in order to make practice suit one’s lifestyle and schedule. Also different types of Qigong have different requirements on its time frame of practice for achieving its goal. In general, the time of yin-yang transition or most balance in nature is a good time to practice (around noon, midnight, 6am or 6pm). Nevertheless, the bio-Zishi (when you feel the strong electric energy current flowing) is always a precious moment for enhancing one’s energy.

Most of all, to select a proper time for our practice, we need to consider the environment that we are living in, our own convenient schedule, availability, and our own bio-time. So the best time for practice is the time your body and mind can be both devoted and engaged with practice. Avoid a situation where you have to hurry to finish your practice, in order to carry on your next commitment.

Time, Channels (Meridians), and Organs’ Correspondence Table

Teaching Story

There was a Siddha who possessed great psychic powers. During a winter day on the mountain, he encountered a very heavy rainstorm. Rain was pouring down and it was very cold. He did not have an umbrella or any kind of shelter. He came upon a cave and intended to run in to escape the rain. However, there were two people who ran into the cave in front of him and there was no room left for another person. In reaction to the situation, he shouted to them that the mountain was going to collapse. The two people in the cave immediately ran out despite the downpour outside. When they ran out, the Siddha ran in to claim the shelter. As soon as he ran in, the mountain collapsed. He had forgotten his highly developed powers caused his words to manifest instantly. His words buried him in the mountain and he lost his life because of his own power.

Of what benefit is power without wisdom?

For Sharing

01/10/2012 on Facebook

---for those who are dedicating themselves on the path of enlightenment

Foreword

During my last visit to China in October and November, I heard about how difficult it is to attend the retreat for one million chants in ten days at the East Forest Monastery or Donglin Temple. The East Forest Monastery is the first Pure Land monastery, built by Hui Yuan, the first Pure Land patriarch in 384 A.D. People believe that to practice there it is easier to accomplish such a difficult task because of tremendous power and blessings from all great patriarchs will give them strength to go through this retreat. Therefore, the waiting list is one to two years long, since the monastery only hosts this retreat ten times a year. I thought how popular it is to have such a long waiting period, and why does only one monastery offer such a great practice. Why do so many renunciants have to travel to Donglin Temple in order to accomplish it? Is their own temple not blessed? In the same way, why can’t lay people do it at home by themselves? You only need a mouth and a pure heart.

Of course, I understand how difficult that effort would be. In the past couple of years I have chanted a lot. It has become a part of my daily life. I constantly chant whatever I do. It reflects my Yigong training in awareness. When my master gave me a quota for daily numbers, I start to count. At the beginning, I only did just over two thousand per hour. Gradually I increased that to four thousand and then six thousand is the most that I can do in an hour. Imagine six thousand chants per hour, I will need 16.7 hours per day at the same speed without interruption in order to accomplish 100,000 per day and one million in ten days.

After I returned from China on the 16th of November, 2011, taking action to practice the great perfection chanting – one million in ten days had been in my mind day and night quit often. This traditional Chinese Pure Land Buddhist practice was very popular during Sui (581-618 A.D) and Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). After over 1,400 years, it is now reviving in China. It is not the issue of how hard it will be or can I finish it, but when is the best time for it. I know I definitely want to get it done before my next year Bodhi Light retreat I. Can I wait that long? Or can I get it done before the New Year?

I shared my ideal with my friend of wanting to do this retreat myself at home. She said that I cannot do that. You have a duty to your work (she means my healing works). It cannot be stopped. Also, she said that it is very difficult to do it by oneself. In the monastery, there is so much energy supported by past patriarchs and dharma protectors to help you to achieve your goal. I said, I have Bodhisattvas and Celestial Masters with me all the time at home, I lack for nothing. I remember that my younger brother told me that he tried to apply for a retreat of Chan-Tea meditation a year ago in a different monastery, but it was denied because of his age. The retreat is for college students in their 20s. They said at age 50, your energy, vitality or strength is not compatible with youngsters. You cannot be in a group with them. Maybe someday, when we have a senior group, you may join. He was very disappointed… Learning that external conditions dominate the internal path for most people, I feel it’s even more important to show the world it should be the other way around. You change the environment, not the environment changes you. Adding this little flavor into my retreat, which I don’t have to wait for anyone to notify me that we have a space for you now, or you are not qualified because of your age, I feel so blessed to make an example. Yes, I can. The retreat became more meaningful. Not because I want to prove to anyone that I can do it without going to a monastery or that at my age of over 50 I’m not weaker than any youngsters. But I truly want to make this effort as a reminder to myself that it’s never too late to start anything and never to take a break in my practice because of age or because I am a teacher now. I will always be a student until I reach full enlightenment.

Checking my schedule, I decided to do it before the New Year. The holidays are the busiest time for most people, but free for me, priority, priority and priority. After I finished my healing work on two overseas patients and the last online healing work for a European patient as I promised, I started my retreat on December 18th. It gave me one day for preparation of making some food for my retreat as self-support.

