A Collection of Sacred-Magick.

Com < The Esoteric Library

"w
THI MACUS
OFJAVA
A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library

THEMAGUS
OFJA\A
'li:achiqgs
of an AuthenticTaoistImmortal

KOSTADANAOS

J
TTi
Iturcr Trâditions
Rochester Vermont
 For Doris

CONTFNTS
Ione. Tiaditions Intemational

Roche.ter,V€mont 05767
w{w.lnnerliaditions.côm

CopydshtO 2000 by Kosia Danaos

All rishts reseryed No pârtôfthis book mây be .€producedor utilized in any Introduction vii
form or by any means,electronicor nechânicâI,includins phorocopyins,
r€cording,orbyâ.y i.tomation storageandretrievalsystem,{ilhout permissiôn
ChapterOne Looking through the Mirror 1
in w.iting lrom the publisher ChapterTûo Lifeforce t2
Libràry of Cons.e$ Cata,osins-ir-Publication Dôtô
ChapterThree Beginnings
The Masls of lava: teachinssofanauthenticTàoistimmoftâl/ KostaDanâôs. Chapter Four The Immortals 35

lncludesbibliogâphical .eiere.ces. ChapterFive The Story of Llao Slfu 61

I S B N0 - 8 9 2 8 18 1 1 1 G l k p a p € ,
Chapter Six Lessonsto Be Learned 76
L Chans,John.2 Taoists-lndoneria lava Biosnphy 3. HealeE
Indonesià Java Biosaphy l Ïtle. ChapterSeven ïn and Yang 99

8L1940.C426D36 2000 Chapter Eight The Vill of Heaven 116

299'514092-dc2I
Chapter Nine The Keris 133
tBl
oa-o36942 ChapterTên The Nature of Reality 147
Printed and boùnd in Canada
Epilogue ForaBreathlTârry.... 162
1098765
Appendix One Notes 177
Text desicn a.d làyout by CryslalH H Rob€fts
This book was typeset in Veisswith SchneidlerInitialsas the displaytypeface AppendixTwo Obsenrationsand Speculation 200
 INTRODUCTION

Imaglnea world where the mind and soul of rnar are foeeto reâch
thchgreatestpotential,where powersonce consideredsupematurâl
or paranorrnalare a simple fact of life. lmagine a place where dis-
ciscs hitherto thought incurablecan be treâtedwith the uncompli-
cltcd administrationofthe healersown abundantlife energy,a place
where mankind caD readily communicatewith earthboundspirits,
whcre powerful yogis can speakwith their Creator Cod Himself.
Vouldn't it bewonderfulto dwellin sucha domain,the stuff of fairy
talcs, myths and legends,storybooks, and Hollywood celluloid?
Vouldn't life have a distinct flavor,a tangy zest,if suchthings were
lndcedtrue?
Velcome to my world. I live in such a place,where all the ex-
traordinàrythings that I have suggestedare real and incontrovert-
lble. In my world Vestern scienceand Easternmysticismwalk hand
In hand, embracedand inseparable,miror aspectsof the samereal-
Ity, equâllyfactualandvalid. The opportunity to grow is thereevery
waking moment, the gift of our own $eat potential-
Youmight supposethat sucha destiny is fâr awat but in truth it
ls at mankind'sdoorstep.There can be no doubt that humanity is
once again in the processof chânging. Traditions ar€ evolving as
crosscujturâl baffierc continue to fall. Old values,id€als,and con-
ccptsare no longerblindly accepted;peopleof allcreeds,races,and
nationshâve becomelesshesitantto question,to askolry
 The mindofman is in a frenzyasoeverbeforeitechnologygrow,
ing logarithmically by leapsand bounds.Ve have set foot on the
moon and touchedthe bottom ofthe ocean.Ve havemovedat many
tim€s the speedof sound and have viewed the facesof the planets
around us. Ve control the power oa the atom and can replace a
crippled humanheartwith that ofa suitable(andwilling) donor Ve
are a st€paway from creatinganartificial,silicon basedintelligence
Ve haveeven invadedthe sanciry ofthe g€neand createdclones.It
seemsthat our quest for knowledge;s constrainedonly by energy,
time, and financialâllocation.
Ve havemademuch socialproeïess.Despitediscriminatorydis
t.ibutioo, €ducationlevelsareat an all-time high for the humanrace.
The phenomenonofhurnan serfdomandsub;ugationis on the wane,
rebellionjs€videni all overtheworld. Peopleareawareofrheirrights
andare willins to fisht-perhaps evento die-forrhem. (No simpte
thing, this, wh€n you consider that the economiesof all historic
empireswere foundedon slavery) Evenmore stirring is the fact that
many individualsare now wjlling to fight and die for otrelpeoples
rights, perhapsmoresothan in anyotherperiod in ourhistory. Vhat
is equally important is that the seli-sacrificeof rhes€heroesis nor
basedon any specificreligio6 belief or practice,but rather on the
simple conviciion that human righrs deseweto be protected.
There is a backlashto thh, ofcourse.Ethnic and.eligiousfanati-
cism is on the rise.Fascismtroublesus once more.Multinational cor_
porâtionsâbusetheir power èt will for $eater profits, bribing cor-
rupt gov€rnmentsto râpetheir land and usetheir own cirizens.The
planett ecologicalbalancehasbeen destroyeo-permanenuy,some
people claim. Our flora and fauna are dying, rhe planet suffering
The Almighty Dollarnrles, andconsumerismis the creedof the day.
It seemsthat for all our power-for we are powerful-we have
yet to answerthe fundamenralquestionsof life.Wbo areoezWlweare
wegoh4t Why areae hrel Wbataft oxrjùeft t cababiliths, ohat ourJinal
potentiabDo welio?o't aJterdeath,asis belkoedz
Whatts troehappilrr;s
dnâhow
cdltue ftocbit/ Is there,
hdred,a GeatorGodtThe list is endless,asold as
man hirnself.
Ii û rossiriefof us ro ânswerrhesequestions.The secretro a suc-
cessfulresolution of thesebasicinquiries,howevet is that we must
viii
makea committedeffort asa specin, not asnationsor groupsof people,
to find the answers.Th€ method required is as sirnpl€,and as diffi-
cult, as that.
Humanity hasdevelopedalong rnany different lines.There are
as many cultural approachesto life as there ar€ naturaland sensory
stimuli. Some culturesare visuâ|,others acousric,others olfactory
othersintuitive. It is hard to quantify humaoculturewith pr€cision,
and suchan anâlysisis far beyond the scopeof this book. Howevea
it is possibleto say (speakingrery generally) that, as a dominant
tendenct Vestern scien€ehas turned outv/ard, its int€nt b€ing ro
quantity and modiÉymani environmenrto suit manswishes.Eastern
science,on the other hand, hasturned inward, attempting to quan
tiÉy and develop the innate capabilitiesof the human speciesand
und€rstandits rol€ in the schemeof things. Vhile it is v€ry danger,
ous and unscientificto make stat€menrsof 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
asa stsc,esThis stare-
ment impliesthat we humanbeingsmust pierc€ through our ethnic
andnationalbarriersandwork together Historytells us thai incred,
ible events have unfolded whenever we rvere able to remporarily
crossourself-imposedthresholds.The HellenisticAge, for example,
clearly showsus what can be achievedthrough cdtural inreractionr
in the fourth century BcEanci€ntCreecemet with ancienrIndia, and
the destiny of the world was forever,and quite radically,changed.,
The exploits of Kins Alexanderand his men, howeve, ar€ not
directly pertinentto this book. The point is, rhere is no reasonthat
we todaycannot duplicarewhar the ancientsachievedthen,and that
is to learn from eachother in ord€r to grow, to survive,p€rhapseven
to thrive. In the nineteenthcentury Kipling wrote, '€asr is Eastand
VestisV€st, andneverthetwainshallmeet."* Hewaswrong.Eastis
meetingrl/est today,andwillcontinue to do so if we canjust nurture
their union. To realize this, we must ensure that both cultures
l Seeappendix I for this and all other numberednotes.
*
RudyardKipling,'The BaUadofEastand Vesr, tss9.
 approacheâchotherwith mutualrespect, openthemselves completely
to ea€hother, ând shar€their conclusions.It is not an easytask.
Chineseculture, and more specificallyTaoistculture, hastaken
the Vest by storm. Acupuncturcis prâcticedeverywhere.Chinese
restaurantsare ubiquitous.Kung fu moviesand TV showsare popu-
Iar farandwide. Meditation hasbeenrecognizedasa bio,behavioral
state by Vestern medicine.* The Tao Tè Ching is being read by
unive.sity studentsall over the world, and many Westernbusinfss,
men are using the I Ching and feng shui (Chin€sedivination meth,
ods) in their day-to-dayd€cisionmaking.
Andyet, despitethe popularappealof ChineseTaoistculture, a
fine fusion of Ëastand \Xr'esthasonly begun ro take placein recent
years.Forthe most part, peoplein the Vest either entirely reject the
Easternapproachas mumbo-iumboor embrâc€itwith religiousfer-
vor asmore ancientand spiritualthanVestem science.Both o[these
attitudesareenoneous.The first presumptuouslyrejectsthevalue of
Chineselearning,the secondtakestried andpmven biophysicaltech-
niques developedover millennia and turns them into dogmâ.This
problem is compoundedby the fact that mâny \Testernersand Chi-
nesealike are too eagerto pushwhat little tidbits of knowledgethey
have down consumers'throats in a desperatequestfor money-
The Chinesethemselvesare responsiblefor much of this. Th€re
is, unfortunately,no such thing as Clirne science.Inst€ad,there are
Janily and clar sciencesand arts developed by the people of the Chi-
nesenationovermillennia.The knowledgedevelopedby the Chinese
was'l.rerwidespread,not evenwithin China itself.lt wasthe preroga-
tive and the powerbaseof the privilegedf€w and their families.
In the past a ChineseMasrer nev€r taught his appr€ntices100
percent ofhis knov/ledge.!nsteadhe retain€d,say,rhe forenost t0
percent for hims€lf alone.Perhapshe would wrire down the rest in
a document fof his favorite student, to be opened after h;s death.
The result ofthis approachwas that the sum of eachclan'slearning
decreasedby l0 percent with each generation,until some charis-
matic student was able to decipher the mysr€ry and return ro the
* Herbert Benson,7'ûeRala'rnor
R$po'n (New york, Villiam Monow
andCo., 1975).
ritiltusol thc original teacher,at which point the cycle went on
wlth ,i, students, and so forth.The €apabilitiesand exploitsof the
Mastcrsbecamethe stuff of legend, and later the sroryline of the
( lhincscopera.Today they are the essenceof all kung tu movies.
'l'o
make mattersworse, the Mastersa,most nevel worked to-
lclhcr. Th€ concept of a Vest€rn university,where knowledge is
rharcd and experiencesare compared,was an alien one for them.
l\rwcr was meantto be used for profit, materialand spiritual.More
l|ltcn than nor rnartialMasterschallengedeach other, much knowl,
cdac wâs forfeited in this manner becausethe bestedMaster fre-
(lucntly lost his life as well. To our Vestern culture, such an ap-
proachseemsshocking,to sây the least.Inlormation dissemination
lI cvident ev€rywhere;indeed, it is very difficult, even undesirable,
Lokcep knowledg€secretor propri€taryin our society.'?
Yet there is a way that a complete union of thesetwo cultures
crn be accomplished,and that is simply by the creation of a 'so
flclcncethat is n€itherEasternnor \X/esternbut a union of both. Bold
vlsionariesof g€nerationspast 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* approachof
thc Vest with the mysticaldisciplineof the East,is beins forsed in
our day and age.This story, in essence,representsth€ future direc-
tlon chosenby humanityt awakeninsdesir€ for a better life and a
hlgher truth. You will find many pârallelswith readily available€x-
lliting texts. Th€ main difference,however,betwe€nthis book and
any other is that it is representativeofa working, extant system,not
â historicalaccountof somethingthat once was. lt is fact, nor sup-
position or a dogmaticsystemof beliefs.
There is a man in Indonesiawho is a masterof the ancientChi,
n€sesci€nceofrsi[{'rr, or "internalpower."His nameisJohn Chang,
and h€ is my teacher.Mr Changv/asfirst presentedto the world in
the award-winningdocumentaryseriesRi'4 oJFrre,rfilmed by the
brorhersLorne and LawrenceBlair;his privacywas protectedbythe
{
From the Creek oriro meaningcorect, propet straiaht-and "loaic "
Ortholosical m€ans"having proper logic."
1 Lorne and LawrenceBfai, RiU oJFift' EastoJ:vdkdtaa,ts88.
 rather ignominious psetd,onyrilDynaflaldc& In this documentary This tcxt will ess€ntiallycover the life history and preliminâry
Master Chang shockedthe world by demonstratingthe impossible: rcach;ngsof John Chang. I have attempted to follow the method
First he generatedan €lectrical cunent of high arnperagetrstls 1'5 suggestedby theJedi and presentÊasternconceptsin a mannerthat
our bodyto heal Lorne of an eye infection, and then he "zapped" âll \flesternerscan und€rstand.As such, I pray that this volume wlll
Lawrence(and their soundr€cordist)utilizing the sameenergy.*In a be up to the task,and honorJohnChangand his teachings.
dramati€conclusionMaster Chang th€n usedthis bio-energyto ser Perhapswe are indeed fortunateto be living in that time in our
a crumpled-up newspaperablaze,warning the researchers rhat the developmentwhen Cod has decreedthat the separatebranchesof
same power that had healedLome could readily be used to kill a humansciencecom€together Perhâpsw€of the rù/estneedthe East
man aswell. to saveour world from ourselves
It was the first documenteddemonstrationof neikung giv€n ro
tbe Vestern world. \ù/hat is evenmore amazingis ihat tensof thou- Kosta Danaos
sandsofpeople aroundthe world (myseJfincluded)readilybelieved
it, and that the two brothershad no idea what itwas theywere film-
ing at the tim€.
In order for you to fully und€rstandwhat the term neiha4im
plies,you'll hàve to workyourway through thts text. \X/hatis impor,
tant at this poirt is that, for the first time in hrrmandevelopment,a
man who accordingto Chines€cultureis a rstri',aTaoist immofal, is
willing to come forrh and revealto the Vesr the truth behind his
teachins.John Chans is unique in the annalsof mankind. Like the
Jedi Knights of the StarWan saga,he hasamazinspreternaturâlabilj-
ti€s,telekinesis,pyrogenesis,electrogenesis, relepathy,Ievitation,rc-
mote vie\rins, ev€nastralprolectton(for lack of a better term).Thou-
sandsof people have wihessed him do rhesethings. My teachert
power is cntathomableto the \(esrern miodi â smâll per€enràgeof
its accumulatedenergy can inslantly overpower,or heal, a human
being or largeranimal.Andyet Mr. Chang tsa Vesterner A resident
of urban Java,he visits Europeand the United Statesoften. He has
searchedthrough China fo. others like himself with the intenr of
leamins and sharing a unique trair for one such as hc, as you will
discov€r It could be said that Mr. Chans is the ultimate combina
tion of Eastand \X/estor, morc poeticall, rhat in rhe bidge between
Eastand Vest, he is one of the loundation rowers

r M â i n t a i n i n Ap h y s i c acl o n t a c rw i t h h i n
a t t h a r p o i n rw o u l d h a v eb e e n
like puttins onei hand tn a wàllsocket. I havc called rhis ability electro
senesis(or clectroge.c.at ion ) for lack of a b*ter rerm
Chapter One

