Shen (the spirit)

..............................................................................

Cultivating the spirit is not an easy task due to its close relationship with the mind. When the mind is not steady the spirit is scattered and therefore subdued to the impulsive nature of the emotional mind (Xin). Buddhists and Taoists train themselves to be free of emotions in order to build a strong "shen" which is completely under their control.

The way they do it is by activating the wisdom mind (Yi) which keeps the "shen" in its natural residence: the upper tantien (head in Western terminology). When the process of death has taken place the spirit abandons its vessel (physical body) and it is called Hun using Taoist terminology.


Buddhists and Taoists firmly believe that once the spirit reaches a higher and stronger state, resulting from your own karmic evolution as a being and the adoption of specific internal training exercises (already reviewed in this blog in previous entries), human beings are capable of sensing and feeling more sharply, and your mind is more clever and inspired. Besides, these highly evolved human beings are more in tune with the spiritual world, which is Yin in nature (as opposed to our Yang world). It is believed that when the spirit has has reached this higher, sensitive state it can trascend the mind's normal capacity, which is naturally and solely connected to the Yang side of reality. Ideas beyond the usual grasp can be understood and controlled, and these human beings can sense and communicate with the Yin world. Chinese call this level of spirit, Ling Shen or supernatural shen.

It is thought that when physical death has occurred this supernatural shen will not dissipate right away as it holds your energy together as a ghost (Gui). It is known as a Ling Gui. However, most sentient beings, unaware of their spiritual energy due to the barriers created by their minds and society as a large, do not live a spiritual life and their spirits grow weak, and a as a result they are in constant need of a physical vehicle during their wanderings in what Buddhists call Samsara or the eternal cycle of life and death. Although, if a sentient being has cultivated their spirit during their lives it will remain without a shell for a long time after the physical body is dead and have plenty of time to be reborn.

Few, on the other hand, are capable of breaking through the illusory state of the mind and achieve what is called spiritual enlightenment; in this case, the supernatural spirit is strong enough to live without the need of a vehicle and has overcome karma and the cycle of rebirth forever.

Unfortunately most humanity is unaware of these natural and subtle processes thinking that beyond life there is nothing that science cannot explain. It is quite popular to read online statementes like the following:

I am an atheist. I don't believe in God or an afterlife. I may not believe in life after death but I wholeheartedly believe in life before death.

This point of view is valid but they seem to forget that there is a reason for all of this. Let me ask you: What are the underlying processes that shape life itself? What is the creating mechanism that allows some humans to do evil and reap rich rewards in life? Why so many people live good lives, full of kindness and compassion, full of giving and love but they suffer, often worse than those who lead lives of cruelty and total self-gratification?

Buddhists and Taoists believe that when the human being is alive they have the power to use Jing and Qi to nourish Shen to make Ling strong. When this Ling Shen is built up to a high level, your will is able to lead it to separate it from the physical body even when you are alive. In the last meditation I attended in Asia, I came across with some Western spiritual meditators whose eyes where overflowing with life force, a clear sign that the spiritual alchemical processes were fully engaged, as well as witnessing spiritual experiences people would claim as supernatural but which really are a mere by-product of spiritual practice. Seeking them is not advisable either as they can easily deviate the practitioner from the ultimate goal reinforcing the social construction of the "I", ego.

The foundation of Buddhist and Taoist training is to strengthen the spirit, nourish it, and grow it until it is mature enough to separate it from the physical body. In order to accomplish this, one must know where the spirit resides and use the wisdom mind in order to keep the emotional mind under control to avoid the shen becoming restless.

In our modern times, often stressful and highly competitive, we must take action if we wish to cultivate our spirit, subject that seems to be a taboo according to the conventions set by mainstream society. A good method to break through all of this mental pollution is engaging ourselves in traditional eastern practices such as Qigong, meditation, Yoga and Internal Martial Arts. Practising in the local park is a bonus since the concentration of negative ions (the ones that are associated with the life force) is higher. Living in a quiet environment is also benefitial for the same reasons.

Let me finish with some wise words I found in the Tao Te Ching:

"Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations."
Read more on this article...

Triune brain

......................................................................................

The past twenty years have given modern culture substantial chance to understand that spiralling consumption jeopardizes our planet. But even in the difficult circumstances society is facing, mainstream opinion seeks only to return to the norm of self-satisfaction and eternal expansion. It is a prime case of what psychologists call congnitive dissonance, believing one thing but doing the opposite: like a 40-a-day smoker, we know our behaviour will kill us, but we can't stop. One may ask, why?

Medical-scanning science makes the asnwer increasingly clear. Western culture and its influential role on other cultures overstimulates the wrongs parts of the human brain -the primitive areas that are awe-stricken by modern life- into feeling beset by famine and poverty. This in turn creates great forage for consumerism, but it threatens to send us into ecological disaster.