On the 17th, my friend sent me a reflection from a nun who had just finished her retreat at the Donglin monastery, which gave me a good review of how it feels. When I read that she finished her million chants in 7 days, and she did 200 chants of “Na Mo A Mi Tuo Fo” per minute. It surprised me. She doubled my speed. How would anyone chant that fast. So I started to try one minute chanting myself to see how fast I could go. The result astonished me with 223. I started to doubt myself. Is this number accurate? Or is my hand faster than my chant (I was using a digital counter)? I started to ask my celestial master whether this is possible. I was told that of course it is possible. It is not because of my personal ability, but because of blessings and support from all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Dharma protectors… and they are now throwing flowers on me…

I prepared my retreat room, cooked some mixed vegetables to last for four days, a few tea eggs and some drinks, counting devices, and bought some flowers for an offering. I got a haircut and took a shower to clear myself to honor this holy practice. I went down to my retreat room at 8:30pm to turn a new page in my practice. I told my husband, unless it’s a case of life and death, don’t interrupt my retreat.

I spent a half hour to write some notes and went to bed at 9:00pm hoping to have a good sleep before starting my retreat in the early morning. I had not gotten much sleep the previous day since my last healing session for Europe was 12:00 midnight-1:00 am my time, in order to get best result for the patient in his morning time. I normally go to bed at 10:00pm and sleep follows right away. After this high energy work and mind activity it was hard for me to sleep. That evening, I was still having a hard time getting to sleep. Maybe I was too excited about the retreat. I looked at my clock every half hour to an hour. Finally, deciding not to waste my time looking at the clock. Since I could not sleep, I decided to get up early and begin practice.

At 2:00am on December 18th 2011, I started my journey for awakening.

Student: (1/11/2011 on Facebook)

Sifu, please continue to share your thoughts with us. At the least it continues to inspire me.

I tried "Na Mo A Mi Tuo Fo" or "Namo Amitabho" and yes at first its like mind is guiding the chanting... and at some point it takes over itself the count going very high per second. I didn’t try to keep the count rather keep presence and chanting.

Sifu: (1/12/2012 on Facebook)

I appreciate that some see the value in what I have shared and want more. It will take some time for me to put my notes together. In short, what I want to say is that it is not difficult to accomplish one million chants in ten days. I completed over 1.6 million chants and 1212 full prostrations in these ten days. The most difficult thing to do is on the twelfth day, doing 24 hours walking chanting. In these 24 hours you can only have one meal and water or maybe you can drink one time soy bean milk, but no tea or coffee. Eating is not a big issue, but with the full intensity and the maximum concentration, chanting and walking without rest is the most difficult task. I did 252,484 chants and 120 full prostrations in these 24 hours. It showed me my true face and reflects every word that my master said to me about being human.

I encourage everyone to try it yourself, since it is only one day. If your excuse is that you don’t have time, or if you cannot even take a one day off for yourself, you have no life. Because you will not know yourself, you can forget about your longing for self-realization. It is just your empty word dissolving in the empty space. In fact, it really doesn’t matter how far you can go, but you can really test your strength and know how much your words, or your self-righteousness or your beliefs have any value when you cannot conquer 24 hours. I leave this experience for you to discover by yourself.

Sifu: (1/14/2012 on Facebook)

Tradition and Priorities

I’d like to share some thoughts on this topic that popped up in my mind during my 10 day retreat. At the time, I didn’t allow myself to be dragged into any further thinking but kept returning my mind to my chanting.

Now it is good time to share my thoughts about this topic with those true spiritual seekers who have a goal for their path.

In Chinese tradition, the great teaching is to study individual cases. The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine is all about individual case study. In Buddhism, all sutras but one, the Amitabha Sutra, were taught by the Buddha to answer people’s questions. I grew up with such a tradition and know how valuable it is, so what I am sharing with you will always be involved with individual cases. Therefore, please don’t take anything personally if some case is yours or related with yours or similar to yours. I don’t take anything personally. I hope you all, whoever is listening, do so as well. It is all phenomena to me. In fact, a good student can really change their Karma and turn things around by right thinking. For instance, without your case, I probably will not mention something that would benefit a lot of people including yourself. So consider your case is a contribution or generosity to the world. That merit we call Yin merit or virtue. The Yin in here is not negative or darkness, but not under “sunlight” (Yang) so not everyone knows about it. That is considered the highest merit or virtue.

Recently, someone asked me about my online consultation. When I told him about my fees, it became not so pleasant to him. “It seems to me that there is no way I can find a daoist teacher in the traditional sense,” he responded. I said, “You are asking to find a daoist teacher in the traditional sense. Which traditional sense do you mean? Free teaching? I have so many teachings on my website in the Q & A section that is free to access. I haven't seen any ready student that knows the value of teaching and is willing to follow. Today, in our time it is not a good teacher that is difficult to find, but a ready student is rare to see.”