LOOKINGTHROUGH
THE MIRROR

FIRST
CONTACT
I am by training a scientist,and have degreesin two fields of engi-
neering. Among other things, I have been employed as a senior
project engin€e(by one of the largestcorporationsin the world.
Logic and socialstereotypingwould dictate rhat I am not the sort of
personwho readily believeswhat he hears or seesin film format,
that things would have to be repeatedlyproven to me for me to
question my establishedpattern of beliefs. Vhen I saw the docu-
mentary however,I did notdoubt its credibility fora second.I knew
thatwhat I waswitnessingwasreâI,that itwas neitherspecialeffects
nor haud. I wassureofit. P€rhapsit is the comingofthe newmillen-
nium thât allows this, that a rnanschooled in Vestern thought and
sciencecan look at a deviationfrom the acceptedlawsofnature and
say, '"fhis is r€al."
As I mentionedearliecthe well-donedocumentaryby the broth
ers Lorne and LawrenceBlail called Rra4oJIrre, depicts a nond€-
s€ript Oriental man doing what is impossible according to our
$/estern branch of medicalknowledgeand our Vestern scienceof
physics:using his own int€rnal bio-energyro light a newspaperon
fire. Thls was accomplishedwith a minimum of fuss, almost
nonchalantly.The man waiteduntilthe film crew wasready,looked
up to check with the cameraman,steadiedhis right palrn over â
crumpled newspap€r,tens€dhis body, and set the paper ablaze.lt
was obvious to the viewer that somekind of pot€nt €n€rgywas be'
ing generatedfrom 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,perpetratingâ hoax.
Th€ other is thàt it was the rnan himself who was tricking the re
searchers,having slipped a piece of phosphorusor some other in'
flammableinto the crumpledpaperandtiming his displayto coincide
with the chemicalt oxidation.But I knew that neitherwasthe câse'I
knew that I was looking at the real Mccoy, so to sp€ak.
There were reasonsfor this, th€ most impoltanl beiôg tbe man
himself. He was a well bùilt but smâll Oiental, srnilingand unpre'
tentious.He appeâredto b€ of indeterminat€age,with a fullhead of
thick black hair and thc skin of youth, but his eyeswere the eyesof
an ancient,ând sincerityshonethrough them. His voice was caÎing
and compassionate,without glrile. He was even nervousin front of
the cameralMost important, it âppearedthat the man had nothing
to gain lrom the displayrneither his nâme nor his location v/asdis,
closed by the researcbers, and he certainly was not asking anyone
None of ihes€ things occurredto me at the time, ho\ûever.In
that mom€nt when I first sawthe video, I knew only one thlng, that
I had finally, after twenty-five yearsof searchinsimet my mast€r 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
rnartialarts for a longtime.I hadstartedat the ageof ten and drifted
through a seriesof Orientalfighting artsto finâllysettle onJapanese
jujutsu in my early twenties. \ù/hat I had been searchingfor was
simple, I wantedwhat the actor David Carradinehad so eloquently
portrayed in the now classichit seri€sKnr, Fl,l.lwanted an artwhose
Mâsterswere wis€, €nlightenedphilosopherswho could kill a tiger
2 3
LookingthrouShthe Mirror
with a punch if they had to, yet abhorredthe violencethey trained
for I wantedan art whose practitionerswould acnrallygow strottger
with age rather than weaker. Iwanted an art through \{hich my
tcacherwould indeed teach me about myself and the world around
me. I wanted to r? Kwai Chans Caine.
I had searchedaround the world for such a mentor, and what I
had found generallyfell into thr€e categories,enlightenedphiloso-
pherswho could not punch their way out of a paperbag given the
opportunity; total animâlswhoweregreatfighters,bur whom acivi-
Iized man would not invite into his houserand individualswho ap-
pearedto b€ exactlywhat I wassearchingfor but proved inadequate
to the task,ultimat€ly dispiayingeither lack of judgment, inh€rent
weakness, haudulentmotives,or emotionalinstabil;ty.It is âlsoquite
possiblethat it was I who was not worthy of them, and left them
before I cameto understandthem.
In the past I had r€peat€dlyrejected the Chin€se martial arts
becauseof the notable scarcityof authenticknowledgeinherent to
th€ir disseminationin \X/esternsociety.In the 1970sand 198Osthe
Chineseartswere notoriousfor their lack ofcredible teâchers.Tiust
worthy instructorswerc, in general,much harder to find than im-
postorscashingin on the popularity ofkung fu movies.Also, Icould
not enter Communist Chlna to searchfor a true masteruntil 1992
becauseof my profession.And yet I had, like all diligent marrial
artists,read the books by reliableresearchersand teachers.I knew
th€ th€ory behindthe Chinesemartialarts,and Iknew that the man
lhadseenon the filmwasChinese.lalsoknewr,vhat I hadwitnessed
was calledneikung-the manipulationof internal power.
I had to find him.
I knew it wasnot going to be easy.I didnt know the mansname.
The documentaryhad indicatedthat he l;ved somewhereinJava or
Bali,but I had nowayofknowing if eventhatimplication wastrue
they could have filmed him in San Francisco,for all I knew. And I
spokeneither Chinesenor Malay.
Tèndayslaterlwasonaplanetothelndonesiancapitalofjakarta.
After ân eighteen-hourtrip, I checkedinto the cleanestof rhe dirty
motels found onJalanJaksâand restedup for the morro\r. I knew it
would be tough going.
LookinS
throughthe Mirror
 The next day I pocketedthestackof photographsI had takenof
the video sequencein Rin4olFn and,setoff tor Jakarta's Chinatov/n,
a district called Clodok- My plan was to visit all the Chinesephar,
maciesand acupunctureclinics in Clodok, askingrhem whether or
not they knew the rnan in the photographs.It seemedhke 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 expectedthe worst and was dressedlike a \X/esterntourist on
satari.Some shopkeep€rslaughed in my face; others just politely
told me to piss off. One of them even rhrew me outl Afrer six or
sevenhours of constantrejection,wâlking among beggarsand lep-
ers and being followed by a pack of street kids, I spied an ancient
Chinesetemplein the midstofit allandwalkedin. Immedtately, the
noisewent away and I was Ieft alone.
The templ€ caretakerswere curious.'ù/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 resolvestrength,
cncd and anned with â note my motel clerk had written out for me.
| [tcr learnedrhrr w\ar he hadwrrtrenwas
Honoredsir or madam,
I am a very stupid foreignerwho has been tricked into coming
here allthe way from Cr€ece.Thesearepi€turesofa 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 smileson my sccondday. After a few hours of diplomatic re-
jection, I rnade my way back ro the temple, thinking that lwould
meet with yesterdayi friendç.
They were delighted to seemc aod twice as curious as before
This tim€ I was the one who bought them all lunch, we sat rogether
for a time, laughingand communicatinsin broken Englishand sign
language.As our camarader;edeveloped,they grew cufiousenough
to pressureme ior details.
"Kosta,tell us, what are you doing here?"
'\o,
rt. rtupid,you donl wanrro know
LookinSthroughthe Mirror
l:inally thcy werc so i,rsistentthat I relented and, rather thân
cxplaining,handedthem the note.
Suddenly I was faced with â group of statues;thetr smileshad
bccn replacedby 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 frlendsstood.
"Stay here,"a burly man said
Ten minuteslater a wiry Chineseof indererminatease rod€ up
on a bicycle. He offered me his hand and sat down.
"My nameisAking," he said."l am a studentof the manyouseek."
Aking grilled me {or almost a week, asking rne questionslike
"Vho sentyour" and "Vhy did you come to this place?"It was ludi-
crous to him thât I could have found a lead to his teacherso easily,
coming as I did from Creece*of all places-wirhout â clùe as to
Iocalcùstomand geography.He wassureI wasa spy in the scruiceof
some intelligenceagency;he even mademe sunendermy passport
to himl Afier a week Aking finally gave me an addressin a ciry in
easternJava and told me to fly out ther€the next morning, the man I
had seenin the documentarywould be expectingme, I was told.
\/ell, I didnt believehim.
It had been too easy,too Lrnbeltevably easy.I thousht rhat these
srinnins Chinese were plâying ajoke on the foreisnel sendinghim
on a wild goosechaseand having a laugh at his expcnse.I boarded
the plane wjth hesitation,felt like a fool when llanded, felt even
norellkea foolwhen ltook a taxi to the addressIhad beengiven and
was told the man was out. Come bâck at two o'clock,they said.At
leastthey spokeEngl;sh.
I spenta few hoursfuming in my room at the dirty mot€lwhere I
was staying.I vow€d etcrnalvengeanceon the peoplewho had sent
me out here. I would teach them to bewareof Creeks.Hahr Hear
about the Tiojan Var, my friendsr Youîe about to trade ùp. I felt
ridiculous,like a jackass,stupid; I kept telling myselfthat the whole
thingwas a hoax, that I hâd sp€ntway too much money coming out
here,that I was an idiot and stupid and ûusting and naiveand. . . .
I went back at two o'clock The man was there.
I cannotplainlyconveythe shock,the.;oy,andthe reliel of findins
Dynamo Jackstandingin hont of h;s home. I had beenan imbecile,
5
LookinÉthrou8hthe Mirror
succumbingto my all-too-readyanger'No one had been plaving a
practicaljoke on rne,th€ studentImet had actuallvtriedto help rne'
s€ndingme on to his teacher.
Ve shook hands and he invited me in He said, quite simplv,
that his namc wasJohn.Tlre surnameon the doorbell saidcHANcin
Latin characters,a common-enoughnamefor a Chinese Joh Chang
was the equivalentof JorflSn,É io the Unit€d States,a nameanvone
could have.
I introduced myself formallY
"Kosta," he said, rolling the word around on hls tongue. The
nàme must have soundedstrangeto him. "How did vou find mc/'
His English was simple and lichtly accented
"l sawyou in a video . . a documentârv,"I r€Plied.
"Ah. That wassomeyearsaso Thev told me it would be for sci-
' He nodded."Ve'11findyousomeplacebetter Vy'hatelsedidyou
entific research,othelwiscI would neverhavcdemonstrated lorth€m
"Vhy not:"
"Becaùset pfomisedmy Masterthat I \a'ouldûot Vhat can I do
for vour Vn havcsone kind of problcmr"
Irhn was a hcrlcr Hc applieclacupuncture to the traditional
l,Lrlsupt)lcûr.ntccl its cltcct gfeatlvbv passinshis cl]'i his
t)orrrts,
l)i(, c,,rray il yrru will, throrrghthc needlesHe had hcaledhun
rlrrrl' oi 1,c,,plc wh<,nrVcstcrnmcdicinecouldDotaid,sonrethins I to staseffight, butwhere I shouldhavebeenmatufc I felt like a child
( l i ( lr o t I r ( , w i l l h c ! i m c .I w i n g e di t
"Vcll, two thinss " I had rehearscdthis part mânv times "l do
havca problcrnwith nyjoints aftersomanvvea$ of polrndingthem
in mârtialarts training . . uh, somethinglike osteoafthritisBone
He smiled. "Too rnany years of impropcr trâinins, I think lt's
possiblcthat I could help you l'll have to check voLrout first."
"Okav."
"l'm going to haveto touch yoLr.Don't be alarmedat what vou11
I took off my shirtandhe put his handson nlv chestand ppef
lrnaglnea powerful,continùouselectricalcurre.t passingthfough
your body. Inâgine that, despiteic impact,vou are somehowaware
lhat this cur.cût is ben€volent,notdamàging lrnagineitworkinglike
6
I oôklnÉthfoughthe Miror
a radar,scarching,weish;ng, feeling.I gaspedand almostfell over
"Yourheart is v€ry sood," he said.
I noddedand gulped. I must have looked odd, but he was prob-
ably used to it. The streamof bio-energyhe was sendingthrough
me mademy musclesjerk unconttollably.
"Lungsareokay.Kdneys aregood.Livey'sall right."Vhile he was
talking, I felt like I was going through som€kind of high-int€nsity
ultrasound.I could feelhis power insideme,the energybuildingup as
he becamemoreconfidentof my physicalcondition.
"Oh," he said."l have it. lts ;n the blood. Yoû blood chemistry
mâkesyou prone to calcium deposits."
"Can you do anything about it?"
"l'm not sure. \yy'ecan try. \yy'hereare you staying?"
I nâmedthe motel.
"l wanted you to accept me as your studentl" I blurted out. It
came in a rush, and I was imm€diatelydisappointedwitb rnyself l
had preparedsuch an eloquent speechfor lhat mom€nt, and âlr€r-
ôateones,ât that-plàn B shouldplanA fail, and so on. Iv.as thirty
fiveyearsold at the time, and had experiencedmuch;I wasnot prone
beforethis mâô. More precisely,like a punk kid.
"No," he said."Oh no no. Idon't acceplstudentsanymore.Bul
you can come back tomorrow moroing if yoù want us to get started
on your treatment.'
I was crLrshed.I wanted to fly back homc, mâsically transform
myself into a five year-old,cfawl into my motheri lap, and cry. In-
steadI went ba€k to my cheap,dirty motel room, and waited.
TAOISM
PRACTICAL
Taoismis a millennia old systemof beliefsthat has,alonswith its rival
andantipodeContucianism,shapedthecourseof Chineseculture.To
'Taoism
quote the Ixcycloi?di,r
Bitamicd, lbl a religlo'philosophical
tradjtion thât has,alons with Contucianism,shapedChineselife for
more than 2000 years.The Taoist hetitage, with its emphasisorr
LookinSthroùghthe Mirror
indlvldual freedon and spontàneity,laissczfaire government and
so€ial primit'vism,mysticalexperienceand techniquesof self-
transformation,r€presentsin rnanywaysthe antithesisto Confucian
concernwith individualmorâlduties,communitystandards,aodgov
€rnmentalresponsibilities."*
Many things popularly thought to be Chinesein the \vest ar€
actuallyTaoist,and havebecomewidespreadeven io China only in
the pâstcentury. Amongthesearemany prâcticesthathave become
"brandnames"in Vestern society,suchasacupûncture,t'ai chichuan,
fengshui, and the I Ching. The truth is, it is now impossibleto sepa-
rate Taoismfrom Chineseculture,tbe two have,in our age,becom€
one and the same
Taoism has been categorizedby sinologistsas having both a
philosophical and a religious tradition complctc with formalized
doctrine ând a relisioushicrarchy.The Vesthas been flooded ln the
pasttw€nty yeârswith books€laining to be iirr authoritativet€xt on
Taoism Maoy of thesebooks are valid, some lessso, while others
arc sirrply a hodgcpodgeol ridiculousthcories Evenmore frustrat'
irrra, mÂny0rc cxccllcnltrandations of mcdievalChinesetextsthat
arc rrrislcatlirrr simplytrccause, as translations, they are subjectto
cx(l n(livi(lurl (filnrlatorfs intcfprelâtion' the disparities in meaning
lhr( y(trr.iI lirrclhctwccnlincs in the lranslatedtextswheo you
, , u , s ' , r r,,, r ' ,. u r r h , ,wr ' r ha r r o t l r ol e s h o t k , n g .
li,l,o (-hans, rhe leacherwhosel;fe and theoriesare the focusof
this book, is thc Headmasterofakung fu lineagewhoseroots can be
tracedback twenty four hundredvears.John himself deniesthe ap
pellation laoist perhapsrightfully so, becauseTaoism has coûe to
be considereda religion by the world. However, since the teachers
of Master Chanst lineasebasicallylived within the confinesof his-
torical toist retreals,and since the word Taoisrhas becomea ge-
neric term in the \?est for "nâtiveChinesephilosophy,"l will continue
to call my teachera Taoist. Perhapsit would b€ more accuratcto
refer to hls teachingas"practicalTaoism"to differ€ntiateit from the
Tàoismof other sourcesorlineages.JohnhimsellcallsTâoisma'philo-
' yotra(from which comesthe Enslish/ol'), ralher than the concept of
Bnhûna Ol lma''Iàoism."
Encydopedio
a 9
LookinSthroughthe Mirrof
sophicalscience,"the simple study of naturallaw, for reasonsthat I
will outlinebelow
Of âll the spiritualdisciplinesTaoismis perhapsth€ most con
fus;ngand difflcult to defin€ in thàt it began its developmentas a
phllosophical school,tum€d into a religion, and waspropagatedasa
seriesof folk beliefs. However, there are many ways by which to
differentiatea religion from a philosophy and, mor€ so, from a sci
ence.In our specificcase,two justificâtionsare most clear The first
is that a religion is bas€don beliefs that calrol betror.n, that are a
matterofeach individual'sfaith. V€ aspracticalTaoistsconsideroûr
tcachinga sciencethat gives testimony to naturalphenomenathat
both the studentsof our generationand pastMasteÉ of our lineage
have experiencedfirsthand,a tbarcanh 4rotutæâa rxperinæâ by
othnsat anf tin?.T'his ]s the most important distinction and one that
I cannotstresssufficiently.To put the argum€ntmore simply,a high
school student studying physics and algebrawill inevitâbly reach
certainconclusionsand developspecificcapabilities,duplicatingthe
experiencesandthe logic of his t€achenand of thosein pastgenera-
tions who passedthesesciencesalong.There is nothing "religious"
in the experienceof physicsând alg€bra;they are tools of knowl-
cdge and power,w'th no doctrine or syst€mof beliefs.Algebraand
physicsoffer in otherwords,what hasbecomethe key term of Vest
cn sclen e, reirodncibhftsult\. They basso'1rcthinl tbat cawot beProocs.
This approachis preciselywhat someonegoing ihrough training as
John Changkstudentwillexperience,he will follow in the footsteps
of thosewho carnebeforehim, en€ounte.the sam€phenomena,reach
thc sameconclusions.
The secondreasonI assertthat "practicalTaoism"is a naturalis
ric scienceis that the word æ|giorhas come to imply a falling-out
bctweenman and the Divine on€ that the proffered doctrine can
rcconcileby acting as ân intermediary.*\Ve can f'nd no proof ihat
' 'l'he '1o tie fimly," sùggestingunion
orrginal Lâtin verb nli4aEDeâr!
with the Divine; assuch it is much clos€r in concept to the Sânskritwo.d
rcjoLninathat the word d/rqiorhas coûe to imply today
LookinâthrouShthe M iror
mân hasever fallen from Cod'sgrace,*assurningthat there is a Cod; nrcrns,"the constftrctionand developmentof onesenergyover time,
instead.here seemsto be considerableevidencethat man is evolv' tlrrough daily effort, sLrchthat in the end one obtains maturepow€r
ing to becomewhateverCod intendedhim to be. As "practicalTao- ind the spiritualdevelopment of a Master."
ists"weofferno specialmeans ofredemption,no salvation, nocarrot KrrgJa,in other words,is a path of continualdisciplineand train-
to make the donkey run. Rather,we offer a method of enhancing ing, of nonstop growth over your entir€ life. This is preciselythe
existence,makins each individuâl mor€ of what he already is aod path chosenand representedbyJohn Cbane 3
movlng him toward what he can hope to become.\Ve are, simply
put, a philosophicalscienc€.
Perhapsyou will understandthe distinction a bit better if I anâ
lyze the Chineseterm [ '4t Many peoplethink thât it meâns"mar-
tiâl afls," but this is not the case.(The Chinese terms fot martial
technique ând martial arts are now ox rr{ aod r,/ yt, r€sp€ctively.)
The two words iraa4Ja arevery difficult to translate,indeed,we must
absolutelystudy Chinesewritins to €omprehendtheir meanins.Let's
mâke the attempt.
Kur4Jr ls composedof the ideograms,

trt 1,,
KUNC FU
Now, thc firct lcrm, kung, is written as a combinatioôof the
chamctcrskul (I.) and li ( f). Kru4 means'to build, to construct."
limcans "powerorstrength."The secondterm,Jr,is rnadeup ofthe
sinsle €haractert ({), which is a complex ideosram to interpret.
Ia is derived frorn the characterfor 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, responsibleadult man
or father figure; the characteris also used in other contextsto de-
note someone'shusband.In other words, the term hu4! actually