This grey-matter crisis results from the way human neocortex, the intelligent brain we evolved in the Pleistocene era, runs alongside far older systems driven by primordial instinct. American neuroscientist Paul MacLean refers to this as the triune brain, a structure resembling an archeological site inhabited by successive civilisations. At the core of its structure is the reptilian brain, responsible for arousal, basic life functions and sex. The old-mammal brain, which learns, recalls and emotes, surrounds it. The new-mammal neocortex sits on top.

It is interesting that many esoteric spiritual traditions taught the same idea of three planes of consciousness and even three different brains. Gurdjieff for example referred to Man as a "three-brained being." There was one brain for the spirit, one for the soul, and one for the body. In similar fashion, we also enter upon the chakra paradigm - the idea that points along the body or the spine correspond to nodes of consciousness, related in an ascending manner, from gross to subtle depending upon the level of awakening experienced by the spiritual practitioner in its karmic journey to merge with the Absolute. Read more on this article...

Eat seasonally!

.....................................................................................

All fruits and vegetables have a particular time of year when they are at their peak. Eating according to the seasons is an important part of a healthy and sustainable diet: it has a host of benefits for your health, your hip pocket, the environment, and local business.

Until quite recently, seasonal eating was universal -without modern technology or transport-, we relied in our skills to take advantage of the best growing seasons for each food, and to last through the times of scarcity. Today, the globalized food market has given us the "convenience" of being able to buy any food at any time of the year. This has greatly reduced our awareness of the seasons and the environment, at a time when this awareness is most badly needed.


Foods that are not in season locally will have been shipped from another part of the world, unnecessarily using up energy and emitting greenhouse gases through transportation. Eating seasonally encourages you to buy local produce, which will not only reduce your carbon footprint, but also save you the labor costs of transport and storage, as well as supporting your local economy. You can heighten these benefits by boycotting the supermarket and buying from farmers’ markets and food co-ops instead! As well as paying less, you will be helping local farmers to build a very sustainable food industry.

Eating seasonally will raise your deeper appreciation for the uniqueness of
each season, and for the range of tastes, colors and textures it provides. The seasons give us a long-forgotten sense of the wonderful natural cycles that Western rationalism ignores.

Seasonal food also plays a role in holistic health; generally, fruits and vegetables appear during the season in which they are best for your body. Rich, full-bodied apples, pears and pumpkins are winter foods, whereas light, juicy, refreshing mangoes, watermelons and cucumbers are suited to summer.

Most importantly, though, fresh food in season is unbeatable in terms of taste, nutritional value and variety. Most out-of-season food has been grown in artificial conditions, picked prematurely and shipped halfway around the world, giving it ample time to deteriorate and lose nutrients; this food is also limited to those varieties that can survive long-distance travel. The vitality and freshness of seasonal food is a pleasure to which very little can compare.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), on the other hand, is based on the belief that all humanity is part of the natural environment and that health or balance can only be achieved when one follows the "natural law" by adapting to the changes of the seasons and the surrounding environment. The concept of the Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water) was developed through ancient Chinese rituals of observing nature’s ever-changing cycles. These are related to the different seasons of the year, to organs in the human body, temperatures, colours and tastes, to name but a few associations, all of which have some relevance to our health and well-being. By knowing and understanding these elements, we can discover how specific foods can help to balance the extremes of each season and comprehend what unique opportunities for healing arise with each.

If we take for instance the summer season, according to TCM this season is linked to fire and the climate associated with it is heat. Excess heat (yang) is seen as being adverse to the heart, as this organ is ruled by the Fire element. When someone becomes over-heated they develop symptoms such as fevers, thirst, insomnia and hot flushes. One way to compensate this excess heat during summer is to ensure our diet includes cooler (Yin) foods in order to balance out the excess energy. Hence salads and fresh fruits should be eaten accordingly. There are also specific Chinese herbs that are known for having a cooling effect in the human body.

Remember eat healthy and according to the season!
Read more on this article...

Qi/Chi (the vital energy)

In traditional Chinese culture, chi (氣, pinyin qi, and pronounced as "chee") is the permeating force that gives life to the Universe. Its literal translation is "air" or "breath". Vedantic philosophy refers to this concept as prana (breath), which suffuses all living forms but is not itself the Atman or individual soul. Finally, the ancient Greek called it pneuma (breath, spirit or soul). Other mystical traditions have used different terms to identify the life force, i.e. mana in Polynesian (Hawaiian and Māori), Melanesian and Micronesian cultures which refer to it as the impersonal force existing in the Universe that is intrinsic to people, animals, and inanimate objects.

On the other hand, Western cultures are reticent about acknowledging chi simply because it is not tangible or measurable. Hence, pseudo-science. However, if you remove yourself from technology and advanced and complex thinking and then go outside to the natural environment and simply start to "feel" and breathe in and out then you will be a step closer to this elusive concept. Because this is how chi can be felt, by stripping ourselves off mental concepts, by letting ourselves go. It works!

