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When photon gas (cosmic Qi) from the sun reacts with
matter, two things can happen. This
energy can be either reflected or absorbed. For example, when the weather is
sunny and hot, we wear light-colored clothing because light colors reflect the
sun’s energy thus keeping us cooler.
When the weather is cool or overcast, dark-colored clothing keeps us
warmer because dark colors absorbed the sun’s energy..
Let us now take a look at how the
reflection and absorption of cosmic Qi
relates to advanced Qi practitioners. We see in the case of Indian yogis and
Oriental Qigong masters how this
energy is used to sustain life, to heal and even to defend against an
enemy. In some cases, cosmic Qi can be accumulated to such an
extent that one no longer needs food to sustain life, only water.
Hira Ratan Manek stopped eating
solid food in 1995. Since then, he has
lived strictly on water, an occasional cup of tea or buttermilk and sun
energy. Manek is a sun gazer. He is a follower of Lord Mahavir of the Jains
of India, who lived some 2600 years ago.
In an interview with New
Connexion magazine in 2004, Manek stated, “This is an ancient practice based on
logic and modern biological science that relies on water and sunlight for
energy. This is really photosynthesis taking place in the human body.”1
He went on to explain that
everyone has this capacity. He claimed
that many cultures practiced sun gazing in the past. He pointed out the worshippers of the sun
gods in Eygpt, Mexico, Peru and Brazil.
He believes that the pyramids of Egypt were constructed to harness the
sun energy as were the sun temples like Macchu Picchu in Peru.
Manek detailed the three
divisions of sun gazing.
“First comes the mental health
that you get with three months of gazing at the sun. You must start slowly with
10 seconds and work up to, say, 15 minutes a day, but only within the first
hour after sunrise or before sunset (to avoid harmful ultraviolet rays). For
children you limit it to 5 minutes. You don’t have to give up food, just reduce
the quantities. And the best health
drink is solarized water – leave it in the sun in glass jars. It is even better
if you put gemstones in it.
“If you do this for six months
you get physical health. If you go for nine months, then you get spiritual
health also. It is your choice.”2
If we look at the area of Qigong and Asian martial arts, we see the
importance of the mental act of intention, which activates the neuromelanin in
the four deep-brain nuclei. With
constant practice over a number of years, this not only cultivates and
intensifies the Qi but also improves
its conductivity throughout the body.
However, there are many
intermediate steps that need to be taken before this can take place.
At the earliest levels of a
regimen like aikido or tai chi, beginners learn
techniques. With constant practice over
several years, they come to realize that the techniques are actually
instruments of energy reflection. That
is, the practitioner learns to reflect an opponent’s energy back to the
opponent using these techniques.
With regard to absorption, there
are two things that can happen. The absorbed
energy can be either stored or emitted.
As practitioners advance to the intermediate level, they discover how to
store energy in the three dantiens (triple burner) or haras.
For most people, the cosmic
energy or Qi that is absorbed is generally
emitted. There are two kinds of energy
emissions: scattered and directional.
If you are clothed in dark colors
and are walking in the sun, the energy that your clothing absorbs will be
immediately emitted onto your skin. You
will feel the heat wherever the cloth touches your body not in just one
particular spot. This is an example of a
scattered emission. A laser would be an
example of a directional emission.
The more one is controlled by
emotions, the more scattered one’s energy.
The more one is able to calm the mind and cultivate intention, the more
directional the emission.
The intermediate practitioner,
when in a steady-state condition such as deep meditation or Wu Qi, can store a good amount of
the cosmic Qi that his or her body
absorbs.
Emotions such as anger, jealousy, fear, anxiety, ambition
and stress tend to disperse whatever Qi
that has been absorbed in a scattered emission.
The better an intermediate practitioner can control his or her emotions,
the more Qi he or she can store.
Eventually the practitioner is able to absorb all of an
opponent’s energy and reflect it back to an opponent using very little
technique. This is the reason that a
grandmaster’s actions, whether doing a hand form or engaged with an opponent,
become smaller and smaller over time until they are hardly visible.
In the case of highest-level
grandmasters, the three dantiens or haras acts as black body reservoirs of Qi energy that can be drawn to any area
of the body for internal healing or external defense, and emitted from that
same area much like a laser beam. What
no doubt seems quite unnatural in the beginning, after years of practice
becomes very natural.
The parts are all there – sun
energy, water, melanin and your particular practice. But you must calm the mind with no thought of gain so that you can reach a
steady-state condition of local thermodynamic equilibrium.
And here is the most important
element – compassion. You can never be
in a steady-state condition if you are angry, upset or filled with the ambition
to succeed or win. Yes, you may prevail
over an opponent but at the expense of wasting your precious Qi.
Practice compassion in all that
you do, including your martial arts practice, and your mind will eventually
calm on its own and your entire physical being will achieve the steady-state
condition necessary for maximum absorption, storage and conductivity.
I will conclude with the words of
Chan (Zen) Master Foyan (1067-1120).
Master Foyan summed up the entire relationship between mind and energy a
thousand years ago. And, despite all of
our scientific and mathematical discoveries, nothing has really changed. You would be wise to heed his admonition from
our ancient past.
“When you see, let there be no seer or seen, when you hear, let there
be no hearer or heard, when you think, let there be no thinker or thought.
“Buddhism is extremely easy and saves the most energy. It’s just that you yourself waste energy and
cause yourself trouble.”
I will simply add, when you
practice tai chi, aikido, or any internal martial art, let there be no practitioner
and no practice.
I hope I have helped to make the
mystery of what is Qi a little less
mysterious. If these articles can aid
you in improving your practice and your understanding, please let me know.
1. Human Photosynthesis - Back to Our Origins? An interview with Hira Ratan Manek by Miriam Knight.
2. Ibid.
3. Zen
Master Foyan quote from Zen Essence: The
Science of Freedom, Thomas Cleary
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