*
Or, con'ersely, that the puaosc of existenceis sihply suffering,
sansara,from which human beinss shoùld strive to escape.lt was not my
intent to harp on JudaeoChristianity, I simply wànted to keep this
scction as bdel as possibl€

l|) 11
LookinSthroù8hthe Mnror Lookin8throuShthe Mirol
 arrtlwhllc thc calcilrrndeposilsin my right arm did not go away
(thcy had bcen thcre for twclv€ yeart, rhosein my lcft arm (which
hir(l bccn lorrnins for a year or so) dlsappearedcompletely.John
rlv, slt<,wcdmc a set of"exercises,"açhe calledthem, to supplernent
thc hcaling process,and I practicedthem rigorously every day
ChapterTwo Ilc had stunnedme the firstweekofour acquàintance by takinga
r llrpstick and nonchalantlypushingit throush arrinch thick board (l
LIFEFORCT lclrïcd latcrthat he could do thrsatwillwith a six, or eisht-inch-thick
l,icccof wood, thicknesswasirrelevant).You mustunderstandthat he
(lid ,rot hammerit in with his fist or anythingof that sort. He simply
bmcedhis palmagainstthe backof the chopstick,and itlourcl tnto the
board.John handedme the board and I tried to pushthe chopstickin
Lr(hcr; it would not move,but when I pulledit outi it camequite eas
ily. The reasonfor thls wasthe chopstick'sconicalshape;it narrowed
honrbaseto tip. To pushit in farthet l'd haveto crushthe wood around
it, asJohn ha4 when I pulledit out, only air resistedthe movement.
A CARRIDT "Youunderstandabour yang and yin:" he had asked.I nodded.
"l have to go to my prawn farnrthis afternoon.You can com€ with In this day and age few people in the Vest had not heard of these
lwo opposinsrniversal forces."lnsideourbodies,both llow in equal
nmounts,"he continu€d. "These energiesare oppositesithey cao
It wâs aboul two wcekçinto my acquaintancewith the manwho
ncvcr meet Yin and yang oormally run parallelto cach other, never
wds t() l)cconrcrly tcâchcr For two weekshe had stuckacupuncture
ldting go of one another I use my yin and yang together as one;
ncccllcsinto rrry clbows,knees,and wrists,sendinsa steadycunent
thal is why Ican do what I do. By itself, yang ch'i cannot passthe
ol ch'i (litc cnergy)coursingthroLrghmy body. As I progressedI was
limits of the body."'
ablc to rclax more and more during th€ treatment, and John me-
"Neikung,"I had said.
thodically increâsedthe intensitywith eâchsession.I had discovered
"Yes."He seemedpleasedthat I kn€w the word.
to my surprisethât he useda cunent intensity of no more thân O.5
Vhen he askedmeto go wirh him to his businessestablishment,
percentof his total pow€rto treatpatients.lt wassiaggering.Normal
I lcapt atthechance toget to know the mân b€tter Did I want to gor
people,even the strongestrnen,couldbe knockedoutby 2 percent
ls the PopeCatholic?
For two weeksI had askedhim every day to acceptme as a stu-
dent He was âlwaysfirm in retusins,but he neverinsinuatedthat I John was a highly successfulbusinessman,and quite v.€althy.
He wâs a contractorand an exporterofboth manufacturedand per-
should "pissoff" (to put it bluntly), and he alwaysinvited rne back
ishablegoods.The expairiateChinese,if they may be called rhat,
for furthertreâtmentthe followlng day.I did;ust that, nevermissing
are often referredto as the'Jews ot Asia," and with good reason.
a chancefor a session,gritting my teeth againstth€ pajn and nying
l-ike their Vestern counterparts,th€y cont.ol the màjor arteriesof
to rerleat into meditationasJohn'trppeclthe current,"increasingthe
cconomic developmentin SoutheastAsia. John was such a man. I
intensity of the power he s€nt into me 1()the highest levelsI could
was to discoverthat he had been born in abiect povertr hov/evet
stand.Itvas indeedpainfulbut, more important,thereûa! an effect.
and that he was a self-mademillionaire.
It seemedthat vith ev€ry sessioûmy joints fell better and better,

12 13
 Ve went to the prawn tàrm by car John drove,quite tasrbur nol irr thc car I usr.rally
stay below ninety becauseoth€nvise,if anything
recklesdy.Vhen we reachedeighry eishr rnilesper hour I becamea
lrappcns, I can'tprotectthem."
bit concernedbecauseneither rhe laws nor the traffic conditions of "Have you everhad an accident?"
the country he residedin allowed for such a vetocity.(And beâr in "Only once. I broadsideda truck doing about a hundred."
mind that I am a Creek and, as such, am used to borh hish sp€eds
"Vhat happenedz"
and deplorableroad condirions.)laffic was very heary and, after a
"Nothing happened.I used rny power to absorbthe impâct on
tjme, the inevitablchappened.
my body. They had to cut me out with chain çaws.The witnesses
Johns cellular phone rang and the call was important; he began thousht it wasa miracle,that Cod or som€saint had protect€dme."
speakingor) the unit in shorr, rapid sent€nces,cradliog the phone
I was stunned.Vhat he was telling me was that his body, aus-
underhis chin andbasicallydrivingwith one hand,nottwo. To com
mentedby the powerslriç neik ns irainins had siven hirn, had with-
pllcate thtngs, he beganpassinga seriesof cars-quite illegally, as
stooda stressgreaterthar the yield strengthofsteel.I tried to iftagine
ther€ was a double dividing line in the center of the road. His lane
the metaland glassshardsflowing aroundhisbody, unableto pierce
was clear beyond thosecars,and he was in a hurry.
hùmanflesh. Certàinly, plastic defo'mation as plannedby the cari
John hadcornpletedhis maneuverandreenteredhis proper lane designersallowcd for much, bùt thefe was no denyins that the mo
when suddenly a truck, int€nt on passinga similarly slow-moving
mentunrhe had absorbedhad been phenomenal.
vehicle in front of it and having hadJohns speedyapproachmasked
\(as it true?Could a humanbcins rcacha statc in which hc vas
by that vehicle, enteredour lane.The carswe had passedwere less
imperviousto exterior harm?lt seemedtoo much to swallow.
than one hrndred yàrds behind us, à minute distanc€at our spced.
"Youknow,"he contlnued,"when I wasyounger I wanted to be a
I gripped thc consolcand wassuddenlyvery gtad I waswearins
Ilollywood stuntnan,slnceI couldn'treallybe hurt in crashes be-
nry scrLbclt Vc wcrc doingaboutninetyrthe oncomingrruckwas you
caLrse of my powcr But then I ih.rught, no, il do that too many
go,n8ar lcastsirty,andJohnwasdrjvinswith onehandwhilespeak-
rimespeoplewill wonderaboutyou,andlxsidcs,I hadpromisedfty
irrt (, lhc phonc I wasîùe rhatwe wereheadingfor a maloracci_
Masterthat I would not usemy power to make moncy."
(lcn(nndwastl\ankfulrhatourcarwaslargcandstrong.
Crittins my Ve drove on lor à while ir silerce. He besan to questionmc
tcc(h,I poin(cdat the oncomingcar and bracedfor impact.
about Crcccc. He underçtoodabout the BalkansHe had been born
Iohn harcllylookcdup. Vithour skippinsa beât or pausinsjn penniless, and he ,*,asChrnese.
convcrsalion,he swervedonto the soft shootderof the road, passed "My father died when I was four,"hc sald "l grew up very poor
the rruck, ànd returncdto his lane.He checkedrhe rearviewniûof
Llasically I wasa streetkid.Though my mothcr worked vcry hard,she
to cnsurethar the iruck had succcsstullyavoidedthe cafs rhat had
did not bâvethe money to sendlre to school.I did finish hish school
bcen behindus as well, and we wenl on. After a ninute or so he
latcr on, though, but I ncversrudledat any collese or univercity."
finished his conversatrcnand clicked off the phone
"Risht,"ljoked. "Youll,sthâveâ Ph D in becomingn,perhunân."
"My eyesare still good," hc said to nre dryly. He was tifty-seven
"No," he replied seriin,sly,"you mu\tn'r thjnk ot me as beins à
a1thc time and lookcd forty.
superman. I arnlike a fishtefpilot of a €hanrpionship athlcte Not
"Do you alwaysdrive this fast?"wâs rhe only responseI coulcl
cveryonecan becomelike me-there arecertainqualifications but
think ol
so ,:pcoplccan.Vhat I arnis a productol disciplineaod tfainingas
"Vhcn I'm by mysclf I Lrsuallydrive fasrer,about I l0 to 125
nruchas naiu|al talcnt.
milesper hour or so. I like speed,you sce Vhen I have orhcr peoplc "My wife real1yhelpcdmc," hc coDtinued1'lexplainedto her

1+ 15
v/hen we were marriedthât I could not do anything else,tlrat I had
to spendall rny spar€time training. She agreedto this."
He had been marriedat eishteenand had sevenchildren.
"l worked as a driver for almost twenty years,you know" He
smiled."So you see,you needn'tbe so concernedabout my driving.
I know theseroads."
\yy'edrove on in silencefor a while. "Do you really understand,"
he finally asked,'îhat we meanwhen we talk about ch'i:"
"l think so," l replied. I reckonedI understoodthe basics;I had
read all there was to read,after all, and had studiedmartiâl afis for
Ch'i, or bio'enersy, is a phenomenonthat has been much dts-
cussedin recent years in the \X/eçt l/ith the establishmentof rh€
new K'r'g F! series,David Carradineonce again contributed to the
\X/esttùnderstandingby uttering the word on televisionàt leastonce
a week.Acupuncture,too, is now commonplace,and there is hardly
a doctor an''where\sho hasnot spentro"rdtime looking into it. The
phenomenonof bio-enersy is thuç under pronouncedmedical and
physicalinvcsligation.*
Thc orisinalChincscidcos.dmfor c i is bestrenderedas "va
p(,r"in lrnslish 1thasalsobccnrcnderedas"vitaliry," but ch'i is very
( I(,srly associ;rtcd
with breaih (thoush it would be better to saythar
b,cathcontainsch'i) Othercultureshavegivenitothernames,The
lllndus call it prard,the Îbetans lx,, (which means"wind"),the
1 lcbrewsruacù(wind), and the PactficIslandersmd"a,while the an
cient Creeks called rt p"e!,ra(spirit, wind).r Ch'i is çimilar to el€c-
triciry flowing through a wire; it €angenerateheat or work or encrgy,
but none of theseresultsidentifiesch'i itself.
"So you know that our bodieshaveboth yin ch'i and yâng ch'ir"
"Vell," I smiled,"l readâbout it in the Tào Tè Chins."
I hope that this text will cortribute io sûch reseàrch
T It is interestingto note that the Latin rptitB also ùeans "breath,"and
thàt the Creek word fof the rcspiratoryorgansol our body lthe lùnst r
,t'nno, (lrom which we sct the word prrnoric, for examplc)
16
"Ahl Lao'tzu (he Tàoist," he said. "He was a wise man. Vhat
rlocshe sayabout ch';r"
I thought at the time that he was testing me. Later Iwould dis,
covcr thàtJohn had neverreadthe Tào Te Ching. "Vell," I repli€d,"
hc saysthat ch'i has both yin and yang components,and that it is
lhc int€ractionbetweenthe two that makeslife possible."5
Suchfeedbackbetweenthe positiveand negâtivepolesofexist
cncewasthe prime componentof our lifeforce,when we asa species
bcgin to understandthis phenomenonfrom a technicalperspective,
wc will begin to understandlife itself. (twould later discover,how
cvcr, that our bodies are briefly capableof storing both pure yang
aodpureyin ch'i in differentar€as,thoughthisstateof nonequilibrium
is subjectto entropy.)
"l nt€raction."Joho rolled the word around on his tonsue. "Like
rlcctricit/, positiveand negative7"
"lguess."
"Not quite conect-" He paused."B[t you know, one time I ]et a
studentof mine hook me ûp to a voltmeterand an amperometerHe
registeredno voltage,but I blew the amp meteroff the scale.l burned
the machin€1"
"Are you telling me that ch'i has amperasebu1 does not have
voltager"
"l think so. For example,I can withstand householdelectical
current indefinitelywithoùt pain, but I canoot light up a lightbulb. I
lravetried, many times."
I thought about that. CIiDicalinvestisationin medicallaborato
riesseemsto i'rdicatelhat the electricalresistânceofthe skinchanges
markedly at acupuncturepoints. There are "electricalacupuncture
machines"that make use of thjs phenomenonto locat€ the points
for n€ophytes.This is an indication that ch'i and voltage are some-
how inverselyrelated(thoughother explanationshavebeenoffered).
But Iwas to find out yearslater thatJohn waswrons. His ch'i in lact
displayedn€ither voltage nor amperagerrath€r, it wâç an entirely
different phenomenon,basedon very dtfferent forces.
'And
other than beingmore powerful,isyour ch'i differeot from
thât of th€ averagep€rson!?"
John simply smiled,but did not answer'
17
 \)/e ànived at the larm. lt was ol medium size, about rwenty
people were employfd there. I roamedaroundwhile h€ finishcd his
business.A young girl brought out a bowl of fruit and a decant€rof
coffee for me, the tropical fruir was delicious,the coffee rned;ocre.
John walted up and sat down, helping himself to some coflèe
"People are so stupid," h€ said. "My shipment is b€ins held up jn
customsb€causesomelocalofficiàlwants ê bribe. Thatt the waywe
operatehere,you know"
"lts the sameall over the world," l said."Youhave to sreasethe
whe€lsfor them to turn "
He was delishted by theclichéd Enslishmetaphorand commit-
ted itto memory."Ve havea sirnilarphrasehere.It'strue thatpeople
oft€n abusetheir positionç in society fol thejr own beneftt. In the
eod, iti all about powei,"he said.He seemedto rhink abour rhe last
word for a second,then turned suddenly toward rn€. "Vhat is the
differencc betweencû';lmg and raitar4r"he asked
"Vell, clilua4 meansto developthe energy of the body.,.. .,'
'?ll
over the body, yes. \X/hatabout nejkunsT"
"N.ifur4means'internal power"'
"Ycs,blrl intcrnal to what?"he asked.
I hcsirarcd,and.,ohndrcw rhreeideosrams on a napkin:
rt
ÈJ t-
NEI KUNc
"This isae;tazg.
The first ideosram,'ei means'ârnân€nrerinsa house.',
"Yes."
"Sowhen we practiceneikung,we purch'iirsirie,but insidewhat?,
"Uh . . the dantienr The bonesr Chakras2"I was graspinsat
John grinned. "Vell, well. I seeall the boots you read did sonr
good. Vhat is the dantien?"
18
-fhc
rJantien,
or'clixir tield,"is the primary bio,energywarehouse
ol thc humanbody.Locatedfourfingersbelowthe navelin them;ddle
i,l thc tono, thiscenterhasth€ability to storevâstarnounrsof ch'i.For
lhis rcâsonit is alsoknown asci:i i:ai(oceanof ch'i). But it is a mistâke
l{, rhink that the dantien itself g€n€ratesch'i, as presentedin many
tcxrs.Rather,it is possibleto storc ther€thar ch'i which th€ practirio-
ncr intakesfrom thcuniversearoundhlm.It ls practiceandpemistenc€
that leadto "dantienpower";suchpower is notan impliedcharacteris
ric of the humar body. I can perhapsexplainbett€r with â sirDile.Say
thai a specificyoùthhasexc€ptionaltalenrin a givensport.Neverthe-
lcss,he still needsto train and work hard-to hone his skillsand his
|nindeverydayin orderto becomea championship athlete.The dantien
is similarto that youth. Yes,it canstoreseeminglylimillessamountsof
cnetw, but tlldtesegynun bef,tt therc Jortb(ddnri\ iolrflcro" k will not
soakup, nor will it gen€rate,powerof its own accord
ItoldJohn asmuch.
He nodded, somewhatpleased."All right," he said. "l'll show
you one morethrngroday Cne mt a banana
Ireached;ntothe basketand pickeda bananaat randomfrom
one ofthe two bunchesin thebasket.I had àlreâdyeâtenthree(imag-
ine the smallerfruit found in Asia, not the overgrovn and afificially
ripenedbananasthat reach our tablesin the Vest)r they werc deli
ciousand completelyuntâmperedwith John took the fÎuit fmm rne
andheld it in plainçishrin his lefrhand.He extendedrhe indexand
middlefingersof his righthand, foldinsthe orher rwo into th€thumb.
Tènsing briefly, he passedhis hand in a slicins motion about three
inchesawayhom the banana;therewas an audibleclicft,and hall the
huit fell to the floor.
I was long past being arnazedat this pointi the whole thing
seemedkind of matter of fact. He handedme the other half of the
h!it. lt was shiny, as if cleavedby a hot knilè that had tused the
surfaceof the bananainto a slassymass.
'This,"
John pointed to the center of his palm. he said,"is like à
sholgun." He extendedhis two fingers again and pointed to their
tips. "This," he continued,"is likc a laser."
t9
 TH[,MARTIALARTSAND CHl
There can be no denying that the marrial arts are as old as man.
Beginningperhapsas a derivativeof th€ hunting skills of primirive
tribesmen,the martial arts developedas man pirted himself against
man. Vith the appearanceofempires and the establishmentofstate
governm€nt,thesearts developedto such an extent as to approach
and p€rhapssurpasstoday'sfightingarts. There arewallpainrings in
Beni Hasan in Egypt dating from 2000 DcEreminiscentof modern
judo, and if the archaeologicalrecord left behind is any indication,
the anci€ntCreek martialarr ofpar&rario,(datedat leasrto 1450BcÉ)
was much more comprehensivethan karatehasbecom€in our day.
One aspectoften neglecredby hoplologists*and martial histo-
.ians is that, for some reason,the martial arts were alwayscloselv
tiedtoandalignedwithreligionorspirituality.Tèmplewallsall over
the world-in both Eastand V€st-have, since rhe dawn of time,
been adornedwith scenesofcombat. The heroic sagasof allnations
ar€ consistenton two them€s:a seriesofconflicts throughoutwhich
the hero triumphs,and his inreractionwith gods orCodin doing so.
The OldTestament,for example,is undoubtedlya martialepic,much
like the Indian Ranraynna and the Creek ll,arl.In Chiûa this precept
holds true in both rhe Buddhistand Taoisttraditions.
Chineseboxing, urasba,is undoubredlyrhe art of fighting. per-
haps at first it involved only muscularforce and srraregicapplica-
tion. Over time, however, the Chinese martial arts came to be
influenced by Taoist and yogic meditative-respiratorytechniques,
which perhaps\rere firsr applied for health purposes,but were later
found to have martialapplications.There is every indication rhat all
aspectsof Chines€medicine and divination were extant and com-
plete by 1000 DcE;il v/ould not be an outrageoG extrapolationto
assumethat the Taoisrmartial artsor at l€asrmartiai a.ts influenced
by Taoismwere alsocomplet€by that time. MasterJohn Chang has
recordsof martialartistshke himselfliving in China almostiwothou-
*
A hoplolosist is an archaeolosisror hisroriànwho siudiesweaponsand
their useth.oughout hktory
2Q
sandycarsin Xhepâst.It is alsointerestiog to notethat the Chinese
madc mofe limited use of metâl armor historicaily than would be
oxpcctedconsideringtheirtechnological developmenr,before Iun-
dcrstood the true câpâbilitiesthar ch'ikung impârted to the pràdi-
tioner, I usedto wonderwhy. In any case,the martjal arrswerc well
underway in China long before the arrtvalof Buddhism.
PopularIiteratuledemàndsthat th€ rnartialafts in China be tied
to the arrivalofthe IndianprinceBodhidharmaat rhe Shaolintemple
in Honan province.But, this is inaccuratero say the leasr.\Y/hatis
hue is thal China is a vasrcountry inhabitedby many ethnic gfoups
with an often poorly rccorded history.To try to trace the history of
the martial arts in this quagmireof recordsis an arduoustask. The
literatureon Chineseboxing is full of sapsand srnotheredby ambi,
guitiesin many places.Still, we can trace the maftial arls reliably to
-fhe
the Chou dyoasty (t l2l 255 BcE).* Sprk4 and Autmn Ar,''ak
(722 481 BcE)of that dynasty,as well as rhe lireratûreof the Var
ring Statesperiod (403-221 Bc[),mention displaysof archery,fenc
ing, andw.restlinsperformedby nobles.Ihave alreadydtscussedthe
cvolution of philosophy during ihis iime, ir is evident in rhe litefa-
iure thatyogic respiratorypsychophysiologicalpracriceçwere much
in useby the sixth centuryrcEaswell. Indced,the LaaTzuaad,Chuatg
Ï2, are both ftrll of referencesto vital erergy and Tàoistyoga.
Mens-tzu (Menciut, the orsanizcrof Con|t,cianismand a con
t€mporaryof Chuang-tzu,waç amongothersproficient in rhe culti,
vationof ch'i,somethingpopuldrconceprion hardlyênricrpatcs fronr
a morallstConfucian He promotedthe approachthat "if the will
6,t) is concentraled,the vital enersy[c'i) wi]l follow it and become
active."Menciùs alsowrote, "Vill [y;) is of the hishcst imporrancci
vitality [cir'i] standssecond."I have heard the sameconrmentfrom
anotherstudentofJohn Chang.
Accord;ng to Chinesethought, there are basicallytwo 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,DonnF, andRobe*\Tl Smith,Cospr.r.nr
ir. Asian
Filbtiq Arts
(TokvoandNew York,Kodansha,re80).
21
 ch'ikunscenrerson the development and controlof yangch,i (also rrocnsytaskto discngage the rwo philosophies ar thispoint,ar least
€alledli; ch'i or "fire" ch'i), while neikunginvolvesthejojnt employ- rr{)t in China
ment or yang ch'i âod yin ch'i (called ',watel' ch'i or lanr ch'i). ln \X/hatcverthe path, martial artistsquickly saw.hat by applying
truth, yin andyans energiesrun parallelto eachother in our bodies, thc csoteric techniquesused by the seek€rsof enlighrenmentand
and both àre vital to our continued health Like yin and yans, it is imnrortalityin their quest,they developeda power baseand capac-
impossibleto separatech'ikung from netkung,indeed,the latter is a ity much broaderthàn thoseachievableby muscularstrengtha1one.
higherform ofthe samearr. Perbapsrhe distinctionwâscreatedsim- Practition€rsof ch'ikung acquiredprodigious strength, they werc
ply to help define rhe abilities of rhe adepr.yaog ch,i cannot pass àbleto balancetheir entire weighr on on€ finger, for example.Prac
beyond the confinesof the physicalbody, while yin ch,i can and so titioners of neikung discoveredthat there were wâys to escapethe
may rmpart to rhe practitioner preternaturalabilitiessuch as those limitationsof the physicalplane of existence.Pyrokinesis,telekne,
demonstratedby Master Chang sis,telepathy,levitation thes€abilitiesand othersbecarnetheir re-
In the second century cE Buddhis. monks began ro arrive in ward for a lifetime of dedi€ationand discipline.Ve will seein the
China. Then circa 500 cE came the Zen patriarch Bodhidharma following chapters\a.hatsuch a quest was like, âôd where ir coold
(Tamo)andthe Ch'arn(Zen) sect Tàmoarrivedatthe Shaolintemple take the practitioner . . . and still can today.
to preach to and subsequeotlystay wirh the Buddhistmonks, pass,
ing o' to them two methods,the Y Cin Ching, which is essentially
ch'ikuns,and the Shi Sui Chins, which is essenriay neikuns.It i,
from these two forms that the Shaol;n çchool developed.Appar,
ently the ncikuog techniqucswere losr within a few generarions,
:nd only thoseof the Yi Cin Chins relàined.Many of todaysùrar_
tial arls, cspeciallyrhoseoutsideChina, are descended fro[r the
Shaolrnschoolwirh a stficrlych'ikunsapproach.
Thc Taoisrmarrialarrsremainedvery muchalivcinsidcChiûa,
howcvcr,spccificallyin placcssuchasVu Tàngmounrainand other
Taolstretrcats.Broadlyspcaking,it can bc saidthat rhcif approach
is guided nlore by the interplayofyin and yang than the gencrarion
of power evident in Buddhisrnarrial arts like thc hard style Shaolin
torms. I have noticed a tendency to move thc weishr conpletely
from one foot to the other in Taoistarrs,in both externaland intcr-
nal styles,as opposcdro the sotidstancesof the Buddhisrarts.In
addition,thefe secnsro bc more of a llowing and bendingof ihe
spinein the tormcrrhanis evidentin thc latter Again,thesccom
parjsons arevery generdland,in truth,therehasbeenso rruchinrer
aclionbetwecD Buddhisiandlàoisr tcchniqucsandphilosophiesth at
it i\ difficultto separate thc two. I haveçecnrelercnces to'Taoist
brcathing'and"Buddhistbreathtns"in thc lirerâtlre,for example,
brt sucha distinction is inaccurareCàrcful reçeafchshowsthat i1 is

