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A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library

THI MACUS
OF
JAVA
THE MAGUS
' l i :achi qgs
of an Authenti c Taoi st Immortal
KOSTA DANAOS
Iturcr Trditions
Rochester Vermont
OFJA\A
J
TTi
A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library
For Doris
CONTFNTS
Ione. Tiaditions Intemational
Roche.ter, Vmont 05767
w{w.lnnerliaditions.cm
CopydshtO 2000 by Kosia Danaos
All rishts reseryed No prtfthis book my be .produced or utilized in any
form or by any means, electronic or nechnicI, includins phorocopyins,
rcording, orby.y i.tomation storage andretrieval system, {ilhout permissin
in w.iting lrom the publisher
Librry of Cons.e$ Cata,osins-ir-Publication Dt
The Masls of lava: teachinssofan authentic Toist immoftl / Kosta Dans.
lncludes bibliogphical .eiere.ces.
I SBN 0- 89281 811 1 Gl k
pap,
L Chans,John.2 Taoists-lndoneria lava
Biosnphy 3. HealeE
Indonesi Java Biosaphy l tle.
8L1940.C426 D36 2000
299' 514092- dc2I
t Bl
oa-o36942
Printed and bond in Canada
1 0 9 8 7 6 5
Text desicn a.d lyout by CryslalH H Robfts
This book was typeset in Veisswith Schneidler Initials as the displaytypeface
Introduction
Chapter One
Chapter To
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Tn
Epilogue
Appendix One
Appendix Two
Looking through the Mirror
Lifeforce
Beginnings
The Immortals
The Story of Llao Slfu
Lessons to Be Learned
n and Yang
The Vill of Heaven
The Keris
The Nature of Reality
For aBr eat hl Tr r y. . . .
Notes
Obsenrations and Speculation
vi i
1
t 2
35
61
76
99
116
133
147
162
177
200
INTRODUCTION
Imaglne a world where the mind and soul of rnar are foee to rech
thchgreatest potential, where powers once considered supematurl
or paranorrnal are a simple fact of life. lmagine a place where dis-
ciscs hitherto thought incurable can be treted with the uncompli-
cltcd administration ofthe healers own abundant life energy, a place
where mankind caD readily communicate with earthbound spirits,
whcre powerful yogis can speak with their Creator Cod Himself.
Vouldn't it bewonderfulto dwellin such a domain, the stuff of fairy
talcs, myths and legends, storybooks, and Hollywood celluloid?
Vouldn't life have a distinct flavor, a tangy zest, if such things were
lndced true?
Velcome to my world. I live in such a place, where all the ex-
traordinry things that I have suggested are real and incontrovert-
lble. In my world Vestern science and Eastern mysticism walk hand
In hand, embraced and inseparable, miror aspects of the same real-
Ity, eqully factual and valid. The opportunity to grow is there every
waking moment, the gift of our own
$eat
potential-
Youmight suppose that such a destiny is fr awat but in truth it
ls at mankind's doorstep. There can be no doubt that humanity is
once again in the process of chnging. Traditions ar evolving as
cross cujturl baffierc continue to fall. Old values, idals, and con-
ccpts are no longerblindly accepted; people of allcreeds, races, and
nations hve become less hesitant to question, to ask olry
The mindofman is in a frenzy as oeverbeforei technologygrow,
ing logarithmically by leaps and bounds. Ve have set foot on the
moon and touched the bottom ofthe ocean. Ve have movedat many
tims the speed of sound and have viewed the faces of the planets
around us. Ve control the power oa the atom and can replace a
crippled human heart with that ofa suitable (andwilling)
donor Ve
are a stp away from creatingan artificial, silicon based intelligence
Ve have even invaded the sanciry ofthe gne and created clones. It
seems that our quest for knowledge;s constrained only by energy,
time, and financial llocation.
Ve have made much socialproeess. Despite discriminatory dis
t.ibutioo, ducation levels are at an all-time high for the human race.
The phenomenon ofhurnan serfdom andsub;ugation is on the wane,
rebellion
jsvideni
all overtheworld. People are aware ofrheirrights
andare willins to fisht-perhaps even to die-forrhem. (No
simpte
thing, this, whn you consider that the economies of all historic
empires were founded on slavery) Even more stirring is the fact that
many individuals are now wjlling to fight and die for otrel peoples
rights, perhaps more sothan in anyotherperiod in ourhistory. Vhat
is equally important is that the seli-sacrifice of rhes heroes is nor
based on any specific religio6 belief or practice,
but rather on the
simple conviciion that human righrs desewe to be protected.
There is a backlash to thh, ofcourse. Ethnic and.eligious fanati-
cism is on the rise. Fascism troubles us once more. Multinational cor_
portions buse their power t will for
$eater
profits, bribing cor-
rupt govrnments to rpe their land and use their own cirizens. The
planett ecological balance has been destroyeo-permanenuy,
some
people claim. Our flora and fauna are dying, rhe planet suffering
The Almighty Dollarnrles, andconsumerism is the creedof the day.
It seems that for all our power-for we are powerful-we
have
yet to answer the fundamenral questions of life.Wbo are oez Wlwe are
we goh4t Why are ae hrel Wbat aft oxr
jeft
t cababiliths, ohat our
Jinal
potentiab
Do we lio? o't aJter death, as is belkoedz What ts troe happilrr;s dnhow
cdlt ue ftocb it/ Is there, hdred, a Geator Godt The list is endless, as old as
man hirnself.
Ii
rossirie
fof us ro nswer rhese questions. The secret ro a suc-
cessful resolution of these basic inquiries, howevet is that we must
vi i i
make a committed effort as a specin, not as nations or groups of people,
to find the answers. Th method required is as sirnpl, and as diffi-
cult, as that.
Humanity has developed along rnany different lines. There are
as many cultural approaches to life as there ar natural and sensory
stimuli. Some cultures are visu|, others acousric, others olfactory
others intuitive. It is hard to quantify humao culture with prcision,
and such an anlysis is far beyond the scope of this book. Howevea
it is possible to say (speaking
rery generally)
that, as a dominant
tendenct Vestern sciene has turned outv/ard, its intnt bing ro
quantity and modiy mani environmenr to suit manswishes. Eastern
science, on the other hand, has turned inward, attempting to quan
tiy and develop the innate capabilities of the human species and
undrstand its rol in the scheme of things. Vhile it is vry danger,
ous and unscientific to make statmenrs of this sort, for rhe time
being it is important rhat I tak this srandpoint, if for no other rea-
son than to clarify the purpos of rhis text.
Let me return to the phrasea cohtniued. e|Jon as a stsc,es This stare-
ment implies that we human beings must pierc through our ethnic
andnational barriers andwork together Historytells us thai incred,
ible events have unfolded whenever we rvere able to remporarily
cross ourself-imposed thresholds. The Hellenistic Age, for example,
clearly shows us what can be achieved through cdtural inreractionr
in the fourth century BcE ancint Creece met with ancienr India, and
the destiny of the world was forever, and quite radically, changed.,
The exploits of Kins Alexander and his men, howeve, ar not
directly pertinent to this book. The point is, rhere is no reason that
we todaycannot duplicare whar the ancients achievedthen, and that
is to learn from each other in ordr to grow, to survive, prhaps even
to thrive. In the nineteenth century Kipling wrote,
'asr
is East and
Vest i sVst , andnevert he t wai n shal l meet . "* Hewas wrong. East i s
meeting
rl/est
today, andwillcontinue to do so if we canjust nurture
their union. To realize this, we must ensure that both cultures
l See appendix I for this and all other numbered notes.
*
Rudyard Kipling,'The BaUadof East and Vesr, tss9.
approach ech otherwith mutualrespect, open themselves completely
to eah other, nd shar their conclusions. It is not an easy task.
Chinese culture, and more specifically Taoist culture, has taken
the Vest by storm. Acupuncturc is prcticed everywhere. Chinese
restaurants are ubiquitous. Kung fu movies and TV shows are popu-
Iar farandwide. Meditation has been recognizedas a bio,behavioral
state by Vestern medicine.* The Tao T Ching is being read by
unive.sity students all over the world, and many Western businfss,
men are using the I Ching and feng shui (Chinse
divination meth,
ods) in their day-to-day dcision making.
Andyet, despite the popularappealof
Chinese Taoist culture, a
fine fusion of ast and \Xr'est has only begun ro take place in recent
years. Forthe most part, people in the Vest either entirely reject the
Eastern approach as mumbo-iumbo or embrc itwith religious fer-
vor as more ancient and spiritualthan Vestem science. Both o[these
attitudesare enoneous. The first presumptuously rejects thevalue of
Chinese learning, the second takes tried andpmven biophysical tech
-
niques developed over millennia and turns them into dogm. This
problem is compounded by the fact that mny \Testerners and Chi-
nese alike are too eager to push what little tidbits of knowledge they
have down consumers' throats in a desperate quest for money-
The Chinese themselves are responsible for much of this. Thre
is, unfortunately, no such thing as Clirne science. Instad, there are
Janily
and clar sciences and arts developed by the people
of the Chi-
nese nation overmillennia. The knowledge developed by the Chinese
was 'l.rer widespread, not even within China itself. lt was the preroga-
tive and the powerbase of the privileged fw and their families.
In the past a Chinese Masrer nevr taught his apprntices 100
percent ofhis knov/ledge. !nstead he retaind, say, rhe forenost t0
percent for himslf alone. Perhaps he would wrire down the rest in
a document fof his favorite student, to be opened after h;s death.
The result ofthis approach was that the sum of each clan's learning
decreased by l0 percent with each generation, until some charis-
matic student was able to decipher the mysrry and return ro the
*
Herbert Benson, 7'e Rala'rnor R$po'n (New
york,
Villiam Monow
and Co. , 1975) .
ri t i l t us ol t hc ori gi nal t eacher, at whi ch poi nt t he cycl e went on
wl t h , i , st udent s, and so f ort h. The apabi l i t i es and expl oi t s of t he
Mastcrs became the stuff of legend, and later the sroryline of the
(
lhincsc opera. Today they are the essence of all kung tu movies.
'l'o
make matters worse, the Masters a,most nevel worked to-
lclhcr.
Th concept of a Vestrn university, where knowledge is
rharcd and experiences are compared, was an alien one for them.
l\rwcr was meant to be used for profit, material and spiritual. More
l|ltcn than nor rnartialMasters challenged each other, much knowl,
cdac ws forfeited in this manner because the bested Master fre-
(lucntly
lost his life as well. To our Vestern culture, such an ap-
proach seems shocking, to sy the least. Inlormation dissemination
lI cvident evrywhere; indeed, it is very difficult, even undesirable,
Lo kcep knowledg secret or propritary in our society.'?
Yet there is a way that a complete union of these two cultures
crn be accomplished, and that is simply by the creation of a 'so
flclcnce that is nitherEastern nor \X/estern but a union of both. Bold
vlsionaries of gnerations past have foretold such a discipline. I be'
llcvc that it is mankind! destiny to come together in this fashion,
nnd that such a science, cornbining the orthological* approach of
thc Vest with the mystical discipline of the East, is beins forsed in
our day and age. This story, in essence, represents th future direc-
tlon chosen by humanityt awakenins desir for a better life and a
hlgher truth. You will find many prallels with readily available x-
lliting texts. Th main difference, however, betwen this book and
any other is that it is representative ofa working, extant system, not
historical account of something that once was. lt is fact, nor sup-
position or a dogmatic system of beliefs.
There is a man in Indonesia who is a master of the ancient Chi,
nse scince ofrsi[{'rr, or "internal power." His name isJohn Chang,
and h is my teacher. Mr Changv/as first presented to the world in
the award-winning documentary series Ri'4 oJ Frre,r filmed by the
brorhers Lorne and Lawrence Blair; his privacy was protected bythe
{
From the Creek oriro meaningcorect, propet straiaht-and "loaic "
Ortholosical mans "having proper logic."
1
Lorne and Lawrence Bfai, RiU oJ Fift' East oJ :vdkdtaa, ts88.
rather ignominious psetd,onyril Dynafla ldc& In this documentary
Master Chang shocked the world by demonstrating the impossible:
First he generated an lectrical cunent of high arnperage trstls 1'5
our body to heal Lorne of an eye infection, and then he "zapped"
Lawrence (and
their sound rcordist) utilizing the same energy.* In a
dramati conclusion Master Chang thn used this bio-energy to ser
a crumpled-up newspaper ablaze, warning the researchers rhat the
same power that had healed Lome could readily be used to kill a
man as well.
It was the first documented demonstration of neikung givn ro
tbe Vestern world.
\/hat
is even more amazing is ihat tens of thou-
sands ofpeople around the world (myseJf
included) readily believed
it, and that the two brothers had no idea what itwas theywere film-
ing at the tim.
In order for you to fully undrstand what the term neiha4 im
plies, you'll hve to workyourway through thts text. \X/hat is impor,
tant at this poirt is that, for the first time in hrrman development, a
man who according to Chines culture is a rstri', aTaoist immofal, is
willing to come forrh and reveal to the Vesr the truth behind his
teachins.
John
Chans is unique in the annals of mankind. Like the
Jedi Knights of the Star Wan saga, he has amazins preternaturl
abilj-
tis, telekinesis, pyrogenesis,electrogenesis,
relepathy, Ievitation,rc-
mote vie\rins, evn astral prolectton (for lack of a better term). Thou-
sands of people have wihessed him do rhese things. My teachert
power is cntathomable to the \(esrern miodi smll perenrge
of
its accumulated energy can inslantly overpower, or heal, a human
being or larger animal. Andyet Mr. Chang ts a Vesterner A resident
of urban
Java,
he visits Europe and the United States often. He has
searched through China fo. others like himself with the intenr of
leamins and sharing a unique trair for one such as hc, as you will
discovr It could be said that Mr. Chans is the ultimate combina
tion of East and \X/est or, morc poeticall, rhat in rhe bidge between
East and Vest, he is one of the loundation rowers
r
Mi nt ai ni nA physi cal cont acr wi t h hi n at t har poi nr woul d have been
like puttins onei hand tn a wllsocket. I havc called rhis ability electro
senesis
(or clec troge.c.at io n
)
for lack of a b*ter rerm
This tcxt will essntially cover the life history and preliminry
rcach;ngs of
John
Chang. I have attempted to follow the method
suggested by theJedi and present astern concepts in a manner that
ll \flesterners can undrstand. As such, I pray that this volume wlll
be up t o t he t ask, and honorJohn Chang and hi s t eachi ngs.
Perhaps we are indeed fortunate to be living in that time in our
development when Cod has decreed that the separate branches of
human science com together Perhpsw of the
r/est
need the East
to save our world from ourselves
Kosta Danaos
Chapter One
LOOKING THROUGH
THE MIRROR
FIRST CONTACT
I am by training a scientist, and have degrees in two fields of engi-
neering. Among other things, I have been employed as a senior
project engine( by one of the largest corporations in the world.
Logic and social stereotyping would dictate rhat I am not the sort of
person who readily believes what he hears or sees in film format,
that things would have to be repeatedly proven to me for me to
question my established pattern of beliefs. Vhen I saw the docu-
mentary however, I did notdoubt its credibility fora second. I knew
thatwhat I was witnessingwas reI, that itwas neither specialeffects
nor haud. I was sure ofit. Prhaps it is the comingofthe newmillen-
nium tht allows this, that a rnan schooled in Vestern thought and
science can look at a deviation from the accepted laws ofnature and
say,
'"fhis
is ral."
As I mentioned earliec the well-done documentary by the broth
ers Lorne and Lawrence Blail called Rra4 oJ Irre, depicts a nond-
sript Oriental man doing what is impossible according to our
$/estern branch of medical knowledge and our Vestern science of
physics: using his own intrnal bio-energy ro light a newspaper on
f i re. Thl s was accompl i shed wi t h a mi ni mum of f uss, al most
nonchalantly. The man waiteduntilthe film crew was ready,looked
up to check with the cameraman, steadied his right palrn over
crumpled newspapr, tensd his body, and set the paper ablaze. lt
was obvious to the viewer that some kind of potnt nrgy was be'
ing generated from the mant open palm-so much so that the news-
paper burst into a roaring flame.
There are at least two ways that this feat could have been ac
complished as an illusion. One is that the filmmaken were collabo-
ratingwith the man and, through specialeffects, perpetrating hoax.
Th other is tht it was the rnan himself who was tricking the re
searchers, having slipped a piece of phosphorus or some other in'
flammable into the crumpled paperand timing his display to coincide
with the chemicalt oxidation. But I knew that neither was the cse' I
knew that I was looking at the real Mccoy, so to spak.
There were reasons for this, th most impoltanl beig tbe man
himself. He was a well bilt but smll Oiental, srniling and unpre'
tentious. He appered to b of indeterminat age, with a fullhead of
thick black hair and thc skin of youth, but his eyes were the eyes of
an ancient, nd sincerity shone through them. His voice was caing
and compassionate, without glrile. He was even nervous in front of
the cameral Most important, it ppeared that the man had nothing
to gain lrom the displayr neither his nme nor his location v/as dis,
closed by the researcbers, and he certainly was not asking anyone
None of ihes things occurred to me at the time, ho\ever. In
that momnt when I first saw the video, I knew only one thlng, that
I had finally, after twenty-five years of searchinsi met my mastr It
was shocking, I looked at him and knew htm, and nothins could
sway me from going to hjrn.
Lik many people of my generation, I had been studying the
rnartial arts for a longtime.I hadstarted at the age of ten and drifted
through a series of Orientalfighting arts to finllysettle onJapanese
jujutsu
in my early twenties.
\/hat
I had been searching for was
simple, I wantedwhat the actor David Carradine had so eloquently
portrayed in the now classic hit seris Knr, Fl,l. lwanted an artwhose
Msters were wis, nlightened philosophers who could kill a tiger
with a punch if they had to, yet abhorred the violence they trained
for I wanted an art whose practitioners would acnrally gow strottger
with age rather than weaker. Iwanted an art through \{hich my
tcacher would indeed teach me about myself and the world around
me. I wanted to r? Kwai Chans Caine.
I had searched around the world for such a mentor, and what I
had found generally fell into thre categories, enlightened philoso-
phers who could not punch their way out of a paper bag given the
opportunity; total animlswhowere great fighters, bur whom acivi-
Iized man would not invite into his houser and individuals who ap-
peared to b exactlywhat I was searching for but proved inadequate
to the task, ultimatly dispiaying either lack of
judgment,
inhrent
weakness, haudulent motives, or emotional instabil;ty. It is lso quite
possible that it was I who was not worthy of them, and left them
before I came to understand them.
In the past I had rpeatdly rejected the Chinse martial arts
because of the notable scarcity of authentic knowledge inherent to
thir dissemination in \X/estern society. In the 1970s and 198Os the
Chinese arts were notorious for their lack ofcredible techers. Tiust
worthy instructors werc, in general, much harder to find than im-
postors cashing in on the popularity ofkung fu movies. Also, Icould
not enter Communist Chlna to search for a true master until 1992
because of my profession. And yet I had, like all diligent marrial
artists, read the books by reliable researchers and teachers. I knew
th thory behindthe Chinese martial arts, and Iknew that the man
l hadseen on t he f i l m was Chi nese. l al soknewr, vhat I hadwi t nessed
was called neikung-the manipulation of internal power.
I had t o f i nd hi m.
I knew it was not going to be easy. I didnt know the mans name.
The documentary had indicated that he l;ved somewhere inJava or
Bali, but I had nowayofknowing if even thatimplication was true
they could have filmed him in San Francisco, for all I knew. And I
spoke neither Chinese nor Malay.
Tndaysl at erl wasonapl anet ot hel ndonesi ancapi t al of j akart a.
After n eighteen-hour trip, I checked into the cleanest of rhe dirty
motels found onJalanJaks and rested up for the morro\r. I knew it
would be tough going.
3
LookinS through the Mirror
2
Looking throuSh the Mirror
The next day I pocketedthe stack of photographs I had taken of
the video sequence in Rin4 olFn and,set off tor
Jakarta's Chinatov/n,
a district called Clodok- My plan was to visit all the Chinese phar,
macies and acupuncture clinics in Clodok, asking rhem whether or
not they knew the rnan in the photographs. It seemed hke a good
idea at the time.
They thought I was insane.
I must have made their week. It was my first trip to lodonesia; I
had expected the worst and was dressed like a
\X/estern
tourist on
satari. Some shopkeeprs laughed in my face; others
just politely
told me to piss off. One of them even rhrew me outl Afrer six or
seven hours of constant rejection, wlking among beggars and lep-
ers and being followed by a pack of street kids, I spied an ancient
Chi nese t empl e i n t he mi dst of i t al l andwal ked i n. I mmedt at el y, t he
noise went away and I was Ieft alone.
The templ caretakers were curious.
'/hat
was I doing there? I
was too shy and too embarrassed to tell them. They bought me din-
ner and gave me water to drink and sent me on my way.
I rcturned to Clodok the following day, my resolve strength,
cncd and anned with note my motel clerk had written out for me.
| [ t cr l earned rhrr w\ ar he had wrrt ren was
Honored si r or madam,
I am a very stupid foreigner who has been tricked into coming
here allthe way from Crece. These are pitures ofa man Isaw on a
video, I am looking for him I do not know his name or where he
lives. Do you know hirn? Thank you.
This is probably why people were more polite and why I saw
more smiles on my sccond day. After a few hours of diplomatic re-
jection,
I rnade my way back ro the temple, thinking that lwould
meet with yesterdayi friend.
They were delighted to see mc aod twice as curious as before
This tim I was the one who bought them all lunch, we sat rogether
for a time, laughing and communicatins in broken English and sign
language. As our camarader;e developed, they grew cufious enough
to pressure me ior details.
"Kosta, tell us, what are you doing here?"
' \ o,
rt . rt upi d, you donl wanr ro know
LookinS through the Mirror
l:inally thcy werc so i,rsistent that I relented and, rather thn
cxpl ai ni ng, handed t hem t he not e.
Suddenly I was faced with group of statues; thetr smiles had
bccn replaced by distnrst. A chill went up my back One man whis-
pcred someth;ng to a young boy, who ran off. As one, all rny
ncwlound frlends stood.
"Stay here," a burly man said
Ten minutes later a wiry Chinese of indererminate ase rod up
on a bicycle. He offered me his hand and sat down.
"My name isAking," he said. "l am a student of the man youseek."
Aking grilled me {or almost a week, asking rne questions like
"Vho sent your" and "Vhy did you come to this place?" It was ludi-
crous to him tht I could have found a lead to his teacher so easily,
coming as I did from Creece*of all places-wirhout cle as to
Iocal cstom and geography. He was sure I was a spy in the scruice of
some intelligence agency; he even made me sunender my passport
to himl Afier a week Aking finally gave me an address in a ciry in
easternJava and told me to fly out ther the next morning, the man I
had seen in the documentary would be expecting me, I was told.
\/ell, I didnt believe him.
It had been too easy, too Lrnbeltevably easy. I thousht rhat these
srinnins
Chinese were plying ajoke on the foreisnel sending him
on a wild goose chase and having a laugh at his expcnse. I boarded
the plane wjth hesitation, felt like a fool when llanded, felt even
norellke a foolwhen ltook a taxi to the address Ihad been given and
was told the man was out. Come bck at two o'clock, they said. At
least they spoke Engl;sh.
I spent a few hours fuming in my room at the dirty motlwhere I
was staying. I vowd etcrnal vengeance on the people who had sent
me out here. I would teach them to beware of Creeks. Hahr Hear
about the Tiojan Var, my friendsr Youe about to trade p. I felt
ridiculous, like a
jackass,
stupid; I kept telling myself that the whole
thingwas a hoax, that I hd spnt way too much money coming out
here, that I was an idiot and stupid and usting and naive and. . . .
I went back at two o'clock The man was there.
I cannot plainly convey the shock, the.;oy, andthe reliel of findins
Dynamo
Jack
standing in hont of h;s home. I had been an imbecile,
5
Lookin throu8h the Mirror
succumbing to my all-too-ready anger' No one had been plaving a
practicaljoke on rne, th student Imet had actuallv triedto help rne'
snding me on to his teacher.
Ve shook hands and he invited me in He said, quite simplv,
that his namc wasJohn. Tlre surname on the doorbell saidcHANc in
Latin characters, a common-enough name for a Chinese Joh Chang
was the equivalent of Jorfl Sn, io the Unitd States, a name anvone
could have.
I introduced myself formallY
"Kosta," he said, rolling the word around on hls tongue. The
nme must have sounded strange to him. "How did
vou
find mc/'
His English was simple and lichtly accented
"l saw you in a video . . a documentrv," I rPlied.
"Ah. That was some years aso Thev told me it would be for sci-
entific research, othelwisc I would neverhavc demonstrated lorthm
'
"Vhy not:"
"Becase t pfomised my Master that I \a'ould ot Vhat can I do
f or
vour
Vn havc sone ki nd of probl cmr"
I rhn was a hcrl cr Hc appl i ecl acupunct ure t o t he t radi t i onal
t )orrrt s,
l , Lrl supt )l cr. nt ccl i t s cl t cct gf eat l v bv passi ns hi s cl ] ' i hi s
l )i (, c, , rray i l yrru wi l l , t hrorrgh t hc needl es He had hcal ed hun
rl rrrl ' oi
1, c, , pl c
wh<, nr Vcst crn mcdi ci ne coul d Dot ai d, sonret hi ns I
( l i ( l
r ot I r ( , w i l l hc ! i mc. I wi nged i t
"Vcll, two thinss
" I had rehearscd this part mnv times "l do
havc a probl crn wi t h nyj oi nt s af t erso manv
vea$
of pol rndi ngt hem
i n mrt i al art s t rai ni ng . . uh, somet hi ng l i ke ost eoaf t hri t i s Bone
He smiled. "Too rnany years of impropcr trinins, I think lt's
possiblc that I could help you l'll have to check
voLr
out first."
"Okav."
"l'm going to have to touch yoLr. Don't be alarmed at what
vou11
I t ook of f my shi rt and he put hi s hands on nl v chest and ppef
lrnaglne a powerful, continous electrical curre.t passing thfough
your body. Ingine that, despite ic impact,
vou
are somehow aware
lhat this cur.ct is benvolent, notdamging lrnagine itworkinglike
a radar, scarching, weish;ng, feeling. I gasped and almost fell over
"Your heart is vry
sood,"
he said.
I nodded and gulped. I must have looked odd, but he was prob-
ably used to it. The stream of bio-energy he was sending through
me made my muscles
jerk
unconttollably.
"Lungs are okay. Kdneys aregood. Livey's all right." Vhile he was
talking, I felt like I was going through som kind of high-intnsity
ultrasound. I could feelhis power inside me, the energy buildingup as
he became more confident of my physical condition.
"Oh," he said. "l have it. lts ;n the blood. Yo blood chemistry
mkes you prone to calcium deposits."
"Can you do anything about it?"
"l'm not sure.
\yy'e
can try.
\yy'here
are you staying?"
I nmed the motel.
He nodded. "Ve'11findyou someplace better Vy'hatelse didyou
"l wanted you to accept me as your studentl" I blurted out. It
came in a rush, and I was immdiately disappointed witb rnyself l
had prepared such an eloquent speech for lhat momnt, and lrr-
ate ones, t that-pln B shouldplan A fail, and so on. Iv.as thirty
fiveyearsold at the time, an d had experienced much; I was not prone
to stase ffight, butwhere I shouldhave been matufc I felt like a child
before this m. More precisely, like a punk kid.
"No, " he sai d. "Oh no no. I don' t accepl st udent s anymore. Bul
you can come back tomorrow moroing if yo want us to get started
on your treatment.'
I was crLrshed. I wanted to fly back homc, msically transform
myself into a five year-old, cfawl into my motheri lap, and cry. In-
stead I went bak to my cheap, dirty motel room, and waited.
PRACTICAL TAOISM
Taoism is a millennia old system of beliefs that has, alons with its rival
andantipode Contucianism, shapedthe course of Chinese culture. To
quote the Ixcycloi?di,r Bitamicd,
'Taoism
lbl
a religlo'philosophical
tradjtion tht has, alons with Contucianism, shaped Chinese life for
more than 2000 years. The Taoist hetitage, with its emphasis orr
6
I oklnthfough the Miror
LookinS throgh the Mirror
indlvldual freedon and spontneity, laisscz faire government and
soi al pri mi t ' vi sm, myst i cal experi ence and t echni ques of sel f -
transformation, rpresents in rnany ways the antithesis to Confucian
concern with individual morl duties, community standards, aodgov
rnment al responsi bi l i t i es. "*
Many things popularly thought to be Chinese in the \vest ar
actually Taoist, and have become widespread even io China only in
the pstcentury. Amongthese are many prctices thathave become
"brand names" in Vestern society, such as acupncture, t'ai chichuan,
fengshui, and the I Ching. The truth is, it is now impossible to sepa-
rate Taoism from Chinese culture, tbe two have, in our age, becom
one and the same
Taoism has been categorized by sinologists as having both a
philosophical and a religious tradition complctc with formalized
doctrine nd a relisious hicrarchy. The Vesthas been flooded ln the
past twnty yers with books laining to be iirr authoritative txt on
Taoism Maoy of these books are valid, some less so, while others
arc sirrply a hodgcpodge ol ridiculous thcories Even more frustrat'
i rrra, mny 0rc cxccl l cnl t randat i ons of mcdi eval Chi nese t ext s t hat
arc rrri sl cat l i rrr si mpl y t rccause, as t ransl at i ons, t hey are subj ect t o
cx( l n(l i vi (l url
(f i l nrl at orf s
i nt cf prel t i on' t he di spari t i es i n meani ng
l hr( y(t rr . i I l i rrcl hct wccn l i ncs i n t he l ransl at ed t ext s wheo you
, , u , s' , r r , , , r ' , . ur r h, , r w' r h ar r ot l r o l e shot k, ng.
li,l,o
(-hans,
rhe leacherwhose l;fe and theories are the focus of
this book, is thc Headmasterofa kung fu lineage whose roots can be
traced back twenty four hundred
vears. John
himself denies the ap
pellation laoist perhaps rightfully so, because Taoism has coe to
be considered a religion by the world. However, since the teachers
of Master Chanst linease basically lived within the confines of his-
torical toist retreals, and since the word Taoisr has become a ge-
neric term in the \?est for "ntive Chinese philosophy," l will continue
to call my teacher a Taoist. Perhaps it would b more accuratc to
refer to hls teaching as "practical Taoism" to differntiate it from the
Toism of other sources orlineages.John himsell callsToism a'philo-
'
Encydopedio Bnhna Ol lma
''Ioism."
a
LookinS through the Mirrof
sophical science," the simple study of natural law, for reasons that I
wi l l out l i ne bel ow
Of ll the spiritual disciplines Taoism is perhaps th most con
fus;ng and difflcult to defin in tht it began its development as a
phllosoph ical school, tumd into a religion, and was propagated as a
series of folk beliefs. However, there are many ways by which to
differentiate a religion from a philosophy and, mor so, from a sci
ence. In our specific case, two
justi
fictions are most clear The first
is that a religion is basd on beliefs that calrol be
tror.n,
that are a
matterofeach individual's faith. V as practical Taoists consideror
tcaching a science that gives testimony to natural phenomena that
both the students of our generation and past Maste of our lineage
have experienced firsthand, a tbar can h
4rotut
a rxperin by
othns at anf tin?. T'his ]s the most important distinction and one that
I cannot stress sufficiently. To put the argumnt more simply, a high
school student studying physics and algebra will inevitbly reach
certain conclusions and develop specific capabilities, duplicating the
experiences andthe logic of his tachen and of those in past genera-
tions who passed these sciences along. There is nothing "religious"
in the experience of physics nd algbra; they are tools of knowl-
cdge and power, w'th no doctrine or systm of beliefs. Algebra and
physics offer in otherwords, what has become the key term of Vest
cn sclen e, reirodncibh ftsult\. They
bass
o'1 rcthinl tbat cawot be
Proocs.
This approach is precisely what someone going ihrough training as
John Changk student willexperience, he will follow in the footsteps
of those who carne before him, enounte. the sam phenomena, reach
thc same conclusions.
The second reason I assert that "practical Taoism" is a naturalis
ric science is that the word |gior has come to imply a falling-out
bctween man and the Divine on that the proffered doctrine can
rcconcile by acting as n intermediary.* \Ve can f'nd no proof ihat
' 'l'he
orrginal Ltin verb nli4aE Der!
'1o
tie fimly," sggesting union
with the Divine; as such it is much closr in concept to the Snskrit wo.d
yotra (from which comes the Enslish/ol'), ralher than the concept of
rcjoLnina that the word d/rqior has coe to imply today
9
Lookin throuSh the M iror
mn has ever fallen from Cod's grace,* assurning that there is a Cod;
instead .here seems to be considerable evidence that man is evolv'
ing to become whatever Cod intended him to be. As "practical Tao-
i st s"we of f er no speci al means of redempt i on, no sal vat i on, nocarrot
to make the donkey run. Rather, we offer a method of enhancing
existence, makins each individul mor of what he already is aod
movlng him toward what he can hope to become. \Ve are, simply
put, a philosophical scienc.
Perhaps you will understand the distinction a bit better if I an
lyze the Chinese term [ '4t Many people think tht it mens "mar-
til afls," but this is not the case. (The Chinese terms fot martial
technique nd martial arts are now ox rr{ aod r,/ yt, rspctively.)
The two words iraa4Ja arevery difficult to translate, indeed, we must
absolutely study Chinese writins to omprehend their meanins. Let's
mke the attempt.
Kur4Jr ls composed of the ideograms,
trt
1,,
KUNC FU
Now, t hc f i rct l crm, kung, i s wri t t en as a combi nat i o of t he
chamctcrs kul (I.) and li (
f).
Kru4 means'to build, to construct."
l i mcans "poweror st rengt h. "The second t erm, Jr, i s rnade up of t he
sinsle haractert
({), which is a complex ideosram to interpret.
Ia is derived frorn the character for man
(^.),
witb added wide-
spread arms and an adult mani hatpln through the character
(in
medleval China each adult male wore a hatpin throush his hat and
hair). The implication is of a mature, large, responsible adult man
or father figure; the character is also used in other contexts to de-
note someone's husband. In other words, the term hu4! actually
nrcrns, "the constftrction and development of ones energy over time,
tlrrough daily effort, sLrch that in the end one obtains mature powr
i nd t he spi ri t ual devel opment of a Mast er. "
KrrgJa, in other words, is a path of continual discipline and train-
ing, of nonstop growth over your entir life. This is precisely the
path chosen and represented byJohn Cbane
3
*
Or, con'ersely, that the puaosc of existence is sihply suffering,
sansara, from which human beinss shold strive to escape. lt was not my
intent to harp on Judaeo
Christianity, I simply wnted to keep this
scction as bdel as possibl
l|)
LookinS thro8h the Mnror
11
Lookin8 throuSh the Mirol
ChapterTwo
LIFEFORCT
A CAR RIDT
"l
have to go to my prawn farnr this afternoon. You can com with
It ws aboul two wcek into my acquaintance with the man who
wds t() l)cconrc rly tcchcr For two weeks he had stuck acupuncture
ncccllcs into rrry clbows, knees, and wrists, sendins a steady cunent
ol ch'i
(litc cnergy) coursing throLrgh my body. As I progressed I was
ablc to rclax more and more during th treatment, and
John
me-
thodically incresed the intensitywith ech session. I had discovered
to my surprise tht he used a cunent intensity of no more thn O.5
percent of his total powrto treat patients.lt was siaggering. Normal
people, even the strongest rnen, couldbe knocked outby 2 percent
For two weeks I had asked him every day to accept me as a stu-
dent He was lways firm in retusins, but he never insinuated that I
should "piss off"
(to put it bluntly), and he always invited rne back
for furthertretment the followlng day. I did;ust that, nevermissing
a chance for a session, gritting my teeth against th pajn and nying
to rerleat into meditation asJohn'trppecl the current," increasing the
intensity of the power he snt into me 1() the highest levels I could
stand. Itvas indeed painfulbut, more important, therea! an effect.
It seemed that vith evry sessio my
joints fell better and better,
arrt l whl l c t hc cal ci l rrn deposi l s i n my ri ght arm di d not go away
(thcy
had bcen thcre for twclv yeart, rhose in my lcft arm (which
hir(l bccn lorrnins for a year or so) dlsappeared completely.
John
rlv, slt<,wcd mc a set of"exercises," a he calledthem, to supplernent
thc hcaling process, and I practiced them rigorously every day
Ilc had stunned me the firstweek ofour acquintance by taking a
r llrpstick and nonchalantly pushing it throush arr inch thick board (l
lclrcd latcrthat he could do thrs atwillwith a six, or eisht-inch-thick
l,iccc
of wood, thickness was irrelevant). You mustunderstand that he
(lid
,rot hammer it in with his fist or anything of that sort. He simply
bmced his palm against the back of the chopstick, and itlourcl tnto the
board.
John handed me the board and I tried to push the chopstick in
Lr(hcr; it would not move, but when I pulled it outi it came quite eas
ily. The reason for thls was the chopstick's conical shape; it narrowed
honr base to tip. To push it in farthet l'd have to crush the wood around
it, as
John
ha4 when I pulled it out, only air resisted the movement.
"You understand abour yang and yin:" he had asked. I nodded.
In this day and age few people in the Vest had not heard of these
lwo opposins rniversal forces. "lnside ourbodies, both llow in equal
nmounts," he continud. "These energies are oppositesi they cao
ncvcr meet Yin and yang oormally run parallel to cach other, never
ldting go of one another I use my yin and yang together as one;
thal is why Ican do what I do. By itself, yang ch'i cannot pass the
limits of the body."'
"Neikung," I had said.
"Yes." He seemed pleased that I knw the word.
Vhen he askedme to go wirh him to his business establishment,
I lcapt atthechance toget to know the mn btter Did I want to gor
ls the Pope Catholic?
John
was a highly successful businessman, and quite v.althy.
He ws a contractor and an exporter ofboth manufactured and per-
ishable goods. The expairiate Chinese, if they may be called rhat,
are often referred to as the'Jews ot Asia," and with good reason.
l-ike their Vestern counterparts, thy cont.ol the mjor arteries of
cconomic development in Southeast Asia.
John
was such a man. I
was to discover that he had been born in abiect povertr hov/evet
and that he was a self-made millionaire.
13
12
Ve went to the prawn trm by car
John drove, quite tasr bur nol
recklesdy. Vhen we reached eighry eishr rniles per hour I became a
bit concerned because neither rhe laws nor the traffic conditions of
the country he resided in allowed for such a vetocity. (And
ber in
mind that I am a Creek and, as such, am used to borh hish speds
and deplorable road condirions.) laffic was very heary and, after a
tjme, the inevitablc happened.
Johns cellular phone rang and the call was important; he began
speaking or) the unit in shorr, rapid sentnces, cradliog the phone
underhis chin andbasically drivingwith one hand, nottwo. To com
pllcate thtngs, he began passing
a series of cars-quite illegally, as
ther was a double dividing line in the center of the road. His lane
was clear beyond those cars, and he was in a hurry.
John
hadcornpleted his maneuver andreentered his proper lane
when suddenly a truck, intnt on passing
a similarly slow-moving
vehicle in front of it and having hadJohns speedy approach masked
by that vehicle, entered our lane. The cars we had passed were less
than one hrndred yrds behind us, minute distanc at our spced.
I gripped thc consolc and was suddenly very gtad I was wearins
nry scrL bcl t Vc wcrc doi ng about ni net yr t he oncomi ng rruck was
go, n8
ar l cast si rt y, and
John was drj vi ns wi t h one hand whi l e speak-
i rrt (,
l hc phonc I was e rhat we were headi ng f or a mal or acci _
(l cn(
nnd was t l \ ankf ul rhat ourcarwas l argc and st rong. Cri t t i ns my
t cc(h, I poi n(cd
at t he oncomi ng car and braced f or i mpact .
I ohn harcl l y l ookcd up. Vi t hour ski ppi ns a bet or pausi ns
j n
convcrsalion, he swerved onto the soft shootder of the road, passed
the rruck, nd returncd to his lane. He checked rhe rearview niof
to cnsure thar the iruck had succcsstully avoided the cafs rhat had
bcen behi nd us as wel l , and we wenl on. Af t er a ni nut e or so he
finished his conversatrcn and clicked off the phone
"My eyes are still good," hc said to nre dryly. He was tifty-seven
a1 thc time and lookcd forty.
"Do you always drive this fast?" ws rhe only response I coulcl
t hi nk ol
"Vhcn
I'm by mysclf I Lrsually drive fasrer, about I l0 to 125
miles per hour or so. I like speed, you sce Vhen I have orhcr peoplc
1+
irr thc car I usr.rally stay below ninety because othnvise, if anything
l rappcns, I can' t prot ect t hem. "
"Have you ever had an accident?"
"Only once. I broadsided a truck doing about a hundred."
"Vhat happenedz"
"Nothing happened. I used rny power to absorb the impct on
my body. They had to cut me out with chain aws. The witnesses
thousht it was a miracle, that Cod or som saint had protectd me ."
I was stunned. Vhat he was telling me was that his body, aus-
mented by the powers lri neik ns irainins had
siven
hirn, had with-
stood a stress greater thar the yield strength ofsteel. I tried to iftagine
the metaland glass shards flowing aroundhis body, unable to pierce
hman flesh. Certinly, plastic defo'mation as planned by the cari
designers allowcd for much, bt thefe was no denyins that the mo
mentunr he had absorbed had been phenomenal.
\(as it true? Could a human bcins rcach a statc in which hc vas
impervious to exterior harm? lt seemed too much to swallow.
"You know," he contlnued, "when I was younger I wanted to be a
I l ol l ywood st unt nan, sl nce I coul dn' t real l y be hurt i n crashes be-
caLrse of my powcr But then I ih.rught, no, il you do that too many
ri mes peopl e wi l l wonder about you, and l xsi dcs, I had promi sed f t y
Master that I would not use my power to make moncy."
Ve drove on lor while ir silerce. He besan to question mc
about Crcccc. He undertood about the Balkans He had been born
penni l ess, and he
, *, as
Chrnese.
"My father died when I was four," hc sald "l grew up very poor
Llasically I was a streetkid. Though my mothcr worked vcry hard, she
did not bve the money to send lre to school. I did finish hish school
latcr on, though, but I ncver srudled at any collese or univercity."
"Risht," ljoked. "Youll,st hve Ph D in becoming n,perhunn."
"No," he replied seriin,sly, "you mu\tn'r thjnk ot me as beins
superman. I arn l i ke a f i sht ef pi l ot of a hanrpi onshi p at hl ct e Not
cveryone can become like me-there are certain qualifications but
so , : pcopl c can. Vhat I arn i s a product ol di sci pl i ne aod t f ai ni ng as
nruch as naiu|al talcnt.
"My wi f e real 1y hel pcd mc, " hc coDt i nued 1' l expl ai ned t o her
15
v/hen we were married tht I could not do anything else, tlrat I had
to spend all rny spar time training. She agreed to this."
He had been married at eishteen and had seven children.
"l worked as a driver for almost twenty years, you know" He
smiled. "So you see, you needn't be so concerned about my driving.
I know these roads."
\yy'e
drove on in silence for a while. "Do you really understand,"
he finally asked,'hat we mean when we talk about ch'i:"
"l think so," l replied. I reckoned I understood the basics; I had
read all there was to read, after all, and had studied martil afis for
Ch'i, or bio'enersy, is a phenomenon that has been much dts-
cussed in recent years in the \X/et l/ith the establishment of rh
new K'r'g F! series, David Carradine once again contributed to the
\X/estt nderstanding by uttering the word on television t least once
a week. Acupuncture, too, is now commonplace, and there is hardly
a doctor an''where \sho has not spent ro"rd time looking into it. The
phenomenon of bio-enersy is thu under pronounced medical and
physi cal i nvcsl i gat i on. *
Thc ori si nal Chi ncsc i dcos. dm f or c i i s best rendered as "va
p(, r" i n l rnsl i sh 1t has al so bccn rcndered as "vi t al i ry, "
but ch' i i s very
(
I(,srly associ;rtcd with breaih (thoush it would be better to say thar
b, cat h cont ai ns ch' i ) Ot hercul t ures have gi ven i t ot hernames, The
l l l ndus cal l i t prard, t he bet ans l x, , (whi ch
means "wi nd"), t he
1 lcbrews ruac (wind), and the Pactfic Islanders md"a, while the an
cient Creeks called rt p"e!,ra (spirit,
wind).r Ch'i is imilar to elc-
triciry flowing through a wire; it an generate heat or work or encrgy,
but none of these results identifies ch'i itself.
"So you know that our bodies have both yin ch'i and yng ch'ir"
"Vell," I smiled, "l read bout it in the To T Chins."
I hope that this text will cortribute io sch reserch
T It is interesting to note that the Latin rptitB also eans "breath," and
tht the Creek word fof the rcspiratory organs ol our body
lthe
lnst r
,t'nno,
(lrom
which we
sct
the word prrnoric, for examplc)
16
"Ahl Lao'tzu
(he
Toist," he said. "He was a wise man. Vhat
rlocs he say about ch';r"
I thought at the time that he was testing me. Later Iwould dis,
covcr thtJohn had never read the To Te Ching. "Vell," I replid, "
hc says that ch'i has both yin and yang components, and that it is
lhc intraction between the two that makes life possible."5
Such feedback between the positive and negtive poles ofexist
cnce was the prime component of our lifeforce, when we as a species
bcgin to understand this phenomenon from a technical perspective,
wc will begin to understand life itself.
(twould
later discover, how
cvcr, that our bodies are briefly capable of storing both pure yang
aod pure yin ch'i in different aras, thoughthisstate of nonequilibrium
is subject to entropy.)
"l ntraction."
Joho
rolled the word around on his tonsue. "Like
rlcctricit/, positive and negative7"
"l guess. "
"Not quite conect-" He paused. "B[t you know, one time I ]et a
student of mine hook me p to a voltmeterand an amperometer He
registered no voltage, but I blew the amp meter off the scale. l burned
the machin1"
"Are you telling me that ch'i has amperase bu1 does not have
voltager"
"l think so. For example, I can withstand household electical
current indefinitely withot pain, but I canoot light up a lightbulb. I
lrave tried, many times."
I thought about that. CIiDical investisation in medicallaborato
ries seems to i'rdicate lhat the electrical resistnce ofthe skin changes
markedly at acupuncture points. There are "electrical acupuncture
machines" that make use of thjs phenomenon to locat the points
for nophytes. This is an indication that ch'i and voltage are some-
how inversely related(though other explanations have been offered).
But Iwas to find out years later thatJohn was wrons. His ch'i in lact
displayed nither voltage nor amperager rathr, it w an entirely
different phenomenon, based on very dtfferent forces.
'And
other than beingmore powerful, isyour ch'i differeot from
tht of th average prson!?"
John
simply smiled, but did not answer'
17
\)/e nived at the larm. lt was ol medium size, about rwenty
people were employfd there. I roamed around while h finishcd his
business. A young girl brought out a bowl of fruit and a decantr of
coffee for me, the tropical fruir was delicious, the coffee rned;ocre.
John
walted up and sat down, helping himself to some cofle
"People
are so stupid," h said. "My shipment is bins held up
jn
customs bcause some localofficilwants bribe. Thatt the waywe
operate here, you know"
"lts the same all over the world," l said. "You have to
srease
the
whels for them to turn "
He was delishted by theclichd Enslish metaphor and commit-
ted itto memory. "Ve have a sirnilar phrase here. It's true thatpeople
oftn abuse their position in society fol thejr own beneftt. In the
eod, iti all about powei," he said. He seemed to rhink abour rhe last
word for a second, then turned suddenly toward rn. "Vhat is the
differencc between c';lmg and raitar4r" he asked
"Vell, clilua4 means to develop the energy of the body.,. . .,'
'?ll
over the body, yes. \X/hat about nejkunsT"
"N. i f ur4 means' i nt ernal power "'
"Ycs, blrl intcrnal to what?" he asked.
I hcsi rarcd, and. , ohn drcw rhree i deosrams on a napki n:
"This is ae;tazg. The first ideosram, 'ei means' rnn nrerins a house.',
"Yes."
"Sowhen we practice neikung, we purch'iirsirie, but insidewhat?,
"Uh . . the dantienr The bonesr Chakras2" I was graspins at
John
grinned. "Vell, well. I see all the boots you read did sonr
good. Vhat is the dantien?"
18
-fhc
rJantien, or'clixir tield," is the primary bio,energy warehouse
ol thc human body. Located fourfingers below the navelin them;ddle
i,l thc tono, this centerhasth ability to store vst arnounrs of ch'i. For
lhis rcson it is also known as ci:i i:ai (ocean
of ch'i). But it is a mistke
l{, rhink that the dantien itself gnrates ch'i, as presented in many
tcxrs. Rather, it is possible to storc ther thar ch'i which th practirio-
ncr intakes from thcuniverse aroundhlm. It ls practice andpemistenc
that leadto "dantien power"; such power is notan implied characteris
ric of the humar body. I can perhaps explain bettr with sirDile. Say
thai a specificyoth has excptional talenr in a given sport. Neverthe-
lcss, he still needs to train and work hard-to hone his skills and his
|nind every day in order to become a championship athlete. The dantien
is similar to that youth. Yes, it can store seemingly limilless amounts of
cnetw, but tlldt esegy nun be
f,tt
therc
Jor
tb( ddnri\ iolrflcro" k will not
soak up, nor will it genrate, power of its own accord
I t ol dJohn as much.
He nodded, somewhat pleased. "All right," he said. "l'll show
you one more t hrng roday Cne mt a banana
I reached; nt o t he basket and pi cked a banana at random f rom
one ofthe two bunches in thebasket. I had lredyeten three
(imag-
ine the smaller fruit found in Asia, not the overgrovn and afificially
ripened bananas that reach our tables in the Vest)r they werc deli
cious and completely untmpered with
John took the fuit fmm rne
and hel d i t i n pl ai n i shr i n hi s l ef r hand. He ext ended rhe i ndex and
middle fingers of his righthand, foldinsthe orher rwo into ththumb.
Tnsing briefly, he passed his hand in a slicins motion about three
inches away hom the banana; there was an audible clicft, and hall the
huit fell to the floor.
I was long past being arnazed at this pointi the whole thing
seemed kind of matter of fact. He handed me the other half of the
h!it. lt was shiny, as if cleaved by a hot knil that had tused the
surface of the banana into a
slassy
mass.
John
pointed to the center of his palm.
'This,"
he said, "is like
sholgun." He extended his two fingers again and pointed to their
tips. "This," he continued, "is likc a laser."
t 9
rt
c
t-
KUN
J
NEI
TH[, MARTIAL ARTS AND CHl
There can be no denying that the marrial arts are as old as man.
Beginning perhaps as a derivative of th hunting skills of primirive
tribesmen, the martial arts developed as man pirted himself against
man. Vith the appearance ofempires and the establishment ofstate
governmnt, these arts developed to such an extent as to approach
and prhaps surpass today's fightingarts. There are wallpainrings in
Beni Hasan in Egypt dating from 2000 DcE reminiscent of modern
judo,
and if the archaeological record left behind is any indication,
the ancint Creek martial arr ofpar&rario, (dated
at leasr to 1450 Bc)
was much more comprehensive than karate has becom in our day.
One aspect often neglecred by hoplologists* and martial histo-
.ians is that, for some reason, the martial arts were always closelv
t i edt oandal i gnedwi t h rel i gi onorspi ri t ual i t y. Tmpl ewal l sal l
over
the world-in both East and Vst-have, since rhe dawn of time,
been adornedwith scenes ofcombat. The heroic sagas of allnations
ar consistent on two thems: a series ofconflicts throughoutwhich
the hero triumphs, and his inreraction with gods orCodin doing so.
The OldTestament, for example, is undoubtedly a martialepic, much
like the Indian Ranraynna and the Creek ll,arl. In Chia this precept
holds true in both rhe Buddhist and Taoist traditions.