I would like to take this opportunity to share with you all about the tradition. Every culture has a tradition. Have you ever thought that a tradition comes with the territory? Why does each country have its own tradition? It is like each person has their own Karma, you get what you give. In the same way, each culture provides the fundamental ground for that tradition to arise.

Chinese culture is based on the five basic virtues (kindness, justice, good manners, wisdom and honesty), five cardinal human relationships (relationships between ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife, between brothers and between friends) and filial piety. Traditionally (not today), no teacher would ask for money in exchange for their teachings, whether it is kung fu or Taoism or anything else, because no one would try to take advantage of the kindness of their teacher or anyone else, because it is opposite from the five basic virtue as a human being and it is not the right thing to do.

Starting with the word Sifu (Shi Fu). It is composed of two words, teacher and father. It means to be your teacher one day shall be for a lifetime treated as your father. That is the meaning of Sifu in the sense of respect.

In the West, what I have experienced, not that I care (when in Rome, do as the Romans do), but to share my experience of the difference, people, who want to study with you, call you by name. Jenny Lamb or Jenny is pretty respectful of you. Often you don’t even have a name when people write to you and don’t even sign who the writer is.

I never called any of my teachers’ names directly. Not only me. Any students in China will not do so because of the cultural manner and education. Respect is like a secret it can decode the knowledge you have learned. Without that, no matter how good a spiritual shopper you are, how well you look, you will be empty handed from one life to another. It is not your teacher that wants to keep the secret from you. It is that the knowledge itself will not convey to you or you will not understand what the knowledge contains because you do not respect it. Attitude, attitude, attitude!

Did I have to pay my teachers for my study? Here is my life story to share with you.

I started study with my Kungfu Sifu when I was twelve and left him at age 17 when I left home. My teacher never asked me for money. Did I pay for his kindness? At a young age, I was very good at hand crafts such as crocheting and knitting. My Sifu’s wife always asked me to crochet this or that she wanted for her home or to knit sweaters for their kids. I did everything that she asked me to do with honor that they liked my work and I could repay my gratitude to my Sifu. My parents always prepared gifts for me to take to Sifu for every big Chinese holiday. Not the gifts like here people give, but the best that we could afford. At the time, we didn’t have a Martial arts school. We just went to a park to practice on our own after my Sifu showed us a form.

As soon as I became a champion in Wushu (Chinese martial arts) in my province, I started to teach my Sifu’s students and his children for nothing but honor. I never thought that they should give gifts or anything. Later on, when my knowledge went beyond my teacher, I shared everything that I learned from school or other teachers. After I started to work as a teacher and have an income, it became my duty (not my parents) to continue to make offers to my Sifu. No matter where I was, whenever I returned to my parents’ home, the first thing I did is put down my luggage and visit my Sifu with gifts. After I left the country, my parents continued to bring gifts to my Sifu every big Chinese holiday for me until my Sifu passed away. When I heard my Sifu passed away, I asked one of my Buddhist teachers to do a liberation ritual for my Sifu with the best monetary offer I could afford. My Rinpoche did not ask me for anything, but I offered anyway, not in the sense of how much his work was worth, but how much my Sifu meant to me.

With one of my Qigong teachers I studied with, I began by sending him all my life savings, which was 6 months of my salary as a college teacher and left me only 15 yuan (US$2) and some food coupons with half a month to go till my next pay check. I invited him to come to my home to teach me. I didn’t even know what he knew and how much he knew, whether it is something that I wanted or not. I just had a good intuition that he had a lot of knowledge and that I wanted to study with him. Offering him all I had was not to buy his secret teaching, because dharma cannot be bought, but to pay for his acceptance and his time from the depth of my heart. The Chinese used to say, it takes ten years to grow a tree and a hundred years to bring up a generation of good men. I believe that my teacher’s training me is much more effort. Not like here where people expect you to prove your ability before they’ll consider paying you for your teaching or healing.

One of my Taoist teachers lived in Hong Kong. I moved to Hong Kong for three years in order to be close to him for my studies. During this time, when my teacher was sick and dying in a hospital intensive care room, he asked for my help. I had no second thoughts but directly transferred my life force to him. About 13 years later, when I was living in Australia studying, he passed away. I did 49 days liberation ritual for him. I did not even do that many days for my father when he passed away.

For my Yigong teacher, after I had the ceremony and empowerment from him, I was completely broke. Everything I possessed was dumped into the ocean by his request, detaching myself from any worldly possession.

In Chinese tradition, if you go out to eat with your teacher, you will volunteer to pay for the whole bill no matter how many of his friends are at the table, unless your teacher stops you to let somebody else pay for it. Here, when we go out I commonly pay for my students out of generosity, if I don’t just pay for myself. Of course there are some great students not allowing me to do that. In China, no one will ever think about making money from their teacher. It not only disrespects their teacher, it is a disgrace.