22 23
 nrc asâ pupil or at leasrsive me a nameand an addressI could apply
to. Ididnl careif he sentme on to the lowesrmanon the totempole;
ljrst wanted to study what he had to teach
Chapter Three Iwas lying face up on one of his therapycouches,my kneesand
elbows full of acupunctureneedles.There was no way I could have
chânged position even it I had wanted to, all sudden movements
BECINNINCS were dangerous.I slowly turned to faceJohn, who had sone quiet.
Hewas studyingme carcfully,his softeyeslooking jnto my fâceand
beyond, a smallsmile playing on his lips.
Thlsis theno'1ddt4elotl'nan h theWesunootà, I thought. I was a
head and a hâlf tallerthan he was,andsixty poundsheavier,andyet
there was no way I could withstand 2 percentol his power
Cood thing he wasbenevolent.
John had more than a dozen patienrsto seeon rhe last day I was 'Actually,"
in he said,"l havealreadyshownyou the trainingmethod
the country He never chargedanyone a dirne torLevelOne. Now, when you finish with that, Ican showyou Level
for therapy:nd al-
way$ made rime for whoever came olrr to see Two."
him, olt€n without
priof arraogement.I had seenmiraculousthings "Does that m€an . ?

i
during the month I
was there,A stroke victim had regainedthe use
of a p;alyzed limb,
a woman who had çLrlferedfrom chronic sprnarpain He had caughtme completelyby surprise.I choked backa flood
was suddenty
hcillc.l lohn spcciâlizedin rrealingneurological oftears; itwas my opinion then that it would not do ro becomeemo
,iisease,though o.-
thopcdicailnlcnrsand chronicinfectionswere tional whil€ pinned down on a tablelike a fly on paper In any case,I
alsoright up À;sal,
lcy. I oltcn assisrcd him with his parientsia processthat basically did not know what more to say to him at rhat point. I had already
i , , v , , l r d\ r a n d i n B
r h e , er o u th r n gr h ep r r i e n r promisedhim my obedienceanddiligencefor the restofmy life should
a . r r n ga r a s r o r r n d
rorJonnç bro-electri(tty "nd
he acceptme as an apprenrice,and had meanteveryword I said.
I had been treated rnyself for a month. \X/irh Tiadit;onallyunder thesecircumstancesrhe apprenticewassup
the €xceprion of
two very 01dcâlciumdepositsin my right arm, posedto kneel before the Master and pledgeto him once againthat
myjoints were tine. I
never misseda chanceto askJohnwhether he would be a loyal and hardworkins student ln my casethat was
or not h€ would accept
me asan apprentice;he alwayssaidno. My self-esteem impossible,becauseI couldonly turn ny head.144dLthehelt,I thoushtt
wasat an all_
rime low dnd I hàd no ideawhat to do \41 rrroney lohn k a Westemer as wellasa MasteroJr,eikug
war runnrngour
but I did not wanl lo leaverhecounrruw,rhoL,rlohn I wassilenrfor a rime,ând he respected that silence.
a, qu,-, -g ro John1irup
at Ieastsend me on to somestudenrt studenr. ê cigarette,took a few pults,and seftledlt inlo aDashrrayHe wiped
Anything, just don,t
order rne away,please.. . . his handswrth alcoholand beganpullingout the needles, wipins
I waited my turn for treatmenron thar day, edchareadown wirh alcoholashc went alo,rg.
helping John out
with the orher patients; he left me for last. He ''fhânk you,"
knew I would be I said finally and sat up on the edge of the couch
leaving the following morning. Ve were alone John nodded and shrugsed.H€ kept smilins
in his clioic when I
askedhim forwhat I thoughtwouldbe the finaltime "l don't know what to say,"I continued.
ro eitheradmit
"lt doesn'tmâtter,"hc said."Have a nice trip back home."

25
Be8inninSs
 Two yearslat€r,sitting on rhe balcony of h;s hornewith my girl
friend, I elaboratedon the abovestory 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 to finish.
"Youthinkyoll hàd a hard rime?"Johnaskedwhcn I hâd fioished.
"Yourcasewâs nothingr There are peoplewho have searchedfor me
for nlne yearsbefore they finally found me, and then there was no
guaranteethat I would welcome rhem asstudcnts."
"Have you ever sent peopleaway:" 1asked.
"Many tinres."Whata sS'aiklWestemt,his glanceseemedto say,
and I felt sheep;sh.Finally I Iookeddowo, unablero rneethis
''l saw your saze.
conins in a dream,"he said softly,',three monrhs
before youcame to standatmy doorstep.The day you arrived,I was
v/aiting for you."
"Yeahr"
"Yes."Hc paused."Do yoù wanl to hearwhat I \a.entthrough to
be acceptedas a student by n7 teachcr:"he finally asked.
V/e both jumped at rhe chanceandJohn beganthe srory of his
apprenticcship.I discoveredthat I had gottcn ofl,rD. easily.By the
time hc waslinished, DorisandI vere rollinson thefloorwirh laugh,
ter, John wasa very good storytcller,with an expressiveface,and he
renrcnrbered cverythingvividly
"My Master! nânrewas Liao TsLtTong,',he said in his pleasanrly
accentedEnglish,"and he wasfrom trainland China I ftrst mer him
when I was ten ycars old. I loved kung flr from the besinoins and
had trained with varioùsteachersalmost from rhe momcnt I could
walk, but I had a friend-Chan 1ien Sun was htc name_who kept
telllng me that he wasstudyingavery powerfutkung fLrsystemfron
an old man in his neishborhood.Chan kept sayins that the old man
\4asa greât healerand an eminent Master of the martial arrs.I was
curious,so I went with him to the old m:n! house. . .
The Apprentice
Vhen the young boy ftrst saw the old man, he was DoLovefty im
" The term actually means"father teacher,"though "masrei'is widely
pressedHe hadcome only becausehis childhood fricrd had insisred
uled in the Vest as the trùBlation.
26
8eÉinni!3s
The old nransold bananasfor a livins, the people in the neishboÈ
hood câlled him 'Mr Banana" Some people even call€d him "Mr
Vcird Banana"becauseit was saidthat the old man wasvery stranse
ifld difficùlt to understand.
Chan had declaredthatthe old man was a greatMastcrand that
he had healedmany people who were seriouslyill. The young boy
had heard the stofies,too, thoush il seemedthat rhe old màn was
very picky about whom he treated Sone people he kept wàiting fof
days outside his houseand then sent âway uncured, conharily, he
would hcal othersuifererswho didn'twanr his help evenagainstrheir
will, so'netimerchasingthen into thei. own honelt (Later the boy
would learn rhat the Master was able to seeeach individual'ska.ma,
and would heal the peFon or not basedon that obseNation) Any-
wa, he wasn'tall thât kcen on studyirg with the old man, brt, well,
nen Sunwashis bestfriend and had insistedthat theytrain tôgether
"Vhat doyou want here,boy?"the old man askedthe !hallboy
he found standingon the stepsoutsidehis home. Master Liao studied
the child carefully The boy was esscntiallya streetkid of Southeasr
Asiâ,dressedin simpleclothesand qune rough aroundthe edgcs.He
had probablybeenin lishts from dre momenrhecouldwalk. The old
Masler saw that the boy's lo*unes had taken a turn for the bener
.ecently,but the sisDsof past malnutrition were still therc He sàw
muchpain+n orphanr\Vhat type oleducationhadthe boy.eceived?
He sawsomething else,too/ somelhingthar excited him consid-
erably,though he did not show it, oicou6e. The boy had the talent.
Not o.e man in one thousandcould bccomc like he was His
skillwas similarro that of the greatestOlympic arhleres,not only did
you haveto havetheCod-bôrnsift, but you alsohâd tôsuffe.thrcush
decadesof hàrd disciplineto reachthe finalprize.It wasno easytask.
MasterLiaowasinhis late sixties,almosrsevenry,andhad rËincd
i n t h e n a r t i à l a r t sa l l h i sl i i e ,s i n c er h c m o m e n th e c o u l d w a l k H
. e had
been in Javafor more than six ycas and had seenlew pcople il thar
timewho possessed all the rcqùifementsto nake itthroush to the end.
Could this strcetwaif accomplÈhthe trainingr
"l . . . l'm a good friend of Chan ïen Sun,Sfi,*" the child stur-
tercd, "l would like to ltudy kung tu with you as well."
27
BeÉ'nninÉs