Chinese boxing, ura sba, is undoubredly rhe art of fighting.
per-
haps at first it involved only muscular force and srraregic applica-
tion. Over time, however, the Chinese martial arts came to be
influenced by Taoist and yogic meditative-respiratory techniques,
which perhaps \rere firsr applied for health purposes,
but were later
found to have martial applications. There is every indication rhat all
aspects of Chines medicine and divination were extant and com-
plete by 1000 DcE; il v/ould not be an outrageoG extrapolation to
assume that the Taoisr martial arts or at lasr martiai a.ts influenced
by Taoism were also complet by that time. MasterJohn Chang has
records of martialartists hke himself living in China almost iwothou-
*
A hoplolosist is an archaeolosisr or hisrorin who siudies weapons and
their use th.oughout hktory
2Q
sand ycars i n Xhe pst . I t i s al so i nt erest i og t o not e t hat t he Chi nese
madc mofe limited use of metl armor historicaily than would be
oxpcctedconsidering theirtechnological developmenr, before Iun-
dcrstood the true cpbilities thar ch'ikung imprted to the prdi-
tioner, I used to wonderwhy. In any case, the martjal arrs werc well
under way in China long before the arrtval of Buddhism.
Popular Iiteratule demnds that th rnartial afts in China be tied
to the arrivalofthe Indian prince Bodhidharma at rhe Shaolin temple
in Honan province. But, this is inaccurate ro say the leasr. \Y/hat is
hue is thal China is a vasr country inhabitedby many ethnic gfoups
with an often poorly rccorded history. To try to trace the history of
the martial arts in this quagmire of records is an arduous task. The
literature on Chinese boxing is full of
saps
and srnothered by ambi,
guities in many places. Still, we can trace the maftial arls reliably to
the Chou dyoasty (t l2l 255 BcE).*
-fhe
Sprk4 and Autmn Ar,''ak
(722 481 BcE) of that dynasty, as well as rhe lireratre of the Var
ring States period (403-221
Bc[), mention displays of archery, fenc
ing, andw.restlins performedby nobles. Ihave already dtscussedthe
cvolution of philosophy during ihis iime, ir is evident in rhe litefa-
iure thatyogic respiratory psychophysiological pracrice were much
in use by the sixth century rcE as well. Indced, the LaaTzu aad,Chuatg
2, are both ftrll of references to vital erergy and Toist yoga.
Mens-tzu (Menciut,
the orsanizcr of Con|t,cianism and a con
tmporary of Chuang-tzu, wa among others proficient in rhe culti,
vat i on of ch' i , somet hi ngpopul drconcepri on hardl ynri crpat cs f ronr
a moral l st Conf uci an He promot ed t he approach t hat "i f t he wi l l
6,t)
is concentraled, the vital enersy
[c'i)
wi]l follow it and become
active." Mencis also wrote, "Vill
[y;)
is of the hishcst imporrancci
vitality
[cir'i]
stands second." I have heard the same conrment from
anot her st udent of John Chang.
Accord;ng to Chinese thought, there are basically two types of
training involving olrr vital energies: ch'ikung and neikung. It is dil
ficult to say where one ends and tbe orher begins, but essenrially
.
Draeger, Donn F, and Robe* \Tl Smith, Cospr.r.nr ir. Asian Filbtiq Arts
(Tokvo
and New York, Kodansha, re80).
21
ch' i kuns cenrers on t he devel opment and cont rol of yang ch, i (al so
alled li; ch'i or "fire" ch'i), while neikung involves thejojnt employ-
ment or yang ch'i od yin ch'i (called
',watel'
ch'i or lanr ch'i). ln
truth, yin andyans energies run parallelto each other in our bodies,
and both re vital to our continued health Like yin and yans, it is
impossible to separate ch'ikung from netkung, indeed, the latter is a
higherform ofthe same arr. Perbaps rhe distinction wscreatedsim-
ply to help define rhe abilities of rhe adepr.
yaog
ch,i cannot pass
beyond the confines of the physical body, while yin ch,i can and so
may rmpart to rhe practitioner preternatural
abilities such as those
demonstrated by Master Chang
In the second century cE Buddhis. monks began ro arrive in
China. Then circa 500 cE came the Zen patriarch Bodhidharma
(Tamo)andthe
Ch'arn (Zen)
sect Tmo arrived atthe Shaolin temple
to preach to and subsequeotly stay wirh the Buddhist monks, pass,
ing o' to them two methods, the Y Cin Ching, which is essentially
ch' i kuns, and t he Shi Sui Chi ns, whi ch i s essenri a y nei kuns. I t i ,
from these two forms that the Shaol;n chool developed. Appar,
ently the ncikuog techniqucs were losr within a few generarions,
: nd onl y t hose of t he Yi Ci n Chi ns rel i ned. Many of t odays rar_
t i al arl s, cspeci al l y rhose out si de Chi na, are descended f ro[ r t he
Shaol rn school wi rh a st f i crl y ch' i kuns approach.
Thc Taoi sr marri al arrs remai ned very much al i vc i nsi dc Chi a,
howcvcr, spccifically in placcs such as Vu Tng mounrain and other
Taol st ret rcat s. Broadl y spcaki ng, i t can bc sai d t hat rhci f approach
is guided nlore by the interplay ofyin and yang than the gencrarion
of power evident in Buddhisr narrial arts like thc hard style Shaolin
torms. I have noticed a tendency to move thc weishr conpletely
from one foot to the other in Taoist arrs, in both external and intcr-
nal st yl es, as opposcd ro t he sot i d st ances of t he Buddhi sr art s. I n
addi t i on, t hef e secns ro bc more of a l l owi ng and bendi ng of i he
spi ne i n t he t ormcr rhan i s evi dent i n t hc l at t er Agai n, t hesc com
parj sons are very generdl and, i n t rut h, t here has been so rruch i nrer
acl i on bet wecD Buddhi si andl oi sr t cchni qucsand ph i l oso phi es t h at
i t i \ di f f i cul t t o separat e t hc t wo. I have ecn rel ercnces t o' Taoi st
brcat hi ng' and "Buddhi st breat ht ns" i n t hc l i rert l re, f or exampl e,
brt such a distinction is inaccurare Crcful reeafch shows that i1 is
22
rro cnsy t ask t o di scngage t he rwo phi l osophi es
ar t hi s poi nt , ar l east
rr{) t i n Chi na
\X/hatcver the path, martial artists quickly saw.hat by applying
thc csoteric techniques used by the seekrs of enlighrenment and
imnrortality in their quest, they developed a power base and capac-
ity much broader thn those achievable by muscular strength a1one.
Practitionrs of ch'ikung acquired prodigious strength, they werc
ble to balance their entire weighr on on finger, for example. Prac
titioners of neikung discovered that there were wys to escape the
limitations of the physical plane of existence. Pyrokinesis, telekne,
sis, telepathy, levitation thes abilities and others becarne their re-
ward for a lifetime of dediation and discipline. Ve will see in the
following chapters \a.hat such a quest was like, d where ir coold
take the practitioner . . . and still can today.
23
i
Chapter
Three
BECINNINCS
John had more than a dozen patienrs
to see on rhe last day I was in
the country
He never charged anyone a dirne for therapy:nd
al-
way$ made rime for whoever came olrr to see him, oltn without
priof arraogement.
I had seen miraculous things during the month I
was there, A stroke victim had regained the use of a p;alyzed
limb,
a woman who had Lrlfered from chronic sprnar pain was suddenty
hcillc.l
lohn spccilized
in rrealing neurological
,iisease, though o.-
t hopcdi c
ai l nl cnrs and chroni c i nf ect i ons
were al so ri ght up ; s al ,
l cy. I ol t cn assi srcd hi m wi t h hi s pari ent si
a process
t hat basi cal l y
i , , v, , l r d \ r andi nB
r he, e r out hr ng r he pr r i enr
" nd
a. r r ng ar a
sr or r nd
ror
Jonn bro-el ect ri (t t y
I had been treated rnyself for a month. \X/irh the xceprion
of
two very 01d clcium deposits in my right arm, myjoints were tine. I
never missed a chance to askJohn whether
or not h would accept
me as an apprentice; he always said no. My self-esteem
was at an all_
ri me l ow dnd I hd no i dea what t o do \ 41 rrroney war runnrng
our
but I di d not wanl l o l eave rhe counrru w, rhoL, r l ohn
a, qu, -,
-g ro
at Ieast send me on to some studenrt studenr. Anything, just
don,t
order rne away, please.
. . .
I waited my turn for treatmenr
on thar day, helping
John out
with the orher patients;
he left me for last. He knew I would be
leaving the following
morning. Ve were alone in his clioic when I
asked hi m f orwhat I t hought woul d be t he f i nal t i me ro ei t her admi t
nrc as pupil or at leasr
sive
me a name and an address I could apply
t o. I di dnl care i f he sent me on t o t he l owesrman on t he t ot em pol e;
ljrst wanted to study what he had to teach
Iwas lying face up on one of his therapy couches, my knees and
elbows full of acupuncture needles. There was no way I could have
chnged position even it I had wanted to, all sudden movements
were dangerous. I slowly turned to face
John, who had
sone
quiet.
Hewas studying me carcfully, his softeyes looking
jnto
my fce and
beyond, a small smile playing on his lips.
Thls is the no'1 ddt4elotl' nan h the Wesun oot, I thought. I was a
head and a hlf tallerthan he was, andsixty pounds heavier, andyet
there was no way I could withstand 2 percent ol his power
Cood thing he was benevolent.
'Actually,"
he said, "l have already shown you the training method
torLevelOne. Now, when you finish with that, Ican showyou Level
Two."
"Does that man . ?
He had caught me completely by surprise. I choked back a flood
oftears; itwas my opinion then that it would not do ro become emo
tional whil pinned down on a table like a fly on paper In any case, I
did not know what more to say to him at rhat point. I had already
promised him my obedience and diligence for the rest ofmy life should
he accept me as an apprenrice, and had meant every word I said.
Tiadit;onally under these circumstances rhe apprentice was sup
posed to kneel before the Master and pledge to him once again that
he would be a loyal and hardworkins student ln my case that was
impossible, because I could only turn ny head. 144 dL the helt, I thoushtt
lohn k a Westemer as well as a Master oJ r,eikug
I was si l enr f or a ri me, nd he respect ed t hat si l ence.
John 1i r up
cigarette, took a few pults, and seftled lt inlo aD ashrray He wiped
hi s hands wrt h al cohol and began pul l i ng out t he needl es, wi pi ns
edch area down wi rh al cohol as hc went al o, rg.
''fhnk
you," I said finally and sat up on the edge of the couch
John nodded and shrugsed. H kept smilins
"l don't know what to say," I continued.
"lt doesn't mtter," hc said. "Have a nice trip back home."
25
Be8inninSs
Two years latr, sitting on rhe balcony of h;s horne with my girl
friend, I elaborated on the above story for her benefit.
John sar si
lently smoking while I wenr through the morions, and Doris, who
had lreard it a hundred times in the past, simply waired politely for
me t o f i ni sh.
"You thinkyoll hd a hard rime?"John asked whcn I hd fioished.
"Your case ws nothingr There are people who have searched for me
for nlne years before they finally found me, and then there was no
guarantee that I would welcome rhem as studcnts."
"Have you ever sent people
away:" 1 asked.
"Many tinres." What a sS'aikl Westemt, his glance seemed to say,
and I felt sheep;sh. Finally I Iooked dowo, unable ro rneet his
saze.
''l
saw your conins in a dream," he said softly,',three monrhs
before youcame
to stand atmy doorstep. The day you arrived, I was
v/aiting for you."
"Yeahr"
"Yes." Hc paused. "Do yo wanl to hear what I \a.ent through to
be accepted as a student by n7 teachcr:" he finally asked.
V/e both
jumped
at rhe chance andJohn began the srory of his
apprenticcship. I discovered that I had gottcn ofl,rD. easily. By the
t i me hc was l i ni shed, Dori s and I vere rol l i ns on t he f l oor wi rh l augh,
ter,
John was a very good storytcller, with an expressive face, and he
renrcnrbered cveryt hi ng vi vi dl y
"My Master! nnre was Liao TsLt Tong,', he said in his pleasanrly
accented English, "and he was from trainland China I ftrst mer him
when I was ten ycars old. I loved kung flr from the besinoins and
had trained with varios teachers almost from rhe momcnt I could
walk, but I had a friend-Chan 1ien Sun was htc name_who kept
telllng me that he was studying avery powerfut
kung fLr system fron
an old man in his neishborhood. Chan kept sayins that the old man
\4as a gret healer and an eminent Master of the martial arrs. I was
curi ous, so I went wi t h hi m t o t he ol d m: n! house. . .
The Apprentice
Vhen the young boy ftrst saw the old man, he was DoL ovefty im
pressed He hadcome only because his childhood fricrd had insisred
26
8einni!3s
The old nran sold bananas for a livins, the people in the neishbo
hood clled him
'Mr
Banana " Some people even calld him "Mr
Vcird Banana" because it was saidthat the old man was very stranse
ifld difficlt to understand.
Chan had declaredthat the old man was a greatMastcrand that
he had healed many people who were seriously ill. The young boy
had heard the stofies, too, thoush il seemed that rhe old mn was
very picky about whom he treated Sone people he kept witing fof
days outside his house and then sent way uncured, conharily, he
would hcal othersuiferers who didn'twanr his help even against rheir
will, so'netimer chasing then into thei. own honelt (Later
the boy
would learn rhat the Master was able to see each individual's ka.ma,
and would heal the peFon or not based on that obseNation
)
Any-
wa, he wasn't all tht kcen on studyirg with the old man, brt, well,
nen Sunwas his best friend and had insisted that theytrain tgether
"Vhat doyou want here, boy?" the old man asked the !hallboy
he found standingon the steps outside his home. Master Liao studied
the child carefully The boy was esscntially a street kid of Southeasr
Asi, dressed in simple clothes and qune rough aroundthe edgcs. He
had probablybeen in lishts from dre momenr hecouldwalk. The old
Masler saw that the boy's lo*unes had taken a turn for the bener
.ecently, but the sisDs of past malnutrition were still therc He sw
much pain+n orphanr \Vhat type oleducation hadthe boy.eceived?
He saw someth ing else, too/ somelhing thar excited him consid-
erably, though he did not show it, oicou6e. The boy had the talent.
Not o.e man in one thousand could bccomc like he was His
skillwas similarro that of the greatest Olympic arhleres, not only did
you have to havethe Cod-brnsift, but you also hd tsuffe.thrcush
decades of hrd discipline to reach the finalprize.It was no easy task.
Master Liao was inhis late sixties, almosr sevenry, andhad rincd
i n t he nar t i l ar t s al l hi s l i i e, si nce r hc moment he coul dwal k. He had
been in
Java for more than six ycas and had seen lew pcople il thar
timewho possessed all the rcqifements to nake itthroush to the end.
Could this strcet waif accomplh the trainingr
"l . . . l'm a good friend of Chan en Sun, Sfi,*" the child stur-
tercd, "l would like to ltudy kung tu with you as well."
" The term actually means "father teacher," though "masrei' is widely
uled in the Vest as the trBlation.
27
Be'nnins
The old Master laughed He was alrnost seventy bt looked
younser "There are so many kung fu teachers in this cityt \x/hy el
If I accepted you, what would your purpose be in studyingwilh mer"
"Vell, for seldefense and lor sport, too."
"l see. Seldefense and exe.cise. \X/ht is your ne7"
"Chang, Situ.John Chang," the boy said, but he was taken aback.
The old man was nothing like he had inasined He had seen many
teachrs. Most wre pro(rd and anogant, some were more civil. But
this old MasterlThere was somethins there he could nottouch, some-
thins irdefinable that alnost scared him. The old man was beins
ironic, but there ws compassion evident at the same time He cer-
tainly Ddr strange, just
as people said, it was as it some ageless c.ea
ture was lookins t him from across the centuries, lull of experiences
he couldnot fthom. Liao Situ ploceeded ro ask him many quesrions
bout his lite and his familyj he seemed very kind at thar point, al-
most fatherly The boyrealizedhe wasbeinsgiven atest ofsorts and
tried to answer as best he could
'Cone
back tooftow at a
p.M.,"
the old nan finally said.
'r/e
can talk more t that tirne."
Thc next day
John aived prompdy at the specilid time, but
thcold man ws no\i,here tobe lourd. Hwaitedon the steps for rhe
rcst of thc afternoon Lio Sifu finally showed up t sven
"\vcll,"
hc said ro the disappointed bot "it! roo late to do any-
thing Dow. \X/hy dont you come back here tonorrow at roun
'l'hc
sme thins happened oo rhe next day And th nexr. And
The young boy was very diriUusioned. It was obvios to him
tht the old teacher had no intention of accepting hnn and wasjust
hving fun at his expcnse. He resolved to drop the notion ol study
inswith nen Sun and tell the oldhan to forsct the whole thing Bur
something kcpt hin comingback, something he could not quiic put
OD th fifth day Liao Situ kepthis four o'clock ppo intmcnt and
qucstioned the yong boy again, this tiore they tlked for almost two
hours. The Masterkept him on the steps, however, he did not invite
ll went on tor a month. The old techer would mect
Joh
n o. e
steps outside his hosc, tlk to hir for a few ho(6, and tlen send
hi home. The boy was disheartened and bored. He would havc
given up exccpt for the factthatnen Sun encouraged him to keep at
2r3
BeSjnnings
i t , i nsi st i ng l hat Li ao Si f u was a gr cat Mst e. So John
put i n n ap-
n"
' r r 1. . c\ e- y day hopr ng r o r w" y t r . r " a. her
After a month the Master
save
the boy hope.John arived out-
sl de ol Li ao Si [ u! house ar 4
p
M. , t hespeci f i edt i nr e. The ol d man was
jst seking off to run an etand He
sreeted
the bor bsan to walk
away, then tu.nedto look athim. "KuDgfu isvery difficultto learn. [t
is very heavy tnini,rg. Are you capable of itr"
Thc bov w: . c , . , : t i c . \ oh
) e\ r ' hc . d, d.
"Then come back tomorrow at noon, if you feel that yor: are
That night
john
was so excited he could hardly slep. At lastl
He would start training on the next day with the mysterious Liao
Sifu. He had heard morc bout the old man drins his onth of
waitins and was really beainni'rs to be in ave of him. Frnlly he
would bc able to share in the secrets of theold manls martialsciencel
Thc s d , hdd been wo, , F , , I . nSJ . wa, ns l . l
The next day, when the boykepthisappointhentatthe Maste*
hose, he ws invitedin for the first tihe in a month. He sawthatlhe
neishborhood was quit correct in callirg the 01d man "Mr. Vcird
Banana " There was no lur.iture t all in the house, not even a bed
The boy thoueht, lfl,.t lds r.5l(pr There was a hole in the.oofthat
let in the rain, it had beeD lek open, with no sign ofattcmpted repai.
Liao Situ spoke abruptly to him. "Clea thehousewith thtbroom
and that mop over thc.e Use the rake that you wrll lind in the back-
yardtorakcup all the lcavcs around the house. Oh, and, whileyou're
at it, fill up the storge basin with wter from th well, wouldyou:"
The old man turned to go "You can cone back here tomonow
at noon, if you wish," he said to John
Then he was gone. The boy
was lelt alone in the house.
John was puzzled. If he! such a great Master, he thought, why
does he live like this? (Later he would realize that the Mastcr r
tained nothins any other pe6on misht desire
)
But he did do the
wo.k requested and left the house spotless. Hc knew that kung tu
Mastes often tried the patience ard detcrminaiion of their ppren-
tices and hd decidedthat he would show the oldman he cou{dbe a
\Y./tren he came bacft the next day, the old man told him once
asain to clean the house, and left him to it.
(Whot
Jon
I jnst chawd il
r6kdoy!
Atd
r$ere
nathiq in lEre
to
let
dinr, lohn thowllt.
)
The boy per
formed thejob again as demanded, despite thinking it a wasteoi time.
29
BeSinninSs
Vhcn the same thingoccured asajn or thc two followingdays,
the boy besan to wonder if he would ever be taughl krng tu orjust
be an unpaid leant for the rest of his life.
On the fourth day after beins allowed into Liao Situs hosc,
John discovredthat his praatorywas tob
sjven
a newdimension.
The old man was congenil on that day, almosi
jovial.
He offered
John tea, and they drank together for a time, saying nothing, the
Master studyi'ra him. Suddenly Liao Situ looked inro his cup with
distaste and sc tinizedJohn with impromptu inspiralion.
"You know," he said, "l have a friend down the road, about five
hundred yards away, who has a wellwith wondertulwater"
"Yes, Situ,"John replied hesitatinsly He did not like the direc,
tion the convcrsation was bginning to take, bsides, he knew rhat
the well water all over the area was the same. He had learned about
such things in schoolr iigation and sanitation were very important
"l wanl you to carry water frcm his well to fill my sto.age reser
voir here Come with me "
They went out onto the balcony and the old man showed hin
where his hiends house was locted.
"\X/hatls wroas with thc water frm your well here, Sifu? the
"lti not
rood.
lt rnakes the te taste birtcr.'
'llut
Sil!, thc warer i! the same all ovcr the netghborhoodt"
"\I/hy can'1wejt use the water lrom this welb'
Thc old nran stood up "lf you dont want to do the work, you
can
eo
home, youknow But don't come bck
'
He walked away and
l cf t John st andi ng o. hi s bal cony
The yorng boy was angfy but he was llo terriljed of the old
man.
John
had heard even more unusual thtngs about him, Lio Sifu
was beconins a leeend in the neishborhood So hc did rhe chores
erpected of him, waitcd a while fr Liao Sifu to .erurn, then wenr
home when he di dnt .
It went on forweks. Every day the young boy wold go out to
the Mastcrs house, clean the inte.iof, rake ard tidy the extcrior, and
carry water from the well a quarter mile away lt took hin all after.
noon, ard the oldnan always sent him ho'e alLerwardwithotrfte.h,
ing hin lhing nen Sun kcpt him ar it, encc,uraging him every tinre
thcy mct, iDsisting that Liao Silu rvas great and that soon he would
begi n t o t r ai nJohn i n eamest .
"Dld the sane thlng happen to yo(?"John asked his friend altcr
a month had passed.
Chanlooked down."Vell, no. Hestartedto teach me risht away."
The boy was instantly turious. The old man was usins hitl H
held on to his angerall that nisht andthe next morning. \{/hen it cane
time to go to the old mans house, he barffd right in and conkonted
the Master The childs stndins up to him amcd the old man.
' Ar e
you
eor ng
r u r ea h ne Lng f u o, no,
'
"Vhats your problemu
"Char nen Sun said tht you started teaching hin right awa,
that you accepted him as a student right awayf'
"Ah, I see.' Liao Situ kept his face serious. "He is wrcns, you
know. So far i ha"e never had a student in my life. You f.icnd is not
"\vhat? Uut he. . . " Suddenlylobn felt very small and fright
"l teach Chan llen Sun becausehis family helpedne oncewhen
I was very ill. I was stficken with lve. and helpless. \X/hen I did nol
appear for three days,
'llen
Sun! father entered my home and his
Imily gave me wter and food Later, they bousht me the medicine
l r equel t ed and I r ecol e. ed. I f not f or t hci r hcl p, l woul d be dead. So
I teach thir son to repay y debt to them. Do you undestand:"
"Ys Sifu. But I've been comins here every day fof two months,
working ha.d, cleanins, and so lryo havent sbown me nythingi
Not one movemeDu"
Dcspitc his pfctcmatuEl power! ofconce.tration, Liao Sifr hd
to tLrn away to hidc his grin from the boy. "Kune fu i! very .lifli.trlt
t o l ear n, " he sai d. Then he l el t t hehouse, choki ng down hi s l ausht er .
Ihe boy immediately bcga n to clean and perlo.n. hisdallychc'.es
He wonder ed i f he had bl own i t f or
eood.
Liao Sifukept hin wo.king lor tu,o norc nonths Vhen thc boy
had completed lotrr onths of seNitudc, thc Mdsler sl'oKc ro ,,n,,
" Nor v r ve wi l l sce, " t he N4ast e. sai d, " i f you af c capabl c of r r ai ni ' r e. "
John
was ccst at i c.
" l want you r o st and her e l l ke t hi ! " Li a Si f u showed hi n r he
basic cntry nrto what has been popclarly called the "Horse Rrdlng
St ance'
( Ma
Br i n Chi ncse) Joh. eascf l y copi ed hi s movenr e. t ,
30
be$nnings
3l
6eEnnin$
as$rmins the stance. Liao Situ grunted in approval, correctd him
brlefly, then toJohns horror tumed and besan to head out the doon
"Situt" the boy cried. "How lons do you want me ro stand hele
like this?"
The Masre.scowled down at him. "\X/hr for as longas you cani
of couset" he said, then walked out of the house.
Johnt tial went on for rwo mo.e monrhs. The Masrer persisred
in makins him clean the house and the swroundings nd carryinc
water hom the distntwll; when he finishedhis chores,lohn had to
standin the Horse Ridins Stnce forhou at a rime. TheMasrervas
relentless, never
sivins
him a minte! resr Through this ordeal, the
boy persisted.
He even became cheertul I *udn,l klq
Ju
btJore I cabe
here, he $o\tsht, b ftM lik tbis!
Durins the fifth month, the boy noticedsomethins unusual. The
Master had bought a few pieces ofbsic iurniture for the house. These
items were rarely used but prcsenr Anong them was a large table,
touryards long by one yard wide, which Liao Situ occasionally used
On the lirst dy of rhe sevelth month of his tdal, Lio Situ de
ci ded t oaccept t heboyasa st dent He hadr est edhi m f or si xmont hs
and had a good i dea of hi s char act er To i ni r i at e t hechi t d, hedeci ded
to
sivc
hifl a. cxhibirio. of the most bastc skills he possessed
Th. boy was mystilied. Liao Situwas unexpectedly co ndescend-
ins on Lhit day ToJoh.! suryrse, he hnded him a sharp knife and
l r mpcd up on t hc t abl e " Cl i nb up her e, bor " he sai d
I ohn di d so, pr zzl edand somewhat al r ai d
"Dont worry," rhe Mastc. sid "l wont hr1 you "
The boy siood there.
"l want yo to attack me wth that knife. If you can nake me
jnp
oll the table o. touch my shirt with rhe blde, you
win "
The boyjabbed foMard with the knifejokinsly.
"Don'tplayL" theold man
srowled.
"Artck
me of leave myhouser"
John mde a halfhearred lunge The old man hardly noved
Then suddenly somethins slapped
lohn acfo$ the face, hard
Hcwas thrown Irom rhe tabie, theknife flying from hishands. \X/hat.
ever happened had occuned so quickly he could not rea.r. (The
Mastef had simply cuffed him across the face, novemenr roo fast
tor the boys eyes to follow.)
John stood up, shakingwith pain and anger His face stung and
was turnins red where he had been struck
Theoldman wasscowlincdown at him from the table. "You can
eitherattack me with the kn'fe or I will slap you asain and aaain until
The boy leapt on the table He lunsed forward wildly, fully in-
iendins to hrt the oldMaster There was nowhere for him to esape
to, he thousht. He will hav to eitherjump dovn o. be cut.
JustwhenJohn was almost on him, the old man leptcompletely
over his head and landed behind him.
John went berserk. He turned and attackedwildly, at tullspeed,
cafing little if he should hu.t the old man or not. But try as he misht,
he could not touch Liao Situ. It seemed that the old Master always
moved at the last second,
just
when the knife $,as almost upon him,
suddenly he was no longerther. The techer never blockeda dash,
never resisted, never touched hiln. He just moved around the boy as
ifJohn were not there. His clothins vas not cut nd he did not leap
off the table.
It was like fiahting a ghost.
Suddenly, the boy had an inkling of the breadth ofthe old man3
knowledge andpower This was noordinary human. He threw down
the knife andknelt on the table before the old teacher.
"Maste" he said, "please forcive my arroeane and ncer Please
ccept m as your student."
The old mn smiled. He ppered s relaxedas ever as if he had
exerted no effort at all.
"Very well, Mr Chang," he said.
'Today
we begin your appren'
John
walked us out to our taxi and bid us a
sood
evenins. I was silent
as w were driven back to our hotI. I thousht of the eveninsk story
andhow fortunate I hadbeen to hearit. The tale hadbeenvivid and,
knowing
John!
personality, it was as if I had been a witnss to the
events rather than hearing them secondhand. Th scenes unfolded
before me on th movie screen of my mind
"You re very quit," Doris said.
"l was thlnklng how lucky I am, how lucky we allare," l said.
"Yes, you got offvery easy when you think about it. John didnt
give you hard tim at all."
"That's not what I mean. Ican only hope I deserve Situ's trust-so
far I've made a mess ofmy training and fortunately het very tolerant.
;
32
BeSinnings
33
BeSinninSs
No, lwas thinkins of]ohn himself, how different he is foom Liao
Sifu and yet how similar"
'John
is a Vestemel" she said, "as well as an Oriental."
"Yes," I replied. "You know, I get the feling that the old man
knew this all those decades ago. Perhaps he simply saw th changes
that were going on around him even at that time and extrapolated
what their effect would be on the future. Or maybe it was something
more than that, I dont know I man, his whole life must have been
one ofconstant change andcontinuous turmoil, tking into account
that he came from China nd berins in mind how old he was. He
must have witnessed so much: the Opium Vars, the Boxer Rebel'
lion, the fall of the empror and the institution of the republic, the
war between th Russians and the
Japanese,
the period of the war-
lords, the invasion by the
Japanese,
I mean, all those things hap-
pened while he was still in China Maybe he could feel the Vest
breathingdown the back ofthe East's neck. Ormaybe, somehow, he
could see ahead into the future and knew that
John would be the
right person to bring his lineage into the twentieth century."
"Ofcourse," she said. She had pickedup on it hom the besinning.
Vomen are so much more perceptive than men.
34
BeBinnings
Chapter Four
THE IMMORTALS
THE MASTER'S STORY
Itwas a temperate night, and a cooling wind was blowing. I had gone
to my teachels house to see him, as I did every evening tht I \as in
Java.John
hdjust finished a game of Ping-Pongwith his son and was
pleasantly tired; his sonJohann had carried the day andwas ecstati
(the
cnidge
match had been going on for five years, neither parb/
willine to sunender). In the distance th two mn looked the same, it
was hard to tell who was the fathel and who the son. I had watched
them play their gme in th past many times and it was always very
amusing. John moved like a kung fu Master, torso upright, slipping
away from the incoming ball and ountering as if deliveringa punch.
Hissont kinesiologywas that ofan experttable tnnis playr, weight
on the toes, crouched a bit forward, anticipating his opponentl moves.
Ea' r meet s \ (/ est , l t hought . l oohng ar rhem.
"You'r
,ust
in time for dinner,"John said, and I felt awkwatd as
always. It seemed that every time I cme to his house I was given fre
board, after a while it made me feel like a freeloader.
John
and h;s son showered, andwe sat down to the usual endless
courses of Chinese food. I finished last, as alwaysr until I visitd the
East for the first time I had always considered myself a rapid eater. I
had been indoctrinated by the Chinese, however, into the oncept
35
that when youeat, you eat, there \{ould always be time forconversa-
tion later It went against mygrain as a Creekr in myountry, dinner
is an excuse to socialize and often lasts for houn.
.lohn wolfed down hls food and rose from the table. "Okay," he
said,'v/hen you finish, I want to see how far along Level One you
are. l'll give you a tst."
'You're
kiddingl Ijust ate."
"So whatz It makes no difference."
Oh great, I thought. This has to be ajoke. My belly was swollen
not from ch'i but fiorn toied rice and Szechuan beef. I forced myself
to calm downr no matter what happened, it would be interestiog.
Ve went into his acupuncture clinic and I sat on the floor in a
half lotus, the back of my palms on my knees. I had never been
through thisr my heart was bating a mile minute.
"You're tenset"
John said. "Rela"x. Concenrrare.
"Hard to when you're being tested."
'You
get used to lt," he said and laughed.
I forced myself to relax and succeeded in parttally entering medi-
tation. It was enoush forJohn. He brought his index fingers close to
my open palms. I felt ajolt; current entered the center ofmy palms and
crossed into my body, down to my dantien in th center of my belly
"Abour 20 percnt fuII," h said.
I was disappointd. Ihdbeen hoping formuch more.l didleam
a lesson, however, and tht lesson ws tht the most minute derails
matteredvery much in this sort of training. You couldspend a lot of
elfort train ing i ncorrectly and get nowhere, and I hadbeen making a
lot of mistakes- I was never a good student and training long dis-
tance allowed for a lot of leeway.
John was not disconcerted, he seemed happy that I was training
at all. "So many people have come to me," he said, "asking me to ac,
cept them as my students and then never did any of the training They
think I can giv them a pill orsomething and give them my powr"
"Like rhe old Chinese alchemisrs."
"Something like that. It takes diligence and efforr, Kosra. I my
self studied for eighteen years, you know"
\Ve went out onto his balony and sar in the warm night, sip-
pi og t ea.
36
"l have already told you," he said, "the story of how I met my
Master and was acepted as his studnt. Do you want to hear the
"Of courser"
"lt would make a good rnovie, Kosta. You can write the screen-
play in the years to come."
He sttled bck in his ha;r and looked off into the distance.
"l have told you that when I was a child we were very poor' we
didn't knov if ve would eat from day to day. I had to work oddlobs
to help my mother keep us alive, and so I could not go to school."
John
si pped hi s t ea.
"11 i terrible," he continued, "to be in despair, never knowing
what wlJl happen the next day, wondering if you will suwive the
month, hungry, often thirsty. For an honorable person such circum
stances are even worser it is easyto slip into decadenc or into rime
when confronted by a repressive fate. The c'ime rates in the
shet-
tos of the major cities all over the world are veiy hish, and that is
understandable, human natre being what it is. It takes n xcep-
tional prsonality to make a stand and say, "Despite this karnr, I
wi l l not f al l . " Ve never di d. My mot hr kept us cl ean, honcst , and
hardworking."
His gze went off into the night as bitter memory intruded to
break i rt o h' s sol i l oquy I t was st range seei ng hi m l i ke t hi s, so hu-
man. More often than not nry teacher vas beyond such thing, or
perhaps I simply saw hin as being so But at that momcnt I noticcd
sriel
and sadness in his face, though noi a trace of nser \a.as evi'
dent . Vhat was he t hi nki ns?
"My si st cr mar. i cdwhen I ws ei ght , " be cont i nued. "l \ 4ybrot her'
i n 1aw was, l et s say, mi ddl e cl ass, and had some money, o I went t o
l i ve wi t h t hem i n t hei r house He scnt mc on t o school as wel l ' I
started at eightyears old and had to work very hard to catch up, but
I did manage. I have already toldyou how I met Liao Situ when lwas
"Yes. It was a great story."
John
grinned "He had a sensc of humor bt ve never caught
on. Anyway, I studied kuDg fu with Liao Situ every day for eight
years nonstop. I trined ruary day, literally. I was manied at eighteen
?
so I had to train intrmittently after that because of my increased
responsibilities, but I never stopped. Liao Sifu never let me."
He paused to sip his tea "Vhen I turned sixteen, I started driv
ing a mini bus, transporting people and goods around town, I was
lorced to drop out of schoolbecause of our increasing financialprob-
lems. Despite my difficuhis, Icontinuedro practice my kung fu and
medltatlon every day. Oh, I forgot ro tell you that Liao Situ had
shown me the meditation for LevelOne, the same oneyou are work
ing on noq when I was fourteen years old.
"Not erlier2"
"No. It is better if the newous system of the trainee
js
fully de
vloped bfore training starts. Also it is good to be past rhe begin-
ning of puberty."
"l see. "
"Liao
Situ knew everythiog Idid ar all times. tt mystified me, I
could not figure out how he did ir. I ven thoushr he had people
spying on met He knew, for example, whether or not I had fined
on a specific day andwhen I purposefully tried to avoid trining. He
could tell when I was lying, too, you know I recall one day when I
visited his hous and he asked me tf I had rneditated rhr day. To tell
you the trth, he had never explained anything ro me nd I con
stantly wondered why I had to do all that useless medirarion, so I
tried to avoid it when I could. The scene went softethig ljke this:
"Liao Sifu, Did you meditare todayl"
"l was nineteen before I was given an inkling of how powerful
my Master truly was. He called me to him one day and announced
that I had finishedwith LevelOne. I had no idea what h was takins
"Vhat is LevelOne exactly?" Iasked.'Youve shovn meth train
ing method, but we've never talked about what I'm supposed to be
doing,"
"ln Level One you fill up your dantien with yang ch'i. You must
be in actual mditation to achieve this, nd it is tim dependent. In
Level Two we shape the yang ch'i to our specifications so that the
practitionr can push it out of his body. This is what neikung is,
really."
"Vhat about Level Three:"
"Ve can talkabout thatwhen the tim comes. I will tellyou this,
In Level Fouryou bringyouryin and yns ch'i tosether and besin to
"How many diffrnt levels are therc?"
"Seventy-two."
"Vhat?1"
John
smlled. "No one said it was easy. The levels correspond to
xhe n(mber of chkras in the human body. You know what a chakra
is? An enrgy center?'
"These days everybody does."
"Perhaps The last chakra to open, Level Seventy Tvo, is at the
very top of your head."
"l know of it I used to practice Buddhist meditation."
"l see. I myself knew nothing about those matters until the day
my teachr came to me and told rne I had finished \eith Level One.
On that evening he gave me a demonstration of innef power, neikng."
"Vhat did he do?"
"Do you rernember the long table that he had in h;s house, on
top of which we had our fightr It was four yards long. He placed a
bowlon one end and sat at the other He put lour flngers of h;s 'ight
hand on top of the table; hls thumb was below it. \{et,l he pshed
f orward wrt h hr, {rnger. t he bowl expl oded.
"At first I didn't believe it. His thumb was under the tabletop, so
I immediatly besan to look for a button or a wire or something. I
39
"YoungJohn, Yes, Sifu "
"Liao S;fr, Dtd you meditate roday2"
"YouneJohn Yes, S,tu
',
SLAPtJohn goes llying across the room.
"Liao Situ, Yo re lyinst"
I burst out l augh; ng.
John
j oi nd
i n bri e, , y.
"After that," he continued, "Liao
Stfuwas l;ke a god to me. Since
he knew everything I did, there was no poinr in tyine to him, and so
I deci ded I had bet t er do eract l y what he sked. I became a di l i gent
shrdcnt, never missing a da1,, putting in many hours. lt scemed that
during my latcr tenage years I was either working or training, not
38
thought he had rigged the ashtray with an explosive, rhar it was a
trick Liao Sifu laughed and asked me to bring rny old friend the
broom over. I began to clean up the pieces ol the bowl but he said
no, bring the broom over to him He asked m wherher or not it was
a tlick broom, and I said no, ofcourse not. After all, that broom had
become a good friend of mine rhe past nine yerst He took it from
my hands and laid it againsr the wall. Then he passd his right hand
over it nd asked me to pick up the broorn and sweep the floor
\(hen I did, it crumbled to dust at my toucht"
John
took a sip of tea. "ltwas at that rime," he said, "that I began
to raliz what my teacherwas. He made me promjs l\rould medi-
tate andxrain diligendy to obtain this power, and Iagreed readily, of
"Sifu," I said, "you mean to tell me that you trained with him for
nin years and he nevr showd you, not onc, what he could do?"
"Cood
Codt"
John laughed. "lkeep tcllins all my students rhat they have it easy
and that I spoil them constantly. Maybe now they will believe me.,'
He turned to lace me. "You know," he said, "it was doubly hard
for me not to doubt what I saw, being a modern Chinese. Powers
such as his were the stuff of Chinese legends, and I had been taught
in sclroolthat these things wer urter nonsense. It was thelate 195Os,
when people believed thar all things \X/estem were good and allthings
of the East superstition. But I knew too that Lio Sifu was a great
healerwho hadcured many people of terrible diseases that Vestern
physicians could do nothing about."
"Did he use acupuncture, lik you?" 1 asked.
"No. Nevert Instead he would heal foom a distance, passing his
hands over the ptient, and what rhey would feel I could describe
bestwith the words a9olla ear Sometimes he wouldsupplemenr the
treatnent \i/ith herbs He could even cure cancer, which I cannot.,'
Iwassilent, havingjust lo$my father to rhr disease rwo months
in the past.John nodded, reading my thoughts. He had managed to
convey the power of Liao Sifu to me in a simple sentence that had
40
'Anyway,"
he continued,'rl kept at it over the yarc. Ifinishd
LevelTwo andwas into LevelThree when Situ called me to him one
evening. He told me that he wanted 1o rcst m again, the same way
that he had when I was a boy, so we
jumped
up on the table and
wentat it, thistim barehanded. Now,l was already intokvelThree,
which means I had some power, Kosta, b t the Master said not to
hold back, to attack him as hard and as fast as I could. He ordered
me to try to kill himl I knew better than to refuse by then.
"\fle fought for about six or seven minutes with no end result; I
was happy that I managed to stay on the tablel Suddenly I leapt
forward and hit him on the chest, and Liao Sifu was thrown off the
tabl. I used a technique w call Meng Hu Chu Tong,'fierce tiger
charging out of the cave.'
"He appeared hurt,"John said. "l leapt down from the table nd
helped him up. He was grabbing his chest where I hit him. I apolo-
gized immediately, but hejust laughed and told me that Iwas great,
that I had reached the point wher I could overwhelm my Master I
imrnediately puffed up with pride, and from that point on I was al'
wys very bve-cock, actually. Before that incident I was quite
timid, you know He did that to remove the fear from my heart."
"You hadn't really hurt himr he let you hit him," I said.
"Ofcourse, KostatLiao Situ was Level Forty-Eight atthat time, I
was Level Three. Do you have any ide what that means?"
"Vell, no. I can't imagine."
"l had about as much chance of injurins him as a tiny buttrfly
has of injuring you. But at the time, I really did think I was greafl"
"l see."
"Andthe downside of the incidentwas that I became unbearably
arrogant. I would fisht with people all th time, and lways won.
Usually it would end with only one punch, and I hardly used even
the power I had t irdl time. lwas young and proud. You know, I
used to f;ght ;n bare knuckle tournaments here in
Java,
for Chinese
studenxs o[kung fu only, and I was the undefeated champion."
He straightened unconsciously and a smile flitted over his face
as he recalled his youth. I had to grin. Then he suddenly became
serious. "ln 1962 my Mster called me to him asain and said ihat he
41
had only three months more to live. I believed him, and asked him
what his plan was. He said that he wantd to die back in China. He
still had no money, so we collected tunds from all the people he had
healed to pay for his iicketr \,/e pid his bills and still had a good
chunk of money left over to last him through his dyiog day.
"Before he left, I went to his house every nisht for the following
t1Mo months. One evening he gave me an ancient book containins
the screts of inner power all the way up to Level Seventy Two. He
made me promise that I would not open the book and read it until I
had finished wilh Level Three. And I went through a formal Taoist
ceremony; Uao Situ made a cham, aJ" as we cll it. He drew the
charm on a piece of paper and I had to writ down the following
three promiss on the same piece of paper,
That if I finished with Level Four,
l I was not allowed to use this power for evil purposes.
2. I was not allorved to rnke money with this power
3. I would ot demonstrate to anyon except my students.
I signed the tu with a drop of my own blood and Liao Situ burned lt
on a pier. Then he mixed the ashes vith another drop of my blood
and made me drink it. It bound me, Kosta; I had to do exactly what
I promised."
John became silent and then continued in a soft voice. "He left
for China on board a ship with two hundrd other people. I knew
one of the people he ws going over there with, so I kept asking the
mans family for information. Liao Situ had reoted a small house and
was enjoyins the time he had letu very peacetully. He ate the food
he favored, took walks, that sort of thing."
"He had no family over therer" I asked.
"No. No one,"
John
replied, speaking eve more softly. "l will
tell you his story some other day, mayb tomorro\{. I went !o the
mank house every day, asklng for news, and one day th expected
messas arrived. Liao Situ was dead, as he hlmself had predicted,
nd he had died on th very day he had foreseen. I asked the mans
fmily how it hadhappened, and hadto wait almost a month for the
reply. Liao Situ had asked his neishborto buy him a newspaper around
six o'clock in the afternoon on that day, then sat in his rocking chair
on his porch to read. Atseven o'clocksharp h died in amoststrange
manner. Blood came out of what we call the sven orifices of his
headi you know, the eyes, the ears, the two nostrils, andthe mouth.
Maybe a massive stroke or something, I don't know."
\)/e sat silently for a time. I realized thatJohn was talking about
the death of the man he considered his father I didn't know what to
say, and was becoming emotional myself. "He must hav loved you
very much, Sifu," I sald.
John
smiled. "Yes. I know he did. But it was much later that I
realized, from his actions, that he was willing to give me everyrhing
he had, i ncl udi nghi s l i f e. l wi l l t el l you about i t some ot hert i me. But
lre never told me in words that he loved me, you know, not once."
"Maybe it was not in his culture to do so," I said.
"Of course,"John continued. "Anyway, the years passed, Kosta.
I kept training and finished with Level Three. One year after that, I
achi eved Level Four nd becan t o devel op m) powel
"\/hat was that like?" I asked.
"Like ridins a buckins broncol' h rcplid.
'The
first time that I
was successful, I fainted and could not hold on. There was so much
power therel I hve already told you that in Level Four our yin and
yangch'icome together The power that is generatedthen is incted-
ible, like having a lightning bolt in your belly. Th second time I
tried, I was unsuccessful lso. But the third time . . . the third time I
held on to it for ten minutes, then forced it into the very center of
rny dantien. At that point the power vs mine, forver"
"How old were you when you achleved Level Four?" I asked.
"Thirty two."
"And then?"
"Life went on, Kosta. Renember, I could not use my power for
personalgain. I continuedto work s a drivt andwecontinued tobe
very poor I also kept on with my training and proceeded through
Levels Five, Six, etcetera. lhadreadln the textthat Liao Situgaveme
how I coulduse this power in combination wiih acupuncture to heal,
and I began to do so. I cured many people, Kosta. And I could not
take money after the factL I mean, people would offer me money out
of gratitude and I had to say no. Not even to pay for food for my
family. Some dayswewouldgo hun$y; we could not aftodanything
42 43
to eat, and I had a larse family by that time. One day a rich man I
had healed gave my eldest son some money while he was at school,
and I was forced to order him to give it back. And later I threatened
the boy that I would throw him out of the house if he ever accepted
money from anyone again! Ii was maddening.
"But five yeas later my life changed," he went on. "l was thirty
sevn yers old at th time, and Iwas desperate. Ve were ating
every othel day, my children were crying, and I had my back up
against the wall, so to speak. I became angry, very angry at the situ-
ation. After all, the only thing I needed to do was open a kung fu
school and I would have millions, thre around who
coulddowhat I did. That aftrnoon I was in our bedroom andbegan
to scream up at heaven in rage. I kept crying up at Cod, Kosta. I
shouted up at Him,'\flhy did you give rne this power? To torture
me? \/hy? Doyou hate me? V/hat have Idon to deserve thisz'(and
also many other things I am not so proud of)."
John
looked me in the eye. "Then suddenly I heard my Maste/s
voice in my ear, he said,
John,
don't wony, your life will change
soon.'At first I thought itwas my mind playing tricks on me, but the
voicewas so real,l lookedaround. Andthere Liao S;fuwas, sirting in
the corner, as solid as you or I1
"l rubbed my eyes and stared aaain ai him. I thought that I was
going insane from the stress oftryingto make ends meet. He looked
so real, though, that I thought Iwould try to speak with him.
"Master?' I said, timidly.
"Liao Situ laushed,'Ys, it's me. Yo Ddn't be so amazed.'
" ' But . . . youar e. . you' r edeadt ' l sai d
"'Uodeniably,' he replied He seemed very amused
"'Vhat are you doing hereT'
"This is thespcialty ofourtype oftraining, that after death you
retain the charactefttics and powers yoLt had when you were altve.
Vhen you pass LevelFoul you can take allyouryang ch'iwith you.'
"l didn't know what to say, Kosta,"John conrinued. "l didn't re-
ally believe what I was seeing, but there he was, as bright as day and
as human as the last day tht I saw him. lt is hard to doubt the testi
mony of your own eyes.
44
"'Vhen you have troubl,'Liao Sifu said,
'meditate,
look forme,
and I will come to help you.'
"And I did, Kosta, and be did. I called him almost every dy at
first and there was no one who could not hear him, though only
about l0 percent of the people could see him and then again in vary-
ing hues. I think you have to have a lot of yin ch'i to see spirit
plainly. Aryway, to some people he was transparent, to others s
solidasyou or L But no one doubtedfora momenttht he v/as thr.
Even when they could only hear hirn, they felt a physical sensation
when he was around, like an lectromag.etic field or something."
John
paused.
"You don't seem shocked by what I am saying "
"No," I said. "Stories like this were the reason I came looking for
you in the first place. I would have been disappointed if they were
"And do you think that people in the Vestwillbelieve it as \,/ell?"
"l think that people in th Vest ar rady to believe it. The 1950s
were a long time ago.'
John
lauched. "lndeed," he said.
'Aryway,
Liao Situ helped me
cure many sickpeople, dircting meon which traditional medicine to
use andwhat technique. He was always right, and the ptient lways
got bettr The funny thing is that he never used the sam formula
twice for the sme illnessr it depended on the individual each titne."
"lt was always on a case-by-cse basis."
"Yes. I tried it many times, you know I would give a different
patient with th same illness the same treatment as a patint who
had been cured by Liao Situt spirit, and nothing would happen Fi-
nally I gve up on it."
"Bt all Chlnese medicine is like this, right? ltt always case
dependent."
"Yes. That'swhatmakes itso difficult. Chines medicine is really
an rt form, not a science. You cannot opn a prescription book and
dispns medication, like a Vestern medical doctor"
John
paused for a while, then ontinued. "Ihen one day a very
rich businessman I had helped cme to m and asked if I wanted to
be parinrs in ajoint venture with him. I said I had no money and h
said, it's oka, you just
do the work and I will put up the capital l
45
askd my Master
jf
it was all right and he said yes, it vas oky for
peopl to be
erateful
as long as I did not directly take mony for
srvices rendered. So I took the
job,
so to speak, aod made a good
piece ofchange. And since then I have studied andlearned th ways
of the business world with the same dilignce that I spnr studying
kung tu. As you can see, I did okay."
Hn houre war wonh srx mi l l i on dol l ars.
"\vy'hat youre telling me," I said slowly after he had finished,
,,is
that you proved to many people that thre is life after death."
''Io
hundreds of people, Kosta," he responded. "t can still prove
it to anyone at any time. Vould you like to met a spirit?"
I
jumped
up in response.
'Very
well," he laughed. "Tomorrow we willgo on a shon trip by
car; it's about half an hour away from here. Ve can talk more about
i t t hen. "
THE HSIEN
It would be neglectful to go on at this point and not giv you some
background on what is popularly considered "immortality" byToist
alchemists, nd what the theory behind the sta.e of immortality is
per the school of ner-lar Taoist belief Immortls ar thousht to dis-
play abilities similar to those of
John Chang, nd the warpins of
acceptd natural law is said to be commonplace around them. How
ver, I must caution you that the technique and method of Master
Chang differ greatly frorn those used by othr sysrems. Also, as I
stated earljer,
Johnt techings have norhing to do v/ith religion. lf
the outlinebelow leads you to other books,l musrwarn garnst prac-
ticing the methodology ourlined in rhose publicarions,
I have no
idea whether or not the procedures described are fact or fancy (or
whether or not thy are dangefous ro rhe student).
The perfected, ;mmortal human ors;r (ltterally,
'/mountain
man,')
is a centralfigure of religious Toism. The techniques whereby people
sought immortality were groundd both on internaland external al-
cheny. The external school (uti laal developed rechniques based
on chemical experimentarion and dietary regimens and hoped for
actual physical immortaliry; there is strong evidence that they did,
46
In lact, come up with an elixir that provided at least some partial
rquvenation
(lhave
heard that Chinat modem leadersconsume such
a potion to retain theirvitlity andyouth). The internal school (nei-
dan) stressedbreathcontrol, yogicexercises, medjtation, andsexual
tcchniques. Through breath control and the trovement of one's
llfeforce
(ch'i)
throush the fields of the body, the individual both
prolonged life in this body and achieved immortality through the
nou.ishment within of an embryonic
'tpirit
body" (sl'r"), which be
came the immortl self after death.* Throughout its developmnt,
three thems came to b central to the teachings of nei-dan Taoism,
l The philosophy of rur-pei
(spontanity
and noninterference)
coupledwith a profound reverence for life and an enhanced percep-
tion of th workings of nature on all levels.