Here, students constantly remind you, if they are not asking you directly, how much percentage you should offer them if they help you to set up a teaching. They do not see the value of your teaching changing their life and the access they have when they need your help. Everything is in exchange for something. Not only do they want to wheel and deal, but they expect to get benefits for their friends as well. They want to bring others to the teaching or healing for free so that in future they can have a return favor from them. No wonder they are shopping through all the teachers that one possibly can but still getting nowhere. They have the wrong mindset. If you are silent and not keeping in touch, or not praising your students but pointing out their faults, when they asked for it, they hate your guts or simply no longer wish to study with you anymore, as if a teacher should long for having more students for income. It will never be my case. You can never buy me and I am not easily pleased. I don’t care about your money and I won’t waste my time on those who do not deserve it.

The world is upside down, human’s relationships are upside down and spirituality is upside down. People are blind. If a student is acting with a pure heart, the benefits that he or she receives are immeasurable. The globe will turn around just for him or her. The higher source will be open for him or her to access. Every word I’ve said from my response to student’s questions about readiness are the result of my life experience, not from what I’ve read. When you are ready everything goes your way, even things that you never asked for. This does not mean when you are not ready, you should not make an effort to get yourself there. Everyone has got to start somewhere.

My relationship with my teachers and my contributions to help them to fulfill their wishes is not something that you have a heart for. Every achievement comes with a price. Letting go of your self concern, self centeredness and making a diligent effort to change your life is the price. Frankly speaking, if you understand and truly long for those kinds of traditions, you would be born there. Even if that is not the case, you will still go there to find your roots.

A friend of mine, a Caucasian American in his twenties, went to Nepal to search for spirituality and found a great teacher he wanted to study with, but the teacher was not interested in him. He was still hanging around the monastery year after a year for many years until one day he was sent to a hospital emergency room for Hepatitis B issues. He was dying. On the hospital bed, he told himself, if I survive of this, I will return home. However, unexpectedly his teacher came to visit and told him to get well and come to see him after his recovery. After coming back from the brink of death, his teacher took him to a cave and began to teach him. After spending about twenty years in Nepal, he returned to America and lives ten thousand feet up on a mountain in Colorado doing a solitary retreat year after a year. It is over twenty years now. I think that he is still there. He lives by donations from those who respect him. He saves his money from donations to go to Nepal to visit his old teacher every two years, not for teachings but to be with him in the manner of respect and appreciation. That is a tradition in the path of spirituality. That is the quality and priority for a true spiritual seeker. Complaining about things not going your way will not help to change the fact. Everything comes for a reason.

Priorities:

I will never trade my tradition for money. Someone said to me that he sees why great teachers do not succeed in Business. He respects my dignity. This is a total misunderstanding. It is not because of dignity that I don’t make more money than others. It is because we have a different priority. My priority is to end this cyclic existence and to reach full enlightenment. That is my business with every breath I have to strive for it. Will I succeed? I know for certain when my life ends where I am going. Does everyone? The entire world’s wealth in money cannot buy what I have. I choose to teach to help those who have a common interest with me and drop who do not. I heal to help those who are making an effort to help themselves as a priority and drop who are not. Why should I make it my priority to help those who do not have a priority to help themselves? Life is making a choice. I respect other’s choices and respect karma.

The correct priority is the basic element for any success. We all have an equal opportunity to be successful. Why do some succeed and some not? Check your priorities. Look at your life. People have a budget for everything, food, clothing, education, house, car, vacation, travel, hobbies, entertainment, clubs, communication equipment, retirement, health insurance, life insurance, house insurance, etc. Who has a budget for their spiritual path? Maybe it is just what you have leftover in your last reserves, if you even had a budget for it. How can you then expect, when all your other priorities are filled, that you want spirituality to be on the top list of your successes? There is nothing wrong with putting your priorities on something that you care most about, but don’t complain that you don’t have money to find the right teacher, or to take a class, or a seminar, or a retreat, or to help yourself to heal your problems. It is not your priority. Accept your choice.

An action is worth a thousand words. I often have people who contact me to help with their emergency health issues or a lifetime illness or a life changing decision and need advice, acting like it cannot wait, and they have to be helped immediately. But when I tell them I charge for my service, they disappear as fast as they come. You have a chance to meet a great teacher or great healer, but you are not ready to grab it to change your life for good. How many lifetimes have you been at the same spot, making the same choice and still cannot wake up or have the courage to try something different? People comment that the Buddha leaving his wife, son and family to search for enlightenment was selfish. Who recognizes that his wife, son, step-mother and countless people achieved enlightenment because of him. Of course, he was an extraordinary human being, but why do we have to be a weak one?

The other day I watched a show about Edward Cayce. One authority gave a comment about him, saying that when he was not in that mind state where he gave his prophecies, he was illiterate. How does he know he was illiterate? Because he does not have a so called authority degree or he is beyond his knowledge and his consciousness?