The old Master laughed He was alrnost seventy bût looked
younser "There are so many kung fu teachersin this cityt \x/hy ûel
If I acceptedyou, what would your purposebe in studyingwilh mer"
"Vell, for selÊdefenseand lor sport, too."
"l see.SelÊdefenseand exe.cise.\X/hâtis your nàûe7"
"Chang, Situ.JohnChang,"the boy said,but he wastakenaback.
The old man was nothing like he had inasined He had seenmany
teach€rs.Most w€re pro(rd and anogant, some were more civil. But
this old MasterlTherewassomethinstherehe could nottouch, some-
thins irdefinable that alnost scaredhim. The old man was beins
ironic, but there wàs compassionevident at the sametime He cer-
tainly Ddr strange,just as people said,it was as it someagelessc.ea
ture was lookins ât him from acrossthe centuries,lull of experiences
he couldnot fâthom. Liao Situ ploceededro askhim many quesrions
âbout his lite and his familyj he seemedvery kind at thar point, al-
most fatherly The boyrealizedhe wasbeinsgiven atest ofsorts and
tried to answerasbest he could
'Cone
back toûoftow at a p.M.,"the old nan finally said.'rù/e
can talk more àt that tirne."
Thc next day John aÛived prompdy at the specili€dtime, but
thcold man wàs no\i,heretobe lourd. H€waitedon the stepsfor rhe
rcst of thc afternoon Liâo Sifu finally showedup àt s€ven
"\vcll," hc said ro the disappointedbot "it! roo late to do any-
thing Dow.\X/hy dont you come back here tonorrow at roun
'l'hc
sâmethins happenedoo rhe next day And th€ nexr. And
The young boy was very diriUusioned.It was obvioùs to him
thât the old teacherhad no intention of acceptinghnn and wasjust
hàving fun at his expcnse.He resolvedto drop the notion ol study
inswith nen Sun and tell the oldhan to forsct the whole thing Bur
somethingkcpt hin comingback, somethinghe could not quiic put
OD th€ fifth day Liao Situ kepthis four o'clock àppointmcnt and
qucstionedthe yoùng boy again,this tiore they tâlked for almosttwo
hours.The Masterkept him on the steps,however,he did not invite
ll went on tor a month. The old teàcherwould mectJohn o. ùe
stepsoutside his hoùsc, tâlk to hir for a few ho(6, and tlen send
hiû home. The boy was disheartenedand bored. He would havc
given up exccpt for the factthatnen Sun encouragedhim to keepat
2r3
BeSjnnings
i t , i n s i s t i n gl h a t L i a oS i f u w a sa g r c a tM â s t e . S o J o h np u t i n à n a p -
n " ' r r 1 . . c \ e - y d a y h o p r n gr o r w " y t r . r " a .h e r
After a month the Master save the boy hope.John arived out-
s l d eo l L i a o S i [ u !h o u s ea r 4 p M . ,t h e s p e c i f i e d t i n r T
eh. e o l d m a nw a s
jûst seking off to run an etand He sreetedthe bor b€san to walk
away,then tu.nedto look athim. "KuDgfu isvery difficultto learn.[t
is very heavy tnini,rg. Are you capableof itr"
T h c b o vw : . c , . , : t i c . ï \ o h ) e \ r ' h c . d , d .
"Then come back tomorrow at noon, if you feel that yor: are
That night john was so excited he could hardly sle€p.At lastl
He would start training on the next day with the mysteriousLiao
Sifu. He had heard morc àbout the old man dùrins his ùonth of
waitins and was really beainni'rs to be in ave of him. Frnàlly he
would bc ableto sharein the secretsof theold manlsmartialsciencel
T h c s d , h d db e e nw o , , F, , I . n S J . w a , n s l . l
The next day,when the boykepthisappointhentatthe Maste*
hoùse,he wàsinvitedin 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 àt all in the house, not even a bed
The boy thoueht, lfl,.t lds r.5l(pr There wasa hole in the.oofthat
let in the rain, it had beeDlek open,with no sign ofattcmpted repai.
LiaoSitu spokeabruptlyto him. "Cleaûthehousewith thàtbroom
and that mop over thc.e Use the rakethat you wrll lind in the back-
yardtorakcup all the lcavcsaroundthe house.Oh, and,whileyou're
at it, fill up the storàgebasinwith wàter from th€ well, wouldyou:"
The old man turned to go "Youcan 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 requestedand left the house spotless.Hc knew that kung tu
Mastes often tried the patienceard detcrminaiion of their àppren-
ticesand hâd decidedthat he would show the oldman he cou{dbe a
\Y./trenhe came bacft the next day, the old man told him once
asain to clean the house,and left him to it. (WhotJon I jnstchawdil
r6kdoy! Atd r$ereînathiq in lEretolet dinr, lohn thowllt. ) The boy per
formed thejob againasdemanded,despitethinking it a wasteoi time.
29
BeSinninSs
 Vhcn the samethingoccured asajnor thc two followingdays,
the boy besan to wonder if he would ever be taughl krng tu orjust
be an unpaid leûant for the rest of his life.
On the fourth day after beins allowed into Liao Situs hoùsc,
John discov€redthathis pùraatorywastob€ sjven a newdimension.
The old man was congeniàl 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
distasteand 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 convcrsationwas b€ginning to take, b€sides,he knew rhat
the well water all over the areawas the same.He had learnedabout
such things in schoolr iûigation and sanitationwere very important
"l wanl you to carry water frcm his well to fill my sto.agereser
voir here Come with me "
They went out onto the balcony and the old man showedhin
where his hiends housewas locâted.
"\X/hatlswroas with thc water frôm your well here, Sifu? the
"lti not rood. lt rnakesthe teâ tastebirtcr.'
'llut
Sil!, thc warer i! the sameall ovcr the netghborhoodt"
"\I/hy can'1wejûçt usethe 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 bâck ' He walked away and
l c f t J o h ns t a n d i n go . h i s b a l c o n y
The yorng boy was angfy but he was àllo terriljed of the old
man.John had heard even more unusualthtngs about him, Liào Sifu
was beconins a leeend in the neishborhood So hc did rhe chores
erpected of him, waitcd a while fôr Liao Sifu to .erurn, then wenr
h o m ew h e nh e d i d n t .
It went on forw€eks. Every day the young boy woùld go out to
the Mastcrs house,cleanthe inte.iof, rakeard tidy the extcrior,and
carry water from the well a quarter mile away lt took hin all after.
noon, ard the oldnan alwayssenthim ho'ùe alLerwardwithotrfteâ.h,
ing hin â lhing nen Sun kcpt him ar it, encc,uraginghim everytinre
30
be$nnings
thcy mct, iDsistingthat Liao Silu rvasgreat and that soon he would
b e g i nt o t r a i n J o h ni n e a m e s t .
"Dld the sane thlng happento yo(?"John askedhis friend altcr
a month had passed.
Chanlookeddown."Vell, no. Hestartedto teachme risht away."
The boy was instantly turious.The old man was usins hitl H€
held on to his angerallthat nisht andthe nextmorning.\{/hen it cane
time to go to the old mans house,he barffd right in and conkonted
the Master The childs stàndinsup to him amc€d the old man.
'Are
y o u e o r n gr u r e a h n e L ù n gf u o , n o , '
"Vhats your problemu
"Char nen Sun said thât you started teaching hin right awa,
that you acceptedhim as a studentright awayf'
"Ah, I see.' Liao Situ kept his face serious."He is wrcns, you
know. So far i ha"e neverhad a studentin my life. You f.icnd is not
"\vhat? Uut he. . . " Suddenlylobn felt very small and fright
"l teachChan llen Sun becausehisfamily helpedne oncewhen
I was very ill. I was stficken with lève. and helpless.\X/henI did nol
'llen
appear for three days, Sun! father entered my home and his
Iàmily gaveme wàter and food Later,they bousht me the medicine
l r e q u e l t e da n d I r e c o l e . e d . I f n o tf o r t h c i r h c l p , l w o u l db e d e a d .S o
I teach th€ir son to repay ùy debt to them. Do you undestand:"
"Y€sSifu. But I've been comins here every day fof two months,
working ha.d, cleanins,and so lâryoù havent sbown me ânythingi
Not onemovemeDu"
Dcspitc his pfctcmatuEl power! ofconce.tration, Liao Sifr hàd
to tLrn away to hidc his grin from the boy. "Kune fu i! very .lifli.trlt
t o l e a r n ,h" es a i d T. h e n h e l e l t t h e h o u s ec, h o k i n gd o w nh i s l a u s h t e r .
Ihe boy immediatelybcgan to cleanand perlo.n.hisdallychc'.es
H e w o n d e r e di f h e h a d b l o w n i t f o r e o o d .
Liao Sifukept hin wo.king lor tu,o norc nonths Vhen thc boy
had completed lotrr ûonths of seNitudc, thc Mdsler sl'oKc ro ,,n,,
" N o r vr v ew i l l s c e , "t h e N 4 a s t es.a i d ," i f y o u a f c c a p a b l co f r r a i n i ' r e . "
J o h nw a sc c s t a t i c .
" l w a n t y o u r o s t a n dh e r e l l k e t h i ! " L i a ô S i f u s h o w e dh i n r h e
basic cntry nrto what has been popclarly called the "Horse Rrdlng
S t a n c e '( M a B r i n C h i n c s e )J o h . e a s c f l yc o p i e d h i s m o v e n r e . t ,
3l
6eEnnin$
 as$rmins the stance.Liao Situ grunted in approval, correct€d him
brlefly, then toJohns horror tumed and besan to headout the doon
"Situt"the boy cried. "How lons do you want me ro stand hele
like this?"
The Masre.scowleddown at him. "\X/hr for aslongas 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 ànd carryinc
water hom the distântw€ll; when he finishedhis chores,lohn had to
standin the Horse Ridins StânceforhouÉ at a rime. TheMasrervas
relentless,never sivins him a minùte! resr Through this ordeal,the
boy persisted.He even becamecheertul I *udn,l klq Ju btJore I cabe
here,he $o\tsht, bù ftM lik tbis!
Durins the fifth month, the boy noticedsomethinsunusual.The
Master had bought a few piecesofbâsic iurniturefor the house.These
items were rarely usedbut prcsenr Anong them was a large table,
touryards long by one yard wide, which Liao Situ occasionallyused
On the lirst dây of rhe sevelth month of his tdal, Liào Situ de
c i d e dt o a c c e p t h e b o y a s as t ù d e n tH e h a d r e s t e d h i m
a n d h a da g o o d i d e ao f h i s c h a r a c t eTr o i n i r i a t et h e c h i t d ,h e d e c i d e d
to sivc hifl a. cxhibirio. of the most bastcskills he possessed
Th. boy was mystilied.Liao Situwasunexpectedlyco ndescend-
ins on Lhit day ToJoh.! suryrse, he hândedhim a sharp knife and
l r m p c d u p o n t h c t a b l e " C l i n b u p h e r e ,b o r " h e s a i d
I o h n d i d s o , p r z z l e d a n ds o m e w h aat l r a i d
"Dont worry," rhe Mastc. sàid "l wont hùr1you "
The boy siood there.
"l want yoù to attack me wth that knife. If you can nake me
jùnp oll the table o. touch my shirt with rhe blâde,you win "
The boyjabbed foMard with the knifejokinsly.
"Don'tplayL"theold mansrowled."Artàckme of leavemyhouser"
John màde a halfhearredlunge The old man hardly noved
Then suddenly somethins slappedlohn acfo$ 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 acrossthe face,à novemenr roo fast
tor the boys eyesto follow.)
John stood up, shakingwith pain and anger His facestung and
was turnins red where he had been struck
Theoldmanwasscowlincdown at him fromthe table."Youcan ;
mewith thekn'feor I will slapyou asainandaaainuntil
eitherattack
The boy leapton the table He lunsedforwardwildly,fully in-
iendinsto hùrt theoldMasterTherewasnowherefor him to es€ape
to, he thousht.He will hav€to eitherjumpdovn o. be cut.
JustwhenJohn wasalmoston him,theold manleâptcompletely
overhisheadandlandedbehindhim.
Johnwentberserk.He turnedandattackedwildly, at tullspeed,
cafinglittle if he shouldhu.t the old manor not. Buttry ashe misht,
he couldnot touchLiaoSitu.It seemedthat the old Masteralways
movedat the lastsecond,justwhenthe knife$,asalmostuponhim,
suddenlyhe wasno longerther€.The teâcherneverblockedadash,
neverresisted, nevertouchedhiln. He just movedaroundtheboy as
ifJohnwerenot there.His clothinsvas not cut àndhe did not leap
off the table.
It waslike fiahtinga ghost.
Suddenly, the boy hadaninklingof thebreadthofthe old man3
knowledge andpowerThis wasnoordinaryhuman.He threwdown
forsixmonths the knifeandknelton the tablebeforethe old teacher.
"Masteç"he said,"please forcivemy arroean€eandâncerPlease
àcceptm€ asyour student."
The old mânsmiled.He âppeâred âsrelaxedas everasif he had
exertedno effortat all.
"Verywell,Mr Chang,"he said.'Todaywe beginyourappren'
John walkedus out to our taxi and bid us a sood evenins.I wassilent
asw€ were driven back to our hot€I. I thousht of the eveninskstory
andhow fortunateI hadbeen to hearit. The tale hadbeenvivid and,
knowing John! personality,it was as if I had been a witn€ssto the
eventsrather than hearingthem secondhand.Th€ scenesunfolded
before me on th€ movie screenof my mind
"Youre very qui€t," Doris said.
"l was thlnklng how lucky I am, how lucky we allare," l said.
"Yes,you got offvery easywhen you think about it. John didnt
give you â hard tim€ at all."
"That'snot what I mean.Ican only hope I deserveSitu'strust-so
far I'vemadea messofmy training and fortunatelyhet very tolerant.

32 33
BeSinnings BeSinninSs
No, lwas thinkins of]ohn himself, how different he is foom Liao
Sifu and yet how similar"
'John is a
Vestemel" she said,"aswell as an Oriental."
"Yes,"I replied. "You know, I get the fe€ling that the old man
knew this all those decadesago.Perhapshe simply sawth€ changes
that were going on around him even at that time and extrapolated
what their effect would be on the future.Or maybeit wassomething
more than that, I dont know I m€an,his whole life must have been
one ofconstant changeandcontinuousturmoil, tâking into account
that he came from China ând beârins in mind how old he was. He
must have witnessedso much: the Opium Vars, the Boxer Rebel'
lion, the fall of the emp€rorand the institution of the republic,the
war between th€ Russiansand 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'sneck.Ormaybe, somehow,he
could see ahead into the future and knew that John would be the
right personto bring his lineageinto the twentieth century."
"Ofcourse,"shesaid.Shehad pickedup on it hom the besinning.
Vomen are so much more perceptivethan men.
Chapter Four
THE IMMORTALS
THEMASTER'S
STORY
Itwas a temperatenight, and a cooling wind wasblowing. I had gone
to my teachelshouseto seehim, as I did every eveningthât I \ûasin
Java.Johnhâdjust finisheda gameof Ping-Pongwith his sonand was
pleasantlytired; his sonJohannhad carriedthe day andwas ecstati€
(the cnidge match had been going on for five years,neither parb/
willine to sunender).In the distanceth€ two m€n looked the same,it
washard to tell who was the fathel and who the son. I had watched
them play their gâmein th€ past many times and it was alwaysvery
amusing.John moved like a kung fu Master,torso upright, slipping
awayfrom the incoming ball and€ounteringasif deliveringapunch.
Hissont kinesiologywasthat ofan experttablet€nnisplay€r,weight
on the toes,croucheda bit forward,anticipatinghis opponentl moves.
Ea'rmeets\(/est,lthought.loohng ar rhem.
"You'r€,ust in time for dinner,"Johnsaid,and I felt awkwatd as
always.It seemedthat everytime I câmeto his houseI wasgiven fr€e
board, after a while it mademe feel like a freeloader.
John and h;s sonshowered,andwe satdown to the usualendless
coursesof Chinesefood. I finishedlast, asalwaysruntil I visit€d the
Eastfor the first time I had alwaysconsideredmyself a rapid eater.I
had been indoctrinatedby the Chinese,however,into the €oncept