2. The yogic alchemy for transmuting the endowments of the
mind nd body into an immortl spirit uitii
loer
ooer tbe physical worl.
This spirit body, the shen, was created and nourishedby the disfilla
tion of Iife enersy
(ch'i) augmented by the power iohrnt in puri-
fied semen
[clirg).
This "purification" was a meditational process.
:. The yogas of absolute medittion wherby passion and de-
sire were vanquished, allowing tbe yogi to eter into a condition of
enlightenment wherein the spirit body can exist independent ofthe
body and ernanate to "ride the clouds.'t
The word sio in Chinese is composed of the ideograms for ruorl-
tdi
(!rr)
and man
(,,!
),
and means
just
that. It is thousht that, though
mountains themselves arc yang, so,r mountains are tull of the pnmal yin
energy of the universe, and it is to that energy that Taoist seeke flocked
to "charge their batteries" and enjoy the stillness ofthe surroundings in
meditation. I come hom a mountainous area myself andcanverify that
when trainins in the hishlands, the energy I leel is hundreds of tlmes
what I experience when tranring h the city vhere I norrnally reide.
Thewei-dan school, whicb sought a chemical forrnula for actual
physical immorlality, is not directly pertinent to this text. Thc nei
dn, or internal school, on the other hand, is Ne/-cDia Toists, who
"
Ercy.lofeia Btitan i& Onlir', "Relisious Taoism."
t Blofield, lohn,
I4,s.. Ii,.Rodl ro L,od4l,r)'
{Boston,
Shanbhala
Publ i cat i ons, 1978) .
followed this school, sought a means by wh;ch the condit;on ol hu-
man existence could be transfomd into one that would last indefi,
oitely, but noi necessarilyin physical form. To achieve thjs, thy worked
exclusively with the tooh nature has given us, those ofourmind, body,
nd spirir. The'elixirof immortaltty'was brewed not in some crucible
usingpotions olarsenic, mercury and pearl, as in the wei-dan school,
but in the body itself, usins the indjvidual! own life enersies.
In China th thre qualitie o I man! energy are called tbe Sar ltao,
or
"three
treasurs./i They are ching, ch'i, aod shen, or essence, en
ergy, and consciousness By transmuration ofth three treasures from
coane to subtle form, and by subsequent inrcneacron, a mysteflous
"something'is
conceived That'tomething,js the spirir embryo, which,
like any baby, requires furrher
csration
prior to finalbirth However
should the Taoist yogi be successtul in developtns the spirit body, he
can exist independent of his physical body and;s as such tmmortal.
Central to the belief tn the spirit body is the tener that, while
man does have a soul that lives on after derh, the soul is not immor
tal and will also die after time I person y believe thar thjs felisious
doctrine came into being sirnply because the yogis could not pcr,
cei ve t he spi f i l s of speci f i c dcceased i ndi vi dat s af t er a
si vn
pcri od
at tima-oheftas heJore thdt
foixt
they could. Neither lailure nor isno
rancc i s wi del y t ol erat ed i n Chi na, yor cannot si mpl y y, , 1 don' t
know." Thus th loi(r teachers had to come up with sor.il,in4, nd
thc dosm outlined dbove was the reL,lt
you'
fjnd that there is a
basi s t or my assumpt i on i n f ol l owi ng chapl ers
Ching-ihe tcrm essentially nreans "esserce',-js
the primals!uff
of I ; i e. Many bel i cve t hat you are gi ven a f i xcd arrount oi chi ng f or
yor lifetime, and rhat if you use it up, you are out of luck. ln thc
mal c, chi ng i s present i n coare f orn i n t he spem, and i s deposi t d
in the lesticles. In more refincd fornr chins circulates throlrsh the
bone marrow of thc body, and is stofcd in rhe kidneys
*
Therefore,
" \X/hen I began to study the litcnnre on Taoisn, I was surpised by how
many concepts cincidcd with tolk beliels in ny native Crcece Upon
ensaAing in a tor.id lovc affair with a new
siflfriend, and subsequently
sho\rins up to tech my
iujursu cla$ somewhar dazed, I was colnseled
by the oldest mn in tlrc clals to ".efrain from los,,,B mo m.n lpermi as
you will beein to losc yorr bone marow"
48
whax was of crucial importance was to preserve essence; it is this
npproach that led to the theories of sperm retention and controlled
cjaculation that have become representative of Toism in popular
Vcstern literture. Some teachers statd that ching had a natural
tcndency to flow downward. They thus forbade sexual intercourse
ior a thousand days at a time while training, so that the ching could
"pile up" andenliven the energycenters of the body. Others allowed
ior a minimum amount of sexual release, the philosopher Sun Szue-
mo recommends the following program, "For men in their trMnties,
one jaculation every four daysr in their thirties, one in eight days,
in their forties, one io sixten days; in their fifties, one in twenty one
days. From the age of sixty upwards emission should be avoided al-
togther, though a sixty year old v/bo is still robust may allow him-
self on ejaculation a month."
This isa far cr.j' from th exorbitant sexual stimulation evident in
Vesternsociety. InEuropeyoucanhardlywalkdown thestretwith-
out thinkingofsex; large-breasted women pout down from the cov-
ers of magazines in every corner kiosk
(some
nude, some scantily
clad), while their mal counterpafts pump iron and promise female
readem endless repetitive orgasms with their
saze.
lt is hardly natu-
ral; we needonly look at the animalkingdom to realize that attempted
reproduction is not something a mammal should ngag in every
day.* My dog can outrun me in his sleep and has kept abreast of a
snowmobil in deep snow; the average human could not hope to
parallel his physical prowess. He breeds wice a year. Perhaps it is
this natural consewation of ching that allows other mammals their
tremendous physicl abilities.
I have discussed ch'i. Shen, th final treasure, is a bit more diffi,
cult to identify. In cors form it most crtainly means "mind, self,
soul"; Iwilluse the term, rsowl aaarness. As determined earlier, many
Taoists blieve that the spirit itself cannot last indefinitely, and must
be'enhanced" so that the prize of immortality can be captured. There
sems to be a orocess for this.
*
I am aware of both the natural inclinatior and the reproductive cyle of
ihe dolphin, for readers who think they have caught a faux pas.
49
I have said that ching, the essence of life, is firsr transmured and
refined into ch'i. I have seen many procedures for rhis in the litera
ture, ranging lrom the sedutive to the painful.u The most common
approach is, simply, sexualabstinence coupled with yogic brething
If you're notjcing that the emphasis is on the male and sperrn,
you are correct, there is little written in toist te(s thar is ofuse to
women seekinsthe\Vay. Neverthless, historica yand in myth thrr
have been Taoist imrnortals and Masten who oer women. Ir is as to
lou they developed their powers and achieved immortality that th
literature is silent (shoft
of takins a pill, which we must discount).
Once ching had been transmutedto ch';through meditation and
yogic brearhing, the pratitionef
discarded the entanglements ofmun
dne life and "sousht
stillness" so that he could tufther enliven the
shen through the ch'i. (Reportedly,
the area where ihe seedlins sben
resides is between and behiDd rhe eyebrows-the third eye to some.)
But once the shen was conceived it had to gesrare; once gestatct it
had to be born; once born it required nourishmenr; and so forth
until it could stand or its own. The procedure
demanded the con
tinuous rtinment of ching into ch,i and the transference of the
energy of ch'i to the shen. Needless to say, it took a long time, per_
haps the prctitionert entire life, and was not something to be un_
dertaken lightly.
For the Taoist alchemisr, the dantien was rhe crucible in which
the elixir of immortlfty was brewed. It was rhere rht ching was re
fined into ch'i, whjle from the danrien purifiedch,i
was sentup to the
"Spirit Valley"berween the eyebrows to give birth to the embryo shen.
Needless to say, the dantien was a very prcious
commodity and one
carefully prcserved (inded,
it is common in China even today to wrap
onet belly asinst the cold, leaving the chest and arms lighrly clad).
There was a further step from that point on if the yogi truly
desired eternity, The independent shen had to be merged wirh the
Source of All Things, the To. In essence, what rhe teachers were
saying v/as rhat the personaliry
had ro unite with the flow of rhe
whol universe. If such a thing is possible, it can only be the final
stage in human development.
50
There is a clear reference;n the Tao T Ching to th seedling
shcn and th continuation of the consciousnss after death,
Those who retain their center ndre.
Those who die but continue to exist are immortal
This particular section of the Old Mastr is very imporiant and the
rcader should ber it in mid in the chaptrs to come. It has caused
much consternation and confusion among sinologists in the Vest,
with the question bing, how do you "die but continue to exist"? I
siocerely hope that this text will help clear up the quandary.'
Letme repet my word of warning before Igo on Though much
has been written about it in numerous publications, the San Bao
method is not prcisely that followed by Master Chang, tberc are
some siilarities, and many of the concepts are pertinnt (vhich is
why I included them here), but in essence both the approach and
method are different. By no means should you follow the San Bao
methodwithout dirct, competent
guidnce in an attempt to gener-
are abilities like my teacherk; that way lle madness and death.
REVTLATIONS
The next eveni.g I was in a carwith myMasrcr and his family head-
ingtoward a place on the outskirts of the cityhe livedin. I was quiet;
t find it difficult io talk when there is much weighinc on my mind,
and that night there was Johns
omments on the previoqs dav had
shaken me greatly. Once gain, I did not doubt him for a second; I
was anxious and wary of wht I would see on t al evening
"Ve are going to the house ol a friend of mine,"John said "He
has heard strange noises a! night while his family has been sleeping,
and he is quite afraid that there is a spirit there. Thev
iust
moved
into thai houe, by the way."
"So the stories of hunted houses are true," I sid
"Ofcourse," he replied. "Spirits are boundby space nd time the
same way as anything that exists, but on a different level because
they afe part of the yin vorld. \/e ourselves are yang, thev re
vin
"
51
"But we have yin energy i our bodies too, right?', I asked.
"Correct," hereplid. "However, a pure spirit exists in a djfferent
space-time continuum than we do. One year for us is one day for
them, and thy (e not limited by the presenr moment but exist in
the immediat future and past as well. Do you understandr,'
"l rhink so." I rook out a pen and paper. "Do you mean sorne
thing lik this?" On the paper I drew,
TIME
MAN
"Exactlyt" he said. "You kno,M how in meditation we slow down
our breathing and our pulsez ltt because we move more and more
into our yin consciousness."
"l see. But are you sayingthatwe have two separate bodies, a yin
body and a yang body, and that our consciousness can move from
one to the other2"
"No. It is notso simple andeasy as that. \X/hat lsaid is that every-
thingo/ the earth is yang, though th earth itself is yin. \X/e, as human
beings, are yang creatures, bur v.e have yin nergy as well. It is rhe
combination of th two that gives us life. Vhen \re die, when we cease
to have life, our awareness moves to rh yin stare ofbeing.,,He paused.
"tsut it does not remain unaltered in the process," he continued.
'AndrMhat
we are going to see tonight, if there is one ther, is a
human spirit, right?" I said.
'A
. . . ghosr?"
I hated using that word.
"Yes," he said.
"l see. Sifu, what about what we are told about the afterlife_
heaven and hell, reincarnation, that sort of thing?,'
52
Hc was silent for a very long time and I thought that I hd of
lcnded him. Finally he spoke. "l don't know," he said.
"llut you have seen so mny spiritsi spoken with yo Master
al t er he di ed, and. . . . "
"l didn't say that I haven't had experience with life fter death,"
he interruptd.
'r/hat
I said is that I don't know what the final state
of the afterlife is like."
John
lit up a cigarette. "l will tell you what I do know," he said.
"There appears to be an intermediate stt between this life and the
next . I cal l i t t he whi t ewav andt he bl ackwave. The spi ri t s of t hose
who have been good in their lives go into the white wave, those that
have been evil into the black wave. lt is very much like the concepts
of heaven and hell except for one thing-neither condition is pr
maneot. At some point all spirits shoot straight up to Cod. \fhat
happens to them at that point, I don't know It depeods on whom
you ask, I suppose."
"You mean to say that there is a heaven and a hell:" I asked,
astonished.
"Thats
not what I said, is it? I said that thre seems to be an are
characterized by a field of white yin energy into which the spirits
with a positive karma enter There they ar given allthat they de-
sire, and they lo des;re. I have entered into th white field, people
were gathercd around celebrating, eating and drinking, only there
was no food really present. It is all an illusion for their benefit' thev
just lrtuk that they are eating and drinking. Maybe they have to en'
joy
what they were denied in lif in order io go on, I don't know
Perhaps they think thal they are still human."
"But they are not?"
"No. The mental and emotional perspectives of the average spirit
arc very di l i erenr hom t ho' e of r human bei ng. '
"But notyourMasters. He looked andsoundedthe same dead as
he did alive."
"Yes. A spirit with ven a little yang energy is very different. A
spirit lik r'ry Master retains all its human characteristics.
'
Ithought about the classic lines from the Tao T Ching, l;nes
that had caused so much controversy among scholars in the past,
53
t"
Those who retain their cenrer endure.
Those who die but conrine ro exist are immortal.
Their meaning was clear to me at that moment. According to Toist
thought, to continue being human afterdeath, you had to br;ngsome
of your yang eneEy with you \(/as the "center" that the Iao Tzu
rferred to the dantien, which filled up with yang energy in Level
Oner And according to Cbang Situ, to remain conpirisb. human afrer
death, you had to bring all your yang energy with you-that
js
to
say, to complete Level Four Like Liao Situ. Like my Masrer
A shudder ran through me. \X/as evolution at play hefe? \/as
humanity no more than rhe breeding ground for higher spirirs? I
thought abot how an embryo came into being, Out of millions of
spem only one becane a baby \7as this the case for us also, that
f rom a mi l l i on h(mans onl y one was dest i ned t o become a hsi enl
And ws it for entities of this sori that all the fuss was abouQ Or
were we evolving as a species to rhe point where all of us could live
on vithout our physical bodies?
I desperately wanted to chanse the subject, but there was no
dodging rhe issue. I thoughr about the netaphysical
,,waves,,of
re
ward and penance
l ohn had spoken of . Concept s such as heaven and
hell, the Elysian Fields and Hades, were as otd as the human race
Vere they realr
"And what about the black wave2" I asked.
"lf you ever reach Level Four, remernber that I said never to
so
i nt o t he bl ck i f you can hel p i t . k i s not a pl easant pl ace. The spi ri t s
thre desir, thy hurt, they cry, and are denied everythingr it is
pitch dark, you canno. see a thing. The only good pojnt about the
black wave is that it does not last forever, afuer a time those spirits
are freed, when their kafma has ben tulfilled',
"Situ, what is krma?"
"The
consequence of their actions, thoughts, motions, and de
sires--of their lives, ifyou wnt."
k was getting to be too much, too anthropomorpnrc ror me ro
swallow, like something out of ancient myrhology, or the most eso,
teric beliefs of the worlds major religions.
He seemed to guess my thoughts.'l don't have any final an-
swers for you, Kosta, no dogma to respond to the questjons people
have about their existence. I can only tellyou what I have seen, you
can choose t o bel i ve me or not . Consi derme a met aphysi cal sci en
tist. I have not toldyou anything of my own religous beltefs, and I
wi l l not . "
"\X/hy not2"
"Because ldont want to interferewith anyone! religton," hesaid.
"Sifu, what you descr;bed ls so . . . basic, so primitive a model
t hat . . . . "
"lt! too hard to swallow in our scientific age where everyrhing
has to be complicated and mathematicah Vell, you can
judge
for
yourself. Maybe the whole problem with our day and ge is that
wele stepped too far away from the primitive, rejectine our essen-
"And Cod, Sltur YoLr've menrioned Cod rnny times, both today
and in the past. Is there really a Cod, a force that cares for us, the
center of our existencez"
"l know there is."
"Vhyr How do you know there is a Cod?"
"Some other time, Kosta "
Ve reached the house. "Sifu," l asked as we got out of the car,
'hy
is it that sorne spirits are earthbound, like this one-if ther is
He shrugged. "Vhy do you live where you dor It depends on
each case. For the most part spirjts stay away from towns and ciries
and prefer the wilderness."
\/e were met at the doof by my teacher! frind and his farnily.
The house was pleasant eoough, a two story, three-bedroom affair
Itwas quite modern andhadbeen built only in the last twentyyears.
Itwas certainly no centulies'old castle!More people arrived, indeed,
quite a large group gathered to see the show
John
joked
with rhe
men, talking about soccer, the latest trnds in world business, and
whethelol not a rstaurant that had rccently opened was any good.
It seemd the thing they all studioudy ignored was whether or not
the house was haunted.
55 54
Afteratime they decided to go aboutthe business at hand. "Okay,
Kosta,"
John
said. "Come on."
\Ve went up the stairs to the top floor, and everyone gathered
together. There were so many of us that we could hardly ftt ;n the
room. Tbe ownerpulled out a table, and on ithe participants placed
various offerings to the spirit. Tlere was a stick of incense, a ciga-
rette on an ashtray, ted withour sugal coffee without sugar, cakes
without sugar, nd water. It wa stfessed to m that sugar would of
f cnd t he spi ri t
"lle can smell the offedngs," my teachers son said to me.
,,lt!
what thcy en;oy."
I thought about the period som years prior when I had studied
lltretan Buddhism I had lerned that rhose entities in perpetual
st at e of spi ri t hood \ i / ere cal l edscenr-et ers. I had al so been t ol d t hen
that most pcople were reinarnared within forty days, I thought of
the concepts of dosma and proof.
My teacher sauntered over 1<> where Iwas stding.',lf thefe is a
spirit," he said,
'you
will see the offerings move as he takes them."
"You mean thatthey have enough power to move objects:" Iasked.
"No no no. I will enter total meditaiion-like the borderline
between sleep and waking, okay? Ar that poinr he v'ill be able to
take yang ch'i from me, and he wtll move the objects."
"Yes, " I sai d, "bLrt how do I know rhat i t i s norsi mpl yyou movi ng
them: I mean, I've seen you use telekinesis before."
He laughed, delighted, he was not offended in the least.
,,tfyou
pull up your yin ch'i like this, you my be able ro see somerhing as
well." He showed me the method. "l don't think you will be able to
see the spirit himself, because your yin is very weak," he contjnued,
"but you may see something. Especially if be is a blck spirit."
Ve all gathered around the table. Someone shur otf the lishts
Only a few dim candles lit the room. (Lisht,
beingyang, woutd drive
the spirit way.) Everyone quieted down, andJohn began his medi-
tation. I did as my teacher said, pullingup myyin energy. There was
an intense quiet, a total absence of sound, and then suddenly things
began to happen.
56
lheard a soundlike the windblowingr the incense stick appeard
to split in two, as if I had double vision. | rubbed my eyes. The stick
began to movet It bobbed in the direction ofmy teacher, \,/ho imme-
dlately began talking. He spoke in Chinese' I could not undrstand
th words, but I could tell from his tone of voice thai he was sooth'
iog and haping praise on whatver ws there.
The cup of tea began to move on th table, and I heard a sound
ol satisfaction (aaabhh) I thought, Yor'ni",l ts playtug tricks on you l
pulled up rny yin and tried to concntrate. Soneiri,, was over the
table- lt was indefinable andvague, like a heat wave over hot tar/ bui
there was no denying that my vision blurred when I looked in that
direction. It was actually bard to stare at it, il seemd that the phe
nomenon went away when my eyes
(my o,ll:) locked on to it. But I
could see it larly with my peripheral vision. If I kept my line of
sight down on th tabletop, I could se a sort of cloud dancing and
playing over the tabfe. I wondercd.Is aur eyes;ght yafl41ls that Ibe re.lsoll
I cah w it t'ly aith y
,eriPbenl
okion)
John
was talking up a storm, everyone started laughing, and I
felt llke the odd rnan our. Suddenly the incense burner flew off the
table to land at my Maste* feetr it was porcelain and shattered into
Instantly the lights wre tumedback on and people began clean
ing up the mess. I walked over to whereJohn was sitting. He lookd
"Vhat happenedz" I asked him.
"Stupid spirit."
"l couldn't see nything,
just
a blur"
"Because he is a white spirit," John
rcplied. "lf he were a black
spirit, you would see him."
"V/hy did he knock over the inense burner?'
"Because hek a Muslim," John
said, "and the incens stjck of-
fendedhim. He considers incense as being something from the Bud
dh;st religion."
"\Mhat? Howcan a spiritbe aMuslim-orany otherreligion, for
57
t-
John
laughed. "They are in the intermedit state, Kosta. They
have not had their questioos answeredyet and, believe me, they are
much more anxious about the afterlife than we re. Direct interest,
yousee. Manyspi ri t sret ai n t hei rrel i gi ousbel i ef sakerdeat h; i ndeed,
some become very devout, much more so than they were in life."
"Oh boy."
'Too
much: Didyou hear the wind when he came in?"
"l guess I could swear to it ln court."
"Ah. Yor yin is weak, you know You will have to work on that.
Iwill show you how later. There is always wind associated with a
spirit. Mymasterwasso loudthathe sounded like a helicopter Every-
one could heal him cornins."
I stood there stunned, feeling Iike a goon. I thought about the
words that various cultures around the world hadused to describe our
life enrsy, the Chinese cb'i, the Creek pra#na, the English 'pi"i the
Hebrew ruac|, the fndian pran, theTbetzn rl rg.They allmeant'wind
orvapor" lt made sense, too moch damn sense to ignore arymore
"Here,"
John said, "you all have to move back a bir. There's ioo
much yang energy around the table, and he is afraid."
"You're
soios
to call him asain?"
"Oh yes. That wasn't polite, you knou If he had
just
asked, I
would have put out the incense."
John
Iit anotber cigarette ad placed it io the ashtray. I walked
over to where myteachey's son was sitting and sat down next to him
"Can you translate lor me what your father is sayingr"
"Sure. Basically my father asks the spirit questions and then ar-
ticulates the replies he gets out loud, so that we can hear them as
wel l . "
"lt won't bother hlm ;fyou talk:"
"My father: Vhen hei in meditation, you cannoi disturb him
even ifyou wished."
The hghts went out again. Everyone sat down on the floor far,
thr hom the table, only John remained in front of it. I concen
trated as before on the end of the iit offering, in this case the
cigarette' once again it seemed to spht in two, and once again things
began to suddenlyhappen. Theteacup began to nrove, spilling some
of the tea, the glass of watet the cigarette.
John
began to speak,
58
i nd, wi t h hi s sons hel p, I underst ood t he conversat i on. I t weot some-
t hi ng l i ke t hi s,
"Yes, yes, I understand. You are a Muslim and we will not leave
out incense for you.
\/e
meant no offense. Did you enjoy the ciga'
rctte? Cood, good. Vhy are you hete? Ah, Cod sid you must stay
here and you are not Ieaving no matter what. That's okay. Can the
pcople stay in this house? Oh, you like theml Yes, they are good
people, aren't they? You like banana puddingr Of course they will
Icave some outas an offering to you. EveryTuesday night. Okay. But
you must promise to protect them and oever hy to hurt them. If
ther is a problem, you can come to me. You do promise? Cood.
They also promise they will giveyo banana pudding every Tesday
night. Andcigarettes also: Okay. Cood, good.I'm glad you are happy.
lly the way, ,rho do you think will win the soccer game tomo.row?
No, try harder, bcause I want ro make a bet with my friends. Ah,
good. Yes, they are my favorite team as well."
People started laughing. The lights went on. The owner of the
house wrote down the spiriti request. One man helped himself to
some of the cakes and the coffee that had been put out as an offer
ing. The atmosphere was very congenial; there was nothing mysti-
cal about any of it.
It was the most natural thing I had scen in my life.
I was envious, incredibly envious. I thought of the Vest and
how death is treated there, rhe separation and th fear that people
f eel f or t hei r dead, bel oved or not . Here were peopl e who
nonchalantly took everything in stride. Just
s the most primitive
culture couldspeak to the dead through their shaman, th spiritworld
was no st.angerto thm. Death really lras a verifiable transition, the
consciousness moving on to something different. It was like grow
ing olderl most people realize and accept that they will reach old
age and make plans forretirement. It is prt of life, afterall. But what
plans do we make in the Vest for our'etirement" alter deathr Our
only comfort is religion, indircct and distant, with nonverifiable
dogma at its core and a whole hlerarchy of intermediaries betwen
us andwht is io come. But herewas somethingnyone couldtouch,
something matter-o f-fact.
John
had talked about sports with rhe dead,
for Cods sakeL
59
I looked at myMasrerwith new awe. lwalked over to him as h
joked
around with his friend and his tuiend,s wife.
He glanced
over at me.
,,S/ell,
Kosta," he said.,,New experience?,,
'Yes,
Sifu. \XAy did you ast him about thc soccergame
tomorrow?.
"Because I always bet with my friends about who is goig
to win
the game. An average spirit can see into the future about a day orso.
I cheated."
"ls it a hundredpercent?
I mean, can theypredidtlte
futurewith
"lt
depends on the spifit. The stronger they re, the more accu,
rate they are as wll This one was a very small old rnan, so I do not
trust him all that much, but he was a nice fellow in the end.,,
"Vould he lie to you-try
ro trick you?.
"No. A spirit cannot lie, not evn a black spjrit. They can either
speak or not. But rht does oot mean that they are alv/ays right.,,
_
After bidding me a goodnight,
he sent me back to my hotel in a
friends van, alongwith a group ofother people. I was so numbed by
what I.hadseen that I couldhardly speak. One man in the van spoke
English welland tried to engage me in conversarion,
unsucessfully.
l mu. t har e i nsul r ed hr m Themanwa. ot
Sumauan ext r ar r r on and
he started telljng rhe othen that Greeks really were racistand preju,
diced against darkr-skinned people. I intervenedonce
Iunderstood
the gist of the conversation,
explaining to him that I simply did nor
\vant to talk; I was shaken by what I had seen that evening.
'Oh1'he
said.
'!/as
this the first fime you
had seen a spiriP,,
I nodded, and he looked puzzled.
"Dontpeople
die in yourcounrry?,he
asked, and I didnot know
what 1o say.
Hamlet had called death
,,the
undiscovered
country hom whose
bourn no traveler returns.,'These people
had lost all dread of that
othr place. For them there was no,undiscovered
country,,, ;t had
been explored and charted.
I wondered if anyone would believe me
60
Chapter Five
THE STORy OF
LIAO SIFU
It was late evening when I next sat down to tlk with my teachr. He
had
just
finishd watchins a soccer
same
on television, and his fa
vorite team had won. Knowing John,
he had probably wagered a
good sum of money on th outcome-and presumably won as well.
As a result, he was in a good mood. !fle moved to the outside bal'
cony once again ad sat down for the customary tea.
"l promised you thar I would tell you ny Masterrs story todan"
John
began. "l have already told you how I found him and he ac'
cepted me as his apprntice. Vhat you must understand also is the
great degree of difference in bility between Liao Situ and myself.
My powers are nothing compared \rr'ith his."
I nodded andkept silent, though I feltlike Iaughins hysterially.
It was suneal to hear him speak of his capabilities in this manner As
yetJohni own power were incomprehensibl to me, and I had only
witnesseda small fraction of his energy. In the threeyears I had been
wi t h hi m I had observed t el eki nesi s, pyrogenesi s, t el epat hy,
electrogeneration, th displacement of matter, th manipulation of
chance circumstance, Ievitation, the absorytion ofenormous amounts
of mornentum, and perhaps even communiation with the spirits of
the dead. These wer phenomena I myself could testity to, andwould
61
A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library
be willing to do so under oath. The full power ofJohn Chang was
beyond blief, ifwhat I had been told by others was true (and
I had
no reason to doubt them), I certainly could not imagine the extent
"Liao Situ was born in a village named Lee Hwa Kang in China!
Santong province," my Master continued. "He was part of large
clan-the Liaos, as the name implies. This clan had its own style of
kung fu, which they called Liao Chia Chuan. Ltao Situ began study-
i ngt he f ami l y art at t he aAe of f i ve andcont i nued st udyi ng i t unri l he
was about twenty, by which poinr h mastered the system. He be-
came quite good at both the external and internal elements of the
martial arts, and a good fightr
'And
fishr he did, I'm afraid. You see, next to his villase, a few
miles away, there was ano.her villag. This villace was called Pu Chia
Sians, which basically means'the Pu family village.' Between the t\r.o
villages was a spring, the only one in the area (it
was quite a barren
place, Kosta) ltwas overthis supply of fi.esh water rhat rhey fought.
Their clans had been fighttng for a hundred yers, and many died."
"lt must have been horrible," I said, "fighting
over the fight to
dri nk. "
"Yes,"
John said. "The rishi ro sufvive, you mean. Yorr know how
i n AI ri ca t hc l i ons gi t hcr arrund t he spri ngs and wai r l or t hei r prey?
\ X/ cl l , i rrrasi nc sonrct hi ns l i kc i hi s, nd you wi l l be cl ose t o t he way
i l w! kn t hcnr I rvcry day of rhei r l i ves, because a rnan needs f resh
w: r(cf t o l i vc, ri ght ?"
"-fhcrc was no water anywhere else? Not i/r?"
"Not a drop, I'm told. Oh, maybe there was water rhirty or forty
nriles awar but an you imagine making a trip like that to get wter
for your tam;ly, and canying it back?"
"Neither could they. So they fought, each clan trying to force
tbe other to move away-
"Now," he continued, "inJiangsi province, almost a monthtjor-
ney given the resources ofthe age, there was a famos tachercalled
Pai Lok Nen."
"Vhen did this happen, Sifu?" 1 interrupred.
62
The Story of Lio Sir
"Oh, this part of Liao Sifus story takes place roughly between
l9l5 and 1925, give ortake a few years eitherway. Anyway, because
ofthe waa Llao Situ did not marry and generally led a very turbulent
cxistence. Maybe their region ws like Bosnia or Kosovo in our day.
\X/hen he was in his midthirties, his life changd dramtically. One
of his relatives had studied with Pai Lok Nen. This man returned to
Lee Hwa Kang at some point, and it was evident that he had devel
oped great abilities. Bcause Liao Situ was a dedicated and sincere
martial artist, and (lett face it)becaus ofthe war, the relativ wrote
a leiter of rcommeodation for Liao Sifu to also go and study vith
Pai Lok Nen. So Liao Sifu made the
journey
and eventually, because
of the letter, was accepted as Pai Lok Nen's student. He styed with
Pai Sifu for flve years, at which point h returned to his home vil'
lage. At the tim he was alnost forty years old and had achieved
Level Twenty-Slx."
John
sealed back ;n his chair and assumed a more comlotable
position. "Now," he continued, "baf in mind that these were differ-
eot times. News did not travel very fast, if at all, and most of rural
Chlna lived;n third world conditions. Vhen Liao Sifu returned to
his home, he foundthat hisclan hadbeen decirnated. Therewas only
one man left alive, and he was crippled, unable to walk. The neigh-
bors kept him live with theircharit/. Liao Situwent crazywith gieft
he had lost all hic loved ones. Can you imgine, Kosta, leaving your
home for five years and retumins to find that alJ your brothers and
sisters, your cousins, aunts, uncles, lovers, and friends, hadbeen killedr"
"Yec, I can," I said softly. "l'm flom the Balkans."
"You are, aren't you?"John said. "So maybe you can underctand
such pain, or perhaps there are similar ircumstnces in your family
history. Liao Situ wanted to rush over and attack the neisbborins
village. But his clansman wouldn't let him.
"'You are the lastone of us left alive,'he said.
'They
have k;lled us
all. Even though you are Level Twenty Six, there ar many warriors
in Pu Chia Sians, a'd you are only one man. Pe'haps they will kill
you instead, and thn the Liao cln will be lost.
The clansman was his senior, and
siven
the Contucian ethic of
his dy, Lio Situ had to obey him. The man sent him back to Pai
63
The Story of Lio Sifu
Lok Nen with the promise that he would study for a further five
years. Liao Sifu did this, swallowing his rage and pain and putfing
them aside. He thought of revenge all the time, thoughr he could
not let it go. Vhen he returned to hisvillage, five yars later, he was
moret hanLrvel Thi rt y. That i saveryspeci al t urni ngpoi nt f orpeopl e
like us, you know Itt sort of graduation."
Iwanted to presshim for details but
John became suddenly quit,
staring off into space. At lengrh he spoke.
"Vhen Liao Sifu returned to his home, he found rhe body of his
clansman, piercedby a spear. They had not even had tlie decency to
bury the mn, th corpse was rotting where it lay. Then Liao Situ
went mad. kwas as ifthe floodgates ofthe dam hadopened, the pain
he had suppressed a1l those years could no longer be contained and
came rushingout. Itwas as if his surviving relative were the lasr bridge
to reason, with him gone Liao Sifuwent crazy. He gave in to his anger
and his hatred andwent to Pu Chia Sians to rake bloody revenge.
"For one hour he killed anythins thar moved, and they were
helpless against him. It was as if the Angel of Death had anacked
their villag and thc warriors of Pu Chia Siang could do nothing to
st op hi m. Men, women, cht l dren, and ani mal s he ki l l ed, even t he
chickens So great was hts anger, Kosta, that he wanted the village
t o bc wi pcd of f t hc l acc ol t he eart h, wi t h nor one l i f e renai ni ns i n
i t t i , p(, i s, nr Lhc I and. Spcars and swords bounced of f hi m l i ke paper,
l rr
q, l rl <l
rrot bc hurt , and yet he ki l l ed l rom more t nan t en yaros
l wny wi t h bl at s ol nci kLrng energy. Not hi ng escaped hi m. Vhen
rh. y f nrr, hc causht i hem, when t hey hi d, he f ound t hem.
"Altcr onc houl as he srood among the rui.s of the village, the
n, adncs l cl t hi m and he saw cl earl y what he had done. He knew he
had abuscd the power that Cod had blessed him v/ith ald had be
come a demon. In ooe hour he had taken more rhn one hndred
human lives. Liao S;tu was a good man, he really djd not wanr to
hurt anybody, you know. His hearrwas rushed ltkc broken glass by
his crime, and he turned dead inside At thar moment he kne\i/ pain,
the very real agony of remorse, before which the suffering he had
tclt lrom his anger was nothins Also, Liao Situ v/as a toisr Master,
hc kncw aboul thc spilir wofld and about life after death. He knew
64
The Story ol Lio Sifu
lre would have to pay off the karma of his actions when he passed
away. So he became very afraid for hls soul. It was in despairthat he
ran back to his teacher, Pai Lok Nen."
John
took a break and sipped tea. I was silent, shocked by what
I had heard. "l always thought," I said finally, "that yo( hd to be
good and moral to be ble to develop abllities of this sort. That
power went hand in hand with divine integrity. How is it possible
that Liao Situ had not progressed beyond thoughts of revenge at
that level?"
John
laughed. "Youle read too many Vestern books, Kosta, or
watched the TV series Ka g I too oftn. Ahuman beins is a human
beingr don't think it is so easy to stop being human! Liao Situ knew
the consequences, he knew that what he was doing was wrong, but
he still took revenge, and bloody revenge at that. He was a man,
after all, not Cod, and his family had been wiped out. Vhat would
I looked down. "l don't know," I said. I thought of the depictions
of th Buddha on betan ird ld, they normally showed a Buddha
attended by a bodhisatwa of compassion on one hand, and one of
power on the other. I tho[ght of the icons in my native Creek Or-
thodox Church, The Virgin, personifiction of compassion, was a
central theme, but the Archangel Michael, whom I can salely call
on tough dude, was ubiquitous as wll. I began to understand that
power and clemency are inded two separate things.
"Of course you do,"John continued. "And lateryou would have
repented ;t as well, as Liao dld, and you would have had to pay the
price, as h did. Themes of revenge and regret are everywhre in
human literature, Kostar it is not so easy to become Cod and for
sive.
Imasine theJe\.ish people forsivins th Nazis."
The crimson past ofthe Balkans was bred into my genes' he was
ight nd I knew it. I told him as much, and he nodded.
'Yes,"
he said. "lt is difficult to be pov/rfuI, twice as difficult to
be powerful and good, but that is what we flt]sl do. That is our des
tiny. You know how little children are rarely
sood
by themselves,
how they have to learn compassion2"
"Oh yes," I said. I had bitter memories.
65
The Story of Lio Situ
"A childi mind will give you an idea of mant basic nature. Our
purpose in life is to become more than whar we arc born as. Most
people arc not successful at rhis; they
just
think that they are And
you know this is why it is so important for us to pick our students
carefully. Ve do not want to create monsters.'/
John
looked off into the night as his dog came runningup to be
petted. He played with the animal for a while, and I scribbled down
my notes. A seruant brought more tea, and, after a time,
Joho con-
tind his narration.
"Pai Lok Nen lived on a mountain called Lung Hu Shan,
'dragon
tigr mountain,"' he said.
"ls that the Lung Hu Shn thar the linese of T'ien Shih Chang
had made their homer" l asked.r
"Yes," he rcplied. He seerned pleased that I knew about the hts-
toryofChina. "But Pai LokNen was nor a member of their sectr they
respected him
sreatly
and so offered him space on rheir land. Pai
Lok Nen was a hrmit, the Master of the school of Mo-Tzu,, he
lived on an island in the middle ofa lake. My teacher said that it was
an inaccessible area, iis warers were very difficult to traverse. Liao
Sifu used a series of trees to get across,
jumping
from one to the
other like Tarzan, but Pai Lok Nen
just
threw a leaf on the waters
and floated across."
"Cood Codt" l said. "Vhat level was he:
"Level Filty One."
"l can' t i magi ne. "
"No,"John replied, gainnjng,
"you can't. Now, Chinawas plagued
by many bandits at the time, and Pai Lok Nen was lways there to
help people. He fousht fo' the villagers and kttled many bad men.
He had kllled more than a hundred himself, I'm told, many of them
with a very high level of skill. Pat Situl cause was
jusrified,
thoush,
because he fought to protect others, not for his own
Cain.
There is
still karrna associated with this type of omba., bt nor so much,
especially if one engages in it wirh no thoughts of glory or ego Pai
Lok Nen was a hermit H did not fighr to become famous, or so
that he could seduce women, he fought because it fell to him ro be a
prot ect orof t he peopl e aroundhi m. He was a heal er as wel l and had
curcd hundreds. You know he spared the lives of many bandits pro'
vided that they would repent nd stop bingthieves and murderers;
that mercy was to be his undoing in th end."
"He
just
let them gor" I asked.
"No. He always made suretheycould no longrtenorize people
before he allowedthem theirlives andliberty. Since the notion seems
to shockyou so much, Iwill tellyou now the story of a very bad man
at an incredibly high lvI, nd his final encounter with Pai Lok Nen.
That man's narne v.as Lim. . . ."
Duel of the lmmortals
Lio sat before a roaring fire, deep in thousht. lt was a cold atuer-
noon, cold enough for him to seek the heat to warm his bones. He
was over fifty'five, bt with the constitution and appearance of a
much youncer man; people thought him a hsien, an immodal, the
apprentice ol the irnmoltal Pai Lok Nen. On the rare occasiors that
he ventu.ed into the local villages, they bowed before him, treatins
him to their modest far with th estee resefled for divinity.
IJ they o y tueD that I dn notbi$! b a nttd.ftt, h thought. Th
decimation of Pu Chia Sianc plaeled him constantly, and h knew
that one day he would have to pay the price. In restitution Liao had
committed himslt at Situt sussestio, to the monastic life he would
try to reach the hiahest lvel of powerhe could in this life and help
asmany peopleas deservedhisaid. Maybe then, whenthe timecame
forhim to enterthat otheiwotld, the Lord Codwouldbe mercitulin
Hisjudsment.
Hou
quld
I hau killed childnt
Liao stared into the flames. The truth was, he did not need the
walmth of the fire to stay comfortable ny more than a snow bear
did; he was beyond such thinss. But wby waste internal enersy to
warm hlmselfwhen a good fire was available, and much more pleas'
ant to boo" Liao had stayed with Pai Situ on Dragon nger Moun
tain lor many years since that fateful dat meditatig, traioina, and
studyiDs rhe system of his Maste/s lineage. He had learned much
and progresed to Lvl Fo.ty' to his chaelin, his lask had
srown
more difficult, not easier, as he increased in level. Level Four, which
he had thought ea h shattering at the time, had been as easy as pie
67
The Story ofLio Situ
66
The Story of Lio Sifu
in comparisoD, he
srinned
as he thought of some of the younger
students h knew, strusglinswith LevelsThree orFourandso proud
of that fact They were in for a rude awakening
Pai Sihi was gone for one of his ren day ret.ars, leavins him
alone wirh the OId Robber Pai Lok Nen's method of trainins was
very cleve., He would meditate for ten days somewhere up in the
mountains, then comeback down ro theirsmallhouse forren dysto
recuperate and prepre for the nexr session. Moderation and persis
tence were the keys to success, Liao knew
Th OId Robbers name \iras Asam, and he was almost seventy
yea6 old. Assam had been a highwayman and terorized the sur
roundina countryside until he'd had rh n1isfo.tune to pick Pai Lok
Nen as a victim. Vhen beaten by ihe nonchalnt immortal, Assam
had pleaded for his life, promisins
that he wuld do anything if he
could
lust
be spared; he wold nevr stal from or injureanyone aaain
Pai Lok Nen had not knowr what to do with the man; he coutd not
vry well leve him where he was, because the tandit was surely
untrustworthy. He finauy dcided to rake him with him as a seruant.
To mal e \ ur e r har Ar n woul d ne, r her i ni ur c anyone a8d. n nor r un
awar he had lmd him by partially paralyzinA the grearer scitic
nerve i. the robbers nshr les. Pai Situ then brousht him out to the
island, where ii was impossible for rhe man ro escape. Now Assam
hobbled around everywhere on rhe isle, the thumpie of the rhick
staff he used to suppo* his weisht the old man! tradema.k sound.
Liao had sent the Old Robberoui to
sther
some fifewoodr ihe
old maD had gone sulkil, not appre.iting the directives of the
younser Liao H whined constanrlx but what could he do2 After
all, Liao was a hish level studenr of the Master and Asam had no
power to speak ol. He had tried repeatdlyto convince Liao thathis
beiDs Pai Lok Nens seNant did not men he was Iiaot sewant as
well, but the youoger man was not buying ir. And since Assam was,
with
sood
reason, terified of Lio! powers, he did whar the orher
But he didn't hve to be quick about it And so he took rhe whole
aliernoon to complete an hourl cho..
Liao was quite alone when he heard the sound. It came softly,
stealthily, and there was a threar drawing nearvith it, Liao knew A
man was approachina the house, a caretul man checkins his way as
he went, aware of dangers A man at war, Liao thousht. An enemy2
68
The Story of Liao Si{r
He rose a'rd stalked over to the door Beyond rheirsmall
sarden
a drk lorm approached cautiously. It halted when it sensed hin,
waited, then began to approach again.
Liao sawthat it was a man with a drk cloth tied over his ys. A
blind man "Coodafternoon, brother" Liao said. Thiswas no normal
blind mani Liao did not need to observe the way rhat ihe otherwalked
to know this. The man had mad it to the island, rhat in itsell was
enoush.
"Coodafternoon," the rnan replid. "ls this xhe home oftheMster
Pai Lok Nenr"
" l t i s. "
'Ah.
Cood. I am ar old hiend of his. \I/e have not sen each
other in twelve years."
"Please come in and warm yourself. Pai Sifu will return soon."
Liao stood side to let the blnrd man past He noticed rhat the
man entered the hut carefully, as ifchecking for possible attack. He
also saw that the man vibrated and hummed with a power similr to
that ofhis teache. S.ely more rhn LevlFifty, Liao rhought Could
il be that he was highef than his Master?
Vhen he sensed that there was no one else ithe room, the man
gratelully sat by the fi.c and began to warm his hands Liao sw that
hewasanoldefman, in hiseighties, about the same ge as his teacher
"Can I offeryou some tea, Mr . . r" Liao asked
"Ah, Li'n. My nare is Lim. Yes, please. I would be most appre
"How do youkDow PaiSituz" Liao asked while brewins rhe ra.
"Ah. Ve met twelve years back, as I said It is to hi rhar I owe
my c f f ent . . . power "
"1 see Are you a student of my teacher! lineage?"
"No. I stqdiedwithanotherschool, justasold
andjs1aspowertul."
Li ao hdndcd r he o. hpr mar a r r p of I ' o. . cr
Li m si pped i t wi t h r el i sh' Thankyou, ' he sai d' The t ea i s mosr
appropriate on such cold day."
"Yes it is. You have reached a very hish level, good sir"
"Yes. Ii took a long time and gfeat dedication, but I have nan-
aged to become s lam afterten yers of firce training. I think thr
yor Masterwill be quite surprised with y power"
Li ao stared at the hooded face. "He maybe surprised, butwillhe
be pleasedr" hc asked finally.
69
The Story of Lieo S'frl
The other put down his cup. "\X/hat i5 your name?" Lim sked
finally.
"Liao Tsu Tong."
"Liao Tsu Tong, if you do not inrerfe.e when we fishr, I will
spar yoq.life thi, day, in
sraritude
for the tea you have offeredne,'
"Vhy do you hate him sor"
The other man untied rhe bndage over his eyes, rwo empty
sockets yawned back at htm. lt was the face of a demon.
"He took my eyes from me. I cannor forsive him," Ljm said.
"lunde6tand," Liao said. "l also have wasted mylife in search of
revense But Pai Sifu has always beenjust in his punishments.
\(hat
did you do to deserue such a sentence:"
"lt does not marter"
"Ofcou.se it doesr Codljustice must be undererood."
"Oh? Did you follow Codijusrice when you rook reverser"
Liao looked away.
Th blind man laushd ironically. "l suppose nor, ehr" Lim said.
"And who is Pai L.ok Nen to speak for cod, an).way2 Yor name is
tmiliar to me, Liao Tiu TonA, s it is to all China, though untilthis
moment I did not know that you were Pais srudent.
Liao searched the tortured face. "Vhat do you mean that my
name is known to all China?"
"lfyoubehave and do not interfere,lwill letyou liveto discover
"l myeli hve .srtted my actions. After twelve yeare, has yorlr
rage not been tempered by time?" Liao asked.
"Tmpered by time? Are you a baby to ask qesiions
like
that? Fof ten years lracrificed my life, doing nothins but rrainins
every dar thinkina ofnorhins but findins him nd takingvengeance.
It took me two years to find him; the people in the area protecred
him, the fools. No one would answer my questions! Bur find him I
'And
what was your crie2"
The otherws silent. "You are eithera very brave man or a very
stupid one. I was a warlord in a eishboring province My band of
wador demanded tribute hom the nearby rowns. At one point I
becme
srcedy,
nd an old man caUed in Pai Lok Nen. My bandwas
desfoyed and my eyes were taken from me."
"lt sounds like you got whar you deserved "
70
The StoryofLio Sifu
"Perhaps. lt is not for you tojudse, destroyer of Pu Chia Sians."
"He spared your life. He was mercitul."
The teacup instantly crumbled to dust in Lim's hand and the hot
tea boiled away as superheated steam. Liao feared lorhis life in tht
lnstnt. "A thousandtimes that he wouldhave killedrnel" Lim roard
"lwas powertulandhe made meweh Vhatever I desired, a woman
or jewcl, itwas mine for the tkind lwas the kins of my land, and
h turned me into a bggan"
Liao kept his seai.
After a roment Lim calmed down and turned towald the fire.
He r r apped t l . e bandaee ot e h, \ e\ c\ on. e dsdi n.
"\fould you like some more tea?" Liao asked. "You seern to have
Lim laushd. "Yes, you are undoubtedly very brave man I would
indeed like another cup."
Liao stoodand went over to a srnallcirpboard. He brousht ovef
a cup and offIed Lim tea. "You knoq" Liao said, "Pai Sifu is not all
"$?hat do you mean2"
"He was rippled in ficht. He lost the use of one lg and now
"Hmm. It must have been some enemy. I'm
slad
that the othr
didnt krll him' that h left him for me."
"Yes, but Situ is not the Mastr that he used to be. He's old and
ffippled now and has lost his powei."
"Are you that young and stupid or ar you just 1rying to tempt
fate andmy patince? You know as wellas Ithat hls physicalcondi
tior has nothins to do with itr He c as powlul as ever Berides, I
hate him so 'nuch that even if he were dead I would deftoy his
arave
and desecmte his corpse."
"l se. I pity you, Mr Li. Havins felt such hatred myself, I
knowwhat a worm like thatcan do toyoursoul. Mayyou find peace."
The other man's reply was choked offby the sound of someone!
approach. They both heard th heavy foohtep, the rhythmic thump-
insofthe cane. Lim stoodsmoothly andr$,ifxlyto face the door He
pushed Liao to the wall behiod him. "Don't intenupt or else," Lim
whispered softly. "Reftemberwhat I said."
Assm ws canyins a load ol firewood, and th
soins
had been
difficult for the old man. He eased the heary stack ofl his back and
v
The Story of Lio Sir
laid it down gently in corner ol theerden, rtiU ticd with rhc ropes
he had used to 'nake his bundle. He woutd be damned if he,d brins
rhe wood into the house for Liao as well. That pstart was almost
fifteen yearE younser than he was, after all, and should have rd,,
respect for his elders lt was enough that he had
sone
out ro
set
the
woodat Liao!.equest, too bad for the young punk ifithadtake, the
Inside thecottage Lio saw thc man s silhouette darken the door
wy. He had o misconceptions about what wou ld happen, and knew
that Lim sensed the othefi approch as well. Lim slood before him,
his back to hlrn nd facms rhe door. He was redy to fight. Vell, so
He was at Level Fo.ry hinself, bur he knew that Lin was mch
hisher. Srll, ti,r,rri borft, he thousht.
'Look
outt ki a trp he yelled 1o Assam, and r the same rime
hi t Li m wi t h al l hi s powr i n t he a. ea ol t he ki dr cys ( andonl y
f r om a
yardt distance) He erpected the other to fly foturd from the im.
pact, at which point he was ready to hit him repeareory.
Nothins happened. Lim was unaffected.
Liao was allowed a fraclion
()1
a sccond in which to curse thc
.ircumstances with thc worer proianity he cold think of. Then Lim
hoved like whirlwind He kicked backward, hit Liao, and kDocked
him co'n pletely th rough the wallto land in the ga.denoutside,
where
he lost conciousncs At the same tie he hit Assam three times
hom llvc yards way wilh enefsy blasrs generatcd fro thecenrerof
hl s pal m Assam di ed i nst ant l y wi t h t he i i r t bl ast , but Li m coul d not
bclicvc Lhat Pai Lok Nen would be so easy ro deieat (for indeed,
Li aot sf at egy ol passi nsA$am of l , Pai Lok Nen had wor ked) aDd
stru.k agarn ard again
When Liao cane to, his Mter was sranding over hiln. k was
nor.ins He had been unconscious all nishr.
"Are you all rishu" PaiSifu asked hin.
Li ao sat up and co( shed up some bl ood " t r hi nk so, , , he sai d
"For somc reason he wanted to keep me alive. Assam?"
"Dead. Cone. \Y/ho did this?"
"Lim He said his narne was Lim "
"Lim? I dol't k.ow any man na.ned Lim "
Lio was bdefly exsperated. Ii semed that hc teacherhadkilled
so many marauders that he had forsotren the details of the encoun-
ters. "He was blind. He said you had taken out hts eyes.,,
72
The Story of Liao Silu
Pai Lok Nen was astonished. "Hir?The warlordr Yes, ofcou6e,
hh name was Lim, thts right, I remembernou But howr I mean, he
was at a fairly high levelwhenwe fought, but nowhere close to thk."
"Hatred."
"Sorryr"
"Hatrd tueled his trainins."
Pai was silent "Of couree," he said finally. "l .esrct leavins him
alive. Manywill suffer because I thousht to show mercy. Some men
are beyond redemption."
Liao stood on quaverins legs He saw the hole in the wall his
bodv had made when thrown backward.
"Help me with Assam," Pai Sifu told him brusquely.
They walked over to the other mans remains. Of the body itself,
only ajellied ass v,as left.
"Do you know why your stratesy worked2" Pai Situ asked him.
"Maybe. I think it was because the man \i,as so obsessd that he
was blind in more ways than on."
'No.
It was becuse Lim is obviously more than Level Iifty. A
blow from a man like thatruns throush the bone manowandcrumbles
the bone to dst. Assam was hit at least three and maybe fourtimes,
as you can see, thre is not much left of him. His skull is mush; Lim
was unabl to inspect the body to see if it was me or not."