People can access a higher source. Human knowledge becomes minimized. Through my healing work, I have seen so many people’s health issues that cannot be treated by our medical science. Is it because of misdiagnosis or cannot to be diagnosed or because they are only treating the symptoms and not correcting the cause? The cause cannot be detected by our modern machines which we rely on. People suffer with entities, with energy leaking, with karmic issues, etc. and are still willing to hold on to their traditional methods because they have health insurance. That is ones choice and choice comes with a price that we have to live with it. Take responsibility for your choice and make the best out of this life.

Put your priorities straight and strive for it. You will succeed! My best wishes for you all!

1/22/2012 on Facebook

Sifu: A testimonial demonstrating generosity assisting others on their path

Being a spiritual practitioner, a teacher and a healer, I find that the most difficult thing to do is to help others. Although, it is most rewarding because you can save and change people’s lives, meanwhile, it is also the most complex duty for anyone who wants to commit one’s life to it. It takes much more breath, strength, patience and compassion to help others than simply to practice by oneself.

Sometimes you are just tired of people’s attitudes and ignorance and worn out by their whining and complaints or their taking advantage of you by any means, or they hate you if you don’t satisfy them. They never look at their own faults. When you can see the future and see the cause and effect, you really don’t want to bother to help those who do not deserve it. I fully tasted and understand why many great healers quit their job of helping others. But today, someone showed me differently how much my work has been appreciated and what it means to the world.

I remember a few months ago, when I told him that I am no longer telling people if they have entities in them, unless they ask for it, because some people just don’t want to accept the truth, he begged me to please don’t stop telling. You have to tell. In a few days, this person will realize how serious it is and will appreciate it, just like me at the beginning.

He sent me a testimonial about how I changed his life by removing an entity from him. In fact, he is not the only one that I helped with entity issues. There are many people I helped with their entities or spirit issues. When you see someone that not only appreciates your help but also tries to raise the awareness and assist others on their path, that is worth every effort to be a servant for humanity. The testimonial is on my website now.

1/24/2012 on Facebook

Student: I wanted to share my experience with the 24 hour walking and chanting practice. I took some time today and wrote an account of my not so entirely successful attempt at the practice. I hope this can be of some benefit to anyone considering this practice.

24 Hours Walking & Chanting Practice

This past weekend I attempted a practice at the suggestion of my teacher to walk and continuously chant a mantra for 24 hours straight. My teacher recently completed a ten day retreat in which she chanted for 10 days with the goal of 1,000,000 repetitions (it is worth noting she completed 1.6 million repetitions in the 10 days). Then on the twelfth day (I am not sure what constitutes the 11th day) she did the 24 hour walking and chanting practice. She described the practice:

“The most difficult thing to do is on the twelfth day, doing 24 hours walking chanting. In these 24 hours you can only have one meal and water or maybe you can drink one time soy bean milk, but no tea or coffee. Eating is not a big issue, but with the full intensity and the maximum concentration, chanting and walking without rest is the most difficult task.”

About chanting she writes:

“Chanting is a meditation. You should pay attention to every word that you chant, and to hear every word that you chant. In that way, it brings your mind to one pointed concentration, using one chant (a pure thought) to replace all thoughts that pop up constantly in our mind. When you can keep your mind in the pure thought one after another continuously, you create a possibility to enter Samadhi, which leads you to wisdom.”

The Mantra itself is “Na Mo A Mi Tuo Fo” and means “Infinite Light, Infinite Life.” She has also described it so: “It is a great purification, great karma reduction, great healing, great self-awakening , great achievement.”

My teacher first gave me the Mantra practice 7 months ago and suggested that I practice 6,000 repetitions per day. At the time I began practicing it took me approximately 1.5 hours to complete 6,000 repetitions and I began practicing daily. I experimented with different modes of practice, some days I would sit on my cushion and do the repetitions, other days I would chant while walking, driving, showering, and when possible and appropriate, while working. I did not make an effort to count repetitions, but used the rough guideline that I should chant 90 minutes. Some days I chanted much more than others, some days as many as 10,000, and other days not even coming close to 6,000.

I feel like this practice was a tremendous gift, in part because of the immediate challenges it brought me. The first bid dilemma was the realization that I had to choose to let go of some, and really most, of the practices I have learned over the years. This was a great challenge for me. I gave up my daily practice of the tai chi form I spent a year learning, and the practice of all of the qigong forms I had learned. It was strange to see how attached I had become to these practices, and to expectations I had placed on the practices.

After being given this practice last June, I made several resolves – 1. To chant every day, even if only 20 or 30 minutes, but to chant ever day. 2. To continue to practice the yoga and breathing meditation practice I have been doing every morning. 3. To practice seated meditation (Vipassana) as much as possible, daily if I can. 4. To make every moment of every day practice, to be always watchful of my thoughts and reactions.