34 35
BeBinnings
 that when youeat, you eat,there\{ould alwaysbe time forconversa-
tion later It went againstmygrain asa Creekrin my€ountry, dinner
is an excuseto socializeand often lastsfor houn.
.lohn wolfed down hls food and rose from the table."Okay," he
said,'v/hen you finish, I want to seehow far along Level One you
are. l'll give you a t€st."
'You're
kiddingl Ijust ate."
"So whatz It makesno difference."
Oh great, I thought. This hasto be ajoke. My belly wasswollen
not from ch'i but fiorn toiedrice and Szechuanbeef. I forced myself
to calm downr no matter what happened,it would be interestiog.
Ve went into his acupunctureclinic 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 b€ating a mile â minute.
"You'retenset"John said."Rela"x. Concenrrare.
"Hard to when you're being tested."
'You get
usedto lt," he said and laughed.
I forced myselfto relaxand succeeded in parttallyenteringmedi-
tation. It was enoush forJohn. He brought his index fingerscloseto
my open palms.I felt ajolt; currententeredthe centerofmy palmsand
crossedinto my body, down to my dantienin th€ centerof my belly
"Abour 20 perc€ntfuII," h€ said.
I wasdisappoint€d.IhÀdbeen hoping formuch more.l didleam
a lesson,however,and thât lessonwâs thât the most minute derails
matteredvery much in this sort of training. You couldspend a lot of
elfort training i ncorrectlyand 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 seemedhappy that I was training
at all. "So many peoplehavecome to me,"he said,"askingme to ac,
cept them asmy studentsand then neverdid any of the training They
think I can giv€ them a pill orsomethingand give them my pow€r"
"Like rhe old Chinesealchemisrs."
"Somethinglike that. It takesdiligence and efforr, Kosra.I my
self studied for eighteenyears,you know"
\Ve went out onto his bal€ony and sar in the warm night, sip-
piog tea.
36
"l have alreadytold you," he said, "the story of how I met my
Master and was a€ceptedas his stud€nt. Do you want to hear the
"Of courser"
"lt would make a good rnovie,Kosta.You can write the screen-
play in the yearsto come."
He s€ttledbâck 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."
Johnsippedhis tea.
"11iç 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 honorablepersonsuchcircum
stancesareevenworserit is easyto slip into decadenc€or into €rime
when confronted by a repressivefate.The c'ime ratesin the shet-
tos of the major cities all over the world are veiy hish, and that is
understandable,human natùre being what it is. It takesân €xcep-
tional p€rsonalityto make a stand and say, "Despite this karnrà,I
will not fall."Ve neverdid. My moth€rkept us clean,honcst,and
hardworking."
His gâze went off into the night as bitter memory intruded to
breakirto h's soliloquyIt wasstrangeseeinghim like this,so hu-
man. More often than not nry teachervas beyond such thingç, or
perhapsI simply saw hin asbeing so But at that momcnt I noticcd
sriel and sadnessin his face, though noi a trace of ênser \a.asevi'
dent.Vhat washe thinkins?
"My sistcrmar.icdwhenI wàseight,"be continued. "l\4ybrother'
in 1awwas,lets say,middleclass,and hadsomemoney,ço I wentto
live with them in their house He scnt mc on to schoolas well' I
startedat eightyears old and had to work very hard to catch up, but
I did manage.I havealreadytoldyou how I met Liao Situ when lwas
"Yes.It was a great story."
John grinned "He had a senscof humor bùt ve never caught
on. Anyway, I studied kuDg fu with Liao Situ every day for eight
yearsnonstop.I trâinedruaryday, literally. I was manied at eighteen
?
 so I had to train int€rmittently after that becauseof my increased
responsibilities,but I never stopped.Liao Sifu neverlet me."
He pausedto sip his tea "Vhen I turned sixteen,I starteddriv
ing a mini bus, transportingpeople and goods around town, I was
lorced to drop out of schoolbecause of our increasingfinancialprob-
lems.Despitemy difficuhi€s,Icontinuedro practicemy kung fu and
medltatlon every day. Oh, I forgot ro tell you that Liao Situ had
shown me the meditation for LevelOne, the sameoneyou arework
ing on noq when I was fourteenyearsold.
"Not eârlier2"
"No. It is better if the newoussystemof the traineejs fully de
v€loped b€fore 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 fâined
on a specificday andwhen I purposefullytried to avoid trâining. He
could tell when I was lying, too, you know I recall one day when I
visited his hous€and he askedme tf I had rneditatedrhâr day.To tell
you the trùth, he had never explained anything ro me ènd I con
stantly wondered why I had to do all that uselessmedirarion,so I
tried to avoid it when I could. The scenewent softethiûg ljke this:
"Liao Sifu, Did you meditaretodayl"
"YoungJohn, Yes,Sifu "
"Liao S;fr, Dtd you meditateroday2"
Yes,S,tu',
"YouneJohn
SLAPtJohn goes llying acrossthe room.
"Liao Situ, Yo re lyinst"
I burstout laugh;ng. Johnjoin€din brie,,y.
"After that," he continued,"Liao Stfuwasl;ke a god to me. Since
he knew everything I did, there wasno poinr in tyine to him, and so
I decidedI had betterdo eractlywhat he âsked.Ibecamea diligent
shrdcnt,never missinga da1,,putting in many hours. lt scemedthat
during my latcr te€nageyearsI was either working or training, not
38
"l was nineteenbefore 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 ideawhat h€ wastakins
"Vhat is LevelOne exactly?"Iasked.'Youveshovn meth€ train
ing method, but we've never talked about what I'm supposedto be
doing,"
"ln Level One you fill up your dantien with yang ch'i. You must
be in actualm€ditation to achievethis, ând it is tim€ dependent. In
Level Two we shapethe yang ch'i to our specificationsso that the
practition€r 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 LevelFouryou bringyouryin and yâns ch'i tosether and besin to
"How many diff€r€nt levelsare therc?"
"Seventy-two."
"Vhat?1"
John smlled."No one said it was easy.The levelscorrespondto
xhen(mber of châkrasin the humanbody. You know what a chakra
is?An en€rgycenter?'
"Thesedayseverybodydoes."
"PerhapsThe lastchakrato open, Level SeventyTvo, is at the
very top of your head."
"l know of it I usedto practiceBuddhistmeditation."
"l see.I myself knew nothing about those mattersuntil the day
my teach€rcameto me and told rne I had finished\eith Level One.
On that eveninghe gaveme a demonstrationof innef power,neikùng."
"Vhat did he do?"
"Do you rernemberthe 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 satat the other He put lour flngersof h;s 'ight
hand on top of the table; hls thumb was below it. \{Àet,l he pùshed
forwardwrth hr, {rnger. the bowl exploded.
"At first I didn't believeit. His thumb wasunder the tabletop,so
I immediat€lybesan to look for a button or a wire or something.I
39
thought he had rigged the ashtraywith an explosive,rhar it was a
trick Liao Sifu laughed and askedme to bring rny old friend the
broom over. I began to clean up the piecesol the bowl but he said
no, bring the broom over to him He askedm€ wherheror not it was
a tlick broom, and I said no, ofcourse not. After all, that broom had
becomea good friend of mine rhe past nine yeârstHe took it from
my handsand laid it againsrthe wall. Then he pass€dhis right hand
over it ând asked me to pick up the broorn and sweep the floor
\(hen I did, it crumbledto dust at my toucht"
John took a sip of tea."ltwas at that rime,"he said,"that I began
to r€aliz€what my teacherwas.He mademe promjs€l\rould medi-
tate andxraindiligendy to obtain this power,and Iagreedreadily,of
"Sifu,"I said,"you meanto tell me that you trainedwith him for
nin€ yearsand he nev€rshow€dyou, not onc€, what he could do?"
"Cood Codt"
John laughed."lkeep tcllins all my studentsrhat they haveit easy
and that I spoil them constantly.Maybe now they will believeme.,'
He turned to lace me. "Youknow," 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 Chineselegends,and I had been taught
in sclroolthat thesethingswer€urter nonsense.It wasthelate 195Os,
when peoplebelievedthar all things\X/estemweregood andallthings
of the Eastsuperstition.But I knew too that Liâo Sifu was a great
healerwho hadcured many peopleof terrible diseases that Vestern
physicianscould do nothing about."
"Did he useacupuncture,lik€ you?"1asked.
"No. Nevert Insteadhe would heal foom a distance,passinghis
hands over the pàtient, and what rhey would feel I could describe
bestwith the wordsa9olla ûearSometimeshe wouldsupplemenrthe
treatnent \i/ith herbs He could even curecancer,which I cannot.,'
Iwassilent, havingjust lo$my fatherto rhâr diseaserwo months
in the past.John nodded,readingmy thoughts.He had managedto
convey the power of Liao Sifu to me in a simple sentencethat had
40
'Anyway," he continued,'rl kept at it
over the y€arc.Ifinish€d
LevelTwo andwas into LevelThree when Situ calledme to him one
evening.He told me that he wanted 1o rcst m€ again,the sameway
that he had when I was a boy, so we jumped up on the table and
wentat it, thistim€ barehanded.Now,l wasalreadyintokvelThree,
which meansI 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 refuseby then.
"\fle fought for about six or sevenminuteswith no end result;I
was happy that I managedto stay on the tablel Suddenly I leapt
forwardand hit him on the chest,and Liao Sifu was thrown off the
tabl€. I used a techniquew€ call Meng Hu Chu Tong,'fierce tiger
charging out of the cave.'
"He appearedhurt,"John said."l leapt down from the table ând
helpedhim up. He wasgrabbing his chestwhere I hit him. I apolo-
gized immediately,but hejust laughedand told me that Iwas great,
that I had reachedthe point wher€ I could overwhelmmy Master I
imrnediatelypuffed up with pride, and from that point on I was al'
wâys very bËve-cock, actually.Before that incident I was quite
timid, you know He did that to removethe fear from my heart."
"Youhadn't really hurt himr he let you hit him," I said.
"Ofcourse, KostatLiaoSitu wasLevelForty-Eightatthat time, I
was LevelThree. Do you have any ideâ what that means?"
"Vell, no. I can't imagine."
"l had about as much chanceof injurins him as a tiny butt€rfly
has of injuring you. But at the time, I really did think I wasgreafl"
"l see."
"Andthe downsideof the incidentwasthat I becameunbearably
arrogant.I would fisht with people all th€ time, and âlwayswon.
Usually it would end with only one punch, and I hardly usedeven
the power I had êt irdl time. lwas young and proud. You know, I
usedto f;ght ;n bare knuckletournamentshere in Java,for Chinese
studenxso[kung fu only, and I was the undefeatedchampion."
He straightenedunconsciouslyand a smile flitted over his face
as he recalled his youth. I had to grin. Then he suddenlybecame
serious."ln 1962my Mâstercalledme to him asain and saidihat he
41
had only three months more to live. I believedhim, and askedhim
what his plan was. He saidthat he want€d to die back in China. He
still had no money,so we collectedtundsfrom all the peoplehe had
healed to pay for his iicketr \,/e pâid his bills and still had a good
chunk of money left over to last him through his dyiog day.
"Beforehe left, I went to his houseevery nisht for the following
t1Momonths. One eveninghe gave me an ancient book containins
the s€cretsof inner power all the way up to LevelSeventyTwo. He
mademe promisethat 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 câll it. He drew the
charm on a piece of paper and I had to writ€ down the following
three promis€son the samepieceof paper,
That if I finishedwith Level Four,
l I was not allowed to usethis power for evil purposes.
2. I was not allorvedto rnâkemoney with this power
3. I would ûot demonstrateto anyon€ exceptmy students.
I signedthe tu with a drop of my own blood and Liao Situ burned lt
on a pier. Then he mixed the ashesvith another drop of my blood
and made me drink it. It bound me, Kosta; I had to do exactlywhat
I promised."
John becamesilent and then continued in a soft voice. "He left
for China on board a ship with two hundr€d other people. I knew
one of the people he wâsgoing over there with, so I kept askingthe
mans family for information.Liao Situ had reoted a smallhouseand
was enjoyins the time he had letuvery 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, speakingeveô more softly. "l will
tell you his story some other day, mayb€ tomorro\{. I went !o the
mank houseevery day, asklng for news,and one day th€ expected
messas€arrived. Liao Situ was dead, as he hlmself had predicted,
ând he had died on th€ very day he had foreseen.I askedthe mans
fâmily how it hadhappened,and hadto wait almosta month for the
reply.Liao Situhad askedhis neishborto buy him a newspaperaround
six o'clock in the afternoonon that day, then sat in his rocking chair
42
on his porch to read.Atseven o'clocksharph€ died in amoststrange
manner.Blood came out of what we call the s€venorifices of his
headiyou know, the eyes,the ears,the two nostrils,andthe mouth.
Maybe a massivestroke or something,I don't know."
\)/e sat silently for a time. I realizedthatJohn was talking about
the death of the man he consideredhis father I didn't know what to
say,and was becomingemotional 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 waswilling to give me everyrhing
he had,includinghislife.l willtellyou aboutit someothertime.But
lre nevertold 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,"Johncontinued."Anyway,the yearspassed,Kosta.
I kept training and finishedwith LevelThree. One year after that, I
achievedLevelFourànd becanto developm) powel
"\ù/hatwas that like?"I asked.
'The first time that I
"Like ridins a buckins broncol' h€ rcpli€d.
wassuccessful,I fainted and could not hold on. There was so much
power therel I hâve alreadytold you that in Level Four our yin and
yangch'icome together The power that is generatedthenis incted-
ible, like having a lightning bolt in your belly. Th€ secondtime I
tried, I was unsuccessful âlso.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 vâs mine, for€ver"
"How old were you when you achlevedLevel Four?"I asked.
"Thirty two."
"And then?"
"Life went on, Kosta.Renember,I could not usemy power for
personalgain.I continuedto work âsa driv€t andwecontinuedtobe
very poor I also kept on with my training and proceededthrough
LevelsFive,Six,etcetera.lhadreadln the textthat Liao Situgaveme
how I couldusethis power in combinationwiih acupunctureto heal,
and I beganto do so. I cured many people, Kosta.And I could not
take money after the factLI mean,peoplewould offer me money out
of gratitude and I had to say no. Not even to pay for food for my
family.Somedayswewouldgo hun$y; we could not aftodanything
43