"ri7hy did you trick him into believing tht Assan was fte?"
"Because honestly, Situ, the nan frishtenedmeand Ihad no idea
which ofyou had more power."
"Andyou thought nothins of sac.ificins Assam's life?"
"Before your own, Situ, no."
"Andyou thought nothins of scrificirs yorr own life as weu, I
"lt ws my duty, Master."
They buried Assam! body. It had no strucrur and was difficult
to pickup, it was as if the old man hadbeen turned into a
siant,
dead
invedebrate. Paiws silent all that day. Vhen eveningcame, thy sat
by the fire. Pai Lok Nen handed Liao a large book and some scrolls.
"ln this book,'Sifu told him, "are the secrets of ioteroal power
allthe way up to LevelSeventy Two. These scrolls desiflateyou s
myheir. You are nowthe Mastc of my school of Pa Lei Chu
(eisht
ways thunder boxirs). You may leave this place or stay her as you
73
The Story of Lio Sifu
"You ar goinA frer Lim."
"lt is fly duty. I have unleashed a monsreron the land and must
lace up to the consequence ofmy acrions. I forbidyou ro come with
mei if that ii wht you were going to ask.'i
"Master . ."
"l fo|bid itL"
"But of course,"
John continued, "Liao Situ did not listen to hirn
\/hen Pai Stfu left, he followed at a distance, stayins away frorn his
techer but nver losing rrack of him. k took
pai
Lok Nen a week to
find Lim, but find him he did. They mer in a
junsl.
Liao Situ was
close by but he did not dare intrude."
My teacher took a sip of tea.
"For three days and three nights they fought,,,he said softly.
"They were evenly rnatched in the end; both were at Level Fifty,
One. They destroyed the jungle
around them in rheir struggle, and
still no on could ger the upper hand. Lke the ancient gods they
foueht, throwing rhunder and Iightn ing at ach other, Kosta. Finally,
on the dawn of the fourrh day,
pi
Situ in despertion used a tech
nique called Ching Tjik Tue Lik, whih in Chinese means
,,Colden
Rooster stands on one leg." lshowed you that movement yesterdayr
it is a vcry dangerous tcchnique in tharyou can hit three points with
onc movemcnt, but you lso open up wek poinrs yourself,
which
thc opponent can strike Of the three points attacked, Lirn managed
to block two, bufihe third blow caught him in rhe chest, atthe same
time, however, he manaeed to kick
pai
Sifu in the chest. They both
fell over and lay still. Then Liao Situ emerged from hiding and ap_
proached; before that point he had not dared interfere, as I said,'
''ther
is thar rnuh difference in power between Levels Forty
and Flftyr'l asked.
"Yes, and between Levels Twenty and Thirry or Thiri.J/ and Forty
as well,"John repl;ed.
''tihe
forest was as if it had been desrroyd by
bombs, Kosta. Liao Situ checked the bodies. Lim was dead, but
pai
Lok Nen was altve. L;ao Situ buried Lim and srayed with
pai
Situ,
trying to nurse him back to health. At sorne point, though,
pai
Lok
Nen passed away. L;ao Stfu buried hirn and stayed in the rea fo,
lorty days, then moved on."
l4
The StoryofLio Sifu
"\vhere did he go?" I asked.
"He was in for a surprise,"
John
said. "He went to a large town
ncarby and saw that he was famous. The government had put a re
ward on hi s head, he was t he most want ed cri mi nal i n Chi na. "
"The village massacre," l said.
"Yes. Posters with his picture on them were everywhere. He was
lorced to flee first to Nanchang city in
Jiangsi, where he remained
for a tirne, then out of Ch;na. He finally settled as a penniless refu-
gee in
Java."
"lts exactlyllke the oldTV showKan4 Fr, with David Canadinef'
I sai d.
John thought about it for a while. "l never wath that show, you
knoq" he said at last. "l mean, I've seen segments of it from time to
time on television, but lve never actually sat down ro watch n epi
sode. Listen, you don't think that they heard bout Liao Sifu's story
from somewhere and copied itt"*
'Sch
is not ihe casetK'i4F, the orisinal series, was an example of art
imitatins life, as it were; the hero was a Buddhist.atber than a Taoist
monk, and he had killed the emperori son rather than n entire villse.
75
The StoD. of Lio Sifu
il
\-napter tx
LESSONS TO BE
LTARNED
THE EXAMINATION
It was raining heavily when I next saw my Master. He had been
gone for a week, out of the country on business, t hadspent the tjme
lravling, rading, aDd digesting the teachings of our previous en-
counters as best I could My wait hadnt been all that much tun,
bccause I had seen most of the country already, and rhe ciry he lived
in was a boring place.
John telephoned on the day that he returned.
I took my usual taxi out to his home in the late afternoon, eagerly
ant i ci pat i ng seei ng hj m agai n.
Ishook the rain off my windbreaker and entered his home. There
were many people there, and there was considerable excitement all
around. The atmosphere was that of a party waiting to happen.
Jobn
yelled out a greeting. "Kosat
you
are very lucty tonight. I
will test pair of students for Level Two.
r/e
are preparing now,'
I had never seen such testing before and immediately
became
excited myself. Ir had beeo worrh the week of waiting.
perhaps
the
most importanr rhing abour rhe abilitjs my teacher displayed was
that they are an acquired skill, what he has can be passed
on to oth_
ers. That evening I would see proof of such a transmission for th
lirst 1im. lt should be noted rhat not everyone can become like
l:hn Chang,
;ust
as not everyone can become an Olyrnpic thleter
still, almost every able-bodied percon can be taught to run, and i[
not to run, at leasr to
jog
Level wo is somewhat like that. Almosr
anyone with the right degree ofperseverance and discipline can com-
plcte it (tbogb
it mighr rake as long as fifteen years). As far as be-
coming like Chang Sifu, howeve perhaps ooe man in thousand
can achievc this. lf that many.
An).wat I was quite eager to see what rhese two men could do.
They were the only ones there who did not seem prticularly
happy. Both were very neffous, excusing themselves io run to .he
t oi l et on occasi on andspendi ngqui re a bi t of t i me on i he bal cony i n
editation, trying to regain control oftheir minds and bodies. I was
told that it was not up to the student when he would be tested;John
himself often p;cked the rime and place and said, "Now." That was
the whole point of rhe test, they saidi to catch rhe student unawares
so tbat he would learn to be ready at any point in his life for whar
ever might occur to him.
I was gl ad i t wasn' t me. One of t he men l ooked part i cul arl y
An argument enuedi a student ofJohnt whom I knew well and
who was there as a witness began protesting loudly. Another man,
evidently a senior student, took no reeard. lgnoring the others dis
approval, he selzed the mant cigarettes and shook them out of tbeir
container. He handed the loose cigareftes back to my friend and
kept the pack The slighted party went ove. to a corner nd sulked,
st ul f i ng t he ci garet t es i nt o a pocket . The seni or st udenr i hen pro-
duced two more empty packs of cigarettes and stacked them atop a
table alons with the pack he had;ust pilfered. The empty boxes
(hardpacksL)
were laid on their bases, three in a row, rhebrand names
all facing in one direction.
It was up to the men bing tesred to move them with telekinesis
frorn more than four feet away.
John
sauntered up to me. "You undemtand what we arc doing
here tonightr" he asked ! nodded.
'They
will have ro move the pcks
from a distance of five tirnes their forearm length, this is oul tradi-
tion." He lookedat my long forearm and longer fingers and grinned.
77
Lssons to Be Lerned
A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library
"ln your case," he said, "it will have ro be more than one and a half
yards away." I squirmed, and he was delighted.
John was a prdicaljoker I had been with him on an elevator
on evening long with twenty oth* people. The elevator was a
glass walled unit that fenied people up and down the floors of a
shopping rnall; there was a steel rail;ng all around that people rested
their backs on. \X/e were going out to ear that evening at a local
resturant on the top floor of the mall.
Suddenly a burst of current pulsed through rhe steel backstop.
Vomen screamed and everyone pulled away, suspec.rng a short crr-
cuit.John had pulled awar too, as Ihad, but I neededonly one look
at the barely suppressed grin on his face to realtze what had really
happened' He had sent a pulse o bio enersy throush the railinsl
The elevator attendant cautiond everyone to stay away from the
backstop, and, as we reached the top floor, he radioed for mainte-
nance and shut the unit down.
All rieht, so it ,r,rs tunny.
In any case, the students were newous as hell They would have
to knock over all three packs ro pass the tesr.
The f;rstman began his trial. Thy measured his forearm, hand, and
flnsers and drew a line beyondwhtch he could not cross.John stood on
thc line itsclfand scowledar the student as he approached, making sure
that thc man would not dare cbeat, not even a liftle. The mao stood
bchind Lhe line in rhe Horse Riding Stance, broueht his right palm up
cvcn with the line, took a breath to calm himsell andbegan
Fle pusbed h;s ch'i through his palm and toward the cigarett
boxcs. One of them fell over.
"He missed,"a man next to mewhispered. "But he willpass forsur.',
John
reprimandedthe studentand rhe man t'ied asain This time
there was no hsitation; he knew he could do it. He concenttd
fiercely and p,lsrrd
All three packets fell over on the tablerop. The first was pushed
so hard that it fellotrhe table. The student had passed.
There was a pause before the second mn's trial, and Iwas al-
lowed to approach th tesring area.
"Okay, Kosta,"John said. "lnspect everything carefully.,'
And I did. I looked for magnets, for wirs, for fans, for anything
78
Lessons to Be Lerned
clcc trical or chem icI, with allthe expertise I had gained after twelve
ycors in the engineering field. Nothins. The table v.as wood; I pickd
It up off the ground. Ther were no wires or strinss an)'where. The
packs of cigarettes werejust thatr they had oot been tampered with,
fhort ofbeing emptid of cigrettes. I pulled out of myvest pocket a
snall compass I always cany with me in th Orient, and ran it over
thc table and sunoundins area. No masnets--or at least no residual
nragnetism was evident. I could find no indication of the presence of
chcmicals of any sort. The roorn was brilliantly lit, nd everything
had happened in plain sight. There was no hocus-pocus goins oo.
The inspection was superfluous; I did it for everyone elsei sake
rathrthan my own. I hd no doubts about wht I ws seeing. In ny
cse, the group gained nothing by tricking me.
"l wanr to make one more inspection when the testing is over," I
said to
John,
who readily agreed.
The second man! turn came up' this man was very nervous. It
was obvious to everyone except me that he would not succeed. The
group repeated the procedure fof him, draving ew line; he, as
had his broiher student, took his place.
And failed. Nothing happened.
John
encouraged him, told him to relax and try again.
He did, andwas unsuccessful once more. The man was in a bad
emotional state. I thought they would stop.
They didn't.
John
allowed the man to try from a yards distance,
the packets not only fell over, theyjeru off the table to land a good
yard away. At that moment I realized somethingof importance, The
field phenomenon associated with this action dgraded exponen-
tially. That is to say, its behavior followed this paftern,
1
STRENCTH
DISTANCE
-------------->
79
Lessons to Be Lerned
Soneday I wll nap its response and chdracteriz( tbe prccas,
I thought. I had
already figured out how to do it.
The man was given anotherchance, which he also falled. At th;s
pointJohn let him stop. He would be given another test the follow
ing year, but the opponunities were not indefinite, at some point, if
you failed, you were deemed an inappropriate student and not al-
lowed turthr instruction.
"Vhat additional examination didyou want to dor"John asked.
I pulled out a pocktknife andcut an empty pack of cigarettes in
half. lt was not lined with metalr there was no way it could have
been affected by magnetism. Asain, I did it more forthe groupt sake
than my o\^m, it seemed very important to them that I be convinced,
and I bad to prov that Iwas.
I was good at that sort of thing. The previous year a friend of
Johns
had tried to play a trick on me He had offered me a srick of
gum, which I took, then asked me if Iwould like to see his power I
hd replid affirmatjvly, and he dlpped the wrapper in water.
"Now hold it ln your hand and squeeze," he said.
I did not need
Johni
look of disapproval to know rhat I was
being hoodwinked; dipping the wrapper in water had given the man
away. Solirn naal, I thought, andonly pretendedto squeeze thewrap
per. It was wax coated, squeezing would break the coatingand allow
the sodium to recl with the water, generaring intense heat.
Thc man bccame disconcerted, he expected me to dropthe\rrp,
pcr i n pai n. I di sappoi nt ed hi m. "You can l et go i f you f eel t he heat , "
hc said. "Don't burn yourself."
"No, itt not hot at a11," I said innocntly. "See?" I gave h;m back
lhe wrapper, which I had caretully pressed lnto a small ball. A look
ofpuzzlement came onto his face, andhe took the wrapper from me
andsqueezedas hard ashe could. Suddenly he grimacedand dropped
it. He lookd at me in wonderment, why hadn't the trick worked on
the foreigner2
John
had loved it. nyway, Iknew I had to convince them on
that evening that I believed what they were doing was real, and so
cut the ernpty pak in half.
"How lons have you ben studying2" I asked the man who had
80
Lessons to Be Lerned
"About twelve years," he said.
"And how much training did you do every dayr"
"Only
about an hour a day. Thats why it took so long. But what
could I do? I had to work for a living."
John
came over and held a long discourse with the man. He
lcctured him profusely, then let him go and pulled me over.
"l told him that he had to be very careful from now on," John
rold. "Vhen
you f;nish with Lvel Two, your ch'i is always ready to
move. Much of it is governed by your emotions. If he were to hit a
man in anger noq the ch'i would run into that man's body and de
rtroy his heart. The man would die."
"S/hat if h hits him on the arm, sayr" I asked.
"lt doesn't matterwhere he hits him. The ch'i will always nrn up
to the other's heart, and it will kill him. And you know, no Vestern
lrospital in the world can help a man hit in that manner He ruill dle
unless treatd by someone like me within tweoty-four hours "
"You're right. He should be very careful from now on."
"Yes. You know, when we teach new studenls kung fu, we alwavs
move slowly, nd always without power Safety is our primary con_
ccrn. People see thaton occasion and thinkwe are wakr badmistake."
"Situ, what they
just
did, we call telekinesis in the Vest. Did
thcy manage that with their own power or didyou help lhem a bit?"
He looked atme, amused. "l'helped them a blt,'asyou say They
cn pass ch'i rom their body, but it is only yang ch'i. Dutingthe test
I myself generate yin ch'i and act as an opposite pole by standing
ncxt to the packs. This induces tJ?ir yng ch'i io extend over to my
yin, and that action allows them to move the igrette packs The
lcst is relly to see how rnch yang ch'i the student has in him "
"lsee. So when you say that if they hit a person they wllltransfer
clr'itohim, theymust touch that prson physicallyto do so, corrct?"
"Yes. Because they stilluse only yang ch'i. To do it lrom a dis-
tance, theywould have to use yin andyang iogether That wouldbe
Level Four."
"Situ," I asked, "physiologically, what is the difference between
wht ljust sa\v and tvellour?"
Ve moved over to a table andJohn began to
jot
down notes for
nrc. "Look," he said, "l have already toldyou that Level One is simplv
81
Lessons to Be Le.arned
to fill up your dantien with yang ch'i, right? Thar requires eighty-one
hours of absolute meditation. Now, a beginning student cannot hold
his concentration forlong. Perhaps in on hoof sitting, he is actually
in meditation fo; t.3 minutes. That means he is meditating only 2.2
percent of the time, rMhich means that if he sits for one hour a day, he
needs ten yeaE of training to get his eighty-on hours ofmeditation.',
"\Vhat is actual meditat;on like/'l asked.
'There
are no thoughts and there is no sense of time. Ifyou are
thinking, you are not in meditation. Ifyou are aware ofyourself, you
are also not in medittion. You must bcome like a baby in thewornb,
there and yet not therc. Meditation is lik the borderline btween
sleep and waking, between consciousness and unconsciousness.',
"Very difficult."
"Not so difficult, Kost. You srayed in medjtation for long peri,
ods when you were an embryo and a baby, and you pass thrcugh it
no\. each time you drift offto sleep. Youjust have to remember how/'
I felt uncomfortable. "\X,/har about LvelTwo?,'l asked, to change
the subjct.
"ln Level Two we fillup th channels in our body with yans ch'i
while at the same time shaping the ch'i in ourdantien to our specifi-
cations. Then w can push our yang ch'i out of our body-though
not through space. Vhen a student becomes proficient
ar this, he
can pass th test that you witnessed this vcnrng.
'Aod
level Threer"
"Level Three is very difficult ro pass. Ir rquires at leasr rhree
continuous hours of training a day, perhaps more.
"You
don't want to talk about it; okay, fair enough. Level Fourl,'
"Level Four is the point where we begin ro bring yin and yang
togethel en youfinish
with LevelFour, the two sit in your dantien
like this," he continued, and drev/l
a2
Lessons to Be Lerned
"Like the yin-yang symbol," I said. He nodded. "\Vhy is it thal,
in popular litrature, thy put the tuo dots in centr of the opposing
circles, and say that yin has yang in it and vice versa?"
"l donl kno\.v. I think that they my hve becom confused over
the passing of time, or maybe their knowledge has become sorne
whatmixedup due to political circumstances. Tlere is also achan
that I myself am wrong."
B t I orbt it,I thought. "Because many pople have witten that
yin changes to yang nd so on with the flow of tim," I went on.
"Nothing is as simple as it seems," he replied.
"They also \,/rit that a man progrsses from yin and yng to tai
c hi . . . "
"This is t'ai chi. Thats correct."
". . . and from there to wu chi," l finished.
"Vhat is wu-chi?" he asked.
It was my turn to be shocked. Vhat had
just
occurrd was the
equivalent of Mohammed the Prophet asklng a Muslimiust who this
Allah was that they kept rcferring tot wtr-cri is a concept central to
Toisrn, and I was being asked by a man I considered a Toist Ms'
ter, in no uncertin terms, exatly what it \{as that I va talking about.
"Er . . . wu chi is like this; beyond yin and yang," I stammered,
and drew on the papr,
"l see. I have never seen anythins like this,"John said.
"But all the books on Toism refer to this," Isaid. "it! the final
step, the transformation where ahuman beingretums to the Sourc."
"l see. As l've toldyou many times, I'm not a Toist." He raised a
hand to silence my protest.
"Yes, I know, Iknow. There are many
things about my teachingthatyou willsay are unquestion ingly
-fao-
ist, and my teachen came from a Taokt mountain. You have evety
83
Lessons to Be Lerned
right to be confused. I considr myself, howevet simply a practirio-
ner of neikuns."
He looked down at the circle I had draw".
"ln ourschoolman can neverbecome lik this. Human beings-
those who can complete Level Fout that is to sy-stay at t'ai chi all
the way up to Level Svnty,Two. Ve are ever at wu-hi Perhaps
in other lineags, like the Mao-shan Pai or the Vutang-Pai,0 they
have discovered a method to accomphsh this, but I do not know of
it, norhave I ever wilnessed it. In any case, we in the Mo-Pai* do not
use it.
\yy'hat
else have you been readingr"
Int' aJ ta$tatian1 I thousht, ,rr tls is /ot te trne. "Tlre problem
with the printedword is that anyone can write whatever they want,
Situ," I sid.
"Okay," he said, "you write a book."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. I want to teach people bout ch'i-thar it is real, and what
its nature is. I want them to knov/ that ch'ikung and neikung are not
hocus-pocus but a science "
Whooyayt I thought. Tine to baoe sone
fur.
A, Chinese Story
In the days be{ore his passing Liao Sifu frequendy lecrurd his two
students on the desired mode of behavior acco.dina to the Taoistf
canons of his own Iineage. On one such evening the followins inci
John
Chns, then in his earlytwnties, sr ar the feet ofhis Ms-
ter alons with his brother student Chan en Sun Liao Situ was du
to lave forChinawithin a month, andhewouldbe deadwithin two.
"11 the three of us were suffering from a fatal illness, and sud
denly a bottle ol medicine that could cure this illoess appeared in
you. palm, vhatwouldyou do,lohn?" Liao Situ asked. "Bear in mind
that there is enoqh edicie thre to cure only one peFon, and
thal the other two must die."
*
The school of Mo Tzu.
1l
use the term Tao,,i in p{ace of the more appropri ate idtioe a,$in6e
a4
Lessons to Be trned
John
did not hesitate. There was one thinathat had been
snaw-
Ins t his hart and mind for a lons time, He loved the old man
Drokrselr
withort reseryation, and had never been able to teu him
so. The mastr had been a fatber and nore to him, bui he was also
vcry much a part of the old Chlnese culture. Accordinsto the Con
fucian ethic that had dominated ChiDese society since KungFuTzu!
passing, it ws not appropriate for him to voice rhe citer emotins
he felt lor his teacher, or vice vesa. Duty and honor were fine, but
love was for poets. Even thouch Liao Situ was a Taoist, he still held
himself i. resewe; a British lord would have been proud of hrs com
posure, and would probably have told him rhat his "stiff upPer lip"
John
himsel{ was a product of the modern ase s well as beinc
Chi nese; hi s t housht s and f eel l nss had been i nf l ueced bv
multicultural stimuli and by the information dissetuintion hom
\X/este.. civilization. As sch, he hadmanyoptions to consideras ta.
as what was to be deemed proper social behavior Liao Silu had told
hln that he would soon be dead, and that he would be leavins for
China to see his home on last tim How couldhe tell the old man
that he loved him, that he had been Iike a lather to him? Comins
right out andsaying itwas unacceptable. Perhaps this moment would
be one ofhis last opportunities to exptess it at all
"lwouldsiv ittoyo, Liao Situ," he toldhisteacherwith ffection
Dsal Gol, the old tea.her thousht. Ho cdf I tedch tbis boy tbdt ht
flun *e dbone bis aar t^tions, bis oM 1ik/5 and dislik6, to ser|e th tliite as
a rolet Hou car I teacb hin rb tue loacco s
Jro
bedrer, thlt ndn 4s d
beiq cor atly taa close to tbis Bsercel He mtst
Dlae
hunanity abo"N his ol
pesowlloou atd,lsimtln an instant Liao Situ knewwht he had to do,
andhardend his head for it.
The old man moved like a blut and the blow was powerful; he
dappdjohn across the face with such forc that the younsr man
was thrown across the room. Liao Sifu stood, seeminsly turiouswith
his ppil.
"Because you spoke with yow heart and noi your mind, I will
forsive you this time," he said toJohn. "l struck you so thax you will
rememberthis instance allyorlife. The truth is that ifsuch a medi-
cine did indeed exist th thre of us would go to war with each
otheroverth right to drink it, fo.life is th most precious treasur
ofali, and no one
sivs
it up readily. The fact that this tdicine has
appeared in your hand means that it is
tdrr
destiDy to consume it,
85
Lessons to Be Lerned
l
the.eforeyo, msr drink it and no other Fix yourslf
first and then
you cn help orhers! Do you understand?4
John nodded, stung He would indeed never forget the lesson.
PO\/ER
I couldn'tsleep thatntght. The more I thought aboutwdting
book,
the more I realized what a problm ir would be. The project would
have to involve both a rext and a videotape documentary, I recog,
nized, and it would be no easy task. How do you convince people
thatwhat theywere seeingwas real? Almosteveryone
would think it
was a scam perpetrated
by special effects and willing henchmen.
And I was a scientist-an e'ritrrer for Cod,s sake, wirh an inbred dis-
like ofspacecookies and everything unsubstan tiated. Oh,l watched
and, enloyedThe X-Fihs as much s anyone else, but I was primarily
concrned with reality, not fiction.
"You know, I really dont think ir would be such a good idea to
do a book," I had toldJohn after thinking about ir for a fv/ minutes
(much
to my dismay) I was rarionatizins, Suh an effort would have
mny repercussions/ and ir would be difficult ro plan for every con-
tingency. My main concrn was protcting
my teacher,s privacy.
On
thc othcr hand, I really rlil want the information I had acquired to
bcconrc cornmon scicntific knowledg, if for no other reason than
to salcguard people from half tnrths.
It hi1 me in rhe middle of the night like a ton of bricks and I
wcrke up, excird. I knew how to do il The approach had occurred
10 me in my sleep.
John \Lould get his book, and people would real_
ize that the world was not as dull and gray as our materialistic soci-
ety made it out to be.
Joho was a scienrist, too, he wasjust a different ful,l ofscientist.
It was true that he was the stuff of Chinese myths and legends, but
that was okay. I knew from my own homeland that rnany scholars in
the ninteenth century wre posiriv that Troy was a myth before
Schliemann began excavating at Hisarlik, additionally, many emt-
nent professorc vehemently opposed the rheory that the Mycenaeans
86
Lessons to Be Lerned
were Creek until 1952, when Ventris deciphered Linar B. All those
people had been wrong, and the few dreamers who dared stand
against them had been right. Even in our day the established com-
munity o[ scholars tended to regard anything outside thir norm
with dismay, and often fought tooth and nail to crush it. The Inqui'
sition had burned Ciordano Bruno at the stake in 1600 for insisting
that the sun. and not the arth, was at th centerof th solalsystem.
I wondered if the estabhshed scintific community would try to burn
m at the stak as well.
No matter, I thought. Giordano Bruno was an honest ltalian, I
was a wily Creek, and I would use a tojan horse to batter down
their walls.
John
was the stuff of legends, it was true, but he was /rdl,
just
as
Tioy was real,
just
as the Mycenaean Creeks had surely existed.
\X/hat was scienc, after allz Our \Testern approach had been
founded on two major premises, careful and obiective obsewation,
andreproducible results. As longas I followed those two main crite'
ria, I could be doubted, but never seriously challensed.
Now. I was sure thatjohn had no inclintion whatsoever to go
around to every local university and give a demonstration for the
Drofessors there; nor did I want him to do so. However, there oat
prcedent for whai I was planning. In 1978 the Laetoli fooiprints
had been discovered in the Serenseti. They wre thre and a half
million yean old and proved conclusively thatearly hominids walked
upright in a fashion equal to, lf not better than, modern man. The
footDrints were made in a volcanic ash that had com again to the
surface after millennia of erosion' they were very fragile and could
not be preserved for long. To record them, the tam of scientists
made plaster casts and took careful pictures. To presr1r'e them, they
buriedthem once again deep in the sand, with disastrous results. The
snd they used was that prefened by the local Africn vegetation,
and d\ d conquen(e l here are now acacrd l ree( growi ng over l he
sit, whose roots are undoubtedly destroying the very prints the re-
searchers sought to protect. Nevrtheless, scores of documents and
analyses hadbeenwitten based on the plastercasts andth pictures.
And how many researchers had seen th actual tracks themselves?
87
Lessons to Be Lerned
7
I
Perhaps less than a dozeo.
yet
no one doubted thar the tracks x-
isted (orat leastlal existed), simply because their presence
couldbe
ascertained by digging up the site again.
The "docurienr-and-bury,,
approach was common ror archae
oiogists in my native Creece as well. The country had been settled
for five thousand years,
aod rhere wre ruins everywhere, jt
was dif-
ficult to dig in one's basmentwirhout
uncovring sofisirin, As such,
when a buildine$.as in its preliminary
stages of fabrjcation and ruins
were uncovered, the archaeologists were called in; usually theyjust
photographed
and documented the site, coared it wrh a prorective
resin, and allowed construction to go on.* There were typically
enough witnesses to go around that no one doubied the buried sites
existence, or suspected that anyone had mde ir up.
Veil, I knew that thousands of peopte had seenJohn and could
testify to his abilities in court. He h imself could reproduce demon
stration at any tim, should he choose to do so. I realized
rhat all I
had to do was docurnent his powers and those of his students before
a panel of reliable witnesses, and I'd be home free. The important
thingwouldbe to carefully choose the one eyewrtness no one would
dare dispute.
Iv/as so excited that I rushed over to hts house the following
morning uninvited, wirhout calling head first. That was a faux pas,
and something I usually never did. It was ten o,clock andJohn was
still in his pajamas.
He tooked ltke a truck had run over him.
"l couldn't sleep last night,,,he said.
,,The
air conditioner
broke
down in my bedroorn."
_Te loured
h;mself a cup of coffee, and I started laughing, I
couldn't help myselfr John Chaq, flat1 oJ contrasts, I thought. This late
ri serwas t h sameyogi who coul dst op hi s hearrat wj l l and
hadonce
spent eighr days in total meditation, hardly breathing, his vital signs
so faini a doctor would have pronounced
hin dead. I real;zed then
how important this mn was to humanity, it was.he first time in
history that such a hcrman beingexisted. Here was someone who on
the one hand could be the life of a party vhen he chose, spend days
watching soccer, or cut a high-dollar international deal involving in-
dustrial products; on the otherhand, this same someone was equally
happy in the wilderness, wearing simple cotton cloths \,r'hile imper-
vious to heat or cold. Here was a man who could killa grizzly with a
puoch, a man who had once spent two years living in an isolated
cave in the mountains practicing meditation (srwiving
on roots and
plants), a man who spoke with spirits and healed the patalyzed
A tme man of both worlds.
"l know how to go about doing your book," l sid.
He glarcd at me. At the moment h was rnore interesxed in his
coffee. I caught the drift of his thoughts, Why dorl yor nn olJ nne
wherea
play,little
hoy. I grin ned even wider, and suddenly he couldn't
help laughing along with me. "AIl right, tellme," he said.
I did, outlinins my approach.
He was grumpy. "l see," he said. "You know I can demonstrate
only in hont of students or patients."
"That will be a stumbling block, but I'll see what I can do."
'And
Ican't make money frorn the dernonstration. Ifyou film me
demonsbating, lwon't be able to earn a penny. Remember myvow"
"So donate the money to a harity."
He shot me a piercinsslance. He liked the ldea. "You knoq" he
said, sipping his coffee, "l have always wanted to build an orphan-
age."John straightenedand looked atrnewith renewed interest. "Not
that I think that it would sell," he continued. "Neikung has always
been for the few Can you imgine the average mn practicing hours
"No," Ireplied, "btthe average man doesnt study nuclearphys-
ics either That doesn't mean that therc ar no such tbincs as nrcleaf
power plants."
He smiledand sipped his coffee. "Letus hope thatyourexample
is not appropriat and that the sm willnot happen with.eikungas
did with nuclear power"
"You mean the chance of its being used destructively2"
*
| have seen one insrance in which a contractorws
so taken \rith rhe
Roman mosaicucovered
thar he made it a pa.t of rhe buildinss majn
entrance,-sacnficing
an entjft apartment! worth ofsquare footage in the
process._Cood
for hinr h cosr him prety penny,
but t e p.o,eJ
li.r,.tf
8a
Lessons to 8e Lerned
89
L-essons to Be Lerned
:
"l.don't think so. Not if everyrhing
rs open, abovboard,
and
a\ ai l abl e ro al l manki nd. , N4y
marn worrv i \ prorei
ri ng vour pri var y. . .
t ron r ' e r on(erned
aboul r har. Ko\ r.
"t
mean, redorrers
will come from all over the world and harass
,
''Ihey
cannot
enter my horne if I do nor allow them to, and if
. n. r^"*: ":
""1. , 1"g "nd
rmpot i re.
I wi send rhem away.
6rn I r houghl .
John war a pracri crl
i oker d\ wel l ar bei ng a para
normalr I pitied the poorjournalist
who went too far, anricipating
an
exctusive.
,Also,
you
will be swamped
by thou*ra,
.f.,..t
o..of.
hoping for a cure.,
'Youie_not
going
to print
my address, are youu
"No, of course not.',
"Fiae. Then if those people
can f;nd me, ii
js
their karma to do
co. i ndi r wi l l
be my r oy r o r r ear r hem ai r ha. al uaysbeen,
. . " ] . : ' " . : -
about r en pr r i cnr .
a day ur ual r v i n r he
mor nr ng.
I
wantectto
be sure thar he understood
it might go up to f;fty a diy,
and told htrn so. He was unperrurbed.
,
"1have
constdrred
allthis before, Kosta.
Noneofit
marters The
real,,problern
will be the Chinese,
who may come over ro challenge
"Vhac"
I was flabbersasred.
,"ere
are t lasr ten Masrers
in China who re like me,,,he
said. "One
of them or all of them
may wanr to come over and chal
"Vhyr \t(hat
the hell forr,,
"Because
itl trdition.,,
"You've gor
ro be kjdding mel,,
j l , wrs. Joi ns
, n ro be amu<d.
t wd
seri ns hor
rou oon I need ro rproar h rc. Kosra. he *ard.
l undent and
you
::fi:r.i";::i".,
h"le shown me repeateary
thatyourerrydo
not
undrsrand
Chinese{ulture.
Unfornrnately,
we Ch;nese
are, for the
most part,
raist and ethnocentric.
There is the chance that many
kung t u Ms(er< w, l l be af honred
by our openrng
up rhe
rnrrh behi nd
: n' : _: e
e: rec <(i en,
e ro rh scruri nv or rhe \ )/ e<r
Now Lhr redl t y
ooesn r matter/ since many of those insulted p.obably
do not kno*
the precise
truth rhemselves.
Also, there is a cuitural tradition
in China
that one kung fu Master may challenge another in order to deter-
lnlne the most powerful styler mny mrtial art'sts do nor question
this, but lollov the rradition wirhout hesittion. It is what isexpected
of them, you see.
"One ofmy dreams is to be able to go to the Chinese people and
hov/ them five students who have completed Level Four, one frorn
cach race ofman. I would Iike to go even farther and put one such a
,na,r in each country if I can. Like you, lbetieve that it is time for
humanity to move on and leave th restridions of the past behind.
llut there are people in China who, havins been trained in th tradi-
tlonal manner, have beliefs orher thn my own. Some of them are
tnuch more powerful than I, those are the ones you dont have to be
afraid of, Kosta. Since I am no threat to them, they will do nothing
agrnst me,
"Llke when Liao Sifu, who was at LevelFory, attackedMr. Lim,
who was at Level Fifty-One," I said. "Lim just
shrugged it off.,'
"Yes," he said,
'tecause
it was like a child attacking a nan, you
see?Tle rel danger is from someonewho is plus orminus five levels
lrom me, because then he will want ro fight. In that cse it comes
down to martial technique, not levels of power,,He took a sip of
coffee.
'One
of us may die,' he added softty.
Like bell, I thoushi You aft too
lt?ciaus
to h tndtlity to r,sl.
,,How
can
someone be so advanced," l said, "and still be so stupidr,'
"Dont be so quick tojudge," he said.'Most of these people live
in the wilds of China and have nothins to do v/ith the modern day.
Their traditions ar all they know"
I thought of the televis ion seies Highlo e\ dr.el of the tmmor-
tals come to life . . . how asininel
One ofJohn! studenrs entered rhe room at that point. He had
been removing his shoes at the entrance nd had heard the gist of
Iknew the man. Hewas a LvelThre student, a forrnerkung fu
Master of the praying mantis style, and qufte a good fighter
"Vhy are you so opposed to honorable combat?,' he asked.
"Because combat for the sake ofcombat is stupidr,,l lmost shoutd.
"Look, we Creeks gave up such nonsense after rhe Tro;an Var more
than three thousnd years agot Thatt why we came up wirh th
91
Lessons to Be Lerned
90
Lessons to 8 Lerned
Olympic Cames in the first placei
w were tired of our bravest men
killing ach orherjust ro prove
who was rhe better fighter,,
'And
what if I were to challenge you:,,
"To the deathr"
"Not
necessarily."
.Ihen
I would fightyou in the spirft of a contesr, with my prime
interest being that neither you nor I were hurt. I would rather lose
than hurt you, tor example.',
The abovewas not true,l hatedbeing
challengedas
nuch as the
next rnan nd would rise to take the bait liKe any othr seiious mar-
tial arrist. I had even injured a few people
rn re process.
tt rrrs trx,
however, thar Ifelt sick to mystomach
fter every such evenr, and at
the moment Iwas representing point ofview, nor my own faults.
'And
if Iwere to challenge you to a fighr to th death?,,
"\Vhar forzJuso see who was the betrer fishter? Iwoutdconsider
it an act of war and go afrer you wth everythjng I had. That is, I would
use technology and chemistry and modern techniques until I killed
you. I wouldshootyou
tn th dark from two hundrtd yards
awaywith
a sniper rifle given rhe opportuniryr I have been trajned ro do so.,,
'And
if the two of us had perconal
differencesr
Serious personal
I squirmed; he had me. I was all for duel;ng and severely disap,
pointed
that it had been rnade illegal. In my opinion dueling had
been outlawed by the ruling classes in the pasr cenrury to prvenr
I her ncrer\ i ngl v l l ((i d progeny
f i om berng sl aughrered on l he ri el d
ot nonor. I wa5 rrvrng ro convi nce rhe orhr\ rhough.
rhat hghl ng
to the death jusr
to see who was the more skillea figtrterwas
stupi
as hel l . y bat t l ewhenyou
coul d i nst ead become f ri endsandshare
a few beers togetherr
'"Ihen
we would fight face to face,', 1
srowled.
.
He laughed. "ln the Orient you
Creeks have a reputation for
bing fierce warrioru,
both in the past cen rurjes and in modern times.
Your people
won honor in Korea, for example,,
"Yes, damn it, for life and home and to protect
the innocenr, but
not just
fo( the fuck of iu Never for thfl,'
_John
was dtspleasedwirh
my outbursr and stoodup from his seat
and went away. en he came back, I had catmed down.
92
Lessons to Be Lerned
_
"Can you imagine,',
I askd him,
,what
ir would be like
jf
four or
llvc people like yourseif
could get rogerher and work in harmony,
Nomething like a
\i/estern
university or a research centea* ratherthan
[ l ght i ngeach orhen Can you i magi ne shanng not es andexperi ences
wlth a man Iike yourself2',
.
"l have wanted to do so, you are preaching
to the choi, Kosra,,,
hc said sofdy. "l have
sone
to Chin twice looking for people like
myself, hoping to find a brorher i was unsuccessful both t;mes.,,
"But
you
know of their existence nowr,, I asked.
"Yes," he said. "l know that there are for sure two and I can sense
clght more. I think thar there are at least ten.
He l eanedback
i n hi s chat r' A f ew years
back, , , he sai d, , t hree of
my Level Three students went to China and stayed for a month,
looking for neikung practitioners.
They serched everywhere,
Kosta,
l n Taoi \ t cenreN. ar rhc
haorrn
rmpl c. i n rhe mdj or ci ri e5 I hey
t ound noi hi ng nor hi nC dt al l f i nr l l y. on r he d\ bef or e t t ey wer e
due.to leave, a shopkeeper in Beijing said to thern,
,Hey,
I hear you
rre looking for neikung masters. Vell, you can be ar such-and such
!
park
at fouro'clock in the morning. There is an oldman who comes
lnd practices
r'ai chi chuan rhere; h is a grat
Mastr.,
_
"Sothey went to rhe specified place
and hid in the bushes nearby.
Promptly at four o'clock, an old man did appear and bgan to prac_
rl cei r r i (hi .
\ X/ hen he f rni shed hi r rorm he wal ked over Lo a l arge
boul der / rhey
rel l me rr wa, a r ard ral l , and pa. red hr. hand over rr
Then he stepped away fiom it and, from a djstance of ten yards
or
more, hit it v.ith ch'i. The bouider cracked in two.
"My studenrs ieapr out and kneeled, asking for permission
to
speak to him, but he ignored them and walked away, they did not
dare stop him. He had known they were there all along, of course,
lnd had simply wanted the ro know rhar rhey were nothing, that
lheir abiliries wer those of ch;ldren.,'
"Sifu," I asked, "do these people understand
the shape the world
ls in and what lies ahead for us2 Do rhey know how much they can
I
Actually more like a library ol an academy in rhe Alexandrian sens
lhan a modern university.
93
L.essons to Be Lerned
I
contribute, thar possibly
v/ith their assistance we can averr drsaster
for the whole human race? You, the ten ofyou rhat remain, you mnsf
work togetherl"
"Kosta th innocent dreamer," he said.
,,Do
you expect that w
will all meet, suddenly become good friends, and creare a new sci-
ence out of the traditions of rhe pasr?'
"Vhj, notz There are so few ofyou left thateach one is prcious
beyond compare. \(hy rot crate a new scince?
you
know, Iike the
Jedi
in Ceorse Lucas's Star l[ars, who combined technology with
internal mastery The best of both worlds, Sifu.'
He smiledkindly. "lt is a good
dream, Kosta,,,he said_,,Unfortu-
nately, I am not the one you have to convince.
"Do you want to know what I believe inr,, I asked.
To my chagrin both men groaned.
,,1,m
not sure,',John laughed.
"But I dont think rhat we're going to b given a choice, in any case.,,
"l believe rhat humanity has
erown
long rwo different paths,,' I
said. "ln th Vest we have taken a yang approach, tuming outward.
Ve modify and catalog our enviro.ment to suit our desires. Our sci
ence !s a yang science, our livs are yang lives. In the East you have
taken ayin approach/ turninginward. You modify and trin thehuman
being, in both mind and body, to become potent
andcomplete in the
environmenrthat nahre has already created for you, ro reach your full
potentialwhile
altering nothing. Both pproaches, Eastern and Vest
ern, have to do wirh cultivating power, bur since each has been pur_
sued along differenr lines, neither approach rs concr or compret on
its own. \gell, the time has come foryin and yang to come together,
Iike trvef Four k is time for humanity to develop yin yan4 kwg."
There were so many other things that I wanted to say to them,
but the language barrier prevented
me from doing so. Intuitively, I
knew that they had understood the gisr of what I hadjust said, but ir
was the details rhat I wanted desperately to dtscuss with them \Ve
had gone too far in the \Vesr, and ir was time for people likeJohn,
the last true represenratives
of rhe opposing pole of mans develop_
ment/ to save us frcm ouselves.
The industrial process
had certainly been both a blessing and a
curse for the hurnan race. It had allowed us to reach new heights of
94
Lessons to Be Lerned
technological development. On the other hand, in separating the
craltsman from his product, it had begun what was to be a long pro-
cess oi segregating pople from each otherand from th world around
them. In essenc both the industril process and consume.ism wer
grounded in the process of isolation, of separation. Each individual
did his litd part, only those in the upper rungs of society could
bring italltogether The East, however-
-and
Taoism in particular
were foundd on synthesis; it was in unity with the world rhat the
individual found hls streneth. The true Taoist did not build walls
between himself and the world, human or otherwise.
\tre
had to larn that all over again. It was time.
"Look,"John sid kindly.
''r/e
all approach life in a way that re,
veals who we really are. No one is ever above this. Sometimes it is
life itself that tests us, xposing our weaknesses to scrutiny. Practi-
tioners ofkung fu systems are not exempt; somtimes circumstances
draw us into battle with each other, it is our karma, ifyou will. These
people are not evil. k is simply theirway to test themselves. Can you
understnd this?"
I kept thinking of the Hlrlaaler TV series. "l undentand your
words," I said, "but I disagree with this reasoning."
"lnteresting,"
John said suddenly, stood up, and walked away.
"You know," the other man said conspiratorially,
'John
htmself
used to challenge people, and be challenged by people, all the time
when he was younger. He always fought; he never tumed down a
challenge. I myself am an example. I used to practice and tach the
mantis styler I defiedJohn because I didn't believe the storis about
him. He beat me and since thn I have become his student."
"\X/hat happened:"
'\vhat
do you think? k is impossible to fighr someone with powr
like that. For him, it was like fighting a baby."
"But he didnt hurt you."
"Of course nott Do you want to hear the story of a typical
challenger"
"Suret"
'John
had gone to the United States, to California, because he
had heard that there were peopl io the Chinese community there
95
Lessons to Be Lerned
F
who had mastered ch'i. He looked everywhere and found nothing.
Finally he did find one guy in San Francisco who was a ch'tkung
marrer I ohn a. ked ro. ee a demon, l rdri on
"Vel l , t he i ran rook t wo cl ay pors, one i n each hand, and
squeezed, exhaling with force. The pots shattered into pieces. The
man )ooked at
John; John said nothing. Then the rnan took a nail
and drov it into a tabletop, pounding it in with his fist. StillJohn
sai d not hi ng. Fi nal l y t he man askeda st udent of hi s ro ger machet e;
he stood there performing rhe h'ikung called Iron Shirt while al-
lowingthe studenr to artack him with the machete. The studentcould
not cut through the manl flesh.
"John turned to one oflis stLrdenrs, whom he had brought along,
and sent him out on an enand. Then he addressedthe ch'ikung master
"'Finishedr'John asked.
"'Yes,'the man replied, a bir put off.
"'Cood. Do you hve any coins?'
"'Coins? \X/hat sort of coins?'
"'Oh, anythins will do.'
"Tlre
man gave him two qualrers.John put them in the centerof
his palms and squeezed. He handed them back to the man folded in
half. Vhen the man saw the coins, his eyes almosr poppedour
ofhis
head.
"'Do you have a chopstick:'John asked.
"The
man found a chopstick for him, and
John
pushed u into
and through rhe tablerop wirh his palm, right next to the nail. The
ch'ikung master was stlent. Then
Johnt student came back, he had
managed to find srraight razor at a local cutlery shop.
John
gave
the h'ikung masterthe razorandasked him to cut hirn an).where he
liked. Try as he might, the man could not hurtJohn, even though in
the end he put all his power and emotion
jnto
rt.
"Vhat happened thent" I asked.
"Nothing. The man had lost the contesr.
"Dld he becorne
Johnt studen"
"No. H was too proud."
"Do you know why the man losn"
John asked suddenly from
behind us. He had crept up silently and v.as listening in
"Because he had only yang ch'i?" 1 rplied
96
Lessons to Be Lerned
"Thatk correct. He was a dedlcated practitioner, but he didn't
have all the proper information. Vhat he did was ch'ikung' but not
neikuog. A man can train all his life and not get anvwhere unless he
is conect in his training. It doesn't mtter how tflncb you ttaint only
Loru you traln ln whatever time you do practice.
"For us in the Vest," l said, "medilation is difficult "
"Yes," he said. "lt is difficult to sit still in our dav nd ase, but
stillness is the key to success in the end. Ve are overstirnulted bv
our environment. 11 is hard to keep
vour
thoughts in the prcsent
moment, isnt it? You re always looklng ahead, Iooklng back' wor-
ried bout this, ngerd by that. You must put
vour
mind on where
you are 'lo'1J, not where you were or where you want to be
"How do I do thatr"
' l
cdnnoi t el l you Fach mu. t f rnd hi ' own wa1
G/edt I thousht. HoJ,s / r' a aqe it \otne dav l asked', " Si fu, Level Four
is complted strictly by mediration, isnt it1'
"Yes," he sa;d. "Meditation is most impoftant You balance
vour
conscious nd unconscious minds when meditating.In this dav nd
age we have come to ignore our limbic system, our stem brain, con-
ntrating instadsoleiyon our forebrains aodplain logic But this is
unnatural and limits our capabilities. It is like using onlv on hand
when you have two available "
"But
how can we be unaffected by all the stress and hurrv in oul
livesr" I asked.
"Dif{icult. You hav to make conscious choices rgrding
vour
lifstyle. For xmple, to cornplete Level Four' I left mv home and
v/ent into the
jungle for a year' I did thi in order to reach a stte of
total calm. I reverted to the primitiver this is most important. Your
mind must be utterly still for yang andyin to come together' I mvself
managed to complete Level Four within a
vear
of finishing Level
Three, you know."
"Vhat
was it like?"
"You become very weak in the endeavof, perhaps \teaker than
you were when you started training in the first place You coax the
two centers to go together like lovers, positive and ngative The
flrst tlme I was successful and they met, the power was such that I
fainted, as I told you before. But the book mv Master hd
siven
me
97
Lessons to Be Lerned
on inner powr said,'lgnore the pain. Don't focus on it, ifyou do, it
will becorne too much.' I followed that advice, but the nxt time I
tried, I couldn'l etand it eilher. It was on my third ry that I grabbd
the power and held on to it for ten minutes. Then it was mine."
"And then you became as you are now?/
He laughed. "Of course notl I still had to progress, Kosta. You
know, when you are at LevelFour, you hve to sweat andstruggle for
fifteen minutes for the power to come out. lt was when I finished
with Level Five that I began to us it."
"So you have the battery in your belly but you still have to hook
up the cables."
"Of courset Andjust how powertulyou become dependson how
many cables you are able to hook up, at first.
' Yes.
l t become. more t ompl i cared a* you go on. '
"But when someone completes Level Four, h is a hsien, an im
"Not in my opinion. I think tht someone has to be more than
Level Thirty to be considered a hsien."
lwas going to ask why, but lcould see thatJohn was in no mood
tocontinue ihe conversation. His sonJohann saved the day, he came
over and challenged his father to a game of Ping Pong
John could never resist a challenge.
98
Lessons to Be Lerned
Chapter Seven
YIN
AND
YANC
Titanl to whose immonal eyes,
The sulferinss of mortalit, see i' their sad realit,
\Y/ere not as ihings that gods despise'
Vhat was thy pity s recomPense?
A silent sufferitg, and intenser the rock' the vulture, and the chain'
All that the proud can feei of pain
Ceorge Cordon, Lord Bvron' Promei'Nrs
Andreas was an Aussie of Polish extraction with all the exuberance
and openness of the stereotypical Australian----a
youngr form of
Paul Hogan, if you will. He was a brother studentt we had met in
Java
at Chang Sifus horne during one ofmvtripsthere Being around
Andreas meant belng around his lncessant deluge of beer nd ciga-
rettes; usually it v/as fun.
Andreas had also encountered Chang Situ under circumstances
too bizarr to be coincidental, having searhed for hirn previouslv
lor nine years after seeing Rin4 oJFne. Ve had shared manv strange
cxperiences under the guidance of our teacher, and traded noteswhen
and where we could.
At the momnt we were once agin on ouf way to th prawn
farm, riding in avan at high velocitvasJohn negotiatd the
Javanese
roads with his usual flair Vith uswas Handoko, a Chinese man who
was also a brother student, a good friend, and our reliabl translator
99
to Chang Sifu during those times when the discussion became too
"deep" for conversational English.* Handoko had a problem wfth his
right leg, a congenital neurological disorder that had rernained un-
cured until he h;d met Chang Sifu several years before. After con
tinual treatment, his leg was coming back, nerves that had been
dormant for thirty years were springing to life. It was incredible to
witness. Each time I visited my teacher I could see my hiendt leg
becoming stronger and strongr, the muscles more pronounced; th
circumfernc of his thigh, once atrophted and ernaciated, was largr
and more powerful on every occasion.
Sifu was keeping us entertained with a steady flov. of stories
about hisyouth, his training, andhis teacher He bad promisedus an
unusual demonstration tht evening as well, on by which he would
show us what the opposing forces of yin and yang were truly liker
we were al1 eager for th show and excitedby thejourney. Situ hirn
self had asked us out to rhe prawn farm, and this was itself unusual;
he typicallyjust told us to wait until he had returned.
I had finished tvel One andwas beginning LevelTwo, the hard-
est parts were aheadofme So far Ihadnot trained seriously but rather
matter of-factly. A long series of personal problems, ranging from my
fathers death frorn lung cancer to a string of financial setbacks, had
impededmy practice considerably. These problems were compounded
by the fact that I had managed thus far to read eveD4hing in print in
English on neikung, ch'ikung, andTaoism, the many rheorjes andmeth
ods put forth hadconfusedme greatly andmade me waste a gooddeal
of effon. It was ooly recently thar I had come to understand the two
points my teacher had put forth from the beginning. The firstwasthar,
although the teahers ofhis lineage hadcorne hom Taoist centen and
many of his theories coincided with toist principles, he himself was
not reallyaToist. Andsecond, there were as manymethods of nejkung
and ch'ikung as there were Chinese Masten; you really should oot try
to proeress by studyingwhat is in print. "You willonly confuseyounelf
-
Hndoko is p.esenr in every deep conversation in rhis book, it is only
lor reasons of expediency that his contribution has been rernoved. Many
of the major philosophical poiDts are Handoko! tunslarion ofwhat
Chans Sifu was tellins rrre
(and
orhers) in Chinese.
100
Yn nd YnB
thatway,"John had said. I had found that, as far as my own practice was
concemed, h was correct. Neikung and ch ikung were essentially mani-
festations of Chines science and philosophyr they had adopted vari-
ous religious trappings over time simply in order to survive. Bing by
narure a scholar, though, I had to put it all tosether historically and
culturally before following a given pth. Having satisfied myself that I
had done so, Icould concentrate on my training.