I have had to learn to balance dedication with life’s other demands (employment, raising a child) to meet these resolves, and I have not been fully successful to this point. I have chanted some almost every day, but have not done so seated and in full concentration – when quiet seated practice time was available I opted for Vipassana style meditation. I have kept up with the morning yoga and breathing meditation practice and have found this to be most beneficial is helping me develop the strength and energy to stay focus every moment of every day a to ensure that I make time for dedicated practice every day, even if it means getting up at 4 in the morning.

While I have felt confident that I have been putting in the effort and remaining focused on my path, the winter season as I fell into a more quiet and reflective space it became clear to me that my practice needed some kind of boost or change…or to put it another way their was a definite feeling that something was missing or needed sharper focus despite reaching the point where I have been practicing at least 2 hours daily, every day. I was still unable to settle on one meditative practice, sometimes opting for Vipassana, sometimes mantra practice. Each practice has clear benefits and helps bring focus and clarity. But going from one practice to the other seemed to dilute my efforts, or was this me being too impatient and critical of my practice? How to move past this doubt?

And so it was as I contemplated how to proceed with my practice that I read several accounts from my teacher of her recent retreat and felt immediately as I was being given a chance to find focus for myself again. As she wrote:

“I encourage everyone to try it yourself, since it is only one day. If your excuse is that you don’t have time, or if you cannot even take a one day off for yourself, you have no life. Because you will not know yourself, you can forget about your longing for self-realization. It is just your empty word dissolving in the empty space. In fact, it really doesn’t matter how far you can go, but you can really test your strength and know how much your words, or your self-righteousness or your beliefs have any value when you cannot conquer 24 hours. I leave this experience for you to discover by yourself.”

So I resolved to try the practice and see where I was. Because of the limitations of my home space I did not think my 4 year old son would respect my request to be left alone for 24 hours while I walked in a slow circle and chanted, so I had the idea to do the practice outside on a relatively flat old logging road that winds 15 miles or so through the forest near my house. I was sure that the walking part would be easy for my out-doorsy legs – heck I climbed Dog Mountain and back down this summer with my 4 and ½ year old son on my back. I figured if I packed a small snack, a few liters of water, and wore my raingear I would have no problems with the walk, the challenge would be maintaining focus for 24 hours chanting.

So everything came into perfect alignment rather quickly and at 3:30 Saturday afternoon I set out for my practice under the auspices of the coming new moon and new year. I was even gifted a small hand held tally counter by a coworker to help keep track of my repetitions! I left word where I would be going, and carrying a small bag of dried fruit and nuts and 2 ½ liters of water in my waist pack I began my practice.

It took about 1 hour to get in full rhythm and get past any thoughts that arose when I passed someone on the road. During this first hour I called to mind an image I had seen recently of Amitabha Buddha to help keep my mind focused and get past any thoughts or feelings I had of self consciousness as I passed a few other hikers on the trail. I kept my eyes lightly focused on the ground about 5 feet in front of me and held the image of Amitabha near my heart as I walked and chanted. This first hour was also challenging to keep focus because I had to follow a more popular hiking trail from my house for about 2 miles to get to the old road through the forest.

It did not take much time to move past the thoughts and feelings of discomfort of being judged by the few people I passed. I was soon in a deep state of focus and noticed that I was chanting much faster than I had ever chanted before – the walking and I think the goal I set before me helped bring full energy and focus to the practice. I no longer needed to use the image of Amitabha to help maintain focus.

Soon I noticed night had fallen and I cannot recount much of anything except the occasional errant thought that drifted into my awareness. The darkness and solitude really helped keep focus in the practice. I did notice that the thoughts that drifted into my focus were not as random as they may have seemed…each thought was actually a memory, and each memory was tied to an event in my life that had some element of emotional importance to me. For example I had several thoughts that related to a painful experience of parting ways with a previous spiritual teacher. I had a thought relating to the challenge of raising a child in this world. And I had a few thoughts that elicited my own feeling of self judgment relating to my own personal path and practice, in particular a decision to not attend an upcoming retreat with my teacher.

I viewed these thoughts as gifts rather than a hindrance to the practice. The thoughts that pierced the stillness were clearly afflicted thoughts, thoughts colored with emotion, attachment, or aversion. In my understanding as we work attain Samadhi, we must clear our mind of all thoughts and fluctuations. At first this can be challenging, but we can do our best to keep the thoughts that we do have, and the mental activity necessary for survival, free of afflictions, what the yoga sutras call klesas, or attachments and aversions. In the moment I find this easier and easier to do, and this is what has come to form the primary aspect of my practice, which can be done all the time, even in the dream state.

What is a lot more challenging for me is the task or clearing our the storehouse (karma) of past afflictions (samskaras) which have become lodged somewhere in the mind and which seem to provide the impetus for all of the seemingly random thoughts that pop up from the subconscious mind and which likely have a sometimes unseen effect of my every thought and action.