to eat, and I had a larse family by that time. One day a rich man I
had healedgave my eldestson somemoney 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 houseif he ever accepted
money from anyone again!Ii wasmaddening.
"But five yeaÎslater my life changed,"he went on. "l wasthirty
sev€nyeârs old at th€ time, and Iwas desperate.Ve were €ating
every othel day, my children were crying, and I had my back up
againstthe wall, so to speak.I becameangry,very angry at the situ-
ation. After all, the only thing I neededto do was open a kung fu
school and I would have millions, th€re around who
coulddowhat I did. That aft€rnoonI wasin our bedroomandbegan
to screamup 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 deservethisz'(and
also many other things I am not so proud of)."
John looked me in the eye. "Then suddenlyI heardmy 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
voicewasso real,l lookedaround.Andthere Liao S;fuwas,sirting in
the corner,as solid asyou or I1
"l rubbed my eyesand staredaaainai him. I thought that I was
going insanefrom the stressoftryingto makeendsmeet. He looked
so real, though, that I thought Iwould try to speakwith him.
"Master?'I said,timidly.
"Liao Situ laushed,'Y€s,it's me. Yoù D€€dn'tbe so amazed.'
" ' B u t . . . y o u a r e . . y o u ' r e d e a d ts' a
l id
"'Uodeniably,'he replied He seemedvery amused
"'Vhat are you doing hereT'
"This is thesp€cialtyofourtype oftraining, that after deathyou
retain the charactefttics and powersyoLthad when you were altve.
Vhen you passLevelFoul you can take allyouryang ch'iwith you.'
"l didn't know what to say,Kosta,"Johnconrinued."l didn't re-
ally believewhat I was seeing,but there he was,asbright asday and
ashuman as the last day thât I sawhim. lt is hard to doubt the testi
mony of your own eyes.
44
'meditate,look forme,
"'Vhen you have troubl€,'Liao Sifu said,
and I will come to help you.'
"And I did, Kosta, and bedid. I called him almost every dây at
first and there was no one who could not hear him, though only
about l0 percentof the peoplecould seehim and then againin vary-
ing hues. I think you have to have a lot of yin ch'i to seeâ spirit
plainly. Aryway, to some people he was transparent,to others âs
solidasyou or L But no one doubtedfora momentthât he v/asth€r€.
Evenwhen they could only hear hirn, they felt a physicalsensation
when he was around, like an €lectromag.etic field or something."
John paused."Youdon't seemshockedby what I am saying"
"No," I said."Storieslike this were the reasonI camelooking for
you in the first place.I would have been disappointedif they were
"And do you think that peoplein the Vestwillbelieve it as\,/ell?"
"l think that peoplein th€ Vest ar€r€adyto believeit. The 1950s
were a long time ago.'
'Aryway, Liao Situ helped me
John lauched."lndeed,"he said.
curemany sickpeople,dir€ctingmeon which traditionalmedicineto
useandwhat technique.He was alwaysright, and the pâtientâlways
got bett€r The funny thing is that he neverused the sam€formula
twice for the sâmeillnessrit dependedon the individualeachtitne."
"lt was alwayson a case-by-câse basis."
"Yes.I tried it many times, you know I would give a different
patient with th€ sameillnessthe sametreatment as a pati€nt who
had been cured by Liao Situt spirit, and nothing would happen Fi-
nally I gâveup on it."
"BÙt all Chlnese medicine is like this, right? ltt always case
dependent."
"Yes.That'swhatmakesitso difficult. Chines€medicineis really
an ârt form, not a science.You cannot op€n a prescriptionbook and
disp€ns€medication,like a Vestern medicaldoctor"
John pausedfor a while, then €ontinued."Ihen one day a very
rich businessman I had helped câmeto m€ and askedif I wanted to
be parin€rsin ajoint venturewith him. I saidI had no money and h€
said, it's oka, you just do the work and I will put up the capital l
45
ask€dmy Master jf it was all right and he said yes, it vas okây for
peopl€ to be erateful as long as I did not directly take mon€y for
s€rvicesrendered.So I took the job, so to speak,aod made a good
pieceofchange. And sincethen I havestudiedandlearnedth€ ways
of the businessworld with the samedilig€nce that I sp€nrstudying
kung tu. As you can see,I did okay."
Hn hourewar wonh srxmilliondollars.
"\vy'hatyoure telling me," I said slowly after he had finished,,,is
that you proved to many peoplethat th€re is life after death."
''Io
hundredsof people,Kosta,"he responded."t can still prove
it to anyone at any time. Vould you like to me€t a spirit?"
I jumped up in response.
'Very
well," he laughed."Tomorrowwe willgo on a shon trip by
car; it's about half an hour away from here.Ve can talk more about
it then."
THEHSIEN
It would be neglectfulto go on at this point and not giv€ you some
backgroundon what is popularlyconsidered"immortality"byTàoist
alchemists,ènd what the theory behind the sta.e of immortality is
per the school of ner-larTaoistbelief Immortàlsar€ thousht to dis-
play abilities similar to those of John Chang, ând the warpins of
accept€dnaturallaw is saidto be commonplacearoundthem. How
€ver, I must caution you that the technique and method of Master
Chang differ greatly frorn those used by oth€r sysrems.Also, as I
statedearljer,Johnt teâchingshave norhing to do v/ith religion. lf
the outlinebelow leadsyou to other books,l musrwarnàgarnstprac-
ticing the methodology ourlined in rhose publicarions,I have no
idea whether or not the proceduresdescribedare fact or fancy (or
whether or not th€y are dangefousro rhe student).
The perfected,;mmortalhumanorûs;r (ltterally,'/mountainman,')
is a centralfigureof religiousTàoism.The techniqueswherebypeople
sought immortality were ground€dboth on internaland externalal-
cheny. The external school (uti laal developedrechniquesbased
on chemical experimentarionand dietary regimensand hoped for
actual physical immortaliry; there is strong evidencethat they did,
46
In lact, come up with an elixir that provided at least some partial
rquvenation(lhave heardthat Chinat modem leadersconsume such
(nei-
a potion to retain theirvitâlity andyouth). The internal school
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
prolongedlife in this body and achievedimmortality through the
'tpirit
body" (sl'r"),which be
nou.ishmentwithin of an embryonic
camethe immortâl self after death.* Throughout its developm€nt,
threethem€scameto b€ central to the teachingsof nei-danTaoism,
l The philosophyof rur-pei(spontan€ityand noninterference)
coupledwith a profound reverencefor life and an enhancedpercep-
tion of th€ workings of natureon all levels.
2. The yogic alchemyfor transmutingthe endowmentsof the
mind ând body into an immortâl spirit uitii loùerooertbephysical worlà.
This spirit body, the shen, was created and nourishedby the disfilla
tion of Iife enersy (ch'i) augmentedby the power ioh€r€nt in puri-
fied semen[clirg). This "purification"was a meditationalprocess.
:. The yogasof absolutemeditâtion wher€by passionand de-
were vanquished,allowing tbe yogi to eôter into a condition of
sire
enlightenmentwherein the spirit body can exist independentofthe
body and ernanateto "ride the clouds.'t
The word ûsio in Chineseis composedof the ideogramsfor ruorl-
tdi (!rr) andman (,,! ), andmeansjust that. It is thousht that,though
mountainsthemselves arcyang,so,rmountainsaretull of the pnmalyin
of the universe,and it is to that energythat TaoistseekeÉflocked
energy
in
to "chargetheir batteries"andenjoy the stillnessofthe surroundings
I hom a mountainous area myselfandcanverify that
meditation. come
when trainins in the hishlands,the energyI leel is hundredsof tlmes
what I experience when tranringh the city vhere I norrnallyreçide.
Thewei-dan school,whicb soughta chemicalforrnulafor actual
physicalimmorlality, is not directly pertinent to this text. Thc nei
dân, or internal school, on the other hand, is Ne/-cDia Tàoists,who
" Ercy.lofeàia Btitan i& Onlir', "RelisiousTaoism."
t Blofield,lohn, I4,s.. Ii,.Rodl roL,od4l,r)' {Boston,Shanbhala
P u b l i c a t i o n s1,9 7 8 ) .
 followed this school,soughta meansby wh;ch the condit;on ol hu-
man existencecould be transfom€d into one that would last indefi,
oitely,but noi necessarilyin physicalform.To achievethjs,th€yworked
exclusivelywith the tooh naturehasgivenus,thoseofourmind, body,
ând spirir.The'elixirof immortaltty'wasbrewednot in somecrucible
usingpotionsolarsenic,mercury and pearl,asin the wei-danschool,
but in the body itself,usinsthe indjvidual! own life enersies.
In China th€ thr€equalitieço I man! energyarecalledtbe Sarltao,
or "three treasur€s./iThey are ching, ch'i, aod shen,or essence,en
ergy,and consciousness By transmurationofth€ threetreasures from
coane to subtleform, and by subsequentinrcneacron, a mysteflous
"something'isconceivedThat'tomething,js the spirirembryo,which,
like any baby,requiresfurrherc€srationprior to finalbirth However
shouldthe Taoistyogi be successtul in developtnsthe spirit body, he
can exist independentof his physicalbody and;s assuchtmmortal.
Central to the belief tn the spirit body is the tener that, while
man doeshave a soul that liveson after deârh,the soul is not immor
tal and will also die after time I personâ y believethar thjs felisious
doctrine came into being sirnply becausethe yogis could not pcr,
ceivethe spifilsofspecificdcceased individùats
aftera siv€npcriod
at tima-oheftas heJore thdt foixt theycould.Neither lailure nor isno
ranccis widely toleratedin China,yor cannotsimplyçây,,1don't
know." Thus th€ làoi(r teachershad to come up with sor.il,in4,ând
thc dosmâ outlined dbovewas the reçL,lt you' fjnd that there is a
basistor my assumption in followingchaplers
Ching-ihe tcrm essentiallynreans"esserce',-js the primals!uff
of I;ie.Many belicvethatyou aregivena fixcdarrountoi ching for
yoûr lifetime, and rhat if you use it up, you are out of luck. ln thc
malc,ching is presentin coarçeforn in the spem, and is deposit€d
in the lesticles.In more refincd fornr chins circulatesthrolrsh the
bone marrow of thc body, and is stofcd in rhe kidneys * Therefore,
" \X/henI began to study the litcnnre on Taoisn, I was surpised
by how
many conceptscôincidcd with tolk beliels in ny native Crcece Upon
ensaAingin a tor.id lovc affair with a new siflfriend, and subsequently
sho\rins up to teàch my iujursucla$ somewhardazed,I was colnseled
by the oldest mân in tlrc clals to ".efrain from los,,,Bmo mù.n lpermi as
you will beein to losc yorr bone marow"
48
whax was of crucial importancewas to preserveessence;it is this
npproachthat led to the theoriesof spermretention and controlled
cjaculationthat have become representativeof Tâoism in popular
Vcstern literâture.Some teachersstat€d that ching had a natural
tcndencyto flow downward. They thus forbadesexualintercourse
ior a thousanddaysat a time while training, so that the ching could
"pile up" andenliven the energycentersof the body. Others allowed
ior a minimum amountof sexualrelease,the philosopherSun Szue-
mo recommendsthe following program,"For men in their trM€nties,
one €jaculationevery four daysrin their thirties, one in eight days,
in their forties,one io sixt€endays;in their fifties,one in twenty one
days.From the age of sixty upwardsemissionshould be avoidedal-
tog€ther,though a sixty year old v/bo is still robust may allow him-
self on€ ejaculationa month."
This isa far cr.j'from th€ exorbitantsexualstimulationevident in
Vesternsociety.InEuropeyoucanhardlywalkdown thestr€etwith-
out thinkingofsex; large-breasted women pout down from the cov-
ers of magazinesin every corner kiosk (some nude, some scantily
clad), while their mal€ counterpaftspump iron and promisefemale
reademendlessrepetitiveorgasmswith their saze. lt is hardly natu-
ral;we needonlylook at the animalkingdomto realizethat attempted
reproduction is not something a mammal should €ngag€in every
day.*My dog can outrun me in his sleepand has kept abreastof a
snowmobil€ in deep snow; the averagehuman could not hope to
parallelhis physical prowess.He breedswice a year. Perhapsit is
this naturalconsewationof ching that allows other mammalstheir
tremendousphysicâlabilities.
I havediscussedch'i. Shen,th€ final treasure,is a bit more diffi,
cult to identify. In coârs€form it most c€rtainly means"mind, self,
soul";Iwilluse the term, rsowl aaarness. As determinedearlier,many
Taoistsb€lievethat the spirit itself cannotlast indefinitely,and must
be'enhanced"so that the prize of immortalitycan be captured.There
s€emsto be a orocessfor this.
*
I am awareof both the naturalinclinatior and the reproductivecy€le of
ihe dolphin, for readerswho think they havecaught a faux pas.
49
 I havesaid that ching, the essenceof life, is firsr transmuredand
refined into ch'i. I have seenmany proceduresfor rhis in the litera
ture, ranging lrom the sedu€tiveto the painful.uThe most common
approachis, simply,sexualabstinence coupledwith yogic breâthing
If you're notjcing that the emphasisis on the male and sperrn,
you are correct, there is little written in toist te(s thar is ofuse to
women seekinsthe\Vay.Neverth€less,
historica yand in myth th€rr
have been Taoistimrnortalsand Masten who oer women. Ir is as to
lou they developedtheir powersand achievedimmortality that th€
literature is silent (shoft of takins a pill, which we must discount).
Once ching had beentransmutedtoch';through meditationand
yogic brearhing,the pra€titionefdiscardedthe entanglements
ofmun
dâne life and "sousht stillness"so that he could tufther enliven the
shenthrough the ch'i. (Reportedly,the areawhereihe seedlinssben
residesis betweenand behiDdrhe eyebrows-the third eyeto some.)
But once the shenwas conceivedit had to gesrare;once gestat€ctit
had to be born; once born it required nourishmenr;and so forth
until it could stand or its own. The proceduredemandedthe con
tinuous r€tin€ment of ching into ch,i and the transferenceof the
energy of ch'i to the shen.Needlessto say,it took a long time, per_
haps the prêctitionert entire life, and was not somethingto be un_
dertakenlightly.
For the Taoist alchemisr,the dantienwas rhe crucible in which
the elixir of immortâlfty wasbrewed.It was rhere rhât ching was re
fined into ch'i, whjle from the danrienpurifiedch,iwassentup to the
"SpiritValley"berweenthe eyebrowsto give birth to the embryoshen.
Needlessto say,the dantienwasa very pr€ciouscommodity and one
carefullyprcserved(inde€d,it is commonin China eventoday to wrap
onet belly asâinstthe cold, leavingthe chestand armslighrly clad).
There was a further step from that point on if the yogi truly
desiredeternity, The independentshen had to be mergedwirh the
Sourceof All Things, the Tào. In essence,what rhe teacherswere
saying v/as rhat the personaliryhad ro unite with the flow of rhe
whol€ universe.If such a thing is possible,it can only be the final
stagein human development.
50
There is a clear reference;n the Tao Tè Ching to th€ seedling
after death,
shcn and th€ continuation of the consciousn€ss
Thosewho retaintheircenter€ndùre.
Thosewho diebut continueto existareimmortal
This particularsection of the Old Mastr is very imporiant and the
rcadershould beàrit in miûd in the chapt€rsto come. It hascaused
much consternationand confusion among sinologistsin the Vest,
with the questionb€ing, how do you "die but continue to exist"?I
siocerelyhope that this text will help clear up the quandary.'
Letme repeâtmy word of warningbefore Igo on Though much
has been written about it in numerouspublications,the San Bao
method is not pr€ciselythat followed by Master Chang, tberc are
somesiûilarities, and many of the conceptsare pertin€nt (vhich is
why I included them here), but in essenceboth the approachand
method are different. By no meansshould you follow the San Bao
methodwithout dir€ct, competentguidâncein an attempt to gener-
are abilitieslike my teacherk;that way lle madnessand death.
REVTLATIONS
The next eveni.g I wasin a carwith myMasrcr and his family head-
ingtoward a placeon the outskirtsof the cityhe livedin. I wasquiet;
t find it difficult io talk when there is much weighinc on my mind,
and that night there was Johns €ommentson the previoqsdav had
shakenme greatly.Once âgain,I did not doubt him for a second;I
was anxiousand wary of whât I would seeon t al evening
"Ve are going to the houseol a friend of mine,"John said "He
hasheardstrangenoisesa! night while his family hasbeensleeping,
and he is quite afraid that there is a spirit there. Thev iust moved
into thai houçe,by the way."
"So the storiesof hêuntedhousesare true," I sàid
"Ofcourse,"he replied."Spiritsare boundby spaceànd time the
sameway as anything that exists,but on a different level because
they afe part of the yin vorld. \/e ourselvesareyang, thev âre vin "
51
 "But we have yin energy iû our bodies too, right?',I asked.
"Correct,"herepli€d. "However,a pure spirit existsin a djfferent
space-timecontinuum than we do. One year for us is one day for
them, and th€y â(e not limited by the presenrmoment but exist in
the immediat€future and past aswell. 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."Youkno,Mhow in meditation we slow down
our breathing and our pulsezltt becausewe move more and more
into our yin consciousness."
"l see.But are you sayingthatwe havetwo separatebodies,a yin
body and a yang body, and that our consciousness can move from
one to the other2"
"No. It is notso simpleandeasyasthat. \X/hatlsaid is that every-
thingo/ the earth is yang,though th€ earthitself is yin. \X/e,ashuman
beings,are yang creatures,bur v.e have yin €nergy as well. It is rhe
combinationof th€ two that givesuslife. Vhen \re die,when we cease
to havelife, our awareness movesto rh€yin stareofbeing.,,Hepaused.
"tsutit doesnot remainunalteredin the process,"he continued.
'AndrMhat
we are going to seetonight, 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_
heavenand hell, reincarnation,that sort of thing?,'
52
Hc was silent for a very long time and I thought that I hâd of
lcnded him. Finally he spoke."l don't know," he said.
"llut you have seen so mâny spiritsi spoken with yoû Master
alterhe died,and.. . ."
"l didn't saythat I haven'thad experiencewith life âfter death,"
'rù/hatI said is that I don't know what the final state
he interrupt€d.
of the afterlife is like."
John lit up a cigarette."l will tell you what I do know," he said.
"There appearsto be an intermediatestât€betweenthis life and the
next.Icallit the whitewav€andtheblackwave.The spiritsofthose
who havebeen good in their livesgo into the white wave,thosethat
havebeen evil into the black wave.lt is very much like the concepts
of heavenand hell except for one thing-neither condition is p€r
maneot.At some point all spirits shoot straight up to Cod. \fhat
happensto them at that point, I don't know It depeodson 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 th€re seemsto be an areâ
characterizedby 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
Perhapsthey think thal they are still human."
"But they are not?"
"No. The mentalandemotionalperspectives of the averagespirit
arcvery dilierenrhom tho'e of r humanbeing.'
"ButnotyourMasters. He looked andsoundedthesamedeadas
he did alive."
"Yes.A spirit with €ven a little yang energy is very different. A
'
spirit lik€ r'ry Master retainsall its human characteristics.
Ithought about the classiclines from the Tao Tè Ching, l;nes
that had causedso much controversyamong scholarsin the past,
53
t"
 Thosewho retaintheircenrerendure.
Thosewho die but conrinùero existareimmortal.
Their meaningwasclear to me at that moment. According to Tâoist
thought, to continuebeing humanafterdeath,you had to br;ngsome
of your yang eneEy with you \(/as the "center"that the Iao Tzu
r€ferred to the dantien, which filled up with yang energy in Level
Oner And accordingto Cbang Situ,to remainconpirisb. humanafrer
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/asevolution at play hefe? \/as
humanity no more than rhe breeding ground for higher spirirs?I
thought aboùt how an embryo came into being, Out of millions of
spem only one becane a baby \7as this the casefor us also, that
from a million h(mansonly one was destinedto becomea hsienl
And wâs it for entities of this sori that all the fusswas abouQ Or
were we evolving as a speciesto rhe point whereall of us could live
on vithout our physicalbodies?
I desperatelywanted to chanse the subject,but there was no
dodging rhe issue.I thoughr about the netaphysical ,,waves,,ofre
wardandpenance lohn hadspokenof. Conceptssuchasheavenand
hell, the Elysian Fieldsand 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,remernberthat I said never to
so
into the blôckifyou canhelpit. k is not a pleasant place.The spirits
th€re desir€, th€y hurt, they cry, and are denied everythingr it is
pitch dark, you canno. seea thing. The only good pojnt about the
black wave is that it does not last forever,afuera time those spirits
are freed,when their kafma hasb€en tulfilled',
"Situ, what is kàrma?"
"The consequenceof their actions,thoughts,€motions,and de
sires--of their lives,ifyou wânt."
k was getting to be too much, too anthropomorpnrcror me ro
swallow,like somethingout of ancient myrhology,or the most eso,
teric beliefsof the worlds major religions.
54
He seemedto guessmy thoughts.'l don't have any final an-
swersfor you, Kosta,no dogma to respondto the questjonspeople
haveabout their existence.I can only tellyou what I haveseen,you
canchooseto beli€veme or not. Considermea metaphysicalscien
tist. I have not toldyou anything of my own religous beltefs,and I
willnot."
"\X/hynot2"
"Because ldont want to interferewith anyone! religton,"hesaid.
"Sifu, what you descr;bedls so . . . basic,so primitive a model
that.. . ."
"lt! too hard to swallow in our scientific age where everyrhing
has to be complicatedand mathematicahVell, you can judge for
yourself.Maybe the whole problem with our day and âge is that
wele steppedtoo far away from the primitive, rejectine our essen-
"And Cod, Sltur YoLr've menrionedCod rnânytimes,both today
and in the past. Is there really a Cod, a force that caresfor us, the
centerof our existencez"
"l know there is."
"Vhyr How do you know there is a Cod?"
"Someother time, Kosta "
Ve reachedthe house."Sifu,"l askedas we got out of the car,
'îhy
is it that sornespiritsare earthbound,like this one-if ther€ is
He shrugged."Vhy do you live where you dor It dependson
eachcase.For the most part spirjtsstay away from towns and ciries
and preferthe wilderness."
\/e were met at the doof by my teacher! fri€nd and his farnily.
The housewas pleasanteoough, a two story, three-bedroomaffair
Itwas quite modernandhadbeen built only in the lasttwentyyears.
Itwas certainlyno centulies'oldcastle!Morepeoplearrived,indeed,
quite a large group gatheredto seethe show John joked with rhe
men, talking about soccer,the latest tr€nds in world business,and
whethelol not a r€staurantthat had rccently openedwasany good.
It seem€dthe thing they all studioudy ignored was whether or not
the housewas haunted.
55
 Afteratime they decidedto go aboutthe business at hand."Okay,
Kosta,"John said. "Come on."
\Ve went up the stairsto the top floor, and everyonegathered
together.There were so many of us that we could hardly ftt ;n the
room. Tbe ownerpulled out a table,and on ithe participantsplaced
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,ànd water.It waç stfessedto m€ that sugarwould of
fcnd the spirit
"lle can smell the offedngs,"my teachersson said to me. ,,lt!
what thcy en;oy."
I thought about the period som€yearsprior when I had studied
lltretan Buddhism I had leârnedthat rhose entities in â perpetual
stateofspirithood\i/erecalledscenr-eàters.I hadalsobeentold then
that most pcople were rein€arnaredwithin forty days,I thought of
the conceptsof dosma and proof.
My teachersaunteredover 1<> where Iwas stâôding.',lfthefe is a
spirit," he said,'you will seethe offeringsmove ashe takesthem."
"Youmeanthatthey haveenoughpowerto moveobjects:"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,"Isaid,"bLrthow do I knowrhatit is norsimplyyoumoving
them: I mean,I've seenyou usetelekinesisbefore."
He laughed,delighted,he was not offendedin the least.,,tfyou
pull up your yin ch'i like this, you mây be able ro seesomerhingas
well." He showed me the method. "l don't think you will be ableto
seethe spirit himself,becauseyour yin is very weak,"he contjnued,
"but you may seesomething.Especiallyif be is a blâck spirit."
Ve all gatheredaround the table. Someoneshur otf the lishts
Only a few dim candleslit the room. (Lisht, beingyang, woutd drive
the spirit âway.)Everyonequieted down, andJohn beganhis medi-
tation. I did asmy teachersaid,pullingup myyin energy.There was
an intensequiet, a total absenceof sound,and then suddenlythings
beganto happen.
56
lheard a soundlikethe windblowingr the incensestick appear€d
to split in two, as if I had doublevision. | rubbedmy eyes.The stick
beganto movetIt bobbedin the direction ofmy teacher,\,/ho imme-
dlately begantalking. He spoke in Chinese'I could not und€rstand
th€ words, but I could tell from his tone of voice thai he wassooth'
iog and h€aping praiseon what€verwâs there.
The cup of tea beganto move on th€ table, and I heard a sound
ol satisfaction (aaabhh) I thought, Yor'ni",l ts playtug trickson you l
pulled up rny yin and tried to conc€ntrate.Soneiri,, was over the
table-lt was indefinableandvague,like a heatwaveover hot tar/ bui
therewas no denying that my vision blurred when I looked in that
direction. It was actuallybard to stareat it, il seem€dthat the phe
nomenonwent awaywhen my eyes(my o,ll:) locked on to it. But I
could see it €l€arly with my peripheralvision. If I kept my line of
sight down on th€ tabletop, I could s€ea sort of cloud dancing and
playing over the tabfe.I wondercd.Isaureyes;ght yafl41lsthatIbere.lsoll
I cahw it ôt'ly aith y ,eriPbenlokion)
John was talking up a storm, everyonestarted laughing, and I
felt llke the odd rnanour. Suddenlythe incenseburner flew off the
tableto land at my Maste* feetrit was porcelainand shatteredinto
Instantlythe lightsw€retumedback on and peoplebeganclean
ing up the mess.I walked over to whereJohnwas sitting. He look€d
"Vhat happenedz"I askedhim.
"Stupidspirit."
"l couldn't seeânything,just a blur"
"Becausehe is a white spirit," John rcplied. "lf he were a black
spirit, you would seehim."
"V/hy did he knock over the in€enseburner?'
"Becausehek a Muslim," John said, "and the incens€stjck of-
fendedhim. He considersincenseasbeing somethingfrom the Bud
dh;st religion."
"\Mhat?Howcan a spiritbe aMuslim-orany otherreligion, for
57
t-
 John laughed."They are in the intermediât€state,Kosta.They
have not had their questioosansweredyetand, believeme, they are
much more anxiousabout the afterlife than we âre. Direct interest,
yousee.Manyspiritsretain theirreligiousbeliefsakerdeath; indeed,
somebecomevery devout,much more so than they were in life."
"Oh boy."
'Too
much: Didyou hear the wind when he came in?"
"l guessI could swearto it ln court."
"Ah. Yoùr yin is weak,you know You will haveto work on that.
Iwill show you how later. There is alwayswind associatedwith a
spirit.Mymasterwasso loudthathe soundedlike a helicopter Every-
one could heal him cornins."
I stood there stunned,feeling Iike a goon. I thought about the
words that variousculturesaroundthe world hadusedto describeour
life en€rsy, the Chinesecb'i,the Creek pra#na,the English'pi"i the
Hebrew ruac|,the fndianpran, theTbetzn rl rg.They allmeant'wind
orvapor" lt madesense,too moch damn senseto ignore arymore
"Here,"John said,"you all have to move back a bir. There'sioo
much yang energy aroundthe table, and he is afraid."
"You'resoios to call him asain?"
"Oh yes. That wasn'tpolite, you knou If he had just asked,I
would have put out the incense."
John Iit anotbercigaretteaôd placed it io the ashtray.I walked
over to where myteachey'sson wassitting and sat down next to him
"Can you translatelor me what your father is sayingr"
"Sure.Basicallymy father asksthe spirit questionsand then ar-
ticulatesthe replies he gets out loud, so that we can hear them as
well."
"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.Everyonesat down on the floor far,
th€r 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 againit seemedto spht in two, and once againthings
beganto suddenlyhappen.Theteacup beganto nrove,spilling some
of the tea, the glassof watet the cigarette.John began to speak,
58
ind, with hissonshelp,Iunderstood the conversation. It weotsome-
thing like this,
"Yes,yes, I understand.You are a Muslim and we will not leave
out incensefor you. \ù/emeant no offense.Did you enjoy the ciga'
rctte?Cood, good. Vhy are you hete?Ah, Cod sâid 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'tthey? You like bananapuddingr Of coursethey will
Icavesomeoutas an offering to you. EveryTuesdaynight. 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 alsopromisethey will giveyoù bananapudding everyTùesday
night.Andcigarettesalso:Okay.Cood, good.I'm glad you arehappy.
lly the way, ,rho do you think will win the soccergametomo.row?
No, try harder,b€causeI want ro make a bet with my friends.Ah,
good. Yes,they are my favorite team aswell."
Peoplestartedlaughing.The lights went on. The owner of the
housewrote down the spiriti request.One man helped himself to
someof the cakesand the coffee that had been put out as an offer
ing. The atmospherewas very congenial;there was nothing mysti-
cal about any of it.
It was the most naturalthing I had scenin my life.
I was envious,incredibly envious.I thought of the Vest and
how death is treatedthere, rhe separationand th€ fear that people
feel for their dead, beloved or not. Here were people who
nonchalantly took everything in stride.Just âs the most primitive
culturecouldspeakto the deadthrough their shaman,th€ spiritworld
was no st.angerto th€m. Death really lrasa verifiabletransition,the
consciousness moving on to somethingdifferent. It was like grow
ing olderl most people realize and accept that they will reach old
ageand makeplansforretirement. It is pârt of life, afterall. But what
plansdo we make in the Vest for our'îetirement" alter deathr Our
only comfort is religion, indircct and distant, with nonverifiable
dogma at its core and a whole hlerarchy of intermediariesbetw€en
us andwhât is io come.But herewassomethingânyonecouldtouch,
somethingmatter-of-fact.John hadtalkedaboutsportswith rhe dead,
for Cods sakeL
59
 A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library
I looked at myMasrerwith new awe.lwalked over to him
ash€
joked around with his friend and his tuiend,s
wife.
He glancedoverat me. ,,S/ell,Kosta,"he said.,,Newexperience?,,
'Yes,
Sifu.\XAy did you ast him aboutthc soccergame
tomorrow?.
"BecauseI alwaysbet with my friendsabout who is goiûg
to win Chapter Five
the game.An averagespirit can seeinto the future about a
day orso.
I cheated."
"ls it a hundredpercent?I mean,can theypredidtlte futurewith THESTORyOF
"lt dependson the spifit. The strongerthey âre,the
rate they are asw€ll This one wasa very smallold rnan,
more accu, LIAOSIFU
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 ev€n a black spjrit. They
can either
speakor not. But rhât 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 wasso numbed
by
what I.hadseenthat I couldhardly speak.One man in the It waslate eveningwhen I next satdown to tâlk with my teach€r.He
van spoke
Englishwelland tried to engageme in conversarion,unsuc€essfully. had just finish€dwatchins a soccersame on television,and his fa
l m u . t h a r ei n s u l r e hd r m T h e m a n w a . o tS u m a u aenx t r a r r r o n vorite team had won. Knowing John, he had probably wagereda
and
he startedtelljng rhe othen that Greeksreally were racistand good sum of money on th€ outcome-and presumablywon aswell.
preju,
diced againstdark€r-skinnedpeople.I intervenedonce As a result,he was in a good mood. !fle moved to the outsidebal'
Iunderstood
the gist of the conversation,explainingto him that I cony once againaôd sat down for the customarytea.
simply did nor
\vant to talk; I was shakenby what I had seenthat evening. "l promisedyou thar I would tell you ny Masterrsstory todan"
'Oh1'he
said.'!/as this the first fime you had seena spiriP,, John began."l have alreadytold you how I found him and he ac'
I nodded, and he looked puzzled. ceptedme as his appr€ntice.Vhat you must understandalso is the
"Dontpeople die in yourcounrry?,he asked,and great degreeof differencein âbility betweenLiao Situ and myself.
I didnot know
what 1o say. My powersare nothing compared\rr'ithhis."
Hamlet had calleddeath,,theundiscoveredcountry hom whose I noddedandkept silent,though I feltlike Iaughinshysteri€ally.
bourn no traveler returns.,'Thesepeople had lost all dread It wassunealto hear him speakof his capabilitiesin this manner As
of that
oth€r place. For them there was no,undiscovered country,,, yetJohni own power were incomprehensibl€to me, and I had only
;t had
been explored and charted. witnessedasmallfractionof his energy.In the threeyearsI had been
I wondered if anyonewould believeme with him I had observedtelekinesis,pyrogenesis,telepathy,
electrogeneration,th€ displacementof matter, th€ manipulationof
chancecircumstance, Ievitation,the absorytionofenormousamounts
of mornentum, and perhaps even communi€ationwith the spiritsof
the dead.Thesewer€phenomenaI myselfcould testityto, andwould