\X/e stopped at a roadside restaurant nd wolfed down sizble
portions of stale food. My teachers place of business was close by;
he drove off to run an errand and left us there.
\Me
sat round drink-
ing warm Coca-Colas.
" t do you think he's going to show us tonight?" Andreas said.
His pronunciation was rather like Crocodile Dundeei would have been
after a week of drinking Foster! in theoutback. Andreas tried to shove
a cigarette my wayi his fingrs wre nicotine stained from the habit.
"!flho knows. Something amazing," I sa;d, mak;ng a face and
throwing the intct cancer stick into a nearby bin with relish. I was
tired and austic. A stomach dlsorder had left me ten pounds lighter;
my clothes huog on me like rags.
"Oh come on, Kosta Don't be such a grouch; lighten up a little."
"You know," Handoko said to Andreas, "Kosta is your senior;
you must alv/ays address him respecttully."
"Bullshit."
'Myself
also.
r/e
are older, you are youngeri we have seniority."
The strong Confucian ethic that bound all exptriat Chinese
was an endless source ofsuffering to us'/estemersi we did not agree
with it and often got into trouble because of this. As a Creek, rvhile I
believed that age should be respected, I also knew that thre were a
lot ofstupid oldmen out there. The thought of kowtowing io some-
one simply because of his age (orwealth) made my blood boil.* You
should unde$tand that, while in the Vest we repeatedly find in lit
erature the image of th prent dying to save his or her child, under
the Confucian ethic these rols we(e revesed, it \ras th child who
*
Vealth and educatlon are tied tosether for the expatriate Chinese, the
concept we have in the \fest of a highly educated iddle cla.s is noi
101
Yn nd Yn3
dutifully died for the parnr. It was an alien and srrange philosophy
tor me, and I wasn't buying any. In the years that followed, my con-
tempt for Confucian morality would get me into trouble.
Andreas simply could nor stomach the thought of me being his
"Kidt gettins hot," I said, and we all finally laughed.
"l'll tellyouwhat I've seen," I told Andreas. "Lastyearjohn wanted
to show me what th yang was like. It was night. He had;ust fin
ishedpJaying Ping-Pong with
Johann, as they do everyevening Situ
took the Ping-Pong ball in his left hand and held it in th center of
his palm He opened hts hands and held his right palrn about two
feet away. Suddenly the ball pulsed with a bluish-violet lighrr ir made
a noise, too, sort of like a canary singing. Bluish white sparks flew
hom the ball toward his righr palm, rhey were like miniature light
ning bolts. He kept it up for a few seconds and then handed me the
ball. It wasn't overly hot, but ir was warm. I did my usual th;ng and
cut it in hlf on the spot, which pissed offeverybodt because it was
the last ball in the house and they wanted to continue their game.
But I had to make sure that there wasn't any circuitry inside the ball.,'
"Bi!
Tro$bh in Liuh Cbhq'Handoko said, referrins to a similar
scene in the opning sequence of th filn byJohn Carpenter.
"Yeah," l nodded, but my mindwas elsewhere. Iwas thinkins, as
I hadtheeveningofthat pafticular demonstrarion, of Vilhelm Reicht
work in the 1940s and 1950s. Reich had sripulated that the particles
of the unknown lifeforce he haddiscovered, which he hadcalled the
orgone bions, were blue. This was almost the same color the yang
ch'i had become before rny very eyes when my teacher bad con-
tained it by force of will. And ch'i was, essentially, l;feforce.
Tbere were reasons why rhis paticular dernonstrrion was the most
important of ll that I had seen, It deftned the nature ofthe yangch,i.
First of all, the Ping-Pong ball's surface was made of solid nonporous
plastic, while the ball itself was hollow I had trnmediately asked
John
if he could duplicate the demonstration wirh a solid-rubber ball, and
he hd replied in th nesativer the ball had to be holtow for this par-
ticulr test to work. His starement implied thar what I had witnessed
was not a surface phenomenon. Rather, the energy had been trans-
ferred itide the ball, where it had shone much like a common lishtbtb
102
Yn nd Yn8
On the scale of molecular physics, this also meant tht the enrgy
John
called the yang ch'i was neithr a particle nor a wave, but both
I was convinced that this demonstration indicated that the
vng
cnergy was a solarphenomenon,just as the Chinese classics stipulated
Vilhelm Reich had died in federal prison in 1957 following a
wilch hunt by the U.S. govrnment duringwhih hiswork and nots
were seized- Had he discovered the yng ch'i and been persecuted
by the powers that be, who didn't want such knowledge to become
common?This
question frightened me,l was alarmed bv what I would
be facing when it cam time to do Sifut book
The possibility that the yang ch'i was colord blue was impor
tant to me personally fotone additional reason. Throughout the east-
ern Meditnanean
people had historicallv worn blue beads or blue
talismans to ward off the evil eye. This practic dates bak to
Neolithic times and conrinues tody. Could it be thatthe v/earing ot
blue was simply using color ofyang as defense aginst the pov/er ol
yin energy? It was an xciting specultion
"His
right hand became completely vin,
his left hand
vang'
so
sparks flew between the two," Handoko said
I nodded, still thinkins of Reich and his orgone
Thatevenjng, sittingon a couch inJohns cozv office, the three of
usbroachedwith him the question of the exct natureofvin and
vang
John
looked at our faces, ordered coffee for lour, andsax bck comfort-
ably in his oflice chair; he knew itws going to be a long conversation
"Yn and yang," he said softl, "exist in the world Thev are uni
versal forces found in all of nature, frorn one end of the univere to
the other. They are not poetry-thev are actual, phvsical forces'
tlrere for all of us to experienc and obsrve "
"Vhere does the yang ch'i corne from?" I asked
"lt is in the ir. Nature creates it,lifeuses it Allthings that are alive
have both yin and yang ch'j." He pounded his desk. "This is
vang
Of
itselfit is lifeless. Fortife to exist, a body mst have both
vin
ndvang "
All thhgs carry th yh on rbeir backs au nJol yat4 uitb| hetl th'. ila
cobi1ft,liJes e$rg| k crted bamoriarsly lhis stanza from the Tao T
Ching lept into my mind once again; it was intriguing how Chang
Sifu's teachings both complemented and contradicted the avaiiable
lilcrture on Taoism.
103
Yn nd Yng
,t
"Vhen you sayal l l i vi ng t hi ngs, doyou mean pl anh, ani ml s. . . 2, ,
"Everythingl Everything rhat is alive has yin and yang ch,i."
"Vhere does yin ch'i come from:,'Andreas asked.
"From the earth. The yin comes from the earth. Ir is some kind
of field phenomenon
that feeds our lifeforce. It can be btocked by
insulators. For exarnple, if you have a carpet made from synthetic
materials in your house, the yin ch'i cannor pass through ir. Thatt
not so good for your health.
"The yin ch'i enters the body through an acupuncture poinr that
we call hui yit, he added. "ltt located berween the urinary tract and
Won, I thought Iarler Sly and Mother Earth, you da hdee
liee
us tiJe.
lust as a1l the atcient culnrcs oJ the oat belh,,ed. And,we as a species were
destroying both in our quest for gold. I wondered ;f there would be
clean airenough in rhe frture forthe next generation to ger its share
of yang ch'i. Or even find a place with tres
jn
it ro sit quierly and
gather yin. Probably not.
"Vhen we train for Lvl One, do we gather only yng ch'i?,,
"No. You gather both yin and yang, because rne t\{.o always go
together, siruggling, one always trying to complement the other But
insid your dantien, you put only yang ch'i. The yin ch,t goes else-
where in the body It is useless to you before you fin;sh Level Four'
'And
for Level T\i/o,' I asked,
,we
cornpress the yang ch'i in our
"Yes "
John said. He pulled out a sheet of paper, picked
up a
pencil, and drew a circle on it. "Say this is the dantjen, right? First it
is empty; then we fill it wirh yang ch,i. So:
104
Yn nd Yng
LEVEL ZERO
LEVEL ONE
"Then, for Level Two, we compress the yang ch'i and actually
inlroduce twice as much into the same ara. \/e make it hard, so to
speak. This is what you are working on now, Kosta. As you know,
you must be sexually abstinent to cornplte this training." On the
-
I was not very happy about the sei:ual abstinence part, but the
results wereundeniable andthere was no wayarond it. Chang Sifui
explanation had been very differenr from rhat put forth by the orhr
theories I had read According to mainseam Chinese l;terature, the
idea was that the energy in the sperm ofthe male
(the
Ch;nese word
ci:ia4 rneans both
'tperm"
and "essence") was transformed tnto ch't.
Chang Situ had simply said that sxual abstinence kept "the gates of
t he dant i en" open so t hat t he ch' i coul dbe compressed. I had no i dea
whether the actual methodology followed one or the other model
or both, I dil know that when taining consistently, I had no prob-
lem with not ejaculating, whether I had nonorgasmic sex or simply
ws abstinent. I had no idea if that meant that the ching v/as being
transformed into ch'i.
"And Level Three:" I asked.
He surprised me by answering. "ln Level Three we make the
dntien mobile.
\X/e
cn make it move, in other words. Like this,
105
Yn and Yan
I
"\Ve move it in these four directions at first, like an Xr after that
we can make the dantien move anywhere,' he continued.
I thought about thar. I hada hiend in Creece who was a Korean
Master of Tng Soo Do and a practitioner
or neikung.
He had on
. ever | occa \ i onc publ ' Ll y
demor, rrared
hrs prowe\ \
bv bredki ng rvo-
Dv-roJr wooct en
bcm\ rnvr(i na dnvonc i n rhe dudi ent e ro arrempr
the feat betore he did (no
one had dared). This man had a
,,ball,,in
his belly at the dantien point, a solid mass rhat he moved around at
wi1l. Manipularing
the ball as
John had indicated,
this man could
pass ch i energy into his arms and leg5. One physician,
upon xam
inins him, had rhousht rny frtend had cancer when he felt the huge
lump;.the doctor had gone rhrough rhe roof when rny friend had
caused the ball to dance around. I said as much toJohn.
"l t i s t he same f orus, ' , he. epl i edaf t er
a I o ng si l ence.
, , Thi s
man i s
t least Level Three."
"You mean the ball that moves afound in his belly corresponds
to our Level Three/'l asked.
"Yes.
Itis a solid lump of h ardened yang
ch,i he can tap into, and
ue, ar wi l l . "
"Sifu, what is thediffernce in ability between, for exampl, some
one at Level Five and Level Six?" Andres asked.
"The power doubles,"
John
said simply "For each level a_frer Level
Three, the power doubles."
"Vaii a minute," I said. Handoko, Andreas, and I looked at each
other, shocked "Sifu, do you mean to say. .
"
"Yes. Each level has twice the powr of the previous."
"So LevelS;x has tw;ce thatof LevelFive, Level Sevn rwice that
of Level Six, and so on," Handoko said dowly.
'Yes,"
John replied simply.
Handoko and I looked at each otheragain. My mouth fellopen.
It must have been very surral, like a silent movi
'.lesus,"
I said.
The implication was that the levels of power progressed xpo-
nentiallr followins the algebra;c law 2("
3).
Someone at Level Four
was two times strooger than a human being. Someone at Level Six
was 2 x 2 x 2 =
I times more powertuL And someooe at Lvl Thirry
was 2r7 tirnes (or
roughly 134 ,,l;lliox times) more powerful than the
avrage human being, at least from the standpotnt of lifeforce. Oh,
I was sure that there ws an algorithm involvd and that the num-
bers did not exactly follow a linear progression as
Johns
tradtUon
seemed to suggest, but even if he were off by 50 percent, so what?
Someone at Level Thlrty would still be . . . a
4ol
for all practical
Iwas glad I was sitting down. Itwas imperative that such power
not fall into the v/rong hands in our day and age. That included not
only the criminal element
oohn's
stories had indiated rhat such
power could be achieved regardless of an tndtviduall ethics) but
Consumer Products Internationalas well. There was no telling what
a multinational corporation coulddowith such a torce behind it. Or
even a governmenr agency.
"You know,"John said, "in theentire history of China, there have
only been two people who have mad it all the way up to Level
Seventy-Two. One was Tamo, or Bodhtdharma, who taught the
monks at Shaolin. The other was Chang San Feng of the Vutans-
Pai, who was also one of the Headmasters in our schoolt lirreage."rl
107
Yn nd Yng
106
Yn nd Yng
"\X/ait a minute, Sifu," Andreas said- "ls this the same Chang San
Feng they say founded t'ai chi chuan?"
"lcn't tellyau whether or not he founded t'ai chi,"John replied "l
lo know that h studied forwhile atthe Shaolin monastery and tht
aftera time in isoltion he mad it up to Level Seventy-To by studv
ing Toism. He lil found the intemal school ofkung tu, of which we
are
Dart.
\l/e trace or lineage back to Chang San Feng, you know"
"Situ," I asked slowly, "when do you ihink that Chang San Feng
lived?"
"Almost a thousand yeas aso," he replied. "\/hy?"
Surg dyasty,I thousht. J $ lilc $e norns about bin clain "Becatse
different rcords place him at different times in Chinese histol,," l
said. "Some say that he lived to be five hundred years old. Others
say that he is still alive today, that he never died."''
John
was silent. "He was Level Seventy Two," he said simply
"Could he stillbe alive?"
"No. He lived to be two hundred and did like any man. So did
Bodhidharma."
"Sifu," Andreas said, "will you tell us about Level Four nowr"
"lf you wish. Vhen we r finished with Level Three, we send
our yang down to the hui yin. There it gathers as much yin as we
have sent down yang. After time, mayb even months oryears, yin
and yang rise togethel like this,
' Thewhi t eci rcl e
i s t heyang, t hebl ack t heyi o. They f l oat around
lnside the body, and the pain is incrdible, constant, unbelievable.
Only if yoLr have the discipline to ignore it can you control them
and put their power insidc yourdniien. At that point, they become
squeezed together and take this shape, Iike the t'ai chi symbol."
108
I hadseen itbefore, and so was not as surprised as the othertwo'
"lf you are successtul," John
contlnued, "bv forcing the t\rr'o to-
gether, you also force them to react Remember, thev are oot like
electrical poles; they do not ttract each other, but repel This is
how the spark, the lightning boll between the two is generated, and
you begin to become as I am "
'And
if we are not successtul:" I asked
'-fhen
you will probably die,"John said softlv "Ther is no point
in doing this type of training unlss you afe readv to die for it "
There was an awkward silence.
"For example," John
continued, "Do
vou
know of Mo-Tzu:"
"Mo'Tzuwas the founderof our lineage He knew about
vin
h'i
andyang ch'i, but he had no idea how to put th two togethe' So he
experimented v'ith his students; he told one man to try it this way,
another to try itthat way. Many people died' to these men we owe a
debt, becase without theiY sacrifice we would not have discovred
the precise method of bringing the two energis together"'
I did not knowwhat to think of this, it was ceftainlv cold' order'
ing men to their deaths in a sort of human laboratorv' On th other
hand, few cared to remember how our governments had gleefullv
absorbd the informaiion derived fron1 the Nazis'laboratory experi
ments on
Jwish
prisoners. And how much of ou' currnt medical
knowledge was based on this data? As a sociery we had forfeited the
right to
judg
such things.
"Vas Mo-Tzu himself sLrccesstulr" I asked.
"No. He never managed to make
vin
and
vang
met. It was an
unknown teacher of the school ofMo-Tzu, the Mo Pai, who finallv
maoaged it hundreds of years later' After him there were various
Headmasters at different levels, until Chang San Feng, who became
the first to reach Level Seventv Two He left us a book outlining the
109
mthodr ir was this book that Liao Sifu left to me. If and when you
reach Level Three, you may copy it. But you have to learn to read
ancient Chinese firsr.',
and yang
are like, individullyt,'
"Can you show us what yin
"Yes. Touch rny hand.,John
extended
his arm, and Andreas
touched his fingers
with h;s own.
John sent burst of ch,i to his
linsertipsr immediately
Andreas pulled
his hand back as it he had
been,burned.
I had sufferedthe same dtsplay many t;me. in the pust.
"Hot , i sn' t i t ?"John l aughed.
"So.when you demonstrare
by sefting a newspaper
on tire, it,s
yang ch'i that you send down to it?',
"Yes.,'
"And
wht is rhe yin ch,i like?,'
'Th
yin is passive.
It can only follow, never lead. It can absorb
energy bur never initiate motion.
you
know the rites where pople
walk on coals nd suh things?',
.
' Ve
have r hem i n Cr cFLe 5 wel l t bu ed, n. $/ eLal t t hemr he
Anast enri a.
Andreas gl ared
ar me
, ,
' Vhenpeoph
wat k on coat , i us vi n (h. ,
rhar rhey rre u, i ng
John
\ rd.
' \ omeri me\
r< rhe yrn or l he, , own bodi e\ , somer rme\ i r
is th yin
ch'i oispirirs The yin absorbs the yans
of the iire
,*
htcresti
4,
I thousht. Accordtng
to Chinese med;cal theory, the
acupunc.ure pojntyo,r4nan
was found on the bo om of th foot; ir
wa. d. , o(i arcd wi t h
rhe krdney mendran whr. h wa, con. rdered ro
be vi n w\ v, n chi \ ro, ed I n rhe ki dnev, rnd drd rhar
ch r somchow
ruD down that meridin to rhe sole of rhe oot ro proret
an indi-
vidual walking on coals2
' 1. . an. how. ouuhar
r hev i nr . l t e t ohnr ai d
J u\ r am, nr ( e.
He drsrppedred f or a t ew mrnure. Vher he rerurned
he was
hol d' nB dn di r nt l e r hel r ndr har vo pump
up r o pnme,
nd r (
r d-
Dodrd pack
of l cad pel l ct s
"
Manyrererchos
hne postulated
rhe existence
of an unknown fotce to
exp' i n h' r wl t , ns beLd, Fe bor h r h I
p, denr r o, r
er j a r nd t her ma,
conoi r , , , t y t dw, \ ci h I ncuf i r r i enr on r he. r
owr ,
l t 0
Vn ndYng
He picked up an empty lruitjuice canr the alloy was not the rhin
alumirrurr of Coca Cola cans, but rhe thicker "tin" meial found in
Luna cns, ior example.
John began to pump up the air rifler ftr
about twelve full cycles, when he could no longer press down the
leverwith muscular strcngth, he insefted a lead pelltinto th charn
bcf. He put the can on the ground with a thick phone book behind
it. Placing the muzzle of the rifle about an inch away from the can,
he pulled the trigger
The can was pierced rhrough both sides diametrically. The air
rifle had power, it could easily wound human flesh.
"Okay, Handoko. You first,"
John sa;d. He handed rne the air
rifle' I pumped it twelve times and placed a pellet in the chamber
John
told Handoko to place hts palm over rhe muzzle of the air
rifle. "Vhen I tellyou to shoot, pull the trieger immediately,"
John
Standing behind Handoko,
John
placed the first knuckle of his
risht index finser into the small of Handokot back. "Shoou" he said,
and I did. Tlre rifle went off with the characteristic ci:lJf made by
Handoko openedhi s hand. The pel l et l ay i n hi s pal m.
It was undeformed. Vhatever had absorbed the momentum o[
the slug had not damaged it in any way. Nor had Handoko been
harmed ln the least. Neithr had he felt anything.
"Me next," l said. Ipulled a lead pellet out of the packet V;th
my penknife, I scratched the surface of the slugi point. I would rec-
ogni ze i t i n t hi s manner, i t woul dbe i mpossi bl e f orsomeone t o swap
itwith anoiher I pumpedup the airrifle twelve times, put the mrked
slug in the chamber, and handed the weapon to Handoko. I grasped
the muzzle in my r;ght hand.
John came upbeh; ndme and pul l ed my sht rt out of my pant s. As
with Handoko, he put a knuckle up against the small of my back, tn
the area of my kidneys
Suddenly I felt l;ke I was being pumpd up with air I coLrld feel
my belly distendins and my bladder being squeezed, I wanted to
pee. There ws no other sensation; no cold, no rush of energy, no
electrical discharge, nothing.
Just the feeling of fullness.
"Shoot r"John shout ed.
l
Yn and Yang
.l
heard thc c4fl and looked
inro
,n-ked p.rr.t,,,ndeio,,,,.fi;
;;.ii;lj;Jil,:l:,f:::;l;
*':ri'-Ii'::T-'the
rishtest
touch'
but that was ail
-"-
Jvas
intrigued;
rhe.air
rifle had pierced
both sides of rhe
,,rin,,
:{,!ii;ry:i};:..:h:rffi ,1;*m,,:,,*
ffi
;liir T:i,i
j
'lli:
::;i;i:i:;:t*;iff
j:l
no way we would
nor have
been wounded
by tfr.
o.il.,, n .f,""la
H:.""."11i*i"
do\r.n ro the bone,
cuttins
throush
muscre
And the slug was undeformedt
Vhatever
had protected
us had prore: red
i r d wel l
Thi \ wd\
nor n i nv, . i bt .
f , "ra, f l , aa
"-r"a
, i "
r nor vr dr , dt
d\ \ ome
dur ho, r ( , \
\ eer n
l o\ ugge\ r
\ Vhar e, er *a. r h. , e
;:i :::"::,:;,
"", "r,
r he enerev wc,
hore r",h-.,,,,,";
,.;;
^, f:ufenl v
rwl \
dr1zy. rhaten
bv rhe i mprrtarron
rhe Frrsr raw
or I hermodynami r\
di d nor <e"m
ro appl v rn rhi , ,
are.
Ano rohn
Lout d rrdn\ rer
rhr\ f or(e ro
ol he^.
' .
l ;:' :l ::;:i :' l j ;nkrng
or rhe powerrurge"j ns
' |hei r
hnd\
on
-\ . 4, ner, ,
Andrea\
Jmo. r
l . apr our or hr\ . harr
,^
".i:i,
;:i t:ll:il*l:::
f ;;:l;e,,".,"nr
rohn.. d
*nn',f,j;.o""nt"o
-o immediatlv
besan
to pump
ap the air rifre
"Twelve
times,
no more,,,John
warned,nc.
^ .,,ii:i:;t1*::
*:.:l
i::i,:.r*-d
he e .hn,..,
and,oo(ed
Andr ea. ra h,," ;,. ."
;:;;i :;l;.
i."ji;1
il;,.
r1e rdl rer"d.
t . dn l oo(
mean when I wanr
ro. Bal k"n, *, ut
, . o, ur. ,
, - , . \ h*] ,
t ohn
rhoured
and I di d There
wa, d
shorked
t ook
on qndre\ s
l d(
e. hc wd\ worl red.
He e\ pcred
rhe wor\ t
rrhe
pe er t et l ol l hA. bel t v.
There
ua, a <mal t
red brui se rhere
.,.ii:;"jl:;T:::.::d
rooked
at ,he mark
''\y4r"."...
";;;;;;l;
112
Yn ndYng
I
"Because
of Kostar He had a look on his fa ce like he ,ratlted to
"Nonsense,,
I said.
,'l
normally
use a sawed off shotgxn fo. that
sort of thing. Less chance you'd get up.,,
John
glared
at me, then turned to Andreas.
,,tf
you are fr;ght-
ened or your emor i on\ dr csoi nssi t d
r he y, n r n, nor be r r j t e
Jno I r nnor pr ot eLr
\ ou r , mu, h a, when vou ar e r al m. f har s
why you were bruised
,,
I picked
up the iead pellet.
It was undeformed,
as before. I said
as much and showed ir toJohn.
,
Oh y: : he rard I g"re hrm rhe vrn enerev
heru. r rhrew a brr
01 rr oui or hi s body by be, ng af rard. , ,
, , "i f i r.
r. an we hol d rhi \ vrn Fnergy
vou 1dn\ l e.
ro u. rF. i de oLJl
Dodres i or l ong pel od5
of hme-' , I a5kd
,
No. Your anonl v t e. pa, muc hv r na, v ou
hav er ar g
$/ hen I
oo d demonsrrdl i on
t rke rhrs rhe vrn energy I grve you l ea, her t rom
your bodv dt mo, t rmmedrdl el v
l r r\ d wd\ rc ot
. nv
own energy whi . h
I have to replenish
by rneditation.,,
"So yoLr
don't like to do this very o[ten...
'Of
cowse not I did ir for you
students, so rhat you can undef-
st and whar t he yi n ch, i i s l i ke. , '
"Thank you,
S;tu,, we all chimed in together
I was silent for mosr of thar evening. The exisrence of yin en
ergy as a phenomenon
rhat was associated
with rhe.n..gy
iield of
our pl amrrout d
posrbl l
i rl l i n many gap, , n
hel d rh. o, y ;
s. "; . J.
w rar wa\
i l r rohn
had \ ard l h I i r\ behdvror wa\ rrmrl ar
ro rhar ol an
elec.romagnetic
tield, rhat an insulator coutd btock it, and thar its
flow could be easily disrupted. Howcould
any scientisr
characterize
a phenomenon
he could not trace? And how couro any screntjst re-
srst such_ a challenger
For example, germs
and bacteria float around
ur dnd rh' oush u5 bv rhe bi , on. bur we eannor dr. ecrt v percerve
: i : i , , , " " , " : , j " , : r , h"
dr . cor en
or , hc m, c, o, . op<
r hd he)
(
oul d b t l a(ed J do r\ e rme t o, yrn enej gv we woul d
havc t o
: ' , . , : " 1. " " . "
Leeuucnhoek
r , ndawdvr oquanr i b
andmeasur e
rl , nd rhen u\ e t hr\ i nf o. mri on
l o precenr
\ r\ t \ l eni
e l o I he \ ct en.
t rrrL r on"munrry
ol rh" wnr l d I war more ext i red bv rhe yrn rhan rhe
yng;
I was fairly sre that the yang
ch'i would be discovered
and
3
Vn ndYn
quantified soon, with all the work being done on vital energie and
psychic phenomena. But of the yin, wll, the \Y/est did not yet lravc
There would be a Nobl Prize for the scientist who idenritied
either yang or yin energy, of this I was sure- I also knew that thc
current shape of the world wouldchange once we understood ch'i-
and for the better. Lif and nature would no longer be denied.
John
had mentioned that a student had to be at least LevelThrec
to be ble to snse the yinr that a humn being, by his own naturc
yang/ cannot sens yin energy dirctly. Rather, a human senses the
trcse$c.
of yin by its raction to the yang. Here is an unidenriijed
force that leaves no trace ofitself, thatwe cannot feelinside ourown
bodies even in excess (unlike
electricit, but perhaps like gravity),
but whose results I had v.itnessed, experinced, nd felt
It ws a frustrating position for an engineer to be in. I had seen
the "ether" but needed a way to prove its existence to the world.rl
Vhat was also intriguing ws the fact that most people in the
\ftst think ofyin and yang as philosophicalconcepts rather than as
actual physical energies. A srious presentation placing the rwo in
an orthological vein wouldbe revolutionary at best. Oh, rhere werc
plenty of reterences in the litrarure to yin and yang s physical
energies (particularly in maftil arts books and related texts on
ch'ikung), but most sinologists considered yin and yang oo more
than dualistic modelins, much like computer binonials. Similarly, I
had seen many respected authors trcat Taoism like poetry, rathr
thn the collection of adual biophysical learnng rL was.
I flnally grinned, a particularly evil grin, thinking of the trouble
I would stir up given the opportunity.
Later thi nisht I traded ootes with Andreas, who had studied
physics at college. He was horified. "Keep this quiet," he said "Let's
digest it nd see where it takes us. Maybe the world ts not ready for
information of this sort at the momnt. Maybe it never will be."
I grumbled something uncomplimentary in return and wished
him a good nisht. To bell aith yo r
Jean,
[il, I rhousht. Tn ro one
Andreas had nevr actually read Coethe! Fact anyway. I could not
deny, though, that he had a point Andreas's concerns were
justifi-
able ifyou sought to simply quantifyJohnl powers it ortrhe proper
114
\4n nd Yn
rplfitual iosight, in cssencc subjugating EasreD scienc to Vestern.
l-lcll dld indeed gape wide irs doors ar th end of rrri road. But I
r.ckoncd the trajl to success followed a more precipitous
route.
\Me
htd to rcris? Vestern physical
theory and convrnce screnrsrs ro em-
Ilncc the concepts of yin and yang ch'i. In doing so, the boundary
hctwccn physics and metaphysics $.ould inevirably fall, altring rhe
worldk destiny forever. For th better I hoped.
The role model we had to emutate here was not Faust, bur
l'tonrctheus. I coLrld see that
John burned with the compulsion to
Itrlng the knowledge of this particular fire to mankind. \/hy etse
lCccpl \l/estern stlrdents? My main apprehension was making sure
thnt the informarion would become public knowledse. I wantd to
lhnkc up the status quo rock the chairs ar rhe top and the founda
ll0ns at the bottom. I had thought of a hundred applicarions, and
worked out n approch toward quanrifying
the phenomenon.
Iwondered if the gods would chain me to a boulder and have an
ltgle eat out my liver if I rnade the attempr
l)crhaps it would even be worth ft. I would wait and see
I slept like a baby, eaming ot Byron.
115
Yin nd Yn
Chapter Ei6ht
THE VILL OF HEAVEN
\7e were having a heated argument. The issue at hand was, once
again, whether or not what
John
was teaching could or should be
labeledTao;sm. The combatantswere rnyselfandVei Chin, the Level
Three student who had previously taught the praying mantis style
of kung tu. Handoko was the referee, and Andreas the audience.
The ring was
John!
front porch, as usual, and the fisht was very
bloody. I had rny opponent cornered, but he was tough, he managed
to slip and slide on the ropes al vill, avoiding my "blows."Just when
I thought I had him in the crushing grtp of reason, he wriggled free
and punched back hard.
It was tun. No on \r.as winning.
''Ioisrn,"
\x/ei Chin said, "is a religion \X/e are a school of kung
tu."
"Yes," Isaid, "but we are a school ofkung fu whose Headmasten
came from Taoistcenters like Lung Hu Shan andVutang-shan. Also,
much of the trining is vry basic Taoist internal alchemy,
just
like
you read about in the litemtu:e, and the results are very much the
"The training method is very differentr it is not at all the same."
"Okay, but it dealswith many of the same concepts.In the Vest,
when you talk about yin and yang, or the t'ai chi state of our Level
Four, or neikung, then you are talkins dbout Taoism. The word Tao-
116
t
i snr has beconc synonyrnous wi ! h Chi ncsc
phi l osophv i n t he Vest ' "
"Yes, but for us Chinese, Taoism is the same as Tao chiao, the
Taoist religion. \X/e in the Mo-Pai afe not Taoits You \X/estetnrs
It was an interesting dile[rrna Vei Chln was verv educated in
Chincse history and culture by traditional schooling; I had read cv
erythins
published in Englih on Chinese phiiosophv.
All four of us were speaking at once when John
came outside
carrying a cup of coffeer we must have been like somethirg out of a
cartoon to him. He stood and watched silentlv for a vhile' amused'
"Vhat are we arglring about?" he asked
'Taoism,"
the manti ieacher said.
Johnj ust
noddedand pul l cd up a chai r "Okav, " he sai d"' t oni sht
t will tellyou abot my owo spifitual beliefs and expcriences. Then
you can comparc my beliefs with Taoism as
volt
wish."
There was a stunned and suneal moment of silence on the facs
ofus two Vesterners, to be replacedbv looks ofavid greed l shut up
completely, and Andreas drew closer'
"Vhen I was young, "John began,
"l real l v dl d not pav at t ent i on
to the different things that my teacher, Liao Sllu' had told me about
metaphysics. I was not really interested,
vou
scei I wanted implv io
learn to fight and to have power But m:nv of the things came back
to me latc. I have already told you how, eventuallv, after I corr
plted Level Fout my Msters spi'it found me and grrided me for
many years. He would always come when I called hlm' and some
times when I didnt call hirn, more ofren than not to scold me for
something that I had done wrong "
He took a sip of collee and looked at me
"Liao Sltu performedmany mircles,
vou
know lt is unfortunte
that none of the people involved are now willing to come forth nd
testily.'
"For examplez" I asked.
"Okay, two cases. One is a student of mine who was riding on
his motorcycle when he suddenlv
got an intense feeling that some-
thing ws very wrong. He pulled over to the side of the road lnside
his wallet h kept my picture' he pulled it out and praved up to the
117
The\/illofHeven
A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library
heavens al oud: ' Li ao Si f u, ' he si d, ' pt eas, S, -f t , , 4, * what evr i 1 i s
that is happening and is a threat, plese protect me and my fmily.,
At that very moment this mant brother was crushed by a truck in a
constructiirn accident. Everyone thought that he was dead, it was
impossible tht he was alive, for a cement truck had failen on him.
Vhen they cleared the truck from his body, though, they foundthat
t he man al i ve and nharmed "
John searched our faces and saw acceptance. Ve had seen too
much t o di sbel i eve hi m
'Another
incident," he continued,
,as
the case of the high-
jncome
slrrgeon whose daughter had developed bone cancer She
was hospitalized in Singapore, nd the only treatrnent rhey had for
hr was to amputate her right leg before the cancer spread. In des-
peration he came to me asktng for help, he was not a student, jusl
sorneone who knew about rne. I ctted my teacher and asked hirn
whetheror not he would help the doctor, and he said,,Oh, him. He
always refuses treatment to thoe who cannot pay him and deals
with
Deople
like cattle. You tell him that if he wants his dughter to
becorne well, he must firsr
sive
a third of all his wealth to the poor,
and then every night for a week, from midnight to five in the morn-
ing, he must stay a{/ake and beg Cod for forgiveness.
Only then
\Vill I give him the medicine to help his girl.,
'Meanwhile
the daughterwas under a time constraint; they had
to amputate the leg lrjth;n a lew days to save hr life. But the man
believedin us because he had heard so much and decided to rrust us.
He gave away his money as Liao Sifu had ordered, and spenr hjs
evnings in repentance. Vhen the weekwas up, he came to me ask,
ins forthe medjcine, but Liao Situ would not answer my call. So the
man went back to Sinsapore furious and cuning me.
\/hen
he got
thre, he put his daughter through a complete exarnination, hoping
that there was rime to amputate the leg. Of the bone cancer, they
coul d nor Jr nda r r ar e i t ua. r ompl er el ygone.
He took another sip of coffee. Ve were all sjlenr, enthralted.
"Liao Sifu! spirit was with me for abour fifteen years. In that
time it was
jmpossible
not to develop a deep intrest in the meta
"
Literallr'?ridfather-teacher."
118
TheWiliofHeven
\
ohvrrrl .
sncc I dcah wrrh i L rl mu' r cvcrv dav I began t o ' ee spl t t t '
i i . "r, . ' r
""""a
' . . ' .
"or'
and I srrl l remember rhe rrrsr rrme rhdL I
nrvself was out of mv phvsical bodv'"
He leaned back
"l was lving on mv bed when I driftd off into
meditation.
Suddenlv Istood there looking at mvself on the bed
iii"*r, ' *."*nr' il,, t is tttv
tdl1s
bodv' so tbis o.tsr be nv
vin
bov a
^n **,a^*" h* ^*d
Jroltt
oe to the other So I wanted to prove io
,,i,r."tl ,t'u, *t u, ** f'uppening
was real First I walked over to the
iinf',.*i,.1
*a tried to turn it on l heard the click' but nothins
il"i...i, t6. r;grrt staved off o[av. I thorght' I'll ualk outside a d
hi'*'d"*"1*
So I openedthe
doorand walked out' leaving it ajar'
Itookawalk
around the house Outside there were some taxi drivers
si t t i ngaroundont hesi dewal kpl avi ngcards;
I rnemori zedt hei rt aces
-d Jhrt th.y.,.l...
*.arins' the licene nmben of their cars' and
wentback inside. I made sure again that the doorwas opn andwent
to the bedroom, where I saw mv bodv on the bed Valking towaro
i r I wa. . uddnl v dwakc h rng down | ' rood up 1 he l rghLs were o{r
and rhe. qrt ch
had not be' n roved : rr' ! eorr
I t hosht Then I
walked to the door to sce what had happened there' it was locked
".Jl"lt.a,l',t
o' r l"a left it bfore lvins down on the bed' O[al
srri[e tuo, I thought So I went outside mv home ThereIdidinded
find the taxi drivers,
just as I had seen them,
plaving cards' th same
faces, th same vehicles.'
He looked at me "l know what
vou
are thinkins' Kosta' The
sm thing happens in hospital operating
roms all th time' risht?
S", f.. .J
"t
,lr. ,i-., it ws a new experince
And trom that point
on t.o.,ta una.rstund*hat
was happening
to those
people who did
have out of-bor1v experiences,
their consciousns
wa simplv mov
ing from theiryng
energv to theirvin energv ltwas not mch later
that I learned to do so at will'
'nnvay,"
hecontinued,
"allduring those fifteen vears'
Liao Sifu
kept telling me tht it was mv dutv to go up to the mountains and
soend t i rne i n r"t reat dwrv l rom orher mer and women Frnal l v t n
r ' go: ' , , , - "
r , , ne i or hr m r o l cave r hi ' wor l d f or et er ht q t et m ot
penunc.lvu, o'ne, *d h. couldgo up to Cod
'This
is vour
lastchance"
i. .lta . *..
'f,t
"*
or nver'' I had no interst in
soins
awav' I
likd my life
just finer I was having a good time' nd mv businesses
119
The Will of He.ven
T.
were successt ul l i ut because I had promi scd t _i o Sj l u t hat I wout d, I
finally did leave. One day I put on comfonable clorhes and shocs, put
my passport in my pocket, and took a fcw hLrndred dollars with me. I
also wor my Rolex becausc I vanted somethins that kept time wetl
and that I could trade lor money tf I became desperare. I had no idea
wherc I would be sent, Ithought the Himalayas or somerhins like
that So I told my wife I was gojog down to rbe prawn farm for a few
days and kissed her and rhe children
soodbye
On the way I handed
rny chauffeur a letter explaining everyrhing, then I told hjm to stop
for a while on the side of the road so that I could buy cisarettes. I
disappeared from sight. After a few hours of looking for me, he re
turned home and handed the lefter to my wife. She cried and cried,
and so d;d the children, but because I had already arranged for their
protection and their welfare, there was not much more I coutd do.
"l finally wound up in rhe
junste,
along the border between
Mlaysia and Borneo. The closest small village was a three-day march
awayr I was isolated from socity. I hated the place at first. Vhen
night fell, I could not see my hand in front of my face,
jf
I tried to
light a fire, so many mosquitoes came that they would eat me alivel
tsut it was there that my teacher had ins;sted I go.
"Therewas not much to eat; I had to huntwild boarandscrounge
for benies and fruit. The funny thing was that there was a tribe of
Dayak natives rhere who harassed me and finaily attacked me openly
with spears, and on one occasion arrows. I pulled down a large tree
and set it ablaze wirh my ch't, after that they left rne alone. It rnust
have been very lrightening for rhem. I ber they are srill sarins
naughty children with stories about me "
\(e all laughed, I could imasineJohn rhe practical joker
retish-
ing the occasion. Poor natives.
"Anyway,"John
continued, "ir u.as there that I stayed and lrredi
tated, living in a cave. lt rained freqLrently, and food was scarce. De
spi t e t hat , af t er a moDt h I coul d st and i t reasonabl y wel l , af t er si x
months I did not want ro leave.
"ln time, somethingvry strange happened. I could spend longer
and longerperiods in neditrion, once I didnot move foreight days.
And my consci ousness woul d f l y al l overt he worl d as I desi red. I saw
rny family in their home
soins
abot theilbusiness; Isaw rny friends
120
The wll of Heeen
and felatives, veryone nd anyonc I wanted to. All I had to do was
wish to see somethiog and I was there, if I closed my eyes, actual
events would flash across my mind as if I were watchins television. I
wrote Ietters to family and friends telling them what they were do
ing on specific days, then made the trek to rhe village ro mail thse
letters to them. They were very surprisedwhen they received theml
lremember even watching them as they receivedihes letters.----see-
ing the look on their faces when they read what I had written.
"ln tht mountain I saw many spjritsi indeed, spirits and animals
were my constant companions. And when my consciousness had ex-
panded, I could see spirits
soinsup
rgularly. One day Ibecame curi-
ous anddecided to follow them, to see vhre they were going. I sent
my awareness out of my body and accompanied them as they wnt.
'"Ihe
earth receded below me, and somehow there was a shift, I
cannot explain what I felt. I was suddenly in a wave of blackness,
around me there was much pain and anger and hate and
jealousy
I
left that place quickly ro find myself in a field of whue, there I saw
many spirits around rne wlro were very
joyful.
Some of them were
makingmotions as iftheywere eating and drinking nd invited me ro
join
in. O[l)', I thousht, I'd lik? d
rtece
oJ crtcln. Vithoui warnins, a
tasty drumstick appared before me, wben Igrabbed;t, though, I saw
that it \Las not real, that it was an illusjon forthe benelit of rhe spirits
in that place \{ho ihought they were still human. Still, I saw other
souls
soing
hisher and higher. I follo\i/ed rhem rhroush two more
levels ofwhite energy, andbeyondthat point I couldpass no farther"
Iohn
paused, and I checked an urse to interrupt him. Therewer
so mny questions that I wanted to ask He was, after all, describtng
"After a while,"
John
cootinued, "l becarne worried about my
physical body, because I knew that tlrne passed very differently in
tbt place, and I had no idea how long I was gone. I decided to
return to the earth. In doing so, I passed once again thro{rgh the
black wave. I was curiousr you cannot see anything at all in that
place, but you can hear the spirits moaning. So I approached one of
thm and askdhim,'Hey, how are you doingr'(Yes, Kosta, as simple
as t hat l ) He sai d, ' Oh, I hurt , I ' m i n pai n. ' Suddenl y I became very
afraid, and with that strong emotion I woke up back in my body."
121
TheWillofHeaven
Vhat do you say in response ro a story like that2 I had heard it
i n short f orm i n t he pasr, but t hat had not had t he i mpad of t hi s
l onger narrat i on. That he had cat l ed spi ri t s bef ore me I no l onger
doubted, on three separte occsion he had spoken to the shades
of t he dead wi t h me as t he si l ent wi t ness. Vhi l e I coul d not , as a
scj ent i st , swear i n coura rhat he was not produci ng
an i l l usi on f or
my benefit through hts Lrndeniable powers, I would have to ques
tion the motivation lr producing
a fraud of this sort. He certainly
had no need to trick us. I did nor doubr rhat
john
could make me
see somethiog that was not thre should he choose, but why woul<1
I recalled the shaman;stic origins of Taoist practices;,a
what he
had
just
described was very similar ro thejourney of the shaman into
the spirit world, inluding rhe various levels. I was very sure that
Joho had never read
Joseph Carnpbell; he was describing what he
had seen. And he gained nothing by fickery. Indeed, he sacrificed
much because his powers were very real.
"ls there any way of telljng if someone will becorne a white or
bl ack spi ri t ?" 1asked
John shot me a piercing look.
,,You
ar thirkjng of your father,,,
he sai d. ' rvel l , ys, i f t hi rpassage i s not due t ovi ol eoce oracci dent ,
then usuallyyou can tell by the look on their faces what w;llbecome
of them. They get a glimpse
of what lis in srore for them before
they completely leave our world.,,
My father had died wh retief afte, fishting rh cancer for half a
year. Indeed, he had died conscjously, wairing for all of us to gather
around him before le$ing go of his finalbrearh. Isaid as much toJohn.
"Your father is probably
a white spirit now,', h said.,,But you
know, because he had no yang to take with him, his natu.e is much
sirnpler ihn you think."
"Vhat
do you mean, Situr" I asked.
"l mean t hat a t ypi cal spi ri t i sbasi cal l y l i ke ourunconscrous mrnd.
He cannofthink deliberarely, make decisions, orcreate. He is subject
to whatever he has broughtwith hjm.,'John\,r'as
silenr for a time, then
caught my eye and held me wrth his gaze.
,For
example,,' he said,
"your father can remember everything abour you He knows that you
are his son. He rernembers holding you in his arms when you were
122
The \\/illof Heaven
born. Vhat hc cannot rcmcmber i$ whal it was like to love
vou
"
Ve were shocked, all oi us
"They
have onlv
vin,"
he con tinued softlv'
'to
what detines thir
conlinuation
is simplv their karma, good or bad' That is whv it is so
lmportnt
to have yang to take with you when your time coms'
"Because
that wav
vou
retain
vour
humniry"
l whisperd John
nodded approvinglv
"Does having vang
ch'i in our dntien some-
how lessen the effects of karmal" l asked hirn
"No. You still have to pay for what you have done- or be re-
warded. But having
yang with
vou
makes it easier all around' and
more deliberate either way.'
"Heaven and hell," Andreas said
"Not really,"John answred
"None ofthe conditions Idescribed
is permanent. After a time all spirits return to Cod "
Andthre itwas, the bigquestion
that I had danced around sinc
I had come io know him. I could not resist "Situ"' I dared' "tell us
aboutCod. You mention Hlm frequentlv"
Andmentioning
Codwas
notvery
Taoist, I thought,
perhaps this was the disiinction
between
John's
teaching and mainstream Taoism
John
leaned back and looked at us one bv one "All right,''he
sald. "Before I went up to the mountain'
in mv heaft of hearts' I did
not real1y belleve in Cod Oh' I used to go to church everv Sundav'
f., f
"-
...i""ttv
"
Ct'ristian' but I hd no faixh; I went to church
matter-of factly Vhen I was up in the mountain' I wanted to expe-
rience Cod for mvself, to see if He was real or not
"l prayed andl praved for weets, asking Cod to reveal Himseli
to me. Finally I sat down in dep meditation and sent mv awreness
out as belore. Everv dav, every rnoment, I kept asking'
'Cod'
please
tell me the trlth about the afterlife; which rehgion is correc Piease'
Lord, tell me.' I received no answef' but I kept at it with peristnce
"\lgithout wrning, on dav a voice boomed in the ir above me
It was like a thunderclap, and it said to me:
"'Rligion is like a walkins stick Vhen
vou
are
vouns' voLr
ned
help from yout parents to walk \Vhen
vou
are old'
vou
need a cane'
Vhen you are a healthv adult,
vou
have no ned for a cane' it
vou
tty to *n, ,t *ill onlv hinder vou
All religions are like thatr to ch
Cod directly, and
vou
will have no need of them
'
123
The Will of Heven
"l came out of meditarion wirh a srart, ir was so strong and so
realt I had felt the words like a vibration inside m. Ar fircr I was
ecstaric, but when I tried to reach the voice again, there was no an-
swer So after a time I began to doubt; finally, I no longer believed
that it was Cod, just
some strong spirir hving fun with rne. I had
had many experiences of the sort with L;ao Sifu, remember, and I
knew that rhe.e were many such beings our there. Finally I became
very angry.l roamedaroundthe
rnounta;ntops
like a madman scream
lng up ar neaven.
"'lk to me, Cod,' I screamed.
,lf
you
do not talk to me, I will
not believe in Yout"'
John chuckled to hirnself
'You
cannor
jnlsine
what Iwas Iike,,,
he said. "l was very thin because I d;dn,t have much to earr my beard
and hair were long because I had nothing to shave with. My cloth-
ing hung on my body, and Imust have smelled very bad I moved
foom tjmes of extremely deep meditation to moments of extreme
rage as if someone were throwjng a swirch inside mei I oftn sat
down in the lorus position in Deditrion and rhen suddenly leapt up
all in one motion to go running around the mounraintops.
All rhat
time I had only one thought in mind, to speak with the Lord Cod. I
wanted proof rhar He was real.
"Ei ghr
days l at er i t happened. I was i n medi t at i on at t he moment
and begging Cod to let me come ro Him. Suddenly a star bright
ened incredibly, like a second sun, and fell out o the sky wi;h a
crash to land before me in an explosion of earrh and dust. k made a
huge hole and lay there, burning. A wind like a thousand hurricanes
buffeted my body and shook the ground.
"'You are not yet clean enough to come to Me!, voice said, and
I knew i t was Hi m
"l came out o[ meditation \.rith a srart and opned my eyes. In
hont ofme was a larse crater in rhe
eround.
And Iknew one thing in
my heart that made me happy beyond belief: Th vojce was still
with met Cod was allowing me to speak wirh Him.
'Many
thinss I asked Hirn in the days that followed, Iwanted to
know what sort of behavior was right and what was wrong. For x-
ample, I wanted to know if fjghting was okay, sioce I was a kune fu
124
Ihe \)(/illof
Heven
Mast cr and had becn i n nrany l i sht s Thc voi ce t ol d me t hat i t was
al l ri ght t o dcl cnd nryscl l , but I shoul d never i ni t i at e aggressi oni mdnv
thinss werc
Ndsed
by how
vou
felt inlde lf I was afrajd for mv
safety, I could even rtlrcl lirst to protect mvself and mv familv' but
there were no fine lines governing behavior' it all came down to
how you felt ins;de.
"l asked Hlm about hunting and killins
same
l detected amuse-
meot in Hisvoice when he answerdthat
question' because He said'
'You
are asking Me about thls because
vo
killed a wild bor last
week to eat, didn't you? It's okav to kill for food, all of nature is a
struggle for sLrwival. But you must never kill for sport or for pride,
because all of natLrre belongs to Cod."'
John
bowed his head. "Anywav, manv things like that I asked
Him, to some questions I received answers, to others not " Helooked
up at us and smtled.
Andreas broke the silence. "Sifu, are
vou
saving that
vou
spoke
to Cod:"
"l think so,"John sid. "l spoke to an unbelievablv
powertul sen-
tience. \X/heiher it was Cod or some kind of angel or other spirit, I
really don't know to this dav But soflrlrin4 cme and answered mv
que\ l i on. . dnd st aved wrrh m< l or a I ong t i me
"How long were you up in the mountains2" l sked
''Iwo
years," he sald. "l came back down because rnv son devel
oped rheumtoid arthritis. Vestern medic;ne could do nothins for
hlm; my hiends took hlm to nativc healer, who simplv said,'Onlv
the faiher can cure ihk boy.' So I came back "
"Did you ure him2"
"Yes, with acupuncture, within two monlhs
"
"And you
iust
lro he was illi no one sent
vou
a message?
"l have already toJd you that, when I was up in the mountins, I
couldsee people and places far awav dlrrins the time lsPentin medi-
tation. I watchd lny family a lot, it helped me feel less lonelv"
A sewant carne out with tea, which we gratefullv accepted No
oBe was wi l l i ng t o st rt up t he convenat i on agai n Vhat we hadj ust
heard had shocked all of us more th:n anvthingJohn had ever said
ordone. Herewas a man who statedverv simplv nddirectlv that he
,|
TheWi l l of Heaven
had spoken t o Cod, i t was t he pi nnacl e
of human experi ene, and
there was not much anyone could add to rt.
There were a thousand thinss thr I\.ranled to ask him. \(/e have
lost the luxuiy in this dy and ase of being able to speak in such
personal terms when describing the erernal, society and scjence be
ingwhat they are. People donljust sit down and ask Codquestions
The Lord Cod Himselfi
\Xfty the hll not2 I beljeved rny teacher. At least I believd that
he was neither a liar nor delusional. He had seen . . something.
I darcd the question. "Sifu, when you spoke to Cod, dtd you ask
Him what happens to our souls after we drer
He looked puzzled. "l have aheady described the btack wave
and the white wave ro you," he said.
"Yes, and you said thar neither cond ron was permanenr,
that
aker a time all spirits wenr up to Cod "
"Yes."
"So what happens next2 Do we reincrnate2 Do we live only one
iife? Do we cease to exisP \X/hart the story?,'
"l have already told you rhat I dont know
"But. . . ."
"He never answered that question."John pulled out a cigaretre,
l i t ; t up, and l eaned back. "l cd, t el l you what I mysel f , as an i ndi
vidual, believe. This is not somethios that Iteach, I have students
who are Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, skeptics like yourself,
andmore.
NeikuDg has no basis in religious theory. lf you wanr my own oprn,
ions, you arewelcome to rhem, btrrrcmember, they are nothingmore
t han my own opi ni ons. "
"Okay."
"l believe that ir is logical for reincarnation to exist, since Cod is
very just
and very fir. !/hy should someone suffer for sorneth;ng
that they havn't don: Vhy shoutd one man be born a cripple and
anothel with everything? It doesn't seem fir or even logical. So et
thr the univrse is unjust or, if you believe in a
just
God, then He
has pl anned f orj ust i ce i n our l i ves. So I bel eve rn rej ncaroat i on. ,
I did not want to debate him, different religjons in rhe historyof
humanity have even postulated the exisrence of an nj sr Cod to
explain lifes disparate disrribution of blessiBs.
