Mantak Chia - Taoist Astral Healing: Chi Kung Healing Practices Using Star and Planet Energies

Acknowledgments

The Universal Tao Publications staff involved in the preparation and production of Taoist Astral Healing extends gratitude to the many generations of Taoist masters who have passed on their special lineage, in the form of an oral transmission, over thousands of years. We thank Taoist master I Yun (Yi Eng) for his openness in transmitting the formulas of Taoist Inner Alchemy.

We offer our eternal gratitude to our parents and teachers for their many gifts to us. Remembering them brings joy and satisfaction to our continued efforts in presenting the Universal Tao system. As always, their contribution has been crucial in presenting the concepts and techniques of the Universal Tao.

We wish to thank the thousands of unknown men and women of the Chinese healing arts who developed many of the methods and ideas presented in this book. We extend our gratitude to Master Lao Kang Wen for sharing his healing techniques.

We offer special thanks to Sarina Stone for her generous assistance in revising and editing the original edition of this book, and to illustrator Udon Jandee and photographer Saysunee Yongyod. Thanks to Juan Li for the use of his beautiful and visionary paintings illustrating Taoist esoteric practices. We also thank Susan Bridle and Vickie Trihy for their editorial expertise. In addition, we wish to thank Colin Campbell, Matt Gluck, Dennis Huntington, Annette Dirksen, and Dirk Gerd Al, for their writing and editorial contributions to the previous editions of this book.

We wish to further express our gratitude to all the instructors and students who have offered their time and advice to enhance this system, especially Felix Senn, Barry Spendlove, Chong-Mi Mueller, Clemens Kasa, Andrew Jan, Marga Vianu, Harald Roeder, Salvador March, Dr. Hans Leonhardy, Peter Kontaxakis, Thomas Hicklin, Gianni DellOrto, and Walter and Jutta Kellengerger.

We also wish to thank the scientists and testing institutes: Gerhard Eggelsberger, Institute for Applied Biocybernetics Feedback Research, Vienna, Austria; and Dr. Ronda Jessum, Biocybernetics Institute, San Diego, California.

EMPEROR FU HSI

Putting Living in the Tao into Practice

The practices described in this book have been used successfully for thousands of years by Taoists trained by personal instruction. Readers should not undertake these practices without receiving personal instruction from a certified instructor of the Universal Tao System because some of these practices, if done improperly, may cause injury or result in health problems. This book is intended to supplement individual training with a Universal Tao instructor and to serve as a reference guide for these practices. Anyone who undertakes these practices on the basis of this book alone does so entirely at his or her own risk. Universal Tao instructors can be located at our websites:

www.universal-tao.com or www.taoinstructors.org

Taoist Cosmic Healing, which explores some of the theories and practices upon which this book is based, is available from Destiny Books at:

www.innertraditions.com

The meditations, practices, and techniques described herein are not intended to be used as an alternative or substitute for professional medical treatment and care. If a reader is suffering from a mental or emotional disorder, he or she should consult with an appropriate professional health care practitioner or therapist. Such problems should be corrected before one starts training.

This book does not attempt to give any medical diagnosis, treatment, prescription, or remedial recommendation in relation to any human disease, ailment, suffering, or physical condition whatsoever.

Chinese Medicine and Chi Kung emphasize balancing and strengthening the body so that it can heal itself. The meditations, internal exercises, and martial arts of the Universal Tao are basic approaches to this end. Follow the instructions for each exercise carefully, and do not neglect the foundations (such as the Microcosmic Orbit practice and any other supplemental exercises). Also pay special attention to the warnings and suggestions. People who have high blood pressure, heart disease, or a generally weak condition should proceed cautiously, having received prior consent from a qualified medical practitioner. People with venereal disease should not attempt any practices involving sexual energy until they are free of the condition.

The Universal Tao and its staff and instructors cannot be responsible for the consequences of any practice or misuse of the information in this book. If the reader undertakes any exercise without strictly following the instructions, notes, and warnings, the responsibility must lie solely with the reader.

Universal Tao and Cosmic Healing Chi Kung

INTRODUCTION

Taoism is a practice of studying and living the laws of the universe. It has its roots in a body of knowledge that many masters have gathered over thousands of years. The Cosmic Healing practice presented in this book is the fruit of deep meditation by highly advanced practitioners who lived an intimate relationship with the universe and nature, often in remote and isolated places.

A major role in the discovery of Taoisms practical way to work with the energy of the universe was played by the legendary Chinese emperor Fu Hsi, who has been credited in Chinese history with the discovery of the pa kua, the diagrammatic symbols that are the foundation of the I Ching, the most ancient Taoist book of wisdom. Historians of Chinese culture also credit Huang-Ti, the Yellow Emperor, for synthesizing Taoist practices in the domains of health and healing as well as the healing love practices more than five thousand years ago. He integrated a wealth of insights and practices from a wide variety of Taoist masters. This process of synthesis and accumulation of theory and practice continued to grow in subsequent millennia, until today. It is still evolving.

The theory and practices presented in this book build upon those explored in Taoist Cosmic Healing and are offered so that practitioners of this system of cultivating the body, the Chi, and the spirit may advance in their practice and development. Chi means energy or life force; kung means work. Cosmic Healing Chi Kung is the cultivation of the ability to conduct Chi for the purposes of healing. We call this practice Cosmic Healing because we ultimately learn to use the forces of nature, human will, and cosmic particles to transform negativity stored in the body. The Taoist recognizes that human beings have a limited capacity for Chi. However, if we are able to connect with the sources of Chi in the universe, we gain an infinite capacity for Chi, and we constantly fill ourselves with the unlimited abundance of energy around us. This book specifically focuses on the teachings of Taoist astrology, and explores how we can use this ancient wisdom about the energies of the cosmos in our spiritual and healing practice.

Taoist practice as we understand it is not religious in conventional terms, nor is it based on a creed or on transcendental principles. It is a practice of self-awareness and self-transformation through which we gradually become one with the cosmos. In this process we realize and actualize ourselves. Within the physical body, the soul body grows, and within the soul body, the spirit body evolves. It is in this process of subsequent energy transformations that we return to our origins and realize our original, intrinsic nature of which peace and freedom are the natural fruits.