The Dragon

THE CHINESE WAY TO HEALTHY LIVING – Part 1: the 3 Treasures

Wen Tzu Classic says: -

The body is the Temple of Life
The Qi (vital energy) is the force of Life
The Shen [神] (spirit) is the Governor of Life
If any one of them goes off balance, all the three Treasures are damaged.
When the Shen is in command, the body naturally follows it, and this arrangement will benefit all the three Treasures of Life.
When the body leads the way and the Shen follows along, this will harm all the three Treasures of Life. (written in third century B.C.)

At birth, all human beings are endowed with these three Treasures of Life. By virtue of these three Treasures of Life we all are able to exist, function and think as we do. Our health and span o our life depended on how we take care to protect and to preserve the three Treasures of Life inside us, i.e., the ancient Chinese called it the Dao ( or Tao).

What is the Dao? The Dao[道] simply means the “path” or the “way”. A way of life that is guided by the mind. The Dao is a guiding path and in the context of this article, the way to healthy life style. The Dao was established by LaoTzu of Chou Dynasty in his Dao De Zing. The followers of the Dao are referred to the Daoist [Taoist] and this has nothing to do with the Taoist religion.

Since ancient times (about 5,000 years ago) the ancient Chinese emphasized utmost importance to health and longevity. The Daoist view the human organism as a microcosm of the universe. It has its own internal heaven and earth and its own climate and seasons as well as its own cyclic transformations and natural interplay of universal energies. The Daoist School views the three Treasures of Life are [1] Jing (essence), Qi (vital energy) and Shen (spirit).

Generally, Jing refers to as the thick, slow moving, refined substance, which has different aspects – the Pre-natal or Congenital Jing and the Post-natal or Acquired Jing. Pre-natal or Congenital Jing is inherited from the parents and it cannot be increased after birth, but it can be preserved through meditation, qigong and taijiquan exercises, The Post-natal or Acquired Jing is formed by the human body from the nutrients of food and air. The Acquired Jing is constantly replenished to support the Congenital Jing. However, in the Daoist view, Jing refers to the physical human body of flesh and blood and all its basic material constituents including hormones, enzymes and neurotransmitters.

The Qi is everything that exists, all changes, all phenomena; all the myriad forms in the universe are made of Qi. The Qi in the human body is constantly changing and takes different roles according to what it needs to do in the body as well as the location in the body. Qi is the vital energy or vital force that activates all the functions of the human body. It drives every voluntary and involuntary process in the human body. The Post-natal Qi is polar and electromagnetic characterized by constant activity and transformation.

The Shen refers to the mind. It includes all its various facets and functions. The Shen consists of the [1] Pre-natal Shen, which is the primordial mind of Dao, the origin of consciousness or the eternal spark of awareness and [2] the Post-natal Shen, which manifests as sensory awareness and thoughts. All human beings have the primordial mind of the Dao within himself or herself.

All diseases and illness are caused by the imbalance of the Yin-Yang Qi in the human body. Health and longevity depend solely on the maintenance of the balance and harmony among the three Treasures of Life, the Yin-Yang Qi of the vital organs of the human body as well as between the human body and the eternal environment.

Through the few thousands of years, ancient Chinese have developed various exercises such as the Qigong and the taijiquan for the purpose of maintaining the balance and harmony among the three Treasures of Life, the Yin-Yang Qi of the vital organs of the human body as well as between the human body and the eternal environment.


W Y Ho, ACIS
25th October 2010

The Dragon

THE ART OF LIVING

Everyone of us is born with a pure mind. As we grow up, our minds are obstructed, polluted and influenced by information from the TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and hearsays. Such pollutions have caused us to lose our effect on our settled and concentrated mind, which is a mind of wisdom.

How can we be free from these unneeded, but necessary afflictions? Information from the TV, radio, newspapers, magazines is necessary because it has educational values, but we must have the ability to isolate such academic information from the mind of wisdom.

Religions of any group are set to cultivate settled and concentrated pure mind. It was never set to make inter-religious comparison. It stresses on the importance of cultivating purity of mind, thus, the method of entering into the religious teachings is through the state of purity of the mind.

True wisdom arises from purity of mind. True wisdom is not attainable from reading newspapers, magazines or books. The wisdom that we attained from reading books and such materials is worldly knowledge and that is not true wisdom. True wisdom is the function of our self-nature, which is complete with unlimited wisdom, virtues and abilities.

The unlimited wisdom, virtues and abilities are qualities in everyone’s self-nature so embedded inside everyone of us. We need to cultivate purity of mind to bring these qualities out from inside us. Purity, Equality, and true Understanding is the vehicle that can lead the qualities of unlimited wisdom, virtues and abilities out from our self-nature.

True Sincerity towards others, Purity of Mind within us, Equality in everything we see, Proper Understanding of life and the universe, Compassion (helping others in a wise and unconditional way), Able to See Through to the truth of impermanence, Let Go of all wandering thoughts and attachments, Freedom of mind and spirit, Accord With Conditions( go along with the environment), Be Mindful of the religions we profess, are the ten basic Qi-force that can drive the vehicle of Purity, Equality, and true Understanding towards achieving the goal of bringing the qualities of unlimited wisdom, virtues and abilities out from our self-nature. The ultimate goal in all religions is the great Perfection.

Our true mind (original nature) is complete with infinite wisdom, virtuous abilities and talents. One of the keys to the treasure of our self-nature is filial to our parents and respectful to our teachers. We must strive to do our best in living up to our parents’ expectations. All parents wish their children to be good persons and benefit the society.

True wisdom is unfathomable. Understanding it can bring great help to our living, work and inter-personal inter-actions. For achieving true wisdom, our willingness and abilities must be set with the capacity to truly surpass the boundaries of all nationality, races and religions. In this respect, the first thing we should learn is the practice of Giving, which includes the Giving of wealth including inner wealth (one of the inner wealth is providing the means for living or use of one’s physical energy and wisdom to support one’s family), Giving of teaching and the Giving of fearlessness.

In the journey towards achieving true wisdom, we must cultivate the Practice of Patience (refers to having endurance doing our chores without complaining or feeling fatigue), the Practice of Diligence (seeking improvement everyday, hoping that to-morrow’s attainment will exceed that of to-day’s), the Concentration in Purity of Mind (while executing our daily duties, we must maintain a pure and undeluded heart and mind) and the Practice of Wisdom (having inner peace and happiness at all conditions).

We must remember that the most important factor in learning and cultivating the Purity of Mind is that we must be able to or remindful of practicing towards achieving true wisdom in our daily life.

A true cultivator of Purity of Mind does not see the faults of others

W Y Ho, ACIS
25th October 2010