126
The \(illofHeven
"You have rnentioned karma* to mc in the past," l continued.
'"Ihe
consequence of our actions?"
'Action
and reaction. People paying for bad actioos and being
rewarded for good ones. Makes sense, doesn't it?"
"Doyou believe thtsomone canies theirkarmawith them from
one life to the other?" Andreas asked
"Yes. I personally as an individual, yes,"John answered.
I had studied Buddhism ior many years; one of the issues not
addressed sufflc;ently by tht religion
(in mv opinion) is the very
obvious evolution of the specis going on continuously around us,
as if by divine p)an. And man's presence and development on the
planet cannot be accounted for with satisfaction, even bv modern
science,
giving rise to theorie of little green men performing ex
periments on primates and what not "Sifu, is evolution directed?" I
cha.ged to drive the point hom.
"Sorryr"
"Does Codhave a plan for man and the earthr Is there a gidins
intelligence behind everything?"
"ln rny opinion, yes."
And there it was, the core of religion's debate with science.
"And i s t hi s God a
j udge: " I cont i nued "Does He deci de
everyonet karma?"
"No. Ve dec;de our own karma Cod HllTrse]f interferes very
little in our lives and in the
judgment of our consciousness fter oLr
deaths."
"But what about t he whi t e wves and t he b] ack wave
vou
described2"
"Vhat about themr"
"Doesnt God decide whose spirit goes into which area and how
long he remains there:"
"Not rallyr krma decides that. Cod baslcallv intercedes very
little in the course of affairs. Ve call the will of heaveniolo in Chi'
nese. Forexample, thatyou Kosta, andvouAndreas, are here isiodo
*
The Sanskritwo.d means "consequence" or"actron
127
The willof Heven
Do you know how many peopl c have come searchi ns l of me ancl
coul d not f i nd me? I t i s t he wi l l of heaven t hat you are here. ' ,
Ve looked ateach other Ve hadcertatnly both foundourreacher
under inusual cjrcumsrances-tflpo5sir/s
circumstances, starisrically
speaking.
"Sifu," l insisred, "\(/hy isnt findingyou merelyjust good karrna:
l(hat rs the difference berween jodo
and krnal
'lodo
come from Col,'he said. "Karma comes frotr ls "
"So Cod hs a pln, butit is rp tous ro live up to
jt,,,
Andreas sa id
"Yes,"John answered "And you will reap thc consequcnce ot a
your actions, whether good or bad. Karnra is purely natural law, like
bi ol osy and physi cs; j odo
i s t he wj l l of heaven. I cannot make t hi ogs
any clearer than thar. For mosr people, jodo
simply decides the tine
and pl ace of t het r bt rt h and t he t i rne and pl acc of t hei r deat h. Bui
bad karma can also make your Iife shortcri if you are destined ro live
a hundred years, you may wincl rrp living lifry rnsreao.
"For
example," he continued suddenly,
,,I_iao
Stfu coutd sce an
individuali kama and dcide ro hcalhilr) or not based on thatkarma
He could also seejodo, the will of heaven, as it approached. Let rnc
t el l you t or y . . . "
The Letter
Old l.iao had fev friends, becuse most people
considered him a
srange and alien being, and so he held his true friendsvery dear He
hd enjoyed himself gready i.
Javai for the fiBr timc in his tifc he
had bcen a nember ot a boisrerous and conle.reo numan socrery
Neitherthe ci.cums tnces of his yourh no. thc iolarion olhis middle
yeas hadoffercd hin much hopeforjoy in Iife, a, ro Lne conseqence!
ot his
ceat
cfime haunted im conriuoudy with evil forcboding
Liaohad foundpeacc in Indonesia. He had any d.q
fricnds, and he was widely respected as a
sreat
nerer.
Andhe had the boy at his side who'n he had come to tove like a
son. Liao knew drar rhe young
one woutd reach the upper levcls of
nastery/ rhoush how hish the chitd would
so,
he did not know.
One ofh6 hiend! was an affluent bustnessman who was a learned
scholar of Chinee histo'y and cultute as well Vith this man Liao
spent long houre sipping iea andwaging endless debate Hehadnade
128
ThewillolHeeven
I
ar r angemenxs xo vi si l hi m on a gi ven mor ni ng and set out t o t he mans
house. Itwas roughly ten o'clock when he arrived. A seryant opened
the door and Liao was ushered into the manl inner chambes. His
hirid rose to
Areet
him.
"Liao Situ," he said, "once asain you ho.or me."
Liao stoppedbriefly in his tracks, stunned. He could see that the
mn was
soins
to die at noonrJodo, thewiU olheaven, was standina
He tousht back an urse to sit down. Outwa.dly, his lriend de
tected nothinA amiss in the old Master! composurer indeed, what
had seemed like an endless paur to Liao had been less than a quarter
ol a second in real time, undetectable to the other.
"l cannot stay at the momnt, my friend," Liao said, "but I wart
yo to do me favor"
He noved with preternatural speed and stole a blank sheet of
pper fron his kiend! desk, seeminsly pllins it out from urder his
"Do you have an enveloper" he asked.
His f.iend handed him one, and Liao folded the pper inro the
envelope. Afterwritingsomethingon ihe top andscaling it, he handed
'At
exactly eleven forty-tive,l wantyou to take this envelope to
t he t op of t he hi l l at whose bar eyou. l and besi ns, ndl ave i t t her e, "
"But lhave an agpointnentat noon, and, asyou know my house
bordea on the;ungle. Thathilltop is almost halfa mile into thejunsle."
"l will have to change clothes nd ."
"Very wll, Liao Situ. If it is so important to you, I will do it.'
"Thankyou."To the manisrprise, Liao Sifu
save
him an almost
Thc oldMasterwent lmmdiately back to his own dwellins and
began to prayearnestly, centeredin deep meditation, reque!tingrhat
Cod prolonc his triend'5 life and lift whatever karma had made ir so
short. At eleven forty-live his ffiend, impatient with having to go
into thejurgle and everythirs that action entailed, gave the lerterro
a sewant instead, with the instruction rhar he tak it iDto rhe foresr
and leve it at the top of the hill. The man himself ser off for his
appointmeDt in the city
129
The willof Heaven
At noon p.ecisely,
as hc crossed thc road iD lroDr ot Lhecity posl
office on rhe way to his appointmenr, he was struck and ki ed try a
Ths Liao Silu learnd rhr the wilt ot reaven cannor be over-
"So, Kosta,"John continued,
',telt
rne now Am I a Thoistz,,
"ln
my
judgment
as an educated man, you are very much a nei-
chia Taoisr, Sifu."
"l see. And il I told you that I practiced
ch,ikuns and neikuns
strictly lor martlal arts sktll, as I am the Headmaster of a marrial arts
school and not a plicst, what would you say to tha Remembel I
only became exposed to the realm ol spirjts aJkr I had developed
yin yang kung-Levels Four, Ftve, a nd so on. I was th irry seven years
old when I first saw rny Master,s spirit; besjdes v/hich, I only devel
oped a knowledge and an inrerest in maftrs of the spiritr.[i?/ Iwent
up to the mountains for my retreat in I992. In other words, Idid not
originlly pursue neikung for any meraphysical gain ir offered, nor
because of any specific spirirual belief.,,
"Okay, if you are not a Toist lchemist, what are you, then7,,
"l'm the Headmaster of Pa Lei Chuan, a school of kung tu. I arn
the teachr of a Chinese science clled neikung rhat involves study,
ing, enhancing, and finally combining the energies ofyin and yang
in the body, rhe particular
neikung Iteach is of the lineage attribute
to the sage Mo-Tzu. Beyond this t arn s;mply a man l;ke any other,,
I did not know what to say ro all rhar. There an be litde doubt
in our day and age thar consciousnss is as much a product
of rhe
physical
s of rh spirftual_ Descartess axioms separating the psych
from the flesh have long since been proven
wrong. An injury to or
illness of the brain would readily affect someone's personality,
mod,
ern medicine has millions oI documented cases. Our,tonsciousness,,
is the result of rhe intermingting of the mind and rhe body, of the
spiritand the tlesh. Had the ancient philosophers
of China stumbled
onto th!s secret in their investigation of the energies ofyin andyang?
Had they somehow isolated the bodyt energies and seen how rhy
could be transfened completely ro rhe spirit? Is this howTaoism the
130
The\)villofHeven
rcl i gi on had devel oped2 And whal can t he sci ence of nei kung of f er
to the world in our time of rapid technological gro,/r'th? Here vas a
man who had many of the answers in his pocket.
"l suppose, Sifu," I said, "that you are whatever you $.ant to be."
He smiled at that, and I looked down at the ground. A brief
discussion of plants followed,John supported the postion that they
had awareness and were telepathic, and Andreas, an avid botanist,
was agreeing with everything he said.
I ws uncharacteristiclly silent for a while. Finallt in the pause
that followed, Iasked, "Sifu, w;ll you teach us? \Vill you teach the
world bout neikung?"
"l am already teaching you."
"No, l mean, wi l l you t each everyone i n t he worl d, wi l l you dem'
onstrate openly and explain what you are doing?"
He was silent himself for a momnt, then said simply, "Do you
know about Atlantisr"
"Of course."
"Do you know why the island of Atlantis was destroyedr"
"ln my culture we say that it is because the gods were
jealous."
"ltwas because they had gotten too lose to the secrets of heaven.
\/hen humanity today
sets
too close, we also will be destroyed."
"Vhat the hell for?"
"Because the human animal is not yet ready to become a god."
"Then why create us in the first placel Logicallyi we were either
crated to develop toward some hlgher purpose, or we are the play
thinss of a hisher sentience who simply wants to keep us as slaves.
To say that Cod Himself will destroy us makes me think much lss
of Cod."
That bl unr. raremenr shocked e! eryone.
'So
you think I shouldcome forth compltel, share allmy knov/l
edge, become famous, andwin the Nobel Prize," John said.
"Yes and no. I think you should offer the world concret, repro'
ducible proof that yin and yang ch'i exist, without specific informa-
tion as to their precis nature. That would be enogh tor you to go
down in history as the mn who helpd humanity evolve to the next
plateau," I rephed.
131
TheWillofHeven
"lt has never been that way in human hisrory.'
"Ve have never leea at this point in human history before, Sifu.
Look at yourself, forexamplet You ar the fjrst Master of the Mo-pai
to accepJ
l,)/estern
students. Mankind is evolving, East meets Vest.
There is no hard evidence .hat Atlantis everxisted any.way;* maybe
itsjust a story that captured the imagjnarion ofa Greek philosopher
centuries in the past-man
aginstthe gods.,,lmde
a silent promise
to buyJohn a copy of Platot works Knrtas and limrers.
"And perhaps it is a true story t follow the w;ll of heaven, Kosra.
I rvill do what Cod wants me to do."
He stood up
"But I will think about what you have satd,', he finished.
And with thar, our evning lesson was over
On theway back to ourhotelAndreas berated me coniinuously.
He had been shocked by my confrontational approach.
,'Vhatwould
you do," he asked, "if you were Sifu:"
"Bring fire to mankind," l answered unhesitatingly.
'nd
be chained to a rock by the sea with an eagle eating ot
your liver for all eternity. . ."
"Prcmetheust
torment didnt last for all eternity, Andreas. After
a time, the gods set him fre because they felt guilty. He did\,r'hathe
did out of pity-to ajd humanity, you see,'
"Are
you sure it wasn't pride2"
It was my rurn to be silent. He had struck a point horne.
'\X/e
didn't say much for the rest of rhat evening, each of us
wrappedin ourown thoughts. Andreas! comment had brought home
somethingvital, somthing I hdalways known in my heartbtthat,
obfuscated as it was by my own prid, I had not clearly seen before.
I was no ntan; irwas notup to me. OnlyJohn could play
prometheus
s
role and share his secrets with humaniry. Our mission was to con-
vince him to bstow such a gift and,
jn
so convincins, shoulder a
portion of the consequeoces.
*
Though there is linguistic nd ci.cumstantial evidence as such.
132
The V/ill of Heven
Chapter Ni ne
THE KTRIS
There are nore things ln heaven and earth, Ho.atio, thn .e
dreamt of io your philosophy
Hcnlri, Act I, Scene v
Henky was anotherJavanese Chrnese, a local businessman nd friend
of my Master for over twenty years. Henky had attempted the Mo-
Pai trainins s well but had unfortunately not progresscd very iar'
Stlll, he had garnered benefits' he was over litty but looked much
younger perhaps early forties, vith a slim figu.e nda springing stcp
A dedicated spoftsman, he exerclsed and ran on a daily basis as well.
Henky was very much a product otJava. He spoke not a word of
Chinese and was ignorant of Chinese lristoryr rther, he spoke flu'
ent Dut ch andgood Eogl i sh because hc hadsone t o a Dut ch school .
A devotd siudent of the hrstory of hls own home nation, He,1kv
was particularly an expert on the MajapahitJavanese Hindu empire,
which had held sway inJava and the surroundins islands durins the
fourteenth century cE.
He owned threeJavanese keriss, all antiques, llmore than five
hundred years old, all datis from the time of the Majapahit state
They were rnagically charged.
Before I proceed, it would bc useful to go into the history and
mythos of this particular bladedweapon. There was a time when all
Javanese
men, from the ge ot three on, were required to wear a
133
krisi it is still worn today in formal ceremonies. The sheths and
hilts of the keris were often exquisitely decorated with carvings and
j\rels,
\1,.hile omments on the blade itself were thousht to provide
additional protection from misfortune. The keris blade often has
undulations
flol),
usually seven or nine, though up to rhirry one have
been counted. An odd number of lok assures that luck will b
sood
The wavy blade is also thought to create a more damaging wound,
though the kefs is a difficult blade to wield in combar.
Kerises are considered to be magical by all Indonesians and
Malaysians Tladitionally, o1d kerises are kept as family heirlooms
and are passed from generation to generation. The mak;ng of the
keris was a work involving great power and artr the orrr, or "smith,"
was considered a holy man, and his work was frausht with ritual.
Once ayear the keriswas taken out of its scabbard, cleanedwjth
lime
juice
aod arsenic, and sacrificed to. Incense was bumed to it
and prayen offered, the blade was oated wirh a fragrant ott. The
number of times the weapon had tasted blood added to its power
Magicalkerises (not todays tourist fare) are rhoughtto be able to
speak, fly, change shape, and even father human children. They can
protect the wearer from harm or destroy his enemies. They are thought
to rattle in theirscabbards to warn theirownrs of impend;ng danger.
In general, they are ob;ects ofgreat reverence, ndare very powerful.
Vhen Henky offered to show me h;s keris! powers, I vas tmpred
to laugh, except for the fact that he was a good friend ofjohnl. In
truth, I had already seen so much frornJohn himself that I no longer
knew how to approach such clairns, I no longer had the luxury of
skepticism.
"A magical keris:" I asked.
"No, three of them."
"Vhat can they dor"
"Many things, ordng putiir,* but for you they rnay move around a
bi t , andyou can seeJohn t al ki ng t o t hem. "
'John
can speak to a piece of metal?"
"They are notjust pieces of metal, they are aware, just
as we re."
I glared at Henky out of my left eye, the mean one. My face is
*
Oiq purih"
rtanslates as "white man"
134
I
e)rtremely expressivc, part of my Mediterranean heritagc, and some_
what bimorphicr t am
sentle
and kind on the risht side and mean
and nasty on the left. I have a lot ofNeanderthal
genes in me as well,
xhe rsutt of millennia of Balkan inbreeding, which gives me an edg
when I wnt to look either dangercus, sintl, or stupid'
"You'r serious, right?" I sked.
"l'm always serious when I talk about monev or things ot a spiri
My money had run out, and Henkv was buving me lunch l was
settins
tird of Chinese food, lndeed had lost a lot of weight on
what I called"the rice diet," so Henkv was treatingme to a Vestern
style steak. I was ,ery gratetul
'All
right," l said, "l'll bite Doris is flvins in this afternoon; mavbe
we can make an appointment with Sifu tonight l'm sure she'd love
to see this as well."
My girlfriend, Doris, had been mv constant companion during
the years I hadknownJohn Chang and, as a result, had suffered the
same assault on her established
perception of realitv thar I had dur-
ingthat time petiod. Sh tendedto accept things much more readilv
than I, though, being more intelligent and having less of a temper'
"l mean it," Henky said,
''fhe
kerises are sentient in their own wav
"Sure."
"Look, I could tell you manv stories, but I will sttle lor thi one'
A few years ago my dauchter $'as going to go on a trip with some
frlends. They pulled up to our house in their
jep and she stated to
go out the door, suddenly there was a banging sound from the cup
board where we keep our kerrses Vhen I opened the cupboard' mv
most povertul and oldest keris was shaking in his scabbard l told mv
daughter not to go on the trip, but sh insisied; new bovfriend' vou
see. \(ell,lcould not let her go unprotected, so I gave herthe keris io
take with het with firm instruction that he protect her' That night
they had an acident and the
ieep
wnt off the mad TTev rolled over
three times before they hit a treer th vehicle \tas a total loss' but no
one ws hurt, not even a scratch They were not wearing seat belts
and were thrown around inside the
jeep
considrblv as it rolled"
I did not know wht to think and had no wav of
judsins his
slory. Certainiy thete were enough mvths of magical s$'ords and
135
l egcnds ot scnt i cnt wcapons i n gcncral i n cvcry cul t Lrrc rl l
(, vcf
t h,
world (think Ircalir'rr. CoLrld they be rruc rhc way John Charrr
was real, the way Tioy, which had been considcrcd a myth by nrany
l earned ni en i or generat i ons bef or i t s di scovery by Schl i emann i rr
the ninctccnth entury, was real as well:
I had seen too much of the spilit world around my tcachcr to
scoff; the word si:anran suitedJohn a well as the word Taot, if yoLr
could truly distincuisb the two. Indeed, as I wrote this book, Iwa\
ttoubledbywhat I should present resardins
John
and the spirit world
Could I discount my own eyes and ear lfjohn was pulling a scam,
he was fooling thousands of people. There were other plausible ex-
planations for what we were seing one of which was simply lhr
John was imposing his will and imagery on the minds ol the partici
pants, a sort of mass hypnosis. But even if tht were th case, it was
a power worth notins, and I would have no problem walking into a
courtroom and testifying to the experience. To say nothing at all
would sirnply be cowardly, and unfair toJohn as well.
Lft me share with you one such encountelwith a power{ul and
benevolent spir;t.
Judge
for yourself.
The Prince
Hefcles (no reltion to the hero) was a cousin ol ninc whom I had
brousht with ne to Indonesiar
lohn had been kiDd enough to allow
him toloin ourgroup and witne$ the summoning of a spirit who had
died at Level Three. This spirit was rcpted to be so powerful that
anyone could hear him, and some people could see hin s well, at
Level Thr ee, he cer t ai nl y had a l ot of yang ch' l .
The ghost was the spi.it of a sixteenth-century prince, and his
sravesite
was situted in the Puncak Pass near Bogof in centralJava
Hc hd slain mny enen,es durins hi! lifetime, and his kamra was ro
watch ovc the island of
Jva
in retribution. For the last four centu
ries or so the lonely
shosr
had linsered on the hillrop rhat bore hk
grave,
suardins
his native land. People camc to sleep there and ask
hin for lavor and protection, whlle Indonesias leders, even in this
moder day, olten visited th site with various psychics
A large pay ofus walked p the trail to th gravesite, an Indone
sian minister had pved that path wilh concrete for his own conve
nlcncr FIcr. was er<cited and anxious. l-lc had fist metJohn on a
husincss transaction I had arranged, knowin8 nothing at the tie of
nry tcacheri powers. This trip had changed allthat;John hadshowed
hlm rnuch and welcomed him i'rio his home. But seeins this
ehost
(wcll, hearins him, anlvy)ws
soins
to be the pice de rsistance. I
hrd been beggingJohn for yers to take me tovisitthe prince Hehad
linally .onented, adjust in time, In a few short months the princ's
{piriL wouldbe goingup into the white wave forever Hercwas lucking
(,(t
Vith us we.e Handoko, one of lndonesias industrial leaders, a
l.w hicnds, nd some ofJohns stdents, fifteen people in all
"Did you brins yourriocassete recorder:" Handoko asked me
" Nope. 1 f or got i t i n my hoi el r oom "
"People have ried to record him ir the past, and all that comes
out G a kind of squeakins noise."
"Maybe he speaks directly to th b.ain centere of the people
present," I said. "Maybe it's not sound t all, but simply seems that
"Yeah. Or maybe the spirit simply doesn't want to be .ecorded,
and erases the tpe ech tifte."
"lnteresti ns phe nomenon, thoush," Isaid. "lt also shows that Situ
hasnt planted a wireless nicrophone somewhere in thc area."
"Cood point," Handoko said.
Ve reached the area, and my brother stdents immeditely be-
gan to clear up and prepa.e the site. As I had wiinessed in the past,
they laid out floweB and food for the spfit, nd lit up an incense
AU fifteen o{ us gathered close to the offerinss andJohn went
into editalion, summoning the prince. lmediately we heard the
loud and shrill whining of the wind, th mark of a spirit. I saw th
incense stick move. Suddenly, to the risht of the offerings and di
rctly in frcntofmymaster, therewas ano.ng glow Asweet, gertle
voie spoke to us in Indonesian.
"Creetings, Brother Chans," it said to my teacher "l am happy
that you a.e here with me again. You have btousht many iriends
today . . . many new faces Vhat are thir nanes?
"Handoko,"John began
"Handoko," the voice whispered gently. "And next to him there
are white me'. Are these men from Hollandr"
"No,"John said quickly, "Dari,rdr, . . from Creece."
137
' Ah
r ) / hai
ar e t hei r names?" t he pr i Dce
asKed.
"Kosta nd Hercules,"
John answered, and the spirit fepeated
I concotratcdas hard as I couldon the sh ini ng orange ltght and
made out a slim hand da.cing in it, but try as I might I could see
rothine more. The convBarion weni on, roo difficult for me to un-
derstand with ny poor Indonesian; ater a rime,
.lohn thanked the
spirit and he left.
I immediarely approched my Master.'\X/hy did he ask if we
were hom Hollandr" I asked.
"tsecause he saw Hercules,s blo,rd hir \T/hile the princewas
alive,
the white men who were comins toJava were Dutch, and he was not
fond of them. He wondered wht you were doins here, rhats ll
,,
Brr I thosht. Cood thins he under$ooo we were not hrs an
cient enemies. "Did evryrhingAo well?" I asKeo.
"Not really. I wanted to ask him about a friendofine who was
dyinA, \aherher or not he could help, the spirit simply said that my
friend had developed bad ka.ma, and that it was the wi ot heaven
tht he die now He sussested I remind my inend thar rhere wa! a
Cod, to trust in Him complerely, and nor resist whatever punish
ment his karma brousht him."
Iwas quiet. My teacher's words hd movd me, and I realized at
the same time that he hd done us a grear honor
Ve were the fst white rnn thar rhe spirir of the prince
had
seen in lour hundred years, rhe Iiret thar my Masrer had brought up
r o t he Pun. at Pd\ w, r h h r
I didnt know what ro say ro my teache. Once asain he had
honoted me beyond all words. HuggingJohn
was out of the ques-
tion;lava k not the Mediteranean, and the Chinesedidnotgo
in for
displays ofaffedion in
senerat.I hopedthat in the tuture I would be
r bl " r o r epav h m r o. t h" mdny
si l .
Le
hdd
s, ven
m
Ve met
John in the late venjns and had dinner at his house, as
usual Later, after the cstornary pleasanrries
had ben exchansed
and $.e were sippiog rea our on his terrace,
John asked Henkf to
bring out his kerises.
There werc three of them, as Henky had said, one mofe beauti_
tul than the others. The btades of the firsr rwo were undulared, bur
the last and most beautitul had a straight, unwaveriog blade. The
I
$udacc of t he mct al was bl ackcncd, coarse, and damascenedi as was
thc custom in Malysia and Indonesiar kerises were etched with hot
l l me
j ui ce
and arseni c upon f abri cat i on.
The kerises smelled fra$ant, the ace of the blades coated
with a sweersmelling oil. I asked Henky what it was.
"The oil of a tree that we use for this purpose in Indonesia," he
said simply. "lt is thir lvorite."
" l see. "
"You must use the oil foom a living plant on a keris, nver a p
troleum derivative."
"Okay."
"So am L How much does one of these things cost?"
"Between rwenty andforty thousanddollarc, if it has realpower"
"l doubt I'll ever own one, Henky, but thanks for the tip," I said.
"You maydesire one to pmtect your family in the future," he said
simply.
John
stepped in. "l think we should show Kosta and Doris what
the keris can do," he said. "You must all sit down on the ground."
Doris complied immediately. I was stupidenough to ask, "Vhy2"
"Because itt better,"John replied, simply enough.
Ve cleared the coffee tble between us of the tea xensils nd
cups andsat down around it. I sat across fromJohn; Doris was to my
left, Henky across from her.
John
took a saucer and fhpped ;t over, settins it down on its
face. He took a stick of incense and lit it, laying it down carefully on
the back of the sacer to protect the tabletop, which \ras Formica.
He took the smallest keris and laid it out on the table, the blade
resting on the sheath.
Vithout warning he was all concentration, and my belly shook.
His face became like a statue and I could almost hearhis heart slowins,
stopping Everything seemed to condense into a sphere around him.
Suddenly the blade turned to move over the incese.
Doris smiled.
John
picked up the keris, played the incense over it, and re'
turned it to its sheath.
"This one doesn't have all that much power," he said.
139
He took out the seond keris and laid it on the table rhe samc
way as he hadthe first. Agin he concentrated, rhis time briefly. The
secondkris turned also, rotating to come over the incense. lt seemed
to be eagerly onsr-rminsthe smoke, vibratins slightly as it did. Iohn
pi cked i t up.
"This one is in a very bad mood tonight," he said.
'Iyy'e
will not
He set the point ol the keris into its scabbard. The keris pulled
the scabbard ovr its "body" with much force, making a loud clack
rng norse.
"l'd like to see that asain," l sid
John
smiled. "All risht," he said. "Here, hold the scabbard." He
removed the blade from its wooden sheath and offered the latter to
I took the wooden scabbard in my right hand, holding ftrmly.
John
inserted the tip of the blade into the sheath. Hewhispered
something to the keris
The scabbard wasjerked from my grasp with considerable force,
the keris blde pullins the wooden sheath over itself.
"As I said,"
John
remarked, "this one is in a very bad mood and
does not want to be bothered "
He removed the blade from its sheath, played the incense over
it, and retumed it to the scabbard. He placed it to one side.
Henky handedhim the lasr kerjs, the onewith the straight blade.
''Ihis
one is very powerful,"John said. "He was made during the
early years of the Majapahit empire, and his narne is Samar"*
lohn laid the weapo on the table in a sirnilar manner, and it
immediately spun to settle ove. the burning incense stick.
"SifLr," Dor;s asked, "how do yo know its namer"
"He told me,"John answered. "He remembers everythiDs about
hjs mkjng, the circumsrances andthe time. He remernbers his name
as well. He is over five hundred years old."
John
picked up the keris and passed the incense stick under it. If
a piece of metal could appear content, that one certainly did
John
-
Since to know the name ol a keris is ro hve power over ir, I hve
chnAed the weapon! name tD protect Henky.
14{)
whi {pcrcd son1cl hi ng t o l hc wcapon, t hcrl s' ri i t down on t hc t abl e
t ' t " pur t hc l rrccnse si i ck bck on t he di sh and t t rrned t o Henkv The
two m(:n sPoke to each other brictlv
I looked at Dorls, who secmed verv happv That evenins con
{irrrccl for her what I had told her of mv own expcriences
viih spir-
ils in John's
company in the
Past
"Sihr," she aked, "how cn the kc'is do vhat it dos?
"Becuse it has
vin
power"' he answered
"lt is' for all practical
purposes, a spirit
'
Ireached out to adjst the incene stick on the saucel lt had
rolted near the edge of the saucer, and I was wonied tht it mislrt
roll off and burn the Formica
'-
ifl. f.-o Sarnar spLIn a'ound verv fast and tied to ct me l
pdled my hnd back in tim
just as evervone other thnJohn
gasped
"Be caretull" Henkv said. "Tlev have a mind of thir own'
vou
I looked at the keris; somehow
I knew how to handl this "l'm
notifngtotake
awavvour
incense' mv friend"'l said "liustwanted
to adiust it on the tabl
"
"ile doesnt understand
English," John
said "But go ahead and
tru to make hinds with him "
I picked the weapon up ginglv bv the handle witb one hand
and passed the incense stick ndr him with the oiherr I concen-
trated an,1tr;e,1to
pro;ect appasing
thoughts '
much as I wouldhave
done with th pet of a friend that had taken a dislike to me'
ven thoueh I was expecting
it, it was thrilling to fecl the vibr-
tion in my hand as the keris seemed to hum'
"Apologv accepted'''John
said "Put him down
'
I di d so.
"He is actullv very nice and nov wanrr to show us what he can
do l ohn sard He pr. rL rh' t eapon bLl ' I n i r\ ' (dbbd d and
' er rr
do. n rhe h' l t l * ' ng roward hrm' eh
l ohrr
"ni ed
and l ooked at u'
tfu,"t tt n.'H" to"t.aat the keris briellv "smrl" he said' andthe
weapon leapt completelv
out of its sheath to skip across the tabl
andj mp i nt o hi s open hand
\fle were delishted
"Vant to see it again:" John
asked' and we of corse said
ves'
141
He cal l ed t he kert s agai n, and once more i t j umped
over t o hi m
"He
seems very eager to please," Doris said.
I was reminded of a golden retriever I knewr rheir dispositions
seemed about the same.
John
pi cked Samarup byt he hi l t and ra| l rhe i ncnse st i ckunder
him Th kerisvibrated in contentment. SuddenlyJobn laughedand
put the wapon back in his sheath, haoding it to Henky.
"Like a bab9" he said. "He has hts own mind and his opinions are
JustthenJohn's Lhasa apso, calted Lovely, trotted up to my heels.
I reached down to pet rhe turry back. Lovety sniffed around a bit,
wrstld briefly with Do.is, then ser off to find something morc in,
terestjng ro ocupy her time.
' A
keri s spi ri t i s somet hi ng l t ke t hat , , ' John saj d, poi nt i ng t o
Lovely. "lf you pet him and stroke him and feed htm regLrtarly, he
will be loyal and happy. Ifyou starve htm and ignore hirn, kick him
and beat h; m, he can become unpl easant . , '
"Their intelligence is about the sme?,, I asked.
"No. The kerist sentience is not so developed.,'
"Situ," Doris sid,
'you
can speak to him bccause you have com-
bined yin and yng, correct?"
"Correct."
"And how about usr Can he hear usr"
"Oh yes. He can lrear you and see you and sense you in ways
you cannot understand. Ir isyo who cannot speak with himi you
must be into LvelThree to sense yin powei unless you learn how
to use your drearns.'
"There is a lbetan Buddhist dream meditation calted the nr;lan,"
I sai cl .
"Yes, and in Indonesia people
often go to the graves of Muslim
saints and sleep there," Henky said, "hoping to communicate with
them. Frequently these spirits do speak to rhe people in rheifdreams
and give them a|swers to their quesrions',
"Sifu," I asked, "does thekeris haveyangl Is that how he can m ove,",'
"No. He has yin power rrappd inside a frame of meral He is
taking yang from me at my requesr But since he has yin power, he
can absorb yang and so protect you. If an individual manages to
142
combine yin and yang, thcn he can make a keris movc and speak to
hi m t wi l l . "
I wanted to clear up something that was gnawing at ihe back of
my mind, somethingthat would be incredible if itwere true. "Sifu," l
asked, "Samar is a crsated beins, isn't he?"
John
lookedt me wjth interest. "No, Kosta, you are missing the
point. Nice try, but no cigar, as they say. Samar is not a creted
bei ng ar al l , he s rh. exren. i on of a man who ont e wa' . '
"Can you explain this, Situ?"
"Vhen I first developed rny power,"
John
said, "l was curioos
about the abilities of the keris. In an antiques shop I found a keris of
power that was rusting awayr the storekeeper could not sense that
the keris was charged, you see. That weapon was five hundredyears
old, but he thousht it was;unk and treated it as such. lbought;t for
a few dollars nd took it home, where I investigated its origins using
my own skills. In the very center of ihe keris, bLtried in the layem of
metal, was a strip of pper on whlch a charm was written in Sanskrit
Ieiters. It ws very similar to a Chinese talisman, a fu. At that point I
undentood the technique of fabricting the keris."
"Vbatt a fur" Doris asked.
"A charm, aTaoisttalisman of protection andhealing," Iaoswered
her quickly and turned toJohn.
'A
tu comes from oLrr own person,"John said.'Vhen we make a
fu, we extend our consciousness and our power into the charm, and
thre that power can srue a specific purpose. For exampJe, when I
speak to a keris, it is actually the spirit o{ the kerisi maker whom I
am speaking to, this m has, in the past, entended a part ofh;s own
lifeforce and spirit into the fu in the heart of the keris."
He leaned back.
'A
tu is like an antenna," he continued. "You
know when I was young and wanted to medltate, Ihad ser;ous prob'
lems at nightbecause there ar so manymosquitoes here in theTiop
ics. \/e could not afford screens, and chemical repellents had not
yet been developed, so I had problems conentratinsbecause of their
constant attacks. Liao Sifu showed me how to make a fu tbat would
attract mosquitoes, I would focus, draw the charm on a piece of pa-
pet andput poveri nt o i t . Then I woul dpl ac i t i n my bakyat dnd,
in this manner, be left in peace for as long as I wanted to meditate.
143
Af t er I f i ni shed, l woul d t ear up t he f u and rcl easc rhe mosqui rocs;
there were always hundreds of them there "
"You meIl the mosquitoes would be attracted to the paper?"
"Yes. But itwas my own lifeforce that made the charm possible."
"How long does a tu last:"
"All of these items have a time span, and their enersies have to
Lre renewed constantlr"John answercd. "ln the case ofthe keris, the
metal body naturally holds the yin power well. Vhen the keris is a
family heirloom, its power is renewed on a ycarly basis because of
the ceremonies ssociated \r.ith its keeping Butyou know, to make a
tu, the pnctitioner must hve abilitics like myself, and even then
perhaps makes only one or tvo fu in his \,/hole lifetime. lr is no easy
t hi ng The t ouri st ' t rade f uyou see f orsal e t n Toi st rempl es have no
rcal powr, they rc imitations, like a fake Rolex."
Doris was qit. "lt sounds alnost like magic," shc said ftnally.
John shrugged. "Perhaps in a way. Mdric, or sorcery ifyou will, is
by definition the use of outsidc energies ro fulfil a specific tsk or
desi r. St ri ct l y speakj ng, si nce a f u comes f rorrr our own pcrsor, rr rs
not nragic. One does not invoke spirits to rnake a fu. In any case,
Doris, even il you were to consider thcse kerises rnagical, they are
oot m/ doine I am no sorcerer. Thc neikung rraining I have done all
my life sinrply gives me power over such things "
I thoutht over the conccpt of the fu as an ntenna to thc dcad
makcr's spirit. "Siftr," l said, "you told me oncc ihat a spirit cannot lie.
That means he cannot create as welli is that correcc"
"Yes, Kosta. It is the coming together ol yin and yang that al
lows crcation, it is specifically this attribule that makes all lile on
earth special. The human being is even more unique in that he pos-
sesses the biological qualificarions to |nake fulluse of the ability ro
"Our brains "
"So this fu in the keris, this aotenna, ir feeds the maker informa-
tion and allows hirn to act on rhe earth as well," l sid.
"Yes, but only with yin power,"John answered.
"Fair enouch. How strong his influence is depends on the fu,
right2 It! Iike computer proramming, isnt ir?"
144
E
(b)
@
Fig L An xample of typical Chinese Buddhist tu used lor prctection
sainst neaative lorces is shown at
(a) The Sansknt svllable used to charse
th talisman is depicted in (b). Ho,^,ever, the inase bv itsell
js
not
"charged'-it wold be useless for you to copv it and attemPt to etplov it.
"Yes and no. The personality of the maker was established dul-
ing his lifetime by the interaction of yin nd yang, now that h is
onl yyi n, he cannot devel op, l i e, orcreat e. I see what vou are savi ng'
though; hi decisions are filtered by the fu and constrined bv th
fact that h is a spirit. Tht is conect."
Doris looked at
John.
"ls h right? Is this writing dovn of the
characters-whether Saskrit or Chinese-during the talismant
making a kind of pro$amming?"
"Close enough," John
said. "lti a way of initializinc a process
Aren't you yourself the result of programmlngr Your brain, which
js
a type of cornputer, read external stimuli as input when you were a
baby. lt processed the dat, and, through the yars,
vourpersonalftv
was fomed. It is much dre same, excpt that you as a human being
possess both yin and yang in equal balance le keris does not
Making a fLt is like giving birth, in a way. You are essentillv putting
a part ofyourself lnto something else, and this antenna will continu
fol a given duration."
John
paused to hght a cisrette and leaned back "The problem
is," he said, "thatmany Indonesians andMalavsians trear their familv
kerises as articles of worship rather than the loval companions of
mediocre perception that they rea1ly are "
Doris iooked at Henky, who grinned
John
smiled. "Not Henky. The truth is, I doubt that a keris will
everwin theNobelPrize in physlcs, because ofthe double constraints
145
t ht we menri oned earl i e. Samar i s n exampl e of a hi ghl y i nrel l i _
sent
ooe A keris should be treated like a pet, fed and cared fo1 bur
neve. worshippd like a
sod.
This is a very serious mjstake, and one
I constantly'reproacb my frtends for Some people even pray to their
kerisest"
Lovel ycame t rot t i ngup agai n. John pi cked herup, put her i n hi s
Iap and began to per her
''fhis
is how a kerjs should be treated-or
any fu, for that mafter like a loyal friend and protector.
you
can
caress her ifyou wish, bur I doubt you would ever pray to her, would
you? There is only one Cod, and He alone shouldbe worshipped by
Ve could not really addmuch to thar simple sratement.
perhaps
ot all the thinss I had seen aroundJohn, the keris and the concept ol
tu were the most shockins. I could see that Doris was shaken as well
by the rmificarions.
Could all the myths and legends of humanity indeed be true?
Suddenly many things were clear to me. Years of academic school-
ing stopped buftjng heads with years ofsearching for esoteric truths,
.he momenrs I had spent with.lohn rushed thrcush my mind like a
hurriane and I was granted answers to quesrions rhat had plagued
I had grasped an undersrandtng o nature.
It remained to be seen what I would do wirh it
John studied me caretully and nodded. Perhaps hehadseen some
lhing in my fce thr mirrordthe thoughts racing through mymind.
Awkwardly, Doris and Istood up and said our goodnishts. It vr'as
Since that day I have seen hundreds of kerises, some with great
powel others with less, but each with its own distinct prsonality.
The phenomenon
never ceases to amaze me. I willclose this chpter
with the simple affirmation rhat I have becorn convinced that the
magic of the keris is genuine. For the moment, to say anyrhing more
woul d be poi nt l ess
146
The Keris
Chapter Tn
THF NATURE OF
REALITY
It was at sunset on a bach on the island of Evia, north of Athens,
that I finally entered into hypernormal states ofconsciousness I \vas
seated in a half lotus, engaged in my Level Two exercises, prtlling in
yang ch'i, se,rding it down to my dntien, aod compressing it tbere
by yogically holding rny breath.
Suddenly there was a whirrinc noise, like a helicopter or the
propeller of a boat (indeed, at first I thought there wa boat pass
ingby). The noise kept gettinslouder andlouder Vithout warning,
everything went black: Cood God,I'n baoing a strokr, lthought kwas
not an uncomfortable feeling, howeveri indeed, the sensation ws
rather pleasant. lobsewed the phenomenon for a while, complelelv
aware andconscious, before I began to teelafraid and pulled mvch'i
back up.
The world carne back to me and I reeled, dizzy for a few sec-
onds. I felt powerful, notweak; thiswas no stroke. Vnting to finish
the set of exercises I had begun, I sent my ch'i back down lmtnedi'
ately, the whirring noise began again, but this time I was apprehen
siver I interrupted the process and pulled away A third repetition
yielded the same result. It was gtting to be too much l stood on
shaky legs and walked over to where Doris was waiting
14?
She was furious. "l thought you said you were only going to be
twenty minutes or sol" she said.
"Vel l , I wqs, I mean, I t hought . . . . Vas l l at er" I st ammered.
WlJrft di the tine
40,
I thought. A yogic repetition usually took me a
minute; I had wanted to do twenty before we went to dinnr t a
"Vhat are you talking about? I'v been waiting hete watching
you for forty-five minutesl You didn't rnove t all for at least twenty
minutes one time. Iwas worried."
I was shocked.lt seemedthat, for twenty minutes or more, I had
held my breath and lost all awareness of time.
I immediately called John.
"Congratulations," he said.
"Vhat do you mean, congratulations?"
"Cood experience. It means you're progressing well along l-evel
Two."
"lt was supposed to happenr"
"Sure."
"\i/hat ws the whirring noise? A Sufi friend of mine sid that it
was the dantient chakra wheel as it spun."
He laughed. "Oh yeahl You transfened your awareness down to
your dantien, thats all."
Thatl alll The miraculous had apparently become routine and
the sublime common around John.
How could I go about brinsins
such knowledge to the Vestern world without being ridiculed or
condemnedz Vhat was the best \{ay to proceed? And how to kep
my own ambitions and hopes at bay while I did so? Tiese thoughts
were formost on my mind at the time of the above incident, and
with good reson.
You will recall that Liao Situ made my teacher pJedge never to
demonstrate his powers in public, nor use them for profit or for vil
purposes. Vhen lohn
made the decision to
so
ahead with a book
and film in May 1996, he consulted with his Master, who had djed
mor than thirty-four years earlier and gone up in 1992. To reach
Liao Sifu's consciousness, John
fasted for more than ten days and
entered dep mditation, sending his awareness out nd avy. Liao
Sifu told him that it would be okay to proceedr the time was ripe,
r48
The Nture of Relity
runt l hunani t y was rcady. t l c al so warncd John
t ht w woul d bear
rhc karma of the effort lfwe could teach humaniiv about the factual
l)cocfits of meditatioo, ch'ikung, and neikng, then the blessitss
would be great lndeed, it it backfired, andw created a Frankenstein
nr, , n, t er, rhen rhe t arma woul d b veD bad.
Vhen initially taking up the task of producing a book for mv
tcacher, I had quickly sen the need for a noted scientific authoritv
to lend credibil;ty to what I was writing l was lso acutelv aware of
thc limitations imposed bvJohn! oath to his own Master' A public
clcmo under chnlcal conditions was not permitted The plan I came
up with to overcom this obstcl was simple' John
was allowed to
lrcat anyone with a real illness, andthe phenomenon of electrogen
csis he used during these acupuncture tratments was enougn or a
demonstration
for any clinical phvsicist. Mv strategv wa to tind a
distinguishd
authority who was ill, set up a therapv sssion with
John,
and hopetully induce this man or womn to support u
John
coLrld then do a f"ll demonstration ootlttr in front of those students
o[his who were also degreed scientists, there vere quite a few ofus
It would be enough, with the right person in ourcorner I spent long
lrours feeling peoplc out and setting up contacts with eminent re-
scarchers. ln two such cases John
got cold feet at the last possible
lnstant, and I was left with making the necssary phone calls to the
rnen
(who were probablv convinced at that moment that Dvnamo
Jack
was a fraud).
Aftermany frustrating months I returned to Indonesia in Novem-
ber 1997, where I met with Andreas and Handoko At that tim Chans
Sifu reaffirmedto us that a public demonstration was out ofthe
ques
tion, \trhile he had received pemission from his teacherto do a book
and film, he was still bound bv his promise to Liao Situ ln the round'
rable discussions that folloved, Andreas had the idea of bringing
Lawrence Blair* into the prolect, as a filmrnakerwho had alreadvwit-
nessed what our Master could do, and because Rrrg oJFne had been
our introduction to.lohn in the first place h was a good idea The
next mornins I boarded a plane
(or
Bali and began looking for Blair
I
See r he r nt r oducn^n and chapt er I
149
The Nture of Reliq,
Now, Lawrence Bl i randJohn had not spoken l of t cn ycrs; t hc
latter was ansfy with the former, for he belteved that Dr. tslair had
rricked him. Accordins to
John,
the orisinl foot{re for Rr
4
oJF re
had bccn fllnied for the purpose of scientific ldcnftrridrlo, of his abili
t i es, not l or commerci l use. Lawrcnce was t eni f i ed ol John dnd had
stayed away from him for ten years when he heard that my teacher
I mct with Dr Blair that same evenjns in his house in Ubud, ac
cording to him, a mimnderstnding was t the core ol the mdttcr Blail
had Lrsed the Malay word/ollunoriairwhile speakinsvithJohr, Chans
Sitr! had construed the $.ord to mean "documentatior," while ar the
samc tnne Blair believed he had carte blanchc to use the footase.
I brought the two ften tosthef that wek, with thc intcnt of
having Lawrencc do a second documentary enploying rhe existing
footage he had from R':4 oJFrre. Apparently that meetinsv/ent very
well bccauseJohn reached an rrnexpected decision, Dr Blairwas given
pennission to shoot a rsxr docunentarv on John, wirh Henkyt assis
tance. I breathed a sieb of relief, free to continue with .ny ovn pfoject.
I had an agenda to keep. I wanted to reach out to those ltke
myseli, people with \(/estern technical degrees who were also expe
ri enced mdrt i al art i st s, peopl e who coul d and woul d combi neJohn!
neikung training with an orthological approach and \X/estern sci
cnce. lt had tken humanity a long, long tjme to evolve such stock,
men andwomen who were ni t her East norVest but a l i t t l e of bot h.
Itwas timeto cash in on the investmnt. Perhaps thosewhom Ceorge
Lucas had named theJed; would come in the flesh.
But it would be no easy task, for the rules could not be broken I
knew first-handwhat happenedwhen someonebroke an oath around
John.
Let me share one such incidnt \i/ith the reader:
A ChanSje in the Weather
I was drivine back down toAthens frorn my village in northern Creece
when the rainstorm hit
\X/rth me in my V\v Colf was Spiro, a twenry-isht-year old
pilotwhows both a tiiend andmy student in the martial arts Itwas
spri nstime, llowers we.e everywhere, and Easter had come and
sone.
The sun was shining and ther was not a cloud in the sky.
150
The Nture of Reliry
Qui Lc
suddcnl r and i n vi r w ot dr c l act t har Spi . ot t her hd
jus1 lost a kidncy ro infectioD, rhe ropic of our conversation rurned
t o deat h and t he pot ent i al of an af t er l t f e l had knownl ohn f or about
year at the time and ws b(6ting to tell so'neone, anyone, what I
had witncssed. I was, however nderst.icr orders not to discuss what
I had seen, alrd had promisedJohn as much
Scizing the moment, I told Spi.o whr I had learned in Indone
sia, how there was no longer any dobt i. 'ny mind that there was
life after death. I described the whiie wave and the blck wave and
whatJohn hd tught me.
Suddenly a mass of water struck the windshield I couldnt see,
and tu.ncd the wipeB on.
\X/e were passins freshly turned fields
'\fe
musr have pa$ed
ihfotgh a sprinkle.," I said to Spiro. Srnge that I hadn'r seen it.
Half a min(te or so went by as I drove on
\yater
kept poudng
down on th windshieldwith unbridled ferocity,I clickedthe wipe6
to their highest speed.
"No, its a rinstonn," Spiro said He was puzzled. As a profr-
sionalpilot, he krew about wearher, and there had been oo indicarions
wewould be havinga showel let alone one ofsuch inteDsiry The rai
continucd to pummel us wilh vigor so much th1 I could hardly see.
\N/e rode on in silence After abour a mile I noriced sonethiDe
stmnge The ca6 that e.e conine toward ne in rhc oppolite laDc
didn't hve their wipe.s on.
I lookcddown aL the ground as we paxed. kappcaredto be dryr
"Vhat kind ol fockins raiDsrorm is thisr" I said ort loud
At the same oment I hcrd a snall and frishLned whimper
kom the pasengers
scat "LIh, did you do somerhing you weren't
supposed to when you told re bout all thisz" Spiro sked I looked
over at him He was white with fear and amazemcnr.
"l don't knoq" I said The situation was sureal, like a cartoon
brought to llfe, and I was beeinninsto enjoymyself.I adually
srinned,
then looted up at the heavens.
"l'm s.,.ry Sif!," 1said "lt won'r happe. again."
Spatteing s with the rattle of a few final drops, the rain sud
denly stopped I pulled over to the curb aDd we
sot
out quickly.
MyWwas soaked. I t had t he l ook of a car t hat hs been l ef t i .
tropicalthnderstorns for aweek. Other cars, conpletely dry kept
psins us left and riaht as we stood on the side ofthe road. The sun
was shiningr as before, rhere was not a cloud in the sky.
151
The Nture of Reality
Spiro cauaht my cye. "Okar" he rid, "either it didn'1 happen
and I walk away from you, or it did happen and t have to start tfain
ing " He qaused for a second and smiled "Vhen can you show me
Level Onez"
I cal l edl ohn as soon a! l sot backhome, descdbi ns t he i nci dent
to him. He let me have it, holding nothing back
"lt was hom my Master" he said. "Next time, when you make a
promjse, you keep it no matter whau"
Since that day I have kept every promis I have made. I fear my own
pride and
$eed,
yo see, and try to be av/arc of thm as rnuch s
possible. In writjng this book, forexample, in presentingJohn to the
\7est, I am walking on a tishope. I, too, will have to pay the karma
of my action nd intentions, good and bad. I dread the latter, my
heart is far lrom pure, andrny hands notas clean as lwould Iike them
RFINVENTINC THT \(/HTL
As I've stated repeatedly, the point is not to subiugate Eastero sci
ence to
\/estem,
but rathr to create a rri, science that is neithr
East nor Vst. Scientific theory is always to paraphrase Dr Frlqof
Capra*-at best an drproxindtior, someone! attempt to modl or dou-
ment the underlying nature and processes of physical reality. Fol
example, classical Newtonian theory was quite adequate lor illus
tratingthe behavior of large, slow'moving masses, but had problems
charcterizing electromagnetic fields and even more problems on
th atomic scale. The trials and tribultions of the world's thinkers
can be amusing to follow (ifyou're
the type of individualwho enjoys
watching intelligent people running headfirst into brick walls). Two
hundred years ago, for exarnple, people believed in somethingcalled
loln]'on,
an imasinary substance thought to exist only because hu-
mankind did not prope yunderstand combustion. The failure to come
*
Capn, Fitjol,'I\e Tdo oJ Prlicr (New York, Bantam New Age Books,
1977).
152
The Nture of Relity
up with an adequate modcl for combustion was an insurmountable
obstacle against real progress in chemical theory. Never willing to
say "l don't know," the scientists of the day announced th existenc
of the imponderable phlogiston, substance contined in all materi-
alscapable of sustaining oxidation. There is, ofcourse, no such thing.
I could not, as a scien.ist, discountwhat Ihad seen with my ov/n
cyes, and, unless
John
was the greiest magician in th world (or a
genetic mutnt), there was no way he could be tricking so many
people. You can compltely discount the rnetphysical aspects of
this text as
Johns
own impressions or delusions, but ther was no
discounting th energies that I and thousands of people had wit
nessed and experienced. In addition, theassumption thatJohni pow-
ers are the result of a genetic mutation is not vlid, because all his
students encountered the energis h describedv/ithin our own bodies
during our training. In a sparring session, for instance, I accidentally
nearly killed one of my own students, who had surprised me with a
quick punch. In raction I hit him in the chest with my right palm
while blocking with my left. The man a strapping, powerful Creek
villager-immediarely suffered a mild heart attack and collapsed.
There was no rational explanation forsuch a reaction, nolcouldany
clarification of his condition be found in a hosoital. He was. and
thankfully still is, exceptionally healthy.