What I seemed to experience while doing the practice was the re-emergence of past afflicted thoughts coming to the surface, and I felt I was being given the opportunity to clear them by simply witnessing them without following the thought or re-experiencing the emotion that was attached to it. In most cases it seems like this experience has to happen several times to clear the negative imprint of the past experience in consciousness, but of this I am not sure. I remember my teacher telling me 7 months ago that Karma can be cleared very quickly, and in some instances I have experienced this, but often I find I must slog through the process repeatedly to make any progress.

What I noticed doing the mantra practice was that it was much easier to simply allow these old stale thoughts to emerge and disappear than during Vipassana style meditation. The mantra really helped maintain focus and dispassion and I felt like I was able to clear Karma more effectively through this method. I also noticed that this effect did not really ‘kick in’ until I was a few hours into the practice. It was not until that point that I experienced more prolonged and pronounced stillness of mind and at the same time experienced the re-emergence of deeper and more subtle afflicted thoughts. Taking the process to this level really helped me get at some deep stuff (not all of which I am willing to share here!).

What I also came to realize was that despite the level of daily dedication I have brought to my practice, I am still just scratching the surface, that this rabbit hole in fact goes very deep. What I experienced during the first hours of this practice was truly humbling, and that doesn’t even get to how my attempt at 24 hours ended…which brings me to…

Time really had no meaning during the practice, there was really only the darkness, the light rain, and the sound of my voice reciting endless repetitions of the Mantra. I feel like my body was just doing the walking and I paid no mental effort to monitoring pace. My first real attention to the process of walking came at what turned out to be about 7 hours into the practice, when I reached the end of the logging road. I experienced a little concern because I set timer for 12 hours so that I could turn around at that point. I planned on walking very slowly to conserve mental and physical energy and in planning the practice did not anticipate walking fast enough to reach the end of the logging road in 12 hours, yet I got there about 7 hours.

As I checked my clock I also had the realization that the walk took a lot more out of me physically than I had anticipated. My feet were blistered due to my ill-fitting rain boots, which were the only footwear option beside my sandals (that’s all I own for footwear!). Additionally I had some leg pain from adjusting my walking posture to ease the pain of the blisters, and my low back felt like it was on fire from where I had my waist pack strapped on.

I looked at my counter and had reached 35,000 repetitions of the Mantra. I scanned my body and without much thought decided the only thing to do was turn back. It was clear that I would not likely be able to continue walking for 24 hours or even reach 100,000 repetitions, which I thought I could do easily even if not making it for 24 hours. I felt some disappointment at this stage and resolved to simply acknowledge the feelings but move on with the practice of Mantra and not fuel any further afflicted thoughts.

The return walk I had to stop several times to squat and stretch my legs. I was unable to reach the same level of clarity of mind as I had earlier in the practice. I noticed the thought, which I have had before, of feeling held back by the limitations of the physical body. Thoughts of disappointment appeared with some regularity.

But I also noticed that this struggle with the physical aspect tapped into a deeper well of strength and concentration. I noticed that I could not repeat the Mantra at the same pace I had on the first part of the practice, but the physical pain, which was getting extreme, was serving a real purpose. I have felt pain like this before, pain from pushing myself too hard in competitive athletics, and also pain from years of hard physical labor in the elements (tree planting and construction jobs mainly) and pain to which I have always had some sort of repressed emotional reaction to. And just like the past experiences brought to the surface earlier, this came to me as an opportunity to transcend past negative experience by continuing on with the practice with some degree of grace and dispassion.

Ultimately it took me 8 hours to return home, during which I only managed 25,000 Mantra, a significantly slower pace than the first half of the journey. I also noticed more difficulty in not jumbling the words of each repetition, at least at times. On the way back home I saw the residue of many past painful emotional experiences come to the surface, experiences that have left traces of frustration, shame, and feelings of failure. I am sure that I have more work to do to clear these experiences from my Karma, but I am grateful for the opportunity to experience them with some degree of dispassion.

Upon reaching my home I had walked 26 miles in just under 15 hours, while repeating the Mantra approximately 60,000 times. Not exactly the goal I had set for myself but not a failure either, just an experience. I am grateful for the clarity this practice brought to me, and for it revealing where I am, and where I am not.

I have not been able to walk properly for the past two days, but the blisters are healing and the pain in my legs has greatly subsided. I take a little humor from how much I under-estimated the difficulty of walking on the old logging road, which as it turns out was in rather poor condition due to some recent storms, and also had more elevation gain that I had anticipated from the map I looked at while planning the practice. I am also left to wonder about the experience of losing the ability to manage my walking pace. Had I gone slower, at the pace I had planned, perhaps I could have persisted through the whole practice. Was it a lack of awareness that led to my inability to maintain the proper pace, or was it the deep focus of the practice that kept me from more actively managing the walking aspect of the practice? I am not sure.

What I am sure of is my renewed commitment to daily chanting practice. I have supreme respect for the practice and for my teacher for sharing and encouraging its practice. I am deeply humbled by the experience and at the same time feel transformed and re-invigorated from the experience. I am committed to creating trying the 24 hour walking and chanting practice again, next time in a more suitable and conducive setting.