Chi in the human body comes in two forms:

1. Yuan Chi or Congenital Chi. It is the chi that we are born with. It is essentially limited and the quality and amount of this Qi represents our basic constitution. This type of chi resides in the kidneys which is converted from the converted original jing (essence) received before birth.

2. Hou Tian Chi or Acquired Chi. It is derived from the foods we eat and the air that we breathe. The quality of acquired chi depends on our lifestyle habits such as food quality, balance of emotions, physical exercise and so forth. This type of chi resides in the [i]middle tantien[/i](solar plexus).

Both types of chi combine in the xia tantien (lower tantien), which is located in the lower abdomen, approximately three inches below the navel, and together they circulate down, passing into the Governing Vessel (Du Mai channel, back part of the upper body, yang) from where they are delivered to the entire body.

The original chi is also called "Water Chi" (Shui Chi) because it is able to cool down the acquired or post-birth chi, which is called "Fire Chi" (Huo Chi) as it is absorbed into the body externally (yang energy). "Fire Chi" brings the body to a positive-yang state, which stimulates the emotions and confuses the mind (notice for example how alcohol confuses our emotions since it is yang energy in its extreme form and as a result drunk people lose control of their minds). When the "Water Chi" cools your body off, the mind will become clear, neutral and balanced. We can say that "Fire Chi" sustains the emotional part of the body, whereas "Water Chi" supports the wisdom part.

Once the both types are mixed, the resultant Chi will not only circulate to the Governing and then down to the Conception Vessel (Ren Mai channel, front part of the upper body, yin), but will also replenish the "Thrusting Vessel" or Central Channel (Chong Mai, yin and yang) which will lead the combined Chi (yin and yang mix) directly up through the spinal cord to nourish the brain and energize the spirit (shen).

It is very important to cultivate "chi" since it will lead to the following benefits:

1. Purification of the lower centres of the energetic body and transmutation into spiritual energy.

2. The structure and functions of all the organs and viscera are improved, including the liver, heart, spleen, lungs, kidney, gall bladder, small intestines, stomach, large intestines, bladder, pericardium.

3. Alteration of brainwave patterns.

4. Synchronization and coherence of the hemispheres of the brain.

5. Regeneration of neurons.

6. Natural regulation of the limbic system and areas related to generation and storage of emotions.

7. Control of the shift between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system.

8. Activation of brain areas with unknown functions.

9. Massage of the brain and cerebellum.

10. Stimulation of the thalamus, hypothalamus, pineal and pituitary glands to release unique secretion of hormones.

11. Opening of the sinuses and stimulation of the olfactory bulb.

12. Improvement of eye sight.

13. Reactivation of major nerve plexus.

14. Control of mental, emotional and consciousness states.

15. Development of special functions of the body, mind-psyche, spirit and soul.

16. Functions of the Nervous and Endocrine Systems are improved.

17. Activation of the natural micro movements of the cranial sutures.

18. Circulation of the cerebrum-spinal fluid in the medulla oblongata and the brain

19. Accession of each vertebra of the spine.

20. Re-establishment of the original independency of each vertebra.

21. Decompression of the inter-vertebral discs.

22. Lengthening and balancing of the vertebral muscles and spine muscles.

23. Self-treatment and rehabilitation of arthrosis, arthritis and rheumatism.

24. Regeneration of the marrow and bones.

25. Joint mobility, regeneration of cartilage, decalcification.

26. Loosening and opening of the joints of the limbs.

27. Regaining of full motion and flexibility.

28. Optimization of the exchange of mass-matter/energy/information on the cellular level.

29. Regeneration on the cellular level.

30. Lymphatic systems and nodes are cleansed, detoxified and brought to full working capacity.

31. Functions of the circulatory and lymphatic systems are improved.

32. Positive influence on a series of nerves that are directly connected to the heart regulation of arrhythmias and cardiac weakness with optimization and expansion of cardiac output and input.

33. The blood is enriched, revitalized, cleansed and purified.

34. Arteries and veins are cleansed, elasticized and strengthened.

35. Improvement of peripheral blood circulation.

36. Circulation increases and smoothens becoming fully optimized.

37. Changes in blood biochemistry.

38. Change in hormone levels.

39. Influences on DNA.

40. Auto-therapy for chronic and autoimmune disease.

41. Strengthening of the immune system.

42. Rehabilitation and maintenance of the immune system.

42. Oxygenation reaches the utmost fulfillment of its purpose.

43. Changes in the skin's electric resistance.

44. Creation of high coherence and negentropic fields.

45. Control of the metabolism of the body-mind system.


Note: I have experienced that Vipassana meditation also produces identical physiological, psychological and spiritual changes.


Additional Recommended Reading:

Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming, The Root of Chinese Qigong. Secrets for Health, Longevity & Enlightenment, YMAA Publication Centre, Washington, MA, USA, 1997.
Read more on this article...