The qigong arts have a long history that dates back to ancient times in China. Chinese people thus have a natural advantage in practicing qigong. There are two upright systems of qigong cultivation, the Buddhist system and the Daoist system, which have made public many great methods of cultivation that before were taught in private. While most people believe that qigong is about cultivating and harnessing “qi” (pronounced “chee”), the true practice of qigong has their practitioners focus on cultivating “gong”. The Origins of Qigong My Master said qigong as we know it today was not, in fact, originally called qigong. It originated from the solitary cultivation ways of the ancient Chinese…

My Master said no matter how you cultivate, you should not mess up your cultivation by adding other things. Even within Buddhism itself, it is taught that no two denominations or sects can be mixed together. Those who practice Pure Land can’t practice Zen, for example. The two cannot be mixed. I am telling you that in the end, you will obtain nothing because no one will give you anything. Though both practices count as Buddhist, there is a problem with your thinking as well as the issue of not staying true to one practice. Each system has its own energy mechanism that helps you develop gong, which is higher…

My Master said many people readily mistake energy practices, or qigong exercises, for being essentially a form of physical exercise. And it’s only natural to think that way, since the two are comparable on a superficial level, as both promote physical health. But it turns out the two differ greatly if you get into the specifics of the techniques and approaches they employ. Physical exercise aims to foster health, and so those who do it need to engage in physical exertion and go through training routines that condition the body. The opposite holds true with energy practices. One needs to be still when doing them, and any movement that does take place…

My Master said people, in their state of ignorance, are apt to do wrong on this Earth, and for their transgressions, there will be what Buddhism calls “karmic retribution.” The ordeals that people go through or the misfortunes they experience are often cases of them paying off karma. People often wonder how come the divine, which some religions believe to be all around us, doesn’t heal all of humanity—especially when doing so would, in fact, take but a wave of the hand. Well, it’s because the ordeals people face are traced back to their own misdeeds and debts. So if someone then heals them with supernatural means, it amounts to…

My Master said the consequences that follow from taking life are so great. When the term “killing” was used in early Buddhism it mainly referred to taking human life, which is the most serious form of it. Later on, the killing of large creatures such as livestock and other larger animals also came to be regarded as serious. Let’s consider why religious communities have always held the taking of life to be so serious. There is a Buddhist teaching that a life ended prematurely becomes a lost soul or “wild ghost,” and so services have traditionally been performed to save these lives from purgatory. As the teaching goes, were they…

There is a time, season, and purpose for everything, including your existence. It’s no coincidence that you’re reading my article now because everything happens for a reason. There is a Way that assures your return to the place where you truly belong. The Way is bestowed by Heaven, based on the Will of Heaven, and for us to return to Heaven during this critical time period in our history. The Way is not a religion; it has no form. You can join and leave as you like. You don’t have to pay any fee to gain the Way because money is not the thing we take with us when we…

Many of you may have heard from various spiritual traditions about animal spirits such as those of foxes, weasels, hedgehogs, or snakes attaching to human bodies, and wonder what it’s about. People claim that energy practices can develop psychic powers, but that’s not how it works; what people are taking to be psychic powers are actually innate human abilities. It’s merely that as the world progresses, people are increasingly fixating on the tangible things of this physical dimension and growing more dependent on modern technology. This has led to a steady decline of our innate abilities to the point we are at now, where they are disappearing altogether. My Master…