Th cornerstonc of our body ofknowledge is the science of phys-
ics. Most people today take quantum physics for granted, or look at
that science with distrusr, indeed, its immdiate practicalapplication,
nuclear power, will plgle us untilwe come tounderstandthe physics
of fusion. In 1905, when Albert Einstin
(then
a clerk in the Swiss
patnt office) publishedhis now classic papers on relativitsr/ andwhat
was to become quantum mechanics, therespone from theestablished
community of Newtonian physicists v/as quite vicious. Despite this
outcry within two decades a team of dedicated, brilliaot men,* work
ingcross internationalborders, had irrefutably set the foundations of
quantum theory The point is that manl perception of the universe
.
Einstein, Max Planck, Niels Bohr \Y/erner Heisenbe.s, EMin
Schrdinge., \X/olfgang Pauli, PaulDirac, and Lois de B.oslie
The Nture of Relib/
changed radically and suddenly, destroying the established concep,
tions of the scintific community in a short and bewildering twenty
years. \X/hile it is more comforting to think that scientific thory is
constant and on top of things thus reducing the insecurity in our
own lives the truth is that scientific theory is ever changing in its
attempts to describ realiry And I use the tem eov chan4n4 rather
than mabh4 purposely, because in many cases the departure from
established patterns of thought has been quite revolutionary.
Imaginc the shockto the established scientific communitywhen
the realit/ of the atom came to be understood. Until then people
had supposed atoms to be incrcdibly hard, indivisible part;cles of
solid rnss, qonturn rnechalics
(and
the discovery of the X ray)
showed thm to be mostly space, existing only in relation to ach
other and definable only by the laws of probability.
Relativity theory and quantum mechanics are, of necessity, ho-
listic and ecological, however as far as humanityt social evolution
goes their discovery is fairly recent, and there has notyei been eogh
time for them ro have a benevolent effect. (lndeed,
their initial de,
rivative nuclar power-has to date been negative
)
It is certaio
that we will see their poitive sid in the next fifty years; for the
moment it is reassrring to know that thc creators of quantum theory
thmselves quickly ppreciated how closely their new physics fol
lowed the model of Eastrn mysticism. Many of thern began study
ing the wisdorn of the East in ordr to bfler understand their own
bfainhild. Niels Bohr visited China in 1937 Vhen he was knishted
ten years later by the king of Denmark, h chose the t'ai chi (yin
yang) symbol as his coat of arms to acknowledge the harmony be
t ween ancrenr Farrern and modcrrr \ {esrern ri ences
Letus assurne for a second that bothJohnt abilities andhis theo-
ries prove tru. Iwould like to iouch upon what such information
could offer humanity. (For a more detailed approach, turn to appen-
dix 2.) ln the third century cE Chinese sages described the process
by which things were created from the Source and would return to
it.r5 To symbolize the state before time and space began, those who
would come to be called Taoists came up with the concept ofwu-cht
(literally, "ther is no extremity"), symbolized by a circle. \/u-chi is
thecondition ofstillness inwhich allthings are und;fferen tiated toom
154
The Nture of Relity
thc ultilr]ale. lirom this statc a point ol moveDcnt, of pure yang,
shi nesout There i s i nt eract i on bt wcen yi n andyang l eadi ng t o t he
state of t'al chl
(the
supreme extrmity)' here yin and yang are em-
lrraced, distinct yet togther, countracting each others forces.
(d)
Iis 2.
(a) \/ chi, pure yin. (b) and (c) A lprk of movement in the
(illness; yans in th centerofyin.
(d)T'ai chi; yin andvang etbraced
IfJohn! theories and the modelin fisure 2 are accurate, thn our
own archetype of the universe is missing a key ingredient: the fact
rhat the substance existing before the "Big Bang"* is in constnt in-
t erpl aywi t ht he l abri cof ourpresent physi cal ui verse, st i l l Dess(vi n)
and motion
(yang) forever balanced as one. It ls safe to say that such
a postulate would accont for the many discrpancies in physial
theo)y that scientists around the world have obserued and reported
The yin is not precisely the "ther" sought by Hendrik l-orentz and
Jules-Henri
Poincar,i'6 but it /o?r offer many exciting possibilities
*
Assumins that there @a5 a Big 8ang. The Chinese model also covem the
possibility that eners'l' is constDtly being
Prodced,
and the universe
has no bsinnins or end.
t Intrestinsly e.ouch, whn Poincar postulted that a clock slowed in
rime s it moved irto the ethet he ws describins one of the attrib(Ites of
155
The Nture ofRelity
John dkclosed the following key sraremcnr ro rne on one occa-
sion' "Everythingoa
the earth is yang, but rhe earth irslf isyin.', Fof
me, as a scientist, this implies thatyin energy is associtedwith gravi-
tational,wells such as planets and singulariris, and that the balance
described by the t'ai chi symbol exists in the universe as follows,
Fig 3. Mac.ocosmic yanA and yin.
This simple diasram susgests incredible thinss. First of all, I am
fairly certain that the yang ch'i is a solar phenomenon.*
John had
said,'The yaDgch'i
is in the air; oatur creates it.,'l have seen it ro be
blue in color, as I noted e(lir As a neikung traine, I can feel the
yang ch'i constantly stored within my dntienr it is hot, just
as rhe
classical Chinese textsdescribe itto be. Both.hese observations msh
perfectly with Vilhelm Reich,s work on the orgone. It seems as well
that the conceotrarion of yang ch'i increases with increasing eleva-
tioni in otherwords, yang ch'itends to break away fom
enviry
(v/hich
is why yogis flock to the mountains). I can feel the yans ch,i wanrins
to go up within myown body, ifrhat is ny indication. The existeDce
of the yang ch'i clearly shows how insane we are as a species, Consid-
ering that our current lifestyl is benr on dstroying rhe environment,
ind asslrming that oaturc circulatcs and propagates csseoril life en
crgy, t hen by el i mi nat i ng nat ure wc are ki l l i ng oursel ves.
The great surprise, however, inJohni model of the univene is yjn
cnergy, because it simply behaves unlike any otherrecorded physical
phenornenon.
Nothingaccounts forit nottelekinesi, notmindcon
trol.John passed it tnto my body on severaloccasions, andthe sensa
lion was unlike anythinselse I have encountered. kwas a coldrush, a
winter breeze, the vacuum of outer space. Classical Chinese theory
called the yin ch'i larr (watel)
in an artempr to describe its texturcr
likewise, ir had called the yans ch,i l;i (fire).
Both names are apropos.
The law of conservation of energy is a foundation pillar of phys
ics. Duling the incident at the prwn farm, whenJohn passed the yin
ch'i into our bodies and we caught the bullets foom the air rifle, rhere
had been no deforrnation ofthe lead pellet, norany radiation ofheat.
This suggested that the bullet's energy was not conserved but rather
somehow ceasel to nrsr llndercunent physicallaw, thjs is not possible.
The prospect that such a continuum exists in our v/orld, passive
but ever present, is mddeningly excirig. The yjn is the primal
chaos
that existed before matter and space-time had corne; such order as we
have ln our world comes from the interaction defined by the tai chi
symbol. YinJor{4rt againstyang, but the balance of their forces created
life. I reckoned that understanding rhe nature of yin and yang ch,i would
give humanityantignvity,
faster,than-light speed, andalmost certainly
clues to the riddle ofrime; Ihadvalid reasons for these assumprions.
Levitation
Ve were in Barcelona.
John ws tourins Europe in the company o{
th lndonesian minister of th inrerior; he had conlided in me jok-
insly that the man fek safer when he was a,ound
John came into my horel room nunchtng on Indonsian pe-
nuts, he tossd me a bas and slumped into a lounge chair For a few
momena we made small talk; thn, quite sddent, rhe topic turned
to the subjecr of ch'i in relatjon to the biophysical sciences.
"You cannot study ch'i undel a microscope,"
John said
,,Ch'i
is
the study of our.xridc., not simpl matrer Forexanple, ifyou have
ch'i, yoq can bypass lvhat we define rody as nariallaw
you
can walk
throush walls, you
can ris from the ground, you
can doanythinss.,,
157
The Nture of Relity
*
Indeed, I believe that,
nor a wave but borh.
like lisht photons, yaos
c6'i is neithe. a particle
156
The Nture of Relity
STAR,/SOLAR ENERCY
CREATER YANC
C
"You mean levitation," I said. "So the srories of yogis lcvitaring
off the grond in meditation are true. Can you do tharz"
"Of course/'he replied.'1t took me only a lew monrhs to learn
ihat t.ick, bu1 i1! lto bis deal You
just
rtse up abour yard off the
Cround
and sil thert, yocannot
move in any dirction, just
back down
,,
" Yes , but . . . . "
"N butst"he itempted. "Anyone withch'i cn lea.n howro do
this.Itl nothingl" He rhought thatstatement over for a second, then
added, "But firsr yo hust have ch'i "
"Car yo show me rhis, Sifr17"
John looked at mc with disappoinrment. "Surc," he sid, and sa1
down on the 1loo., crossinshis lees in a fullloxrs. He became stlll; it
appeared that his brearhing stopped. He was a sratue of an Eastern
mystic lor a timc.
Smoothly and suddenl, almost matter-of-factly, he rose horr
the floor at lesi eisht iDchcs, and remained rhere.
My breath causht in my throat, alter half a minute or so, John
cme back down
"Thecarpet is synrheti.,"he said, sindins up,
,,rheMise
Iwould
have risen mch more."
I thanked him repearedly, he seemed surprised that I was so im-
pressed. Forhim it hadbeer nosrct fear{ pa.lortrick,
funcrionally
uselcs except as a demonstFtion of the inhercnt capacirics oinan
"\/e're goingolt t dinrcf," he saidat the door "CominA with us:"
"Chinese lood asin)" I asked
"Yes. The.es a
sood
Chinee restaurnt down the s1reer.,,
The little hairs on thc back of my oeck stoodup.
" Si t u, " I sai d, " r nay I ask you somdhi ns: You' vebeen t o FI ol l and,
Cermanr Arstri, Swirze.land, Italy, Nice, and now Spain, richrl,
He nodded. "All this time, hve you only eaten Chinese loodz"
"Ofcourse not " he replied iDdiAnantly. "Someties we earThai
For an immediate outlook as to how modern marhematrcs cn b
applied to
Johnt theories, look at the work of Dr. IIya Prigogtne.* In
*
Best known for his confiburions to nonequilibrium staristicat mechan
ics and his theories on the role of time in ireversible processes.
154
The Nture of Relity
l ! )77 hc rccci vcd Lhc Nobcl l l ri zc l or showi ns rhat compl ex chemi -
cal syst ems t end t o organi z i hcnrscl vcs i nt o l t ruct ured rel at i onhi ps
ol their own accord in othcr vords, that self organiztion is fLrn-
damental charcteristic of the universe. These chemical systcms be
havc in such a manner as 1rl almost be alive, except for the fact that
ihey do not generatc or reproducc cells Such seli organized systems
seem to be the halfijr'ay point betwccn what can be considered live
and whal cannot. lndeed, in recent decades our establishcd concep
tions of what life really is have received severe blows. Viruses, for
example, cannot rcally bc considered alive as we deiine the term
today becaue outside of a livirlg ccll they have no real "state of be
ing." It is only when they have infected a host and pcnctratcd a ccll
thar they form a systern in conjunction with the cell, this system dors
function in a self organizcd wy Cotrary to most othel examples
of the biological cycle, howcvcr, the vi'us cell systemt purpose is
not the slrf,/ivalofthe system, but simply the gcneration of hundreds
of nev vimses t the expense of the original ell Perhaps such be
haviorcan be explained by the simple interplay ofyin andyang forces.
Mruses aside, I arn convinced that complexity and chaos theory
hold the mathematical fomrula for modeling the intraction of yin
and yang. As such, I sincerly hope that this rext will provide the
necessary impetus for such a model to be formulated. I cannot stress
enough tht the yin-yang image made popularby modern culture has
been misinterpreted; yin andyang are, as I have said repeatedly, 0ppo5'
i''4 forces.* Yet life itself is a combination of yin and yang energies
running in parallel. As such, thc archaic t'aichi synbol Gee
fieure ab)
describes their balance far bette. than the modern symbol used today
(figure 4a). The configuration suggested by figrre 4a is a descriptio
of yin andyans in flow and by nature incorstant. lt could be said that
'The
newer gre is alchemical, describiDg the transition and flu of
nrgy with time rather than a steady state situation. The cunent
asttophysical model of the evolutior of stam helps us understand this It
would seem that the growth of a sta. to the red-siant stage, and its
subsequent trandormation i'o a black hole, sugsests transition ko
greateryans to yin. Check appendix 2 for turthe. analysis.
159
"l1le
Nture of Relity
(")
(b)
Fis 4 Yn and yaDs in balance. Tbe figrre shown in (a) is under tension,
it relates to Levels Four aDd Five of neikns trainins ad requires
heishtened states of enersy. This symbol is erroneously used in poputar
vo.k to describe the narural state of our li feforces, balance, which is
more accurarely depicted in (b) (Third
centurycE depiction)
L?
the archaic model better depicts yin and yang in their most produc-
tive balance, at rhar moment when the rwo energies combine to cre-
ate life, whereas the modern symbol better describes their
l,rocess
oJ
cbd|e ovet tlme. (One
xample would be that of a star in the red
giant phase*greater yang transforming into a black hole, or lesser
yin. More on this in appendix 2.) In the human body the modern tai
chi symbol is stricrly alchemical and requires heighrned stars of
energy to exist (though
once ach;eved, it is permanent).
I will close thts chapter with one final bornbshell. Consider the
yin s the primal qualty before space timi the anragonistic comple
ment of our own yang nature.
John himsell senss yrn energy by ,rs
interaction with yang; he feels an electrical current when the two en-
ersies are brousht together (as
do we all). Since rhe yans ch'i is both
a prerequisir ro and a result of life-,--and assuming t is, as I believe, a
solaf eoerg./-ahen its precence implies thar rnere was n intenr be
hind the cration of mafter
l/e
cn se testimony of our continuous
growth from the yin toward the yang in the evolurionary record of
life. \Y/hile our universe is a balance of yang and yin forces, some
things are more one than rhe other. \X/ater is considered a yjn ele
ment. Life besan in the oceans in the form of ltuid one celled cre
tures, evolved into plants, into fish; an d finally stepped away from the
yin to the solid shore iD the shape of amphibians. Our evolutionary
process continued on the land, we are still growis
more and more
160
The Nture of Relity
into the yang with each poch. It sems unlikely that the ncient
Chinese understood the evolutionary procss betwen 1000 BcE nd
300 cE, when the yin-yang theory was tully developed. Moreover, as
stated by the Tao I Ching and confirmed byJohn, in order forlife to
exist, Iiving beings
(plants,
animals, bacteia) must have both yin and
yang ch'i running parallel to each other A wooden tbl is simply
yang and lifeless, whlle a tree has both yin and yang nd is alive.
Vhat I am saying, in summary, is that the reality of yin and yang
energis lends crdnce to ourhopes that thre rs a Creator Cod, and
to the idea that t ' 'rirrfse uas actualized uith th htat oJtrrodnng l: axlJ.
And thls, ln our age ofrigid logi, is perhaps the most shocking
realization of all.
l6t
The Nture ofRelib),
Epilogue
FOR A BREATH
r TARRy....
THE LIMITS OF CRO\/TH
A human being is a part of the whole, alted by us'Llniveree." . . .
The delusion (of separation) is a kind of prison
for us . . . Our task
must be to hce ourselves fron this prjson by widening our circle of
compassion to enbrace all ltving creatures and the whole oi nature
Albert Einsrein
This book may have been no more to you than
journey
throush
Vonderland. A logical man might not wish to
so
too far in concur-
ring with wht he has read. For exarnple, if I myself $.ere outside
looking in and oor intimately involved wirh rhe project, I would
probably be very hesitanr ro express a positive judgmenr.
Cranred,
thousaods of wirnesses can affirm thatJohn Chane has unique abili
ties Perhaps a hundred rnore, *ch as myself, would be willing to
come forward aod swer in court thar he possesses the knowledge
whefeby most men can develop some proficiencywith
whar we
(un,
til now) have labeled paranormal sktlls. To the skepri rhis does not
162
mean that everything Chang Sifu belives in is scientifically verifi'
able, nor that it should be taken as gospel. As a scintist I cannot,
and will not, argue with this mode of thought.
I can take such a functional analysis a step farther Let me as_
sume thatyou acceptboth myown sincerity and thatofmy teacher:
Everything I have written here is fct and you believe it. The.e is
still room to wonder v/hat the point behind all the effort is. I mean,
why botherz \trht is to be practically gained by the lessons pre'
sented in this txt? Even if everything stated here is factual andtrue,
how and why should it affect your day-to-day existence?
The answr is quite simple. Ifour day-to-day existence were not
injeopardy if we didnot nedthe lessons providd in this work-
the demonstrations would never hav taken place, nor would this
volume hve ever been written-
It is a stple of rhe Chinese esotric tradition to void interven-
tion in the course of the affalrs of the world at large. Ve have seen,
however, that historically this tradition has been broken from time
to time, and that many masten
(such
as Pai Lok Nen and Mo'Tzu)
have walked a fine line, mersins theif karma with the world's where
they aw fit. No Taoist mstet not even on at hvel Seventy-Two,
is a god; they all remain human beings, with the desires and mo-
tions of a human being, however refined. Foremost among these
emotions ar love and concern for their fellow men and for the
progress ofhuman cultwe. They lo give a damn, so to speak, aod do
not lways stnd by and watch. Sometimes they step in, and this is
I do not know Chang Sifu's reasons lor opening up his teaching
ro the world, but I do know my own. Therefore, in this sction, I
would like to speak for myself. \(hat follows is based on my own
ideals and opinions, and does not necessarily define the teachings of
Chans Sifu. However, nuch of my rationale is gronded in my ex-
periences vith him. Therefore, any errors are my own, wbile any
credit belongs to my tacher
\]/e live in problematic world. It is readily apparent that greed is
our major sin, the major cancer inherent in our Vestern lifestyle.
Ve can never say,
''fhls
much is enough," and that has been our
163
EpiloSue
A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library
downfall. Most of us are not aware, or simply do not cre, that our
standard of living is in fact destroyingboth our planet
and ourselves.
I will address the destnrction of both our bodies and our wortd, but
before I do, I would like to address the issue of
sreed.
It is very d;fficult to dealwith an intansible. How do we define
gred? Most dictionaries cal! it "an ardent and selfish desire., Itt as
good a definition as any. I prefrtouse th trm shortsigbtercss, which
implies that the person suffering frorn greed is not awar that in the
end he is doing his own self harm. He simply does not have the
perception to see this.
Proper perception is an all-important trait and a djfficult one to
understand. Ve must be able to disengage ourselves from events, to
look t them completly detachedly in order to be able to assess cri
teria correctly. Ther is rhe much,used model of the antelope and the
biologist, for example. To a herd of antelopes, a lion is an evil ntity,
intent only on killing and rend;ng. To a biologist, however, the lion
has a purpose in the scheme ofthings, the predator
js
in fct ensuring
the continued survival and health of the prey. Inside natures system
otchecks andbalances, one cannot survive without the other Butthe
antelope does not have the percption ro see its dependency on the
lion, and therefore would like nothing btter than to be rid of it.
It is unfortunate that life is somwhat tike this example. Our
dsires and preconceptions
induce us to look at the \rorld stnctly
from our own standpoint. The twin axiorns of ignorance and greed
often serve to further separate us from reality as wet1. Sometirnes.
people as a mass can persist in a distorted standpoint to the extent
that they wind up doing rhemselves or others damage. Many cul-
tures have reached annihilation in rhis manner.
r/e
in the modern
day, too, have pushed the limit fat but luckily we have also been
given time and the means ro stop our self destrudion. Most people
do not realize that we have become like the gods of old mythology,
for we have almost unlimited power
and \i/ealth but lack the com-
mon sense to use it corrctly.'3
Man is by instinct andevolutjon a pack animal, mor content to
follow than to explor and individually decide for himself. Vhen
under the direction of the leaders of our society, we commonly let
things go until we are hard pressed to ignore them, regardless of
164
Epiloue
whet her t hi s has a posi t i vc or ncgat i ve overal l el l ect on our wel l '
bei ng. I t i s a mi t ake t o t hi nk t hal t he sci ence of soci odvnami cs i s
any less advanced in our day and age than, sav' plrvsics orchemistry,
the degree of control that world leaders have over the populace is
staggeringwhen analyzed And the world can be a very/ unforsivins
place when we live in it so narrow-mindedlv Most pheomena in
nature tollow the law of exponntial
procression; this cardinal rule
has led to our undoing from the beginning
In 1972 an international tam of scientisis headed bv Professor
Dennls L. Meadows of the Masschusetts lnstitute of Tchnologv
published the rsLtlts of a study,
prformd at MIT undef the dirc
tion of the Club of Rome, in which a compter sim(lation tracked
the decline of world resources based on existing trends Th same
conclusions had been reached bv other scholars in th past, more
notably by the geologist M. Kins Hubbelt in the earlv l95os, but
the MIT study was the first that world politicians paid anv attention
to. Dr Meadows's research was eventuallv
published {or the mass
market and became the classic bestseller Tlr Liaits oJ Grootl
*
which
sold rnillions of cop ies in the I 970s but appears to have been forgot-
ten in the I990s. Basicalty, the simulation projected the death bv
strvation of a third of the world population bv the
vear
2100, the
destruction of ourcosystem and the collapse of the world financlal
base will induce and acco'npnv this worldwide farnine
Manifestations of the phenomenon are alreadv evident in Af.
rlca, Indla, and Southeast Asia Few pople seem to care ln Creece'
for example, more sweat is spent on whether hemlines shouldrise in
a
siven
year, or a new talk-show hostess hac had breast implants (are
ttry reah), than on the hungry millions in nearbvAlbania andKosovo
So given the continuing
phenomena of greed and ignorance,
howclose are we to the destruction
prdicted bv Professor Meadows!
model? At the moment, the simulation is uncornfortablv on track
There can be no more denyinc, for example' tht global warm
ing caused by irresponsible industrialization and deforestation is a
*
Meadows, Denris L., et al., TtrlimiB oJ Groo.L
(New York' Sisnet
Books, The New Americn Librarv, 1972).
165
EpiloSue
fct. The United Nations and the \Vorld Meteorological Organiza
tion haveestablished the lntersovernment Paneloo Climate Change
to monitor the situation and propose an actjon plan. To date the
IPCC has analyzed what we can expect in rhe tuture as far as global
warning is concernd. Here is a brief surnmary.
The average temperalure of the planet will rise by one degree
centisrade by the year 2025 and ao additional two desrecs ty the
year 2100 That may not sound l i ke nuch, but bear i n mi nd t hat rhi s
rise will not be uniform all over the planet. The remperature at thc
poles may rise much more than at the equator and the air wjll be
much warmer over land msses than over th seas. (Another
model
suggests that, follo\eing the initial meltdown of the poiar ice caps,
the poles will actually ger colder, initiaring anorher ice age at high
latitudes).
Established wind patlerns will change, El NiRo is one such ex-
ample. Asian monsoons ftight become American monsoons. There
will be a worldwide increase in rainfaU, but this increase will ako be
unevcnly distribded. At [roderate latitudes we might see an increase
of 5 to l0 percent in anDual precipitarion, but rhe areas of the planet
that are already drywiilbecome even more so Perhaps rheentire U S.
Sunbelt, for example, will at some poinr become one endless desert.
There will be an increase in severe climatjc phenomena, hurricanes,
srorrns, and floods. Ve are already seeinerhis if ihe severe flood and
storms in the lst three years of the past century are any indication.
Vithin the next fifty years, lands cunently used for griculrure
will become arid and useless, cultivation will have to take place at
higherlevations to ensuregrowth in the lorthcoming hotter climare.
The ice cap is indeed meltiog, scientists expect a srx centimerer rise
in the level of the oceans by every ten yeax from now on.
And the ozone layert Seven years ago a sunblock factor of 2 was
acceptable for those ofus of Mediterranean desceot; now we have ro
put on sunscreen rated level 24 andheed "sun intensity warnings', to
In March 1997 the National Science Foundation esrablished
beyond a shadow of a doubr that the fish in the Aotarctic were suf-
fering incrcased mutation rates andgeneric anomalies due ro elvared
166
Epilo8ue
sol ar radi at i on. l t conf i rmcd t hat , duri ng t he spri ng season, t he ozone
level ir the Antarctic drops to 50 percent blow the limit that en'
sures proteclion from UV radiation This is
just the beginning
Havi ng sai dal l t he above, l et me al so af f i rm t hat svnt ht i c mat e-
dals are unquestioningly wonderful for use in their proper place As
I willdiscus further on in this scction, thre can be no doubt that
polymen and synthetic rnateriais have givn mankind the kevs to
the future; the advances we are seing in technologv and medicine
would not be available without them.
No, the issues I am addressing re subtle ones: grd and igoo
rance, nothing else. I have livedunder primitive conditions; ii is not
that great. My point here is that what Vestern civilization oeeds to
succeed is a caretul balance of objectives, actions, ad responsibili
ties. Our children and our childrent children will have to pav the
price for our decisions and our inaction todv, as such, our love for
thern should temper our desires.
The word lama trans]ates s "consequence " You don't alwavs
hav to act to b responsible for something'
vou
can also, bv inac-
tion, promo te conrequences. Ve in theVest have allowed our elected
representatives to act as they haver therefore, we also must shoulder
part of the blame. Andwe will. A student once asked me if I thought
the citizens of Iraq deserued to watch their homes destroved and
their loved ons killed
iust
because a power'hungry dictator ruled
theircountry Irepliedin the affirmative, because thev uniortunatelv
bore the collective consequence of allowing him to control their
lives in the firt place. Ltnder the rule of exponential
progression,
they had allowed Saddam Hussein to
srow
in might until he became
too powerful to deal with. Nature is not very forgiving
So what does all thls have to do with Chans Situr Noth;ng and
everything. The hotrorstories outlined above are simplv the facts of
life, but they cn also sewe as examples. John
Chang agreed to this
book for one reason only, to expand the horizons of people around
the world and show them, beyond a shadow of a doubt' that their
lives are not as limited as they think. Sometimes it is nough to give
people a hint. All sorts of miracles can happen l am reminded of the
member of Creenpeace who, having clandestinelv taken a position
Epilo8ue
as a cook abord a tuna boat, brought the tuna industry to its koces
aftr filmins the wholesale slaughter of dolphins on tuna boats. That
man struck the spark that started fire. I am hopins that this book
will work in a similr mannef.
Chang Sifu! lessons are intended for the leadefs of the world as
well as the common man. "Look," he tells the powers that be, "the
universe
js
not as simple and plain as you once thought it was. You
cannot act as you do with no thought for the future or regard for
retribution. You will have to pay for the consequences of your ac
tions. Therc are aspcts of the human state of being that you are
unawarc of at the moment." Perhaps the leaders will not care, you
say. Hasn't every religion in the world issued the same wrn ins? Many
powertul people feel exempt simply because there is no proof of th
validity of thci. personal religion or creed. H;story has shown us,
however , t har . ut h an at r r r ude r r er r oneour .
The aforementioned Creenpeace member notwithstandins, it
js
astonishing how often the efforts of one man can affect the course of
history. Our cunent Vestern civilization is essentially stillbased on
the approach and methodology of two seventeenth cntury schol-
ars: Francis Bacon and Ren Descartes.
Bacon was the founder ofthe modem scientific empirical method.
A ph;losopher and poiitician, he wrote that mn should "seize Na
ture and force her to sewe us." Bacon asserted that man should es
sentially mke naturc his slave, that he should"tie her hand and foot
and torture herso thatshewillrevealher secrts."Today such words
may sound insaner historians realize that the famous philosopher
was simply echoins th
judicial
system of his day. One wonden how
he would have enjoyed a tour through a nuclear waste dumpsit.
As for Descartes, there can be no doubt that h v/as a brilliant
man; there can also be no doubt that
jt
is to him we owe much ofour
current misery. Dscrtes was a profound mathmatician, scientist,
and philosopher, butunder his direction Vestern man began a sepa
ration from the earth, natural forces, and his own kind the extent of
whichwe are only now beginning to relize. Indeed, Descartes's most
famous line, "Cogito ergo sum," defines that separation clearJy. In
severing mind and body and making the flesh worthless and subor-
168
EpiloSue
dinate to mind, Descartes drove a wedge between man and the uni_
verse-a wdge that does not, nd cannot, physically exist. It is well
known, forexample, tht Descartes vivisected living animals, ignor-
ing their cries of pain and despair in order to determin the struc_
tures of their bodies. His was the mechanistic approch, nature was
a machine to be analyzed, nothing more. Functional anlysis was to
be carriedout in ever- increasing detil so that, in the end, each corn-
ponent would surrender its final specific secret. lt was undoubtedly
the Cartesian methodthat putman on the moon. On the otherhand,
it is apparent that, by embracing the Cartesian method, we have
concentrated so much on the gars that we hav lost sight not only
of the machin but of the road this machin has taken as well.
I have used the wo '?Pantiotl asain d asin (much to the
chagrin of the edltor of this text, l'm sure) simply because I believe
that it is ided separation that defines the Cartesian system (and,
unfortunatel, todays Vestern society). The industrial process, for
example-anunmistakable derivativeof Cartesianphilosophy has
separated the craftsman from his product. In other words, by work
ing in an ssmbty line, each employee fabricates only tiny part of
the entire project' his self-worth is only as great as the partial prod-
uct he shapes. In contrast, the medieval blacksmith took great pride
in his work bcause it was l,is from beginning to end. Today! axem-
bly Ilneworke who rnay do no rnore than drillholes in a dtail
Part
(which
will be riveted into place by someone else), has no regard for
hls chore and can hardly \,,/ait for the weekend
(or
4/y time when he
isn't working). Dspite the progres Vestern society has made to-
ward advancing the rights of the individual, employment has once
again become serfdom.
Conversely, the
Japanese
have enjoyed immense commercial
succss with their factory goods basically due to theirpolicyof inte
gration. The president of a company often goes down to the assem
bly line and assists the workers; all white-collar enrployees are
expected to hav spent their time "on the line." This approach fos-
trs the ida ofunity and pride in the product, which, in the manner
ofthe craftsman of past centuries, has ld to people considering their
work important. As such, their merchandise has sold well.
169
Epilo8ue
A further example of arr operarion that thrives on separation is
todays food industry. The process of meat producrion is an abomi
n1ioni animals aresequestered in stalls, not allowed to move, stffed
with hormones nd recycled foods, and subsequently daughtered.
Thei r l i ves are a I i vi nghel l andhave not hi ng t o do wi t h t he pl easanl
ranches and wide-open spaces of the past. Meat is processed and
packaged and put on display in neat cses in the supermarket, most
children these days have no idea that they a:e earing what was onc
a living animal. Fruits and vegetables are unfortunately just
as bad,
The arnount of chemicals and pesricides usd would cause most of
us to quit buying fmit altogether were we aware of therr The con
tinual and incessant rape of the seas and marine wildlife is even worcer
in a few decads there willbe no fish lefr to cd!.
The point is, all ofthis can be rumed around if society as a whole
adopts th proper attitudc, if we cn realjze that rhe lifestyle we re
following has no real place in the world. I have seen many
\/estern
medicaldoctorswhopreviouslydisregarded
Chinesemedical theory
completely stop in their tracks whn someone simply spoke to rhem
in their own language. Contrary to Descartss expectarions, the
bodyt cell structure is rot a consrant and mechanisric rhing, indeed,
cellular biology is somev.hat like quanrum theory. The pancreas, for
exam ple, replaces all ;ts cells every twnty- four hours, while rhe stom
-
ach replaces its cells every rhree days. The body! white blood ells
ar renewed every ten days, while 98 percent of the proteio-based
tissue in that most complictdand wonderfulof organs, the human
brin, is replaed once a month. Ve can thus approach medicaldoc
t o s wi t h t he si mpl e expl anat i on t hat Chi oese medt ct ne i s based on
the
lrocsss
of contilual change-not the details of pnary natomy
focused on by our Cartesian-based Vestern rnedical system Cener-
aliy that distinction suff;ces to break the ice and seize the audience!
To close the loop and get back to Chang Sifu, ir is apparenr that
your viewpoint of the vorld can govern your efforts and axioms, as
well as your resulting social direction. It is ro the holistic vievr'point
afforded by Eastern mysticisn (and
modern Vestern science) that
we must turn if we wish to survive as a species. For most of us, the
170
Ep'lo8ue
common
peopte, thc lcssons ol thc East are simpl \Ve ned not
indulg in consumerism or blindlv follow the dirctives of spcial-
interest manipularors Ve are each capable o( thinkins and decidins
lor ourselves. The road of lif is on of balance, consequence, and
simplicity,
Taoist doctrine states that th universe is comprisd of heaven,
earth, and man, and that all embodv a patt of the Tao'
\J/e
have
reached that stage in our development where we mosl dccept this
truth. Everything and everyone around us has the right to life, in
deed, all life is a precious gift and should be treated as such For all
our power, do we really rrlerstanl lifer Tlre wisdom of ancient China
tells us that everything begins in and returns to the Tao Similarlv'
our tchnology can tell us much about the origins of our solar svs
tem and life on earth, and what we have learned gives us cause to
wonder. The assumption that our world is simply the result of a ran
dom agglomeration of elements is no longer vible The eafth is
roushly four billion years old. Even taking into account the latest
devlopments in complexity theory' there is no way thal we can
ccouni forthe factthat life, in the form ofbacteria and single-celled
animals, began roughly four hundred million vers
jnto
the earths
existence. A single bactrium contins two thousand enzymesi our
most liberl estimates of the time it would take for th random as-
sembly of such enzymes to give birth to bcteria is roughlv forlv
bill;on years, two orders of masnitud off The second probJem is
that evolutio seems to have occuned in much too ordered and pur
posefu1 a fashion, our current mthematics
andcurrent theorie sim
ply cannot account lof the evident complexitv and interdependenc
of l i vi ns bei nss.
It seems tht if indeed everything is a part of the Tao, then we
are quite a way frorn understanding one of its components, life on
earth. Andwhat abot man himselfi Our own evolution is puzzling
Modern human beingshavebeen on this planet for about fov ou
saDd yearsr how and whv did we come to f'e as we atc? The size oi
our brains exploded in evolutionary
terms, doubling in lmost two
million years. lndeed, the increase in brain size was so sdden that
the rest of our bodjes did not have a chance to catch up As a result
lV
Epiloue
of these larser brains, which could not pass throush thc mother's
birth canal, human infanrs had to be born very early in their devel_
opment. (The
size of a human child,s brain doubles in rhe first year
of lif.) The ihfants of most mammals can walk within a few days of
theirbirth. Conversely, human babies cannot walk forayear and are
helpless for lmost thre. These totally dependent chtldren restruc
tured the order of societyr thy had to be protecred
and taught to
function. The evolutionary history of the human animal seems to
de. both the srandard process
of evolution and the principles of
slf-orgnization oudined by complexiry theory. It is even more per
plexing if we examine closely the history of mankind through rhe
last ten millnni. The wheat plant, forexample, mutated quire sud
denly teo thousand years ago, almosr as if ir oarrel .o be made into
bread by the people
of that age. And there is still no evolutionar/
justification
for the pleasant
effects that the fermenration process
has on milk, grape, and grain.
So in daling with earth and man, have we finally come to ad-
dress heaven? Is evolurion directed? Ic there indeed a Codr As we
have seen, MstefJohn Chang believes strongly in Cod, and is un
doubtedly a creationist. I myself am a product of my age and so
question everything. Oh, I firmly believe in unconditionaluniversal
principles: Iove,justice,
consequence. Ibelieve tht there is an after,
life and that I have seen spjrirs. As a scientist, howevel I feel more
comfortable wirh the Eastern notion of heaven in rhe sense of an
indefinable, incomprehensible, quantum-physics-like
absolute en
compassing the enrire un iverse Perhaps there is a penonal
Cod whose
domain is this planet, who has seen to our growth.
perhaps
He is
even the mnifestation ofa Universal Spirit that e ncompasses allthe
extant galaxies/ s suggested by the Christian concept of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. I do not know, and I am much too small to
judge,
so all I can do is hope.
$/e as a species have been given, and conrinue to receive, great
opportunities. \]/e are also in grer peril. From now on, therefore,
we have to act carefully and with forethoueht-like
responsible
adults-in order to reach our full potential. Ocrr world will tolerate
no ,nore mistakes or loolishness, no more childishness. The human
172
Epilogue
ani rnal i s, a a rcm: rkabl c man so el oqucnt l y pt i t so l ong ago, at
Childhood\ End
*
And there hope for the future
Ve are neitherborn into the worldwithout suffering the pain of
birth nor pass through adolescenc vithot experiencing doubt and
heartache. Humanity s an entity has
just passed through pubeny
and stands on the threshold of adulthood. Like a teenager, we have
suffered for a time andbeen subject to ourweaknesses and inrpulses,
but now we are growingup. As we enter the third millennium of the
Common Era (more than the fourth millennin of recorded history),
hurnniry is indeed ready to become a responslble adult.
Look how far we have come in less than one hundredyears, and
how rapidly we are progressing at this pointl Let us concntrate for
awhile o. ortriurnphs ratherthan ourfail tes.In the face of nuclear
wa1 for instance, reason did prevail; the superpowers of the world
took a step back hom thir ColdVar antaeonism a war tht/ aher
all, was fought over an economic system and nothing more. Eco-
logical organizations are more powerful now than ever before. In-
formation dissemination has become worldwide, and litracy is
growing in third vorld nations. Medical knowledge is soarine; we
can now perform miracles. lmagine telling a nineteenth-century phy-
sician that it would bcome routine to rip out the sickened heart of
an ill man and replace it with anothet stored for that purpose, from
a sujtabl donor
(andwith the donors consent-itself no smallthlng)r
Or imagin telling the sme doctor that, harnessing the power of
light, we can perform surgery on the delicate human eye, that we
can open and close the human brain:
Citizens aroun d the world are nowmore than everware of their
ights and willing to stand up and flght for them, not only tht, we
do not hesitate to stnd and light rcniolntly for the rights of ottr's.
Even mor surprising, this
rystm
works, and world leaders are ready
to concede to itl Chandi would not have had a chanc in medieval
Europe.
'Arthur
C. Clarke, foryounger readers
173
EpiloSue
Despite setbacks, we have indeed set foot on thc moon and arc
making pfogress toward conquering the solaf system. Ve rray be
close to a new form of clean energy. Legislation has been passed tn
the \trest res tricting corporations from inesponsible ecologicl darn-
age. Technology is advaocing so rapidly that electronics are often
obsolete within a few years. Vonderful new materials- <rated by
our investigations on the molecularlevel will allowus to reacheven
fartherthan before. Very soon, as compurers Decome more and more
powertul, we willbe creatins intelligent life ourselves. Ve have cloned
mammals and are close to undrstandins the fabric of lif irself. \/e
can map the DNA strand, the very building block of organic exist
ence. Perhaps someday we wil! be able to scientificfiy pinpoint the
loction of the soul irself
Five thousand windmills
jn
the Tehachapi Mounrains norrh of
Los Angeles, Calitornia, produce I 6 billion kjlowtrs of electric
ity-mofe than all the households of San Francisco use in a year.
Studies have shown that vind farms in the vindiest 1.5 percent of
the surface of the United States could produce 25 percent of the
electricity that counrry uses. Evn more amazing, prcph it the Il.S
goo.nt 1tL dre liste h4. Similar stodies have shown that if 4 pcrcenr of
the world's desert regions were covered by commercial solar cefls,
this would provide enough enersy ro satisty wortd\i/ide dcmand. (This
equates to an area roughly five hundred m;les by five hundred mtles,
and capiral investmenrsftdlhr than that required in the tuture should
we continue to use oil a|d fission as fuel sources.) Once agaio poliri
cal leaders are giving the ide serious considerarioni the majorsrum
bling blocks are special-interest facrions and the need for various
. ove. ci eI
ndr i on\ r o sor l r oaer her Bul i l
, , ,
omi ng
On a similar nore, biological fermenratjoll farms for the produc-
t i on of el ect ri ci t y have become a f eal i ry si nce 1995. l n rbe Uni red
States one such farm, using a combustion cll tht burns millet, pro
vides a i&oasanl houscholds with electricity while ar the same rime
usins only 250 acrcs forcltivation ofthe miltel There does seem to
be a real desire to use evironmentally friendty tuels in conjunction
with future technologies Forexample, the Russian aircrafr rnanufac,
turer Tlpolew, in partnrship with the German giant Daimler-Benz
Aerospace, is readying an aircraft for production in the year 2010
Epilo8ue
t har wi l l usc hydrogcn as a l ucl . l l ydrogen burns cl canl y, Lurni ns
i nt o wat cr vapor wheo oxi di zed.
Thc poi nt i s, had we not gone t hrough phase ol rapi d i ndust ri
alization and technolosical
srowth,
we would not hve developed
the knowledge we now have that makes such dreams possible. lt is
our.11lr./t marerial and physjal sciences that have handed us these
rewards on thc proverbial silver platter The world of the futurc will
i ndeedbe "cl ean" f rom an ecol osi cal st andpoi nt , because t he maj or
i t y of peopl e on t he cart h ud' i i l t o be.
This book is also a good cxample of how far we havc cone.
Even thirty ycars ago, in the heyday of the 1960s, I would ncvet
have dared to wfite these words, nor present the concepts I have, ior
fear of retribution. In truth, I rnysell am very much a produc! of the
yoke forged by earlier gene|ations, a person neither Occident nor
Orient but both
*
Moreover, it is certain that Master Chang himselt
would not havc bothered to come forth in tbe past, for lack of a
uiiable audience. But in or day everyone has seen Sldl" l'fdfr on the
silver screen and Kln4 Fr on television, many ofus both in youth nd
middle age, and such things:re more readily accepted as natural
lf any of us needs more proof of our growth as a species, then
nore than our accomplishments it is our lreans thal w must exam
ine. Vhere do we ud"i to be2 Vhat is it that we covet? Look deep
into yourself. Do we, in fact, not covet the stars? Can there b any
doubt of this? There is catch here, however, as Ihve triedto rnke
clear in this chapter, In order to reach the stars we hunger for, we
must first presrve the womb that bore us, this very planet earth
There is no way around this.
"
Other than the peFonl erperiences involved, nothing in this text
should be considered innovative. As far back as t93a, Piofe$or \v Y
Evans'\/entz was talking about torging a new science that was neither
East nor Vest in his book Tbetah Yold and Srcret Doctrirts
I I retum to Ceorge Locas! work asin and asai' simply because I feel
that it has benns on where we as a species could be heading TheJedl
are all-iftpoltnt in that they successfully combine technology wirh
mysticism, and in doins so, touch peoples heads all around the wotld.
Epilque
, _
So how does nei kumg cnt er t he pi ct ure2
Vel l , what i f veryt hi ng
I hav written is true2 Can it be developed and nurtured? And if so,
where will it lead us2
I bel;eve that such inqrdry wilt guide
us ro rhe threshold of the
stars we so desire. Neikung rs the study ofour lifes energies and more,
it is the study o[ our exisrnce irslf. Mnyofthe answers we seek are
hidden wirhin the acrivities of yin and yang Vhen we are ready and
able to unlock these secrets for all mankind, only then will we stp
into the tuture promisedby
our dreams. lbelieve that in rhis unfold_
ing epoch, the boundary between physics
and metaphysics
will fall
for good (if
it was ever really there in the first place),
and that even
death will begin to lose its terro. Conceivably \Le s a species will
come to perceiv rhe answels ro the questions
that have plagued us
since the dawn of time, Why are oe hero And Whue
qft
ae goin4,
Such a world isJohn Changs
sift
to humaniry.
176
Ep'lo8ue
Appendix One
NOTES
r . Alexander of Macedon "King of the Creeks" in the words
of Kiplings Mat Who Worll Be Kug-swept across Asia from 3 34 to
326 BcE with an army of forty thousand men to rech the northern
borders of India. He was stopped only by the unwillinsness of his
men to go on; they rebelled, refusing to march eastward beyond the
Hyphasis River. Alexander! successors and their descendants pen-
etrated even farthrinto India, creating kingdoms and becoming the
stuff of legends. Some historians say that the list of Creek kings in
India ls as long as that of the kings of England from the Norman
invasion to the prcsent day.* In any case, what is important is that
the two cultures lil meet and interacted in a wave ofmutualadmira-
tion and rspet. The resulting exchange of ideas and infomation
had a profound effect on the history and development of both the
East and the Vest.
From the Creeks the Indians learned sculpture, architecture, as-
tronomv. andmathematics. From the Indians the Creeks leamedabout
the inner workings of manl mind and body. Many Creeks became
Buddhists; in fact, one Hellenistic king, Menandros, is honored as a
Buddhist saint bv the Theravadan denomination. There can be no
*'/oodcock,
Ceorge, Trr creefrs if Llid (London,Iaber Faber Ltd,
1966).
1n
denyingthe pronouncedeffect
that Indian thoughthadon the Creek
philosophers of the period and, as a consequence, on later Vestern
development. Since it was Hdls"tic thought and science rhar subse
quently influenced the Romans and, through them, the early Euro,
pean natiors, I can safely state that the phtlosophy of the East dtd tn
fact strongly affect the history of the Vest. The two peoples had
spoken well ofeach other even before Alexande/s coming. The Brah
min leaders of lndia, in the classic Iaos oJ1aw, placed the laoanas
(the
Sanskrit word for "Creeks," from'Iorveor e,o-nes, as the Creks
ofAsia Minorwere called) in the warrior (Kshatriya)
castr rhere is a
reference to the Creeks in the Indian epic Mrrararafa as well. In the
fifth century BcE the Creeks Herodotus (a hisrorian) and Hekateus
(a
geographer) affirmed that "of all barbarians the Indians are least bar-
baric" (a
strong statemnt from the ethnocentric classtcal Creeks). Bv
Hellenistic times the Creeks were speaking of the Indian sages with
open admiration. The famous philosophers Apollonius and Plotinus
bothwentto India in search of esoteric knowledge, and many a Creek
diplomat in the court of Indian klngs wrote bestselling books de-
scribing India to the Creeks back homet*.1
Many scholars are of the ooinion that it is the Greeks them
selves who were responsible forthe Mahayana school of Buddhism.f
If this was th case, and taking into account that it was Mahayana
Buddhism that spread to China, Tber, Korea, and
Japan,
then tlre
Vest did inded strongly influence the history of rhe East. Con-
versely, there can be no denying the pronounced effect that lndian
tbought had on the Greek phiiosophers ol the period and, as a con
sequence/ on later'!?estern development. The phtlosopher Pyrrhron,
for example-who followed Alexander to Indi and returncd ro
Creece to influence allthosewhocame afterhim
(Xeno
and Eoicurus.
amons othfs)-was for all practical purposes a student of the
Digambara (sky'clad)
secr of theJain religion.s
-
For example, Megasthenis! hliar lats and Diimachuss O,Itrl.
neither of which is extant today.
I oi.ou, Nit
".,
tl, G.,i B!/tra (Athens, Nefeli
publicarions,
r98a)
+ Durant, \v., Irs S!,,1,,J Ci,liza.io', vol. II (Ceneva:
Edito SeNice, te63).
3 Dimo, ri,r Ci..l Brdlta
178
AppendixOne
The consequenccs of th Hellnistic A8 spread all th way to
China in the first century BcE with the estblishment ofthe Silk Roadt
the cotinuous exchange of learning and technology that was a bv-
product of the silk trade affected people! lives from Spain to north-
ern China.
:. I had often wondered what prornpted Mao Zedong to turn
so dramatically against Chinese culture and science, attacking basi'
cally everyth;ng in sight first in 1949 and thn again so bloodilv in
1966 with the Cultural Rvolution. I have come to believe that it
was this litism and sequestering of knowledge, this continual con
flict among the powerful, that the man resented. There can be no
doubt, howeve that Mao botched thejob and destroyedmuch that
would have othe'wise benefited humanity.
3. Manysinologists andtranslato|s,
quite rightlv, have despaired
of everconveying the proper meaning to Vesterners and have been
content to use tbe term "energy{ime" for ltan4
ir,
duplicating the
simplicity of the Chinese ideocrams. I\,r'ould like to take a moreJedi
approach to the ideograms' meanin. Ve cannot hope, as Vestern-
ers, to duplicate the coniseness ofthe Chinese charcters with words.
However, we can use another \X/estern approach, that ofmathemat
ics, to duplicte Eastern culture. Io short,
ENERCY
TIME
Iig. 5. Kns Fu =
Jt
F(,t) dt, where E=enersv an.] t=time
In otherwords [u4la is equl to the intgral of the energv spent
in training pr day, over the total anount of time spent in traiingl
179
AppendixOne
The area under the cuw, the integral, defines the total power
that
you have achleved through your efforts. You wilt see later on how
precise this definition is.
(Yocr
can also see how a trainet fforts
vary from day to day; &rrrj,r refers to the total power
accumulated in
the process.) It seems that there are indeed two English words that
convey the meaning of km4
Jr,
and those are bard uorkt
4. The theory that Taoism has made most famous is rhat of two
opposing universal forces, I am referring of course to yin and yang.
It is hardto imagine n area oi the worldwhere these twoubiquitous
wolds hve notbeen heard. (lndeed,
where theyhaverotbeen heard
is where the concepts are probably stillrefened to by otherwordsl).
As I typed th;s text, I activated my word prccessort
spellcheck oro-
gramr rt di d no( pdu\ e I or ei t her yn or yang one more i ndrcri on of
the words' acceptance in the \X/est.
The twin forces of yang and yin are complet opposires: mal
and female, white and black, light and darkness, hot and cold,
posi-
t;ve and negative. The Chinse ideogram foryar,, maybe translated
as "th sunny side of the mountain", that ofyil as
,,the
shady side of
the mounta'n." Our physical bodies are yang, the energy and being
of spirits is yin. Conversely, yang comes from heaven, yin from the
earth. Both forces are present in everything aliv on this planet,
but
they are not harmonious forces, as often represented in the
!?st.
Instead, they are in constant struggle, never able to meetyet always
intercting. It must be stressed thar this clash is a struggle of natural
universal energies, not a co.tention of sentienr deitiesl Neither yin
nor yang has anything to do wirh good and evil, they are indepen-
dent ofpurpose andmorality.lt is very intereslrngro note rhat many
diverse cultural groups have made use of the same imagery. The
Navajo Indians draw Father Sky and Mother Earth in rheir sand Daint-
i ngs rn. uch a wav rhat even rhe morr nai ve obcerver wi l l rhrnk of
yang andyin. The ancient Creeks made us of the same idea, asserr
ing in their rnyths that everything on the world was created by the
.natins of Father Sky
(Uranus)
and Mother Earth
(Caia).
By 1000 BcE the concpts of yin and yang had been refined and
the patterns of the two forces' interaction charted, the date indicates
180
AppendixOne
that this philosophy existd loog bclore the concept and word ot
%olsn were developed
5. TheTaoist philosophical tndition
(To-chia) is associatedwith
the classical texts Tao Te Chins br
LaoTzr), Chuatlg Tzu, LiehTzu ad
others. It has been said that next to the Bible andthe Bhagavad Cita'
the To Te Ching is the most translatedbook
in the \T orld Much also
has been said about the conflict betwen Confucianism and Taoim,
which in popular notion
portravs Kung Fu Tzu as the glorified civil
servant stressing obdienc, while lao-tzu is the mystical hemit r
siding somewhere in the mountain wildernss. The truth' however'
seems to be that both were simply men of their age, struggling with
concepts germinating nd developing during their lifetimes
fuo:zx
(old mastel) is the honorific given to Li Erh Tan, a minor
official of ihe Chou state who lived around the fifth century lct
(Ve have no way of proving or disproving this information )
After
his death and for the next hundred
vears,
savings were collected
that were attributd to Li and presented in a volume called the lao
Tzu. Of Lao tzu the man we reallvknow nothing Vhat is important
is that this work, which came to be known as the Tao T Ching
sometime between the first century BcE and the first century cE, sets
the base for phllosophical Toism Ho\tever' it is crtain that Lao'
tzu did not call himself a Taoist. Instead the l,o Tzl, like the works
of Confucius, is more concernd with providing a base for correct
politicl leadership-a manualfor rulers, ifvou\sill lndeed, the title
fto 1? Crir4 tells us much about the volume
Tro
(simply translated as "the wav") is the nameless, the origin
byond orisins. It cannot be defined bv human beinss it is untold
times beyond us, as we are above the amoeba The To is unknow-
able, etemal, without shape or endvet havlng allshapes and all end
ings. Formless, it petmeates everyth ing and is the goal of all existence
Te is an equally difficult concept lt can be translatd as "integ
rity,"
"virt e," "the proper mode of behavior in relation to th will of
heaven," "power," "inner potencv," "knighthood,"
'ttrength
effused
with honor" The key issue is that both Lo-tzu and Kung Fu Tzu
thought that te is something a good ruler should have Thev were
141
ppendixOne
not t oo f df apart i n t hci r bsi c i dcasr i t was t hci r appf ol chcs rhaL
diffcred. ContuciLrs saw the Vay as being a sct of rules that hcavcn
had bequeat hed ro nan, ht erarchi cal i n nat urc and l ul l of f t l t al dc.
pendenci es wi t h cl carand unyi el di ns rdnki nes. Mat eri al rewards and
stalu were compensations ior correctly following the \\/ay. Hencc,
wht was to be stresed was te
(since
te cafte frorr heaven), thc Vay
woul d t hen t ak care of i t sel f . (Because
Conf uci ani sm emphasi zed
obedience, it is obvious why the rultng classes were 11 for its adop
tion by their subordinatest)
Lao tzu did not follov the same roure. He counseled "sagehood"
andstressed the Vay for its own sake ratherthan forrhe comnunityi
profit.