Sifu: Congratulations! Tom. I am very proud of you. I expected you to be the first one that would try it. I know that I am not an easy teacher and I don’t give you or any of my students an easy pass, but I want to be a good one. Toughness trains people and allows you to rise to the top and to achieve your goals.

Sifu: Chanting the 24 hours on the twelfth day is to give people who cannot finish one million in ten days an opportunity to continue work on the eleventh day. If on the eleventh day they still cannot finish, then they will take the twelfth day for a twenty four hour walk to finish it, according to tradition.

1/26/2012 on Facebook

Sifu: It is good that that testimonial raised a lot of awareness regarding entity issues. It is serious if you have one as your health possibly very soon will decline, but I want you all know that entity issues are not common for everyone to have. In fact, it surprises me how many people I have helped removing them. It’s supposed to be rare. I guess the world is changing and shifting from our collective karma.

It appears to me that entity issues are more seen in the West than in the East. Especially, it is among those so called practitioners. My presumption is that in the West, people have more tendencies toward being individual and independent. Everyone is on a journey to search for something in their own way. No one cares to listen to anybody else. No trust and no respect. In the East, when people are longing for a spiritual path, the first thing to look for is a right teacher for guidance. They follow the tradition and are protected by the tradition. It’s hard to see anyone who has entities because of practice, unless you are extremely good and dedicated but went the wrong way because of ego and ignoring guidance.

In the past few days many people have contacted me about entity issues. Although I have an ability to know and remove it, I don’t want everyone to send me a picture to check it out. If you have serious health issues and need my help, I’ll be happy to do what I can. If there is an entity in you, I will let you know. But I am done with free readings and helping, which helps nothing, but evokes rejection or thinking that I come with a motive. I have been witnessing such effects and have been taught lessens by people over and over again. Cause and effect is the natural law that can never change. You cannot change anyone’s karma. They can only changed by their own effort. There are only two kinds of people who might benefit from the free help. One is extraordinary people who can see the value and take proper action. Another is the despairing people who are willing to try anything that you tell them to do. Even those are still bound by Karma.

The first type possess a pure heart and will accept your offering to benefit all sentient beings, not just one’s family, friends, or to gain a job that can provide a livelihood. The second type is because it is their time to change their karma. Therefore, they have a chance to meet you and are willing to do anything without doubts or judgment, but follow your instructions thoroughly. That pure effort does not commonly come from anyone who has a discursive mind.

The desperate time makes people do desperate things with desperate strength. For the average person, free help makes no difference. You help them to fix one thing and another thing comes up as a chain reaction. Why? It is because people did not make an effort or want to make an effort by themselves, so the root is still there. The roots can only be pulled out by one’s own effort. That is true self healing. We need outer help sometime, because of our limited strength, especially when we are sick and weak. Sometimes, we may also need help from a higher source, because of the limitations of our body. Nevertheless, inner and outer effort has to work together in order to reach perfection.

People asked me if someone has an entity in them, would they be able to remove it through a practice. You can try but it is unlikely. If you were able to remove it, you would not have an entity in the first place. An entity drains your life force. You can only get weaker and weaker. After passing a certain level of supporting life vitality, you will experience your health decline rapidly. Ask yourself, where can you find extra strength for this battle?

Are other teachers able to remove it? I don’t know. You should ask them. I don’t want to comment on any other teachers or healers about their teaching or their healing abilities. It is your choice and your karma who you encounter and who you go to for help. A person who has a priority to find the right help, it is not possible they will not succeed. Heaven and earth will be moved by their effort. Remember, a pure heart changes everything and creates all opportunities.

To answer if the Bodhi Light retreat series will be repeated again after one cycle. I honestly don’t know. My primary focus has been shifted from teaching to healing by my master’s request starting this year. My ability to heal is beyond yours and my own knowledge. I was told that I can heal not only humans, but animals and beings from other realms. I healed my dog of her heart mummer. As for beings from other realms I don’t know how it works in detail, but I know I can. It is not because of my accomplishment as a spiritual practitioner and as a human being, but because of a group of healers from a higher source that help me. The group is getting bigger and bigger.

Why do they come here to help human beings? With one purpose only, they want to teach humans to respect cause and effect, and find a way to live in harmony to sustain the human race and not cause our self destruction. They are not here to be human’s servants. That is why they requested me from the beginning to charge for healing. People do not respect or appreciate your help but bow to their money. After I failed with my idiot human compassion, I came to accept what they said and to charge for my services, to help those who are willing to help themselves and deserve to be helped. My teaching in the future will be primarily through the work of healing.

1/29/2012 On Facebook

Sifu: I want to offer a little advice for those who need others’ help. Be honest, truthful, humble, and have faith, trust and respect in who you ask for help. Your attitude can save your life. Your arrogance and disrespect won’t help. People who can help you can read more about you than you can. Only when you can bow your head down, you can be helped.

Be well, be peaceful, be happy!