Just
as all bcings assuredly retirrned to the To in death, so ir
was necessary in life for eacb indivtdual to rerurn to the original pu
rity nd simplicity of his basic nature. The key was to "nlanifcst th
sinlple and embrace the prirnal " Tao was likencd ro
f' , rhe "uncaNed
log," the best metphor for expressing the simplicity of the Vay.
"Though t he uncarvcdl ogi s snal l , " Lao t zusai d, "no
onc i n t h worl d
darcs subjLrgatc it." The key to achieving the Tao was or-ort, sponta
neity nd noninterference "going\a.ith th Tlow,"to use a New Agc
ism. However, it shoLrld bc understood that wu wei does not irrply
passivity. Rather, like a wise swimmer crossing a deep and powerful
river, the Taoist swirns oi* the current rather than against it
The particular section ol the bo Tzu I quoted ro John Chang
goes as tollows,
'All
thinss carry the yin on their backs and enfold
the yang withinr when the two combine, life! energy is created har-
moniously." (Tao Te Chins, section 42)
6. Since ching is associated with the reproductive process and
apparently flows downward, some Toists
{and
Buddhists of thc
Ch'arn sect both-the two dogmas are not rhat far apart) took to
using the Chlnese theory of"opposing flows" to make thechingrise.
This theory says, simply, that if you want someihing to rise, pull ir
down, and vice vexa. To make the ching ascend to a higherposirion
in the body where it can be relined into ch'i, these practitioners
took
to hanging and swinging heavy weights from thejr penisesl I have
seen photos of a monk hom the Shaoli. temple suspendig a sixty-
pound stone from his organ with ropes. I am unaware if he achieved
142
Appendix One
t hc ascendance ol i hc chi ng t hrough t hi s pract i ce, but hc had mot
certainlt overmany yers of repetition, developedwhat is colloqui
ally called "an enormous scboarstaecfter" Conversely, how many men
have suffered lmpotence or damage as a result of this practice, I do
not know (and I say this by way of warnins, because I know that
there is not a male out there who did not, upon reading this, irnme
diately think, "Ahar So thatt the \,r'ay to do it!").
Othr Taoists took io what is euphemistically called "double
cultivtion," aod is atually nonorgasmic sex. That is to say, the prac-
titionerengges in the serlalact up lo the point of orgasrn, atwhich
he withdraws and or ceases. The next step is to yogiclly fore the
collected semen to rise, once again, to an area of the body whete it
can be processed. I have seen many books in the \Vest describins
thistechnique, but, once again, I hve novrification of itsefficiency.
7. Because this is sch an important verse, and one that you
must understand in order to conprehend the metphysical outlook
ofJohnl school, it would be best if I presented a literl translation of
the Chinese ideograrls. They are,
183
To die
(a parent stnding over the death bed of a child)
m
bui
( m stache)
T
not
(a
seed under the
cround)

vanish, perish (a man in a crypt)

#
he who
(an
old rnan speaking)
t
Eir
immortality, Ione life (lons lifc)
Many diflrent iDterpretations olthisstanz have bcen aftcmpted
in order !o make rhe passage
/ifit/'
into \Y/estern philosophicl
mod-
ls.ln truth its meaning is very literal. An exat translation wouldbe,
"He who dies but does not perish has lons life.', I chose a more pe
remptory usage: "He who dies but continues ro exist is i,nmortal.',
The passaset meaninc is simple, Individuals who
llikeJohn Chang)
have reached Cai chi andcombi nedyi n andyans i nsi de t hei r bei nss
retain allawareness, mmory andab;lity afterdeath. They,,take their
yang with them," asJohn so aprly put it.
8. No account ofreligious toismwouldbe complte withour a
presentation
of Chang To Ling Born Chang Lins during rhe Lte
Han dynasty in Szechuan province (probably
in the year lsO cE,
thoush others say 35 cE), he was child
senius.
At seven he could
read and elaborate on the To Te Ching, and by eight he had mas-
tered the art of fengshui (divinarjon).
As an adult he dtsplayed preter
naturalabilitis andrremendous healingpowers, on both the physical
and psychological levels. But Chang Ling was unique in more than
justhis
capabiliries. Hewas also the first Taorsr masrer to organrze his
followers into a movement
Chang managed this by insrituting a lifetime fee for healing or
for mediation wirh the spirir world. Now it had ben customary/
sinc primeval times for the village to support rhe shamn, but no
on priorto Chang Ling had grasped the concept oforyanizarioo so
tundamentally. Chang chrged his patienrs five bushels of rice each
year for lfe (the
American Medical Association would approve of
this approach) This is a lot of food, and tne payment was guaran
teed for manyyean. Itwas a lifetime fe also in the sense that ifyou
pid the fee, it ensured unlimited medial and spiritul treatment;
there was no extra charge each tim you became sick (sort
ofa com-
bined church and HMO). Th;s tithe enabled Changto
sather
around
him a large goup of followers, whom he promptly graded into a
hierarchy based on each individualt abilities nd latent talents. So
unusual was this innovation rhat his group becme known as the
Five Bushels Sect. In all fairness, however, it is said that he workd
miracles; the pralyzd l;l walk and the btind lil se, so to speak.
184
ppendix One
Ot herwi se, he woul d ncvcrhve been abl e t o pul l i rof , not i n Chi na
(for reasons I will explore io lurther chapters) and crtainly not in
t he t ei ond cenLury LE. The man had power
Chang Tao Ling and the people who gathered around him were
uniqu in one more specific way
(indeed,
in this case his perspedive
goes radically against the popular image of the Toist hemit, indiffer-
ent to society). ChangLing, byorganizinghis followers and agreeing
to keep people healthy and happy through his powers, andby agree-
ing to fight with evil and exorcise demons and evil spirirs, consdrtel to
ifliercede in the cou$e oJ hffitanity abere bc could-where karma allowed him
to. This was a profound stp for a Toist, primarily because in doing
so, he accptd the consequences of his actlons. Remember that, ac-
cordins to his beliefs, if he did well, his karma would be good, if he
failed, he would have to pay for it. Bear in mindalso that Chang lived
during the second century cE, bfore Mahayan Buddhism v/ith its
ide ofth bodhisatwa and self-denying sacrifice entered Chtna. You
should be able to see by now that the image ofTaoism propagated in
the \(est is not at all accurate.
Chang assumed the title T'kn Shih, "heavenly maste/' (or T'rer
SrJr, "heavenly teacbey''; it depends on whom you ask) and passed u
on to his offspring
(he
l,l have children-once again in contrast to
the image of th Taoist hermit). His descendants, after a history of
various wars followed by the short-lived estblishment of a Taoist
theocracy, eventually settled on a mountain called Lung Hu Shan
(dragon
tiger mountain) inJiangsi province. Over the centuries they
cont i nLredt he pract i ceof i nt redi ngi nhumni t yl af f ai rs, st ori ngi n
their hlls, arnons othrthinss, thousands ofjars in which iheyjailed
the powerfuldemons they hadexorcised. OtherToists, not oftheir
denominatioo but loosly affiliatedwith thern, andsharing theirbe-
lief that rnan blessed with power should aid humanity, congr,
gated on their mountain, there they were given shelter and a place
to meditate in peace. One such man will be central to this book, as
we wi l l see l at er on.
In 1927 the Communist section of the Nationalist Army broke off
andattacked Lung Hu Shan while en route to Hailufeng. TTey forced
the monks in th temples, among them the hereditary Heavenly
185
AppendixOne
Mastr, to flee for their lives. The troops smashed thousands ofjars
and containers/ relasiog (acordins
to the monks) thousands of evil
spirits to once again walk the ea h; purportedly, it is rhese spirits
that caused Vorld
rflar
II! The T'in Shih eventually settled on Tai-
wan, where they continue to ljve to th present dy Vhat is gain
central to our story is that (as
happened also on Mao-Shan in 1949),
some of the hermits on Lung Hu Shan were not at all put off by the
armys appearance, they were so powerful that they fotghtened the
soldiers away from their retreats!
9. Chances are that ifyou asked one hundred people who have
readup on Chinese philosophy who Lao-tzu was, they could all tell
youi some perhaps in great detail. The typical researchel howeve
rnight be shocked to discovcr that a man whose school was histori-
cally a greater rivalto Confucianism than Lao-rzu's Toism everwas
is virtually unknown in our day. Such a man was Mo-Tzu or Mo T.
He is pertinnt to this text in tht rh schoolofkung fu inherited by
John Chans traces its lineage back to Mo Tzu himself.
For the two centuries followjns his dearh, the schoolofMo was
the main rival of Confucianism. Born in the state of Lu in 469 BcE,
roughly ten years after K'ungFuTzut passing, Mo Tzu was extremely
well educated as a youth and apparently a martjal artist and master
oi strategy as well. Indications are that he was from a poor family
and may have even been branded as a criminal, since Mo-Tzl means
"Mr. Tttoo " TTe priociples ofjustice wer the driving force of his
ministry, howevr, and though by nature a stubborn and extreme
individual, universal love was the center of his teaching. Four hun-
dredyears priorro the bih ofChrist, Mo-Tzu is recordedas having
said the following,
"lf people were to regard other stares as they regard their own,
and their neishbor as thy regard themselves, then they would not
ttack one another, for il would be like aitacking their own person.,'
Before I continue, it mighr be prudenr to say that there is
difficulty in using the wo s Mi1)trtl loee to describe the central them
ofMo-Tzus philosophy. From rny own standpoint those two words
better depict a Vestern consciousness than an Eastern approach to
ta6
AppendixOne
life (though I will continrc to use hioetsal lote In the text for lack of
a better term). The reason for my insistence on a distinction is that
Mo-Tzu ws prcoccupied with
justice
as much as he was with com'
passion, and did not tend to be a very forgiving fellow Contrarily,
in the Vest, as a consequence of our
Judaeo-Christian
traditlon,
universal love has become associated with the forgiveness of sins,
which is not really focal here. Perhaps a better word for Mo-Tzui
teaching would be rriuers4ltt* v.hich does a btter
job
of tracins
back to the entralessence ofToism and the concept of ka'ma. In
any case, the universal person considen his neighbor tbe sam s
hlmself, and the father of his neighbor the same as his own fathr,
and acts accofdingly.
In 393 BcE Prince \/en of Ku Yang was planning to attack the
much smaller state of Cheng. Mo-Tzu went to him and sked him
what he would do if some of the laryercities in his country suddenly
raided the smller towns, killing and plundering. The princ replied
tht he would punish them severely. Mo-Tzu then asked h;m if he
himself would not be punished in the same manner by heaven for
attackins Chens. Prince \Zen replied that he was
justified
in his as'
sault, for the people of Cheng had murdered their lords for three
generations, and were already suffering the retribution o{ heaven.
Mo Tzu askedhim how he would feel if, when punishinghis son for
some bad deed, his neighbor suddenly appeared and began hittlng
the boy, declarins that it was heavent will that he do sol lf the lord
ot a
$eat
nation attacks his neighboring state, killing its people and
staling iheir possessions, then writes down how grand andjustified
he is for doing so, how is he different hom the simple mn who
attacks his neighbors? Price \ven realized the wisdom of his words
and backed down from his plans.t
Mo-Tzu never hesitated to stand up to the powertul and risked
his life on many occasions while doing so. His drivins force ws a
*
Vatson, Burton, ILe Basi.Witih4s JM-Ttu, Hstn-Tzu, a Hat FdTzr
(New York, Colubia University Press, 1967)
1 Bect, S"nae.son, rl,r..! o1 Taosn ad Mo-Tzu http,//www.san.beck.orel
ECt 5-Taoism.httll
147
ppendixOne
pronouncedlove forjustic. Indeed, Mo,Tzui followers laterbecame
the protectors of the common man and of holy places. Heaven is
aware of evry crime that peoplecommit, hewrote, andheaven loves
justic
add hates injustice. How do we know that heaven loves
jus-
tic? In ajustworldthere is life, wealth, and order, while in an uniust
world there is death, povrty, and chaos.
Mo Tzu believed that heaven cherished the entire world uni-
versally andsousht mutualbenefit foralllivingbeinss. This is a vely
simple, dirct, and eloquent statemenr attempting to describe the
To. According to Mo Tzu, heaven dsired rhat those who have
strength protectandwork
for otheE, those with weairh share itwith
others, those in positions of authorit/ work ethically for proper gov
ernment, while those labor;ngshould diligently carry out their tasks.
Vhen a state or society as a whole avoids confl;cr along its bordrs,
feeds the hungry, ministers to rhe ill, then that nation will flower
and prosper. Almost twnty-four hundred years ago, Mo,Tzu had
written that if we substitute good govemment
for offensive warfare
and spend less on the army, we will gain many benefits; if a leader
acts according to the universal laws ofjustice and sets an examole.
then he will have no enernis and bring incalculable benefit to the
world. As an example of this, Mo-Tzu noted how many hundreds of
officials and how many thousnds ofsoldiers ar required for a mili-
lary expdition. In the meantime internal government
was neglected,
farrners forgot their crops, merchants hoarded their wares. If one
flfth of the supplies and veapons were salvaged afterward, it was
considered fortunate. Countless men died or were crippled in a war.
Mo-Tzu asked if it was not pervers
that the leaders of the world
delighted in the injury and xte.mination of their own citizns.
Mo-Tzu ttacked nepotism as well. Originally, h wrore, gov
ernmentwas intnded to beoefit and help the poor, bring safety where
there was danger, and restore order where there was chaos. Peoole
chose the most capable among.hemselves as leaders so that govern,
ment could be unified under intelligent direction. However, admin
istration in his day was canied out by court flattery, while the reltivs
and friends of those already in power were exclusively appoinred to
positions of authority. Since the citizens realized that rhese indi-
148
vi dual s had not bcen commi ssi oned f or t he wel f are of t he peopl e,
they resented tbem and did not idntify with them, which fostered
revolution. Vas this surely not insane? Mo-Tzu suggestedthat those
in positions of power honor the worthy and impartially demote those
without abilitt to do away \rith interprsonal conflicts.
untortunately, no world leadef to date (other than Chandi) has
seen fit to listen to sch common sense Mo-Tzut observations are
still pertinnttodayr we have learned nothing in tvo millennia. Even
in our so-called modern democracies, "lt ain't what you knoq itt
whoyou know" and"Might makes right" are tundamentally accepted
principles.
Mo Tzu bel i evedi n nonhuman spi ri t ual bei nss andi he spi ri t s of
human ancestors, as evidenc, h cornmented that countless people
all over the world had experiencd encounters with such entities
His philosophy and worldview were, from a metaphysical standpo int,
vry close to the shamnisti model.
Mo Tzu could be very extreme in his views, nd certainly hts
asctics outlook appealedmore to disciplinedwarriors than to layfolk.
He wore only coarse clothins and had few possessions. He prac-
ticedyoga and the martialarts continuously. The historical (and
sci
entific, by th standards of the day) d,octrment Hui-nan ttu stated,
tht he nvr stayed in one place for very long. Perhaps the authors
main disagreement with Mo-Tzu was his expressed dislike of music.
Mo-Tzu thought that singing, dancing, aod playing music were a
\,r'aste oftime, that such an nlightened individual missed out on rhe
joys
of crealive expression is sd to say the least.* The celebrated
Toist philosopher Chung tzu himself, while calling Mo-Tzu "one
of the greatest of souls in the world," criticizd him for economizing
on funerals and music. Chuang-tzu said that people wiJl sing when
happy and wail when in grief, and to attempt to stop such things
went against humn nature. I could not agre more.
*
Fol those who ar interested in such thinss, I am an (untalented)
amateur musician who livs with a talented and competent profesrional
189
ppendixOne
As stated earlier, for two ccnturies afrer his dcarh in 391 J]c!, the
school of Mo-Tzu was the main rival to the school of K'ung Fu Tzu.
Mo-Tzu's followers became temple
safdians
and the defenders of
the simple manr most of them were from common stock themselves
while also very educated (quite
a contras! in the fourth century nce).
However, his school qLrickly broke into three branches, each accus
ing the other of heresy, and because of th;s confltct among them
selves and with Confucianism, they quickly lost power. By the
Conmon Era they had mostly disappeared or
sone
unoergrouno.
10. In addition to thc Lung Hu Shan sect, there are three other
Toist traditions that have had an impact on Chinese history, all
were established in the fourrh to sixth centu.ies. One is th Mao-
shar Sbarg ch'in, (Mao
Mountain suprerne purity) sect, which fol
l owed t he t eachi nss of Vei Hua-t s' i rn, Yang Hsi , and T' ao
Hung ching, among others. This sect did come closer ro rhe pop
lar image of the Toist hermir, stressing peacef l meditation nd a
reclusive lilestyle to obrain rbe prize of immorrality. The second is
the Lins-po (sacfedjewel)
scriptufaltradition, which was based on
sacred texts and emphasized complex ritals andliturgies The third
i s t heVut ang-Pai , whi ch emphasi zed mari al art s t rai ni ogas a mens
io enlightenmenti one of;ts members, Chang San Feng, is regarded
a th founder ol internal martial arts and is certainly perrinent to
our st ory. (See not e 12. )
r r. The issue of lrimate enlightenmnt or immonaltty ;s one
that has been written bout in detail and.equires severalvolrrmes to
address. In short, therc seem to be different srages to the game. From
the point ofviev ofJohni Iineage, the first stage is achievedbycorn-
pleting Level Four (actually Level Five, though I have not addressed
the dislinction to avoid confusioo), which ensures thar you can tke
all your yang energy with you when you die. Such a spirir is still
bound by the laws of karma, howeve and will remain so until Level
Thity is attained. In otherwords, to ensure escape from the cycle of
rbirth you must attain tvel Thirty or more while alive. Ukimate
enlightenrnnt results at Level Seventy-Two, whn all seventy-rwo
190
ppendixOne
chakms in thc body arc opcrrcd arrd thc very last, located at the top
of t he skul l , i s al l owed ro bl oom. At t hi s poi nt t he yogi i s one wi t h
I have found
Johni
method to be similr to tbt of Kundalini
yoga and the nbetan BLrddhist yoss of Naropa (as
well as some
branches of Toi sm and shanrani sm), but , as meni i oned above,
proper comparison is bcyond the scope of this book.
One issue, however, that I would like 10 address 's the fact that
such an approach i s not l i rni l ed t o East ern myst i ci sm. l n my opi ni on
t he anci ent Crccks, Me5opot anri a. rs, aDdsypt i ans al l used t he same
nethod. \(/hile the evidence for this is circumstantial rather than
hard, it would appear that the theory is on track.
The serpenr is a synbol iound everywhcrc in rhc Creek archaic
relisious record as vll as ihc Esyptian. The depiction of rhe snake
reters to "carth cnersy" or, in the words ofJohn Chang, "yin power"
(yi n
ch' i ri si Dg f rom t he eart h).
Certain researchers have proposed the theory that the chakras
olEastem mysticisn1 are no more than d nctwork of"standingwaves"
in the field of yin enerey tht surronds and pervades us. This stand-
ing wve network reflects our personalitles and our karma both, a
colrntc.pat to our genetic makeup
In figure 6a a simplified version of the chakras of Eastern mysti
cism is shown (ihat is, the main seven, rather than all seventy two).
Compare these chakras to the bsic standing wave ofphysics
(figlre
6b), nd to the stdff of Hernes (flgure
6c) used as a symbol by phy-
sicians around the world. This symbol is actually quire old nd can
be seen on a Mesopotamian vase in the Louvre dated to 2000 B(:E
(flgure
6d). You could also look at the stafl of Asclepius, god of heal
ins (fisure 6e), or the snake crown ofthe pharaohs ofancient Esypt
(figure
6f). All the imases refer to the ascension of earth energy. I
will leve it to others to make a more detailed comparison.+
"
All of th.'. ."n..pt' *.re p.snted by Lefteris Sarass in
trapos magazine, Aldebaran publishing, Athens, Cleece,
Jun
1998
The orisinal sketch of the vase iD the Louvre was fi6t pblished in
the newspaper letrroilpia, Athens, Octobel 4, I 998.
191
\ t . t
211
U/
I11
>K
(b)
1
(e)
Fig. 6. (a) The chakras of Easrem mysricism (b) A tandins wave. (c) The
staff of Hermes. (d) Mesopotaian inase showing the same network of
enereies. (e) The staff of Asclepius (1)The
snake crown ol Egypt
12. One ot her semi bi st ori cal f i gure who has a beari ng on t hi s
text is Chng San Feng An intcrnal alchemist of great power, he is
credited by many with originating the internal martil arts that is,
the application ofnei-dan training to martial techn;que.
John Changs
school of kung fu counts him as a prominent and highly successtul
memberol i t s l i neage. Among ot her t hi ngs, ChangSan Feng i s con
192
sidered by some the originator o f t'ai chi chuan, although his legacvt
alleged influnce on t'ai chi is an area of controversy. I will stick mv
neck out and say that I personally am convinced that Chang San
Fengt internal martial art did indeed influenc t'ai chi
(though I will
not at this point get into the whys and hows). Fengs name appears
in historical Chinese texts under two different spellings, as Chang
"Three Mountain Peaks" and Chang"Three Abundances"
(both pro-
nouncedChaq Sar Fng). As such, some Chinese writrs suggest that
Chang lived to be at least five hundred years old . . or more
The first reference we have to Chang is from the seventeenth-
century scholar Huang Tsung Hsi in his frtidr,
Jor
Wa$q Cbwg na4
who wrote, "Shaolin is famous for its martial art. Howevet their art
stresses only offense, which allows an opponent to tak advntag
of this to strik weak points. There are internal martial ans, which
empl oy. l i l l ness ro over(ome acri venes\ . a5 soon a\ t he dggret . o. '
com into bodily contaci, they are immediately thrown For this
reason, Shaolin is regarded as an extemal martial art The internal
martial arts originatd with Chang San Feng
IChang
Three Moun
tain Paksl o the Sung dynasty [960
1279 cE], who was an alche
mist on the mountain of Vu Tang. He received a summons from th
emperor Hui Tsuns. On the way to see him, he found the road
bl ockedbyagroupof bandi t s. That ni ght hedreamedt hat t heheav-
enJy emperor Hsuan I/u, th Taoist god of war, taught him martial
arts. ln the morning Chang killed over a hundred bandits "*
Of sisnificance is
Johnk
insistnce that Chans was Shaolin
monkbefore hebecame a Taoist, somethingthat fits in well with the
seventeenth century scholar Huang Pai Chiat
(Tsung Hsi! son)
statrnent that"Chang San Fengwas a master of Shaolin, but reves'
ing its principles developed the Internal school."t This is a distioc
tion ofsome consequnce to martialarts historians, one that has not
been sufficiently stressed
(in my opinion) and that, most assuredlv,
'The
wordins is rny own, based on two transltions'
a. Huane, Alfred, Conrlar
'lii
C,i, (Tokyo, Charles E Tuttle, |993)
b Vil, Douslas, lot T'ai
-Chi
Clasics
Jro^
the lih al i4 Dyd\tv
(AlbaDy, State Un iversity of New York Prss, I 996
)
t Vit", il;/. I ."."-mend this book to the serious scholar
193
AppendixOne
Taoi st schol arc wi l l t ake umbrage wi t h. Anot hcr i mport ant poi nt i s
Huangi use of the word sfiil'ress to describe interoal martial arts He
is referringto yin energy It shoLrld be noted that i n ternal martial arts
are not of necssity flowingand evasive, s we have come to betiev
in .he Vest (since
all movernnt is of ncessity yang). Rather, in this
text, Huang is denoting yin in rhe context used byJohn Chang, in
other words as a "graviiational
force" that absorbs energy and warps
space-time. The pii4p,
Jor
WoU Cbng Mt offers considerable cir
cumstantial evidence that
Johns schooi is indeed deccended from
Chans San Feng
In the Ming historical text Mi", Shih Fan Ci wan, we fiod, a
rcterence to Chang San Fens; h is presented as beins',big and rall,
with a cranei back."* Apparcntly, the first Ming emperor tried to
find him in 1392, but Chang dtdn't want to be found. Seventy ycars
later (
jn
rhe M ins texl,{4 ifi ktl Yh Cbi ShouLei Ko
)
w find mention
ofhrm asajn That particularMinsemperor
was successtul, for Chang
dcigned to visir him
r
Othcr Mtng references catalog Chamg Three Abrndances as a
native of the Yi djstrict of Liaoning province in orthern China. Hc is
listed as beins a Taoisr leader betwccn the end of the
yuan
and the
besinnins of the Mins dynasry ( r 368 cr) who eventually built a cot
tasc oo
\yy'u
Tng mountain to devote himclf to rhe study ofToism
+
\/as thefe a Chans San Fcng who lived 1rl be more than five
centuries old: Even five years ago I would have said rhar claims like
this wcre sher no,rsense These days Ihesitatc to even offer an opin-
ion on such matters. That thre od5 a historical Chang San Fcng (or
sevcral of then), there can be no doubt. Vho or what he really was,
however, wecannot know Perhaps hi s i ssi nrpl ya caseot oncrnan i n
cach gencrat i on po5i ng as hi s predecessof -a qi t e comnron ruse i n
world hlstory. Or perhaps hc was indccd an agctess Toist immortal.
The Taoi st aurh{t r l . i Han hsu, i n 1844, upon put rl i shi nsabook
t i t l ed
Ttu C,kk Wks ol
(:hd",
Sd'J Fn
. claimed to have mer rhe Dran.
Yans
Jwins Mins, Al,arcrdYd"4 Sr,leTdiCnl
Yansi Mart i al A, rsAssoci at i on, 1987J
l
Ya. cl wi ns Mi nc, ri i l
+ Huoc, Alhed, C-o,t 1r. ni Cri
194
a-lL,,r
Umaica Plin, Ma$,
I t worl d bc wondcr' l ul i f he were st i l l al i ve, shari ng a
i oke
at t hi s
author! cxpense. I'd like to think that indeed he is, somewhere in
t he mount i n of Chi na.
13. The question of the ethert existence plgued scientists at
the turn ofthe century. Besinninswith Clerk Maxwell! andMichael
Faraday! discovery of elctromagnetics, the controversy s to how
such forces should propagate puzzledscientists, who werc still work
ing with Newtonian mechanics and mateial bodies. Over tim the
bhavior of a "field" cam to be understood, and in turn that of a
"wave." Allefforts then centeredon onderstand ins th natfeof lisht,
with Fresneli theory that Iight propdgated in substance called the
luminiferous ether being rnost popular (this ether was thousht to bc
at rest in absolute space) In 1887 the fanrous Michelson'Morley
experiment provd that a mechanical ether could not in fact exist
For eightccn yers this finding vas the center of dbai, but ws
finally acceptcd, despite firce rcsistance from some of thc
sreatet
scientists of the day
(such as Lord Kclvin, Hendrik Lorentz, and
Jules
Henri Poincar). The issue was scttled in 1905 with Albcrt
Einstein's famous papers on quantum theory and relativity. Ther
were st i l l adberent s t o t h ol d et her t heory, howcver not abl y
Lorentz and Poincar, who introduced model whcrcby a clock
slowed as it nrovcd into the ether. I believe that they wcrc close to
the trulh.
14. The root s of Taoi sm st ret ch back t o t hc ' hamani t i c t radi -
tion that svcpt through all parts ol the world beginning some thirty
thousandyears aeo.* The word sbanar cones from the Tunears people
of Siberia, who livcd on the northcrnmost borders of the Chlnte
worl d However, i t i s a mi st ke t o assume t hat shmani sm as a bcl i ci
bcgan in Siberia. According to lhe rchaolosical record, its ofigins
were almost certainly Europcan
I
Sbamanism was the first |najor world
'Pafincr,
Martin, Tir imorts of aorn (Sha{tesbury, Doret, Uement
Books 1994) .
t Canpbell, I o'eph, Il,r Way oJ ttu Anindl
pDts,
Nttbolalts ol ttu Ctl
Hrrt (New York Harpe. nd Row, 1988J
195
rligion andreached from northern EuroDe acrossAsi to theAmeri,
can contjnents. Indications are that it dispersed through Asja into
North Americ between 1t,000 and 8o0o BcE.
A shaman functions by studying nd knowingnature, and thus is
abl to reach outto nature on all levels. The core belief o[ shamanism
is that theuniverse is made up of two paralleland overlappingworlds,
the physicalandthe spiritual.
Itre
ofthe physicalworld mav be influ-
enced by those of the spiritual- It is rhus necessary for an intermedi-
ary to communicatewith the denizens of the spirirworldandintercede
for the dwellers on the physicalplane; this mediatorwas the shaman.
The forces ofthe spirit world, who maybe deceasedhumans or non-
human in origin, can bringon goodfortune orbad, illness or prosper-
iry Th shman enters the spirit world through th rrance stare, during
which he speaks with and/or becomes a mouthDice for the sDirits.
The spirit world's main directiv usually was that pople follow and
understand the way of nature, indeed, the cosmology of shamanism
tookthe firststeps in stablishing that there runs a Vay human be;ngs
could follow to be in accord with the world and avoid sickness and
disaster It is this primordial immediacy and undrstanding of the
natural world that shamanism has bequeathed to Taoism.
The early kings of China were shamans. lr was to the first king,
Fu Hsi, that the spirits rvealed how ro bring civilization to man,
reputedly around 3000 BcE. Fu Hsi tught his subjeds agriculture
and writing, among other things. He is also the patron
of the Chi
nese divination arts in that he first originated the ight trigrms
frr-
&a) that led to the eventual development of tbe I Ch;ng. It is said
that the secrt of the eight trigrams was inscribed on the side of a
horse that rose from the River Ho to reveal itslf to Fu Hsi; thus this
pattern is called the Ho-t'u, and describs the underlying nature of
all things. It is inte{esting to not that an ,riflal presnts
Fu Hsi with
the knowledge of the workings of the univene, and that Fu Hsi is
olten drav/n v/earinga tigers skin and accornpanied by animals such
as th tortoise. There can be no clearer ties ro shamanism.
One of the greatest shaman-kings to follow, and one especilly
revered by Taoists as tbe traditional founder of Toisn, is the Yellow
Emperoa Huang T, who reportedly lived between 2697 and 2597
BcE. H is credited with inventing govemment administration and
196
ppendix One
medicine, among othef things. Indeed, Chinas most famous mdical
text is called Tte lloo Enperor\ Clasic oJ lrxrnal l'Leictue (thot'gh
chances are it was s'ritten in the second century 8cE) Huang is also
reputed to be th inventorof the chimney, of plov.s, andofsilk looms,
but is bettr known for his experiments with lnternal and external
alchemy and discovery of the secrets of immortaliry Another sha
man-king was Yue, who founded the Hsia dynas'
(11os-1765 BcE)
t
it was said that he hadbeen designatedby heaven to lead his people
Like hispredecessor io centuries past, KingYu sawan animalemerge
from the wters
(in this case tortoise from the River Lo) with a
pattern of eight trigJms inscribed on its back. This pattern is called
the lo sll and is referred to as the Later Heaven pa-k'ua, while the
Ho-t'u is called the Earlier Heaven pa-k'ua. The Ho-tu describes the
ideal ordr of things in the universe, while the Lo shu describes the
order of fluxand change. It can be sen that wht shamanism offered
to Taoism was th sense of a relationship between the laws of nature
and the ultimate power of the universe, including the concept that
change cannot be forced or halted but simply underctood. The idea
of "going with the flow" is s shamanistic as it is Taoisti indeed, it is
very difflcult to draw a line between the two and specify where one
trad;tion ends and the other ommences.
1 5. The sase Kuo pts Ch ingJuq chag (Classic Treltise ol the Par
tens oJtheGen Llontains), vritten during the third century cE, clearly
describes the process by which things are created from the Tao and
return to it. This work reflects ideas tht had ben in existence for
nlillennia od were confirmed by otber writers in the Suns dynasty
eight hundred years later*
The author begins, "ln the beginninC vs darkness, for the Void
i not visible."i Compare this with ihe ancient Crek myth (per
Hesiod) that the earth sprang toom chaos, the unfo'med,+ o' to the
.
Vong, Eva, Fog 51,,i(Boston, Shambhala Publications, 1996)
I vone,ibid.
+ Th word craos in it! original context has nothing to do with its neaning
today o[ "contused crazed fts." Instead the word
(Xdo)comes fron the
Creek root meaniog"to open wide,".efenine to space, the indefinable
197
AppendixOne
Ol d Test ament . Vu chi i s rhe pri mordi al , t hc Source l t i s t he condi -
tion of stillness whefe all thinss are undiffereniiated ffom the ulti
mate. In this stat a poiot of movement-of pure yang shincs out
(scc fisure 7). There is interaction betveen yin and yans leadins to
the state of t'ai chi (the supreme extremity) vhere yin and yag are
embraced, distinct yt tosether, balancing each othcis forccs. This
is the One referfed to try Lo tzu, the mother of "the ten thousand
$i ngs"
(al l l i i e). Vhere \ ru-hi i s absol ut e st i l l ness, f ai chi has t he
pot eDt i al of cha nge. \ (hen t ' ai chi i s at rst , yang and yi n are uni t edr
when t'ai chi is in motion, the two opposing forces scparat. Hercin
lies the secret of immortality.
(d)
Fig. 7 Ko'pus presentation. (a)
Vu-chi, the To. (b) and (c) A spark of
movement in the stillnessi yang i the center of yin. (d) T'ai chi, yin and
yang embraced and balanced
16. See my t ext f or not e 13.
17. See my t ext f or not e 15.
18. A historic example of how much damage man can do in the
process ofbeing greedy and ignorant is the corDplete elimination of
the buffalo in the United States in the late ninteenth century Most
pople are awre that the great herds that once roamed the plains
198
Appendi xOne
we rc wantonly slaughtered, but not rnany realize bow quickly it was
done, and by how few
In 1870 there were twenty million buffalo roaming the grass
lands; by 1889, less than twenty years later, there were onlv one
thor-rsandleft. From those thousand, careful consewation hasvielded
a herd two hundred thousand stronc in our day. \flby were the buf
falo killedr
'/hat
purpose did the elimintion of such an incrediblv
large food supply server
Iti simple. Nobody owned them. They were free, and could
feed the economlcally disadvantaged of the nation without anvone
makig a profit. Vith the buffalo extant, the cattle barons, and the
poliiicians in thir pa, cold not hope to corner thc v/orld meat
market These men had already determinedthat the
srasslandwre
xcellent for raisins cttle, so they made the buflalo go awav. The
orpses ol the slaughtered animals were useiess as food, since thev
had normallv poiledby the time aoyone couldset to themi instead
they wer arted off to plants like thc Michigan Carbon Vorks in
Detroit, wherc they were crushed into fertilizer. lnto
Jcnilizer,
lo(
Codi sakel
It was simply a case of gfeed and ignorance working hand in
hand, as usual. Vhy did people do nothing at all bck then in thc
face of sucb slaughter: Perhaps they didn't care. Perhaps thev had
been told that killins the bffalo wouldn'r matter. Perhaps thev be
lieved that buffalo rneat wasiut no damn
sood.
199
AppendixOne
Appendix Two
OBSERVATIONS
AND
SPECULATION
At thls point a truly academic discussion of the phenornena
delin
eted in the text is out of the question because no clinicalrials have
been he1d. Howwea I cannor help butspeculate turtheron the things
I witnessed in the course of beingJohn Chang,s student, and in this
brief appendix would like to offer additionar comment.
It is xcitingto believe tharw r,rillone daycom to understand
the nature of the energies that lendJohn his powers.
yang
ch'i and
yin ch'l govern the equation of life, as Chang Situ h;mself has re-
pat edl y
st at ed- A brot her st udent of mi ne once mocked my
psudoscientific
ttempts to quantify yin andyng by remarking that
John experienced rality directly, andthus had no need foiquantifi_
cation. He was not far from the truih. Nevertheless, while Chang
Sifu may not need such discourse h;mself, the rest of us certainlydo,
so we may as well attempt it.
OBSRVATIONS
Yn3 Ener$y
.
The Ping-Pong ball demonstration. Outlined;n chapter 7,
this demonstration basically involvedJohnt transfenjnsyane
200
energy i nt o a Pi ng-Pong bal l hel d i n hk l ef t handwhl l e at t he
same time genrating a yin pole in his right palm. The ball
pulsed with a blu light while at the same tim emitting a
chirping sound similar to the sons of a canary. A continuous
stream of bluish sparks was observed to flow from the ball
to\,/ard
John's
right palm, in essnce a miniature lightning bolt.
John
kept this up for about five seconds andstopped, fatigued.
Vhen questioned as to whether he could do it with a solid
rubber ball, he replied in the nesative, statins that the ball
had to be hollor,,r.
.
Pyrogenesis. As seen in Ri', oJFirs nd captured by myself on
simple video film aswell,John is apable of inducinspyrognesis
using the yangch'i. The typicalsubject mtter isnitedis news'
paper or tissue, but he has boiled water on occasion as well.
o
Energy blasts. Though I have not witnessedthis spcific phe'
nomenon personally (yet),
I have heard it described by other
students,John is capable of issuing enersy bolts of grat powef
overconsiderable distance, simiiar to lishtnins bol.
(The
color
of these blasts is also blue; the energy used is identical to that
used in th Pins-Pons ball derno.) I cannot help but think of
the flms Monal Conbat Pos,et, Bi1 Trlble in Lttle Chind, or the
Chinese legend of the god lei Krag
(Zru
in Creece). The ex
tent of these pov/rs is unknown. I have heard that brother
students of mine at Level Three are capable of strikins up to
eight meters away with the addition of
just
a bit ofJohns yin
enrgy into their bodies, v/hich allows their yang energy to
escape the confines of their own skin. (You can assume that
our skin is a sort of Faraday cage for our bodies' energies. )
.
X ray diflraction. In trials held manyyears agoJohn and two
of his students at LevelThree allowed their dantieo points to
b subjected io frontI, donal, and lateral X-ray examination.
Johns
dantien showedup as a flatcircular disk, while those of
his students exhibited curved globular indications (also flat).
Yn Eneriy
.
Telekinesis. I have capturedJohn on film movins a matchbox
from one yand away. He extended his left palm toward the
201
A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library
box, which we had placed on the floor, generating a yin pole
in that palm. The matchbox skidded across the floor with
obsrvabl acceleration to rest in his grasp.
.
Absorition of energy. On two sepate ocasions
John
passed
yin energy into my body. I was then capable of catching a
bullet from an ajr rifle by plactng my hand over the muzzle.
Two differcnr air rifles were usd in these trials. The pellets
showed no deformation and there was neither generation
of
heat nor any impct upon capture (chapter
7).
Vn-Yang Ener6y
.
Electrogenesis. The easiest ofJohn's powers to witnessi it is
also the most difficult to qunti/. Tlre repulsive force be-
tween yin and yang brings about ihis dynmismi as the two
energies are "squeezed' together in Chang Sifui dnrien.
John
routinely uss this ability on a daily basis to treat patients
with cupunture, pssing said energy into rhe traditional
points. Howevet repeatedtestingwith borh AC and DC volt-
meters and amperometers indicated neither currenr nor po-
t ent i al ; nor was my t acher capabl e of pr oduci ng
incandescence in a DC light bulb of the lowesr volrage (ro
ensure that this
/'currenr"
v.as inded being passed durtng the
trials, the aothor acted as ground). Therefore, while this power
feels like electriciry, ir is most definitely not. One character-
istic worth noting is that the "current" generated does not
seem to follow the standard wave form of physics, but instead
consists of a series of peaks. I have no hard data to quantify
this statement, but I could feelth;s effect tn ChangSitut body
during electrogenesis. That is, I received the impression thar
th power generated did not follow this mode,
202
but rather this one,
Only time will tell if this assessment is accurare.
SPCULATlON
Yan6 Energy
Tle Ping-Pong ball demonstration mentiond above and described
in chapter 7very rnuch defines the naturc ofyang ch'i, should such a
thing truly exist as an independent form of energy. The color blue
observed is reminiscent of Reich! orgone; indeed, many of the be-
havioral characteristics described ar similar The necssiiy ofusing
a hollow, plastic, seamless ball to accomplish the demo is most im
portant: It suggests thatwhat lwitnessed vas not a surface phenom-
enon, but rther ihat the energy had penetrated the polyrneric shell
and shone i/'idr the ball much like licht shines in an incandescent
Iightbulb. This seerns to indicate that the yang ch'i is neither par-
ticle nor wave, but bo.h. I believe that it is a solar energy stored in
our earthi atmosphere.
The yang energy is roi. It is capable of incendtary effects, as
evidenced by the pyrogenesis demonstrations. Moreover, there is an
interestins correlation between Chans Situs rchetypes and Reicht
observations on the orgone in the treatment of cancer Reich had
witten that cancer cells die when placed near the orgone bions. My
teacher has successfully used an overdose of yang ch'i to treat can
cer, stating tht cancer cells "dry up" when exposed to strong yang.
(That
said, I must at present dash whatever hopes I may have given
to those afflicted with cancer. AsJohn has said, he cannot cure can-
cer He has made seven trials to date and has hd a 43 percent suc,
css rate. \X,/hile three of those people were instantly cured and are
203
alive today, the other four died on the spot, their weakend frames
unable to endure the blast ofenergy. Chang Sifu no longer attempts
this type of therapy. I have written this pssge in faith thar further
research may lead us to a cure. Once we undentand the yang ch'i,
\{ n illbe able to cure cancer) I am convind that what Reich called
the orgone, w in the Mo-Pai have for the last twenty five hundred
years called yang ch'i.
The phenomenon of X ray diflraction is also an interesting point
(w know that it is the yang enrgy inducing this effect by virtue of
the fact thatJohn's two LevelThree students also evidncedan indi-
cation). X ray diffraction may prove to be the method by which we
can correlt and clinically prove bioenergy.
Yn EnerSy
It is simply impossible at this poiot to have a cleal idea as to what
the yin ch'i really is. If any of the propelties accounted can be clini
cally proven, then we willhave to revise the First Law ofThermody
namics. The demonstration involving th air rifle is most precis in
defining the characteristics of yin, The nergy of the pellet was rrof
conserved, there was ro deformation, o generation of hat, no im-
pact (conservation
of momentum). In a rccent conversation
John
described the yin as "being like gravity in that gravity itselfwas also
a yin ch'i." I have stuck my neck out in this lext repeatedly, not least
by stating that understanding the yin nergy will give us the secrets
to faster-thanlight speeds. Let me do so once again in this para-
sraph
with another simple sentence, IJ etergy can tisappear no nowben,
then it can be createtr
rafr
rotbirg as oe\.lnagine what a blow such news
would be to the energy industry; they would probably fight Iike ra
bid wolves to prevent such information from making the rounds,
even as idle spculation.
During the demonstration of telekinesis described,
lohn
ex-
plainedthat he hadusedyin ch'ito draw th matchbox into hisgrsp.
I belive that what occurred during this teleklnesis was essentially a
wrping of space and time in rhe direction of his left palm, much in
the manner of a gravity well. In otherv/ords, to use a simple model,
what is transpiring is as shown in figure L Again, whether such an
assessment is accurate or not remains to be secD.
204
|'
Fic. 8. (a) Fisfative surface of space time. (b) Yin field obiectbesins
to "fall."
Yn-Yaryl Energy
Perhaps the clearst statement I an make rcgarding the power of
electrogenesis displayed by Chang Sifu is to say that it is most defi-
nitely /ot the result of electron flow If it were, such elecxron move-
ment could have been recorded as a potential or a current ol some
sort, andJohn would have been abl to prcduce incandescence in a
lightbulb. Nevertheless, anyone coming into contact with this en
ergy will swear that he feels an eletric cunent passing through his
body. In addition, this enersy is thoroughly transferrable through
conducton
(metals, water), but not ihrough insulatos. If this cur'
rnt is not due to electron flow, then what is causing it?
Iwould like to take another shot in the dark at this point and
propose that increased nular oscilltion may be the caus of this
Several researchers
(Kevran, Komaki , Pappas, Hi l Jman,
Coldfein)* have suggestd that electrically induced nucler fusion
("cold" mrclear fusion) takes place inside the body at all times, and
indeed may be the driving force that fuels the sodium-potassium
transfer inside the cell. I have chosen the word irarsJar caretully. The
mainstream theory
(called the Sodium-Potassium Purnp) proposes a
mechnism whereby sodiurn is exchanged for polassium inside and
'
Please check http,//wwpapimi.el for related literature.
205
out of the cell in an attempt to explain the transmembrane potential
ofthe cellmembrane. Howevea this modelhas neverbeen validated
and stumps todays investigators. Proponents of the biological cold
nuclear fusion theory, on the other hand, sggest that sodium is
nuclearly transmutedto potassium insid the cell,* andthat the pro-
cess should righttully be labeled the Sodium-Potassium Tinsmota
tion. This model is, of course, outside the accepted boundalies of
todayt physics. Taking everything into consideration, howevet it
sems to me quite sensible to propose thatJohn! yin-yaog kung en-
ergy may be due to increased states of nuclear excittion. This en
efgy is geoerated as a series of pulses, and is inducedby the inteGction
of the solar yang energy with the "gravitational" or "dark-matter"
force of the yin ch'i. k is this increased nuclear xitation (or fusion)
thatJohn's patients and students feel as cunent. (The difference be
tween my viewpoint and that of the aforementioned researchers is
that I do not believe that this tusion is lectrically induced. Neither
is it "cold," st.ictly speaking.)
You will see that such a postulate is most logical if we look at
thingsonce again hom amcrocosmic, astrophysical perspective. Our
currnt science accepts the notion that, were it not for the dynarnism
of nuclear tusion serving as an expansive force, our sun would col-
lapse under the force of its own grvity. In fact, models dlineating
rhe evolution (life and death) of a star follow the archet.pei io fis-
ure 9 (not t o scal et ).
Vhat this mans is that dll stars are batdefields between
sravity
and some force providing outward pressure. Llnder normal condi-
tions, the outward force exceeds the force ofgravity, and a sun radi
ates energy (9). In a white dwarf the pressre of gravity collapses a
str when its "fire "runs out, creating a dnse'packed atomic struc-
ture
(9b).
A neutron star, the result of the explosive death of a star
two to three solar masses large, is even more compact, its atoms
crushed and their nuclei stacked tosether (9c). Finally we com to
- l ol l owi ' sr hi \ l or mul a
1, Na21
'
r Ol 6
f ner gu'
1qK{ 9
r Ld. ou
J' an
Pi crre "Ll nra. krns Bl a, k Hol ". " Srnrry' ,
q' o^4n
280. \ .
May 1999.
206
v,;
\-
K1
g
CAS PART!CLES
o
(b)
k)
(")
Fis. 9 (a) Our sn. Its radius is 1.4 million km
(b)
Vhire dwa.f, radius
10,000 km.
(c) Neutron str; radius 60 km. (d) Black holei radius 6 k1
the case of a black hole, where space and time lose all meaning and
ve hve a singulariry
(9d).
Ifyou look at the modern fai chi symboi below,
vou
can se thal
it accurtely depicts the transmutation of a star at peak solar power
such as a red giant (greater yang), explosivelv transforming ito a
black hole
(lesser yin).
Let! look at our t'ai chi model of the univene once again, nsing
the rchaic symbol. It is probably begioning to make more sense to
207
STAR/SOTAR ENERCY
GREATR YANC
Uoderst andi ng f ai chi i s casi er once we redef i nc f undamcnt al
concepts to coincide with the archetype. Let! start with graviry.
\X,4ren most people thinkofgravity, they remember the basics leamed
in high school, One mass exert n attractive force on another, and
it is this attractive force that keps us on the planet's surface. Lett
take this truism one stp farther and define things more precisely:
Craviry is that force in the universe that wnts allnaitar to collapse
into a single mass, and ultimately into oflc singularity. That is, gravity
is that force that seeks to compact space andrime into a single, mas-
sive black holei k is this dynamism that absorbs energy and sends it
into nowhere Cravity is precisely rhe intrinsic yin ch'i used byJohn
Changto achieve his spectacular, energy,absorblng demo nstrations.
(l
must reiterate, however, that while gravity ir a yin ch'i, the yin
field is not limited to gravity. Thre are other spets.)
Solal fire, on the othr hand, is rhe exparsiue force thar defines
space and time and keeps it extant Vestern sience calls this solar
torce nuclear fusion. The ancient scholars of China called it yang
ch'i. lt is one and the sarne. Macrocosmically the combat between
the forces of
sravity
and solar fire
(yin
andyans) defins the naiure
of reality. Microcosmically their interaction rels our lifeforce. (lt is
losical to hypothesize that should such a contest comprie the tun
danent al nat u ral condi t i on ol ouruni vrse, t hen ourown bodi cs and
our very lifeforce would reflect it. The ancient Chinese, who knew
nothing of blackholes and rcdsiants, experienced and deduced this
struggle using other methods.)
\Vhile true cquatioD governing such behaviorwould be fractal
in nature, we could mathematically state th balance ol t'ai chi in
si mpl i f i ed f o. m as,
l-l I ,:,rt+-i
=
r
.h.r.
]-- I dcfines the narure of rhe yjn ch'j, o:t [+-]
rhat of
t he yans, nnd K i s a const ant . (' nme,
t
i s not appl i cabl e ro t he dcf i
ni t i on of yi n, because i t i s a yang charact eri st i c. )
Lct me shake thing up evcn more for those who nray thi k I
have gone ofl the deep end. Chang Siftri "electricity" is transmil
table rhrough metal objects The Enslish word'cia/ is an adaptation
208
of the Creek wordneta/lor,
(ptol,ov),
which mens, quite simply,
"that which transmutes." Better men than I have found ancient cul-
tures to be extremely sagcious in the ways of the world. Perhaps
the ancient Creeks simply understood thlngs a bit better than we do
today. Leti close on that thought.
209
BOOKS OF RELATED INTEREST
,
Nei Kung
The Secret Tachings of the
\(arrior
Sages
by Kosta Danaos
The Martial Arts of Ancient Crecce
Modern Fighting Techniques from the Age ofAlexander
by Kostas Dcnmis aul Nektarios Lykiaro1,oulos
The Spi ri t ual Pra( t k es o[ rhe Ni nj a
Mastering the Four Gates to Freedom
by Ross Heaoen
Qigong
Teachings of a Taoist lmmorral
The Eighr Essential xcrcises of Master Li Ching yun
by Stuart Aloe Okan
The
Jade
Emperors Mind Seal Classic
The Toist Guide to Health, Longevity, and Imrnonality
by Snat Aloe Okol
Iron Shit Chi Kung
by Martak Cbia
Bone Marrow Nei Kung
Toist Tchniques for Rejuvenating the Blood and Bone
by Nla tak Chia
Martial Arts Teaching Tles of Power and Paradox
Freeing the Mind, locusing Chi, and Masrering rhe Self
by PascolFa iot
Inner Tiaditions
.
Bear & Company
PO. Box 3BB
Rochester, VT 05767
t
-800-246-8648
wwr.v. InnerTiadi rions.com
Or conmct your local bookseller