60 61
be willing to do so under oath. The full power ofJohn Chang was "Oh, this part of Liao Sifus story takesplace roughly between
beyond b€lief, ifwhat I had been told by otherswas true (and I had
l9l5 and 1925,give ortake a few yearseitherway.Anyway,because
no reasonto doubt them), I certainly could not imaginethe extent
ofthe waa Llao Situ did not marry and generallyled a very turbulent
cxistence.Maybe their region wâs like Bosniaor Kosovo in our day.
"Liao Situ was born in a village namedLee Hwa Kang in China!
\X/henhe was in his midthirties, his life chang€ddramâtically.One
Santong province," my Master continued. "He was part of â large
of his relativeshad studiedwith Pai Lok Nen. This man returnedto
clan-the Liaos,as the name implies.This clan had its own style of
Lee Hwa Kang at somepoint, and it was evident that he had devel
kung fu, which they calledLiao Chia Chuan. Ltao Situ beganstudy-
oped great abilities. B€causeLiao Situ was a dedicatedand sincere
ingthe familyart at the aAeoffive andcontinued studyingitunrilhe martialartist,and (lett faceit)becaus€ofthe war, the relativ€wrote
was about twenty, by which poinr h€ masteredthe system.He be-
a leiter of r€commeodationfor Liao Sifu to also go and study vith
came quite good at both the external and internal elementsof the
PaiLok Nen. So Liao Sifu madethe journey and eventually,because
martial arts,and a good fight€r
'And of the letter,wasacceptedas Pai Lok Nen'sstudent.He stâyedwith
fishr he did, I'm afraid.You see,next to his villase, a few
Pai Sifu for flve years,at which point h€ returnedto his home vil'
milesaway,therewasano.hervillag€.This villace wascalledPu Chia
lage. At the tim€ he was alnost forty years old and had achieved
Sians,which basicallymeans'thePufamily village.'Betweenthe t\r.o
LevelTwenty-Slx."
villageswas a spring, the only one in the area(it was quite a barren
John sealed back ;n his chair and assumeda more comlotable
place,Kosta) ltwas overthis supplyof fi.eshwater rhat rhey fought.
position."Now," he continued,"b€af in mind that thesewere differ-
Their clanshad been fighttng for a hundredyeàrs,and many died."
eot times. News did not travel very fast, if at all, and most of rural
"lt must have been horrible," I said, "fighting over the fight to
Chlna lived;n third world conditions.Vhen Liao Sifu returnedto
drink."
his home,he foundthat hisclan hadbeendecirnated.Therewasonly
"Yes,"John said."The rishi ro sufvive,you mean.Yorrknow how
one man left alive,and he was crippled,unableto walk. The neigh-
in AIricathc lionsgithcr arrundthe springsandwair lor theirprey?
borskept him âlivewith theircharit/. Liao Situwent crazywith gieft
\X/cll,irrrasinc sonrcthinslikc ihis,ând you will be closeto the way
he had lost all hic loved ones.Can you imâgine,Kosta,leavingyour
il wà! kn thcnr Irvcryday of rheirlives,because a rnanneedsfresh home for five yearsand retumins to find that alJyour brothersand
w:r(cfto livc, right?"
sisters,your cousins,aunts,uncles,lovers,andfriends,hadbeenkilledr"
"-fhcrc was no water anywhereelse?Not i/r?"
"Yec,I can," I saidsoftly. "l'm flom the Balkans."
"Not a drop, I'm told. Oh, maybethere waswater rhirty or forty
"Youare, aren'tyou?"Johnsaid."So maybeyou can underctand
nrilesawar but €anyou imaginemaking a trip like that to get wâter
such pain, or perhapsthere are similar €ircumstâncesin your family
for your tam;ly, and canying it back?"
history. Liao Situ wanted to rush over and attack the neisbborins
village. But his clansmanwouldn't let him.
"Neither could they. So they fought, each clan trying to force 'They
"'Youarethe lastoneof us left alive,'hesaid. havek;lled us
tbe other to move away-
all. Eventhough you are LevelTwenty Six, there ar€ many warriors
"Now," he continued,"inJiangsiprovince,almosta monthtjoûr-
in Pu Chia Sians, a'd you are only one man. Pe'hapsthey will kill
ney given the resourcesofthe age,therewasa famoùst€achercalled
you instead,and th€n the Liao clân will be lost.
Pai Lok Nen."
The clansmanwas his senior,and siven the Contucianethic of
"Vhen did this happen,Sifu?"1 interrupred.
his dây, Liào Situ had to obey him. The man sent him back to Pai

62 63
TheStoryof LiâoSiÂr TheStoryof LiâoSifu
 Lok Nen with the promise that he would study for a further five
years.Liao Sifu did this, swallowinghis rage and pain and putfing
them aside.He thought of revengeall the time, thoughr he could
not let it go. Vhen he returnedto hisvillage, five y€arslater,he was
morethanLrvelThirty.Thatisaveryspecialturningpointforpeople
like us, you know Itt â sort of graduation."
Iwanted to presshimfor detailsbut John becamesuddenlyqui€t,
staringoff into space.At lengrh he spoke.
"Vhen Liao Sifu returnedto his home, he found rhe body of his
clansman,piercedby a spear.They had not evenhad tlie decencyto
bury the mân, th€ corpsewas rotting where it lay. Then Liao Situ
went mad. kwas asifthe floodgatesofthe dam hadopened,the pain
he had suppressed a1lthoseyearscould no longer be containedand
camerushingout. Itwas asif his survivingrelativewerethe lasrbridge
to reason,with him gone Liao Sifuwent crazy.He gavein to his anger
and his hatred andwent to Pu Chia Sians to rakebloody revenge.
"For one hour he killed anythins thar moved, and they were
helplessagainsthim. It was as if the Angel of Death had anacked
their villag€ and thc warriorsof Pu Chia Siang could do nothing to
stop him. Men, women,chtldren,and animalshe killed,eventhe
chickens So great was hts anger,Kosta, that he wanted the village
to bc wipcd off thc laccol the earth,with nor one life renaininsin
it ti, p(,is,nrLhcIand.Spcars andswordsbouncedoff him like paper,
lrr q,lrl<lrrot bc hurt, and yet he killed lrom more tnan ten yaros
lwny with blaçtsol ncikLrng energy.Nothing escaped him. Vhen
rh.y fnrr,hc caushtihem,whenthey hid, he foundthem.
"Altcr onc houl as he srood amongthe rui.s of the village, the
n,adncçs lclt him andhe sawclearlywhat he haddone.He knewhe
had abuscdthe power that Cod had blessedhim v/ith ald had be
come a demon. In ooe hour he had taken more rhân one hùndred
human lives. Liao S;tu was a good man, he really djd not wanr to
hurt anybody,you know. His hearrwas€rushedltkc broken glassby
his crime, and he turned deadinside At thar moment he kne\i/pain,
the very real agony of remorse,before which the sufferinghe had
tclt lrom his anger wasnothins Also, Liao Situ v/asa toisr Master,
hc kncw aboul thc spilir wofld and about life after death. He knew
64
The Story ol LiâoSifu
lre would have to pay off the karma of his actionswhen he passed
away.So he becamevery afraid for hls soul.It was in despairthathe
ran back to his teacher,Pai Lok Nen."
John took a break and sipped tea. I was silent, shockedby what
I had heard. "l alwaysthought," I said finally, "that yo( hâd to be
good and moral to be èble to develop abllities of this sort. That
power went hand in hand with divine integrity. How is it possible
that Liao Situ had not progressedbeyond thoughts of revengeat
that level?"
John laughed."Youle read too many Vestern books, Kosta, or
watchedthe TV seriesKa g I too oft€n. Ahuman beins is a human
beingrdon't think it is so easyto stop being human!Liao Situ knew
the consequences, he knew that what he was doing was wrong, but
he still took revenge,and bloody revengeat 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€ Buddhaon îbetan ird ld, they normally showed a Buddha
attendedby a bodhisatwa of compassionon one hand, and one of
power on the other. I tho[ght of the icons in my native Creek Or-
thodox Church, The Virgin, personificâtionof compassion,was a
central theme, but the Archangel Michael, whom I can salely call
on€ tough dude,was ubiquitousasw€ll. I beganto understandthat
power and clemencyare ind€edtwo separatethings.
"Of courseyou do,"John continued."And lateryou would have
repented;t aswell, as Liao dld, and you would have had to pay the
price, as h€ did. Themes of revengeand regret are everywh€rein
human literature, Kostar it is not so easy to become Cod and for
sive. ImasinetheJe\.ish people forsivins th€ Nazis."
The crimsonpast ofthe Balkanswas bred into my genes'he was
ight ând 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 learncompassion2"
"Oh yes,"I said.I had bitter memories.
65
The Story of Liâo Situ
 "A childi mind will give you an idea of mant basicnature.Our
purposein life is to becomemore than whar we arc born as.Most
people arc not successfulat 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 createmonsters.'/
John looked off into the night ashis dog camerunningup to be
petted. He playedwith the animalfor a while, and I scribbleddown
my notes.A seruantbrought more tea, and, after a time, Joho con-
tinù€d his narration.
"PaiLok Nen lived on a mountaincalledLung Hu Shan,'dragon
tig€r mountain,"' he said.
"ls that the Lung Hu Shênthar the lineâseof T'ien Shih Chang
had made their homer" l asked.r
"Yes,"he rcplied. He seernedpleasedthat I knew about the hts-
toryofChina. "But Pai LokNen wasnor a memberof their sectrthey
respectedhim sreatly and so offered him spaceon rheir land. Pai
Lok Nen was a h€rmit, the Master of the school of Mo-Tzu,, he
lived on an islandin the middle ofa lake.My teachersaidthat it was
an inaccessiblearea,iis warerswere very difficult to traverse.Liao
Sifu used a seriesof 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'timagine."
"No,"John replied,gainnjng,"you can't.Now, Chinawasplagued
by many bandits at the time, and Pai Lok Nen was âlwaysthere to
help people. He fousht fo' the villagersand kttled many bad men.
He had kllled more than a hundredhimself, I'm told, many of them
with a very high level of skill. Pat Situl causewasjusrified, thoush,
becausehe fought to protect others,not for his own Cain.There is
still karrna associatedwith this type of €omba., bùt nor so much,
especiallyif one engagesin 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 seducewomen, he fought becauseit fell to him ro be a
protectorofthepeoplearoundhim.He wasa healeraswellandhad
66
The Story of LiâoSifu
curcd hundreds.You know he sparedthe livesof many banditspro'
vided that they would repent ând stop b€ingthievesand murderers;
that mercy was to be his undoing in th€ end."
"He just let them gor" I asked.
"No. He alwaysmadesuretheycould no long€rtenorize people
beforehe allowedthemtheirlives andliberty.Sincethe notion seems
to shockyou so much, Iwill tellyou now the story of a very bad man
at an incrediblyhigh l€v€I,ând his final encounterwith PaiLok Nen.
That man'snarnev.asLim. . . ."
Duel of the lmmortals
Liâo sat before a roaring fire, deep in thousht. lt was a cold atuer-
noon, cold enough for him to seekthe heat to warm his bones.He
was over fifty'five, bùt with the constitution and appearanceof a
much youncer man; people thought him a hsien, an immodal, the
apprenticeol the irnmoltal Pai Lok Nen. On the rare occasiorsthat
he ventu.ed into the local villages,they bowed before him, treatins
him to their modestfar€ with th€ esteeû resefled for divinity.
IJ they o y tueD that I dn notbi$! bû a nttd.ftt, h€ thought. Th€
decimationof Pu Chia Sianc plaeled him constantly,and h€ knew
that one day he would haveto pay the price. In restitution Liao had
committedhims€lt at Situt sussestioû,to the monasticlife he would
try to reachthe hiahestl€vel of powerhe could in this life and help
asmanypeopleasdeservedhisaid.Maybe then, whenthe timecame
forhim to enterthat otheiwotld, the Lord Codwouldbe mercitulin
Hisjudsment.
Hou quld I hau killedchildnt
Liao staredinto the flames.The truth was,he did not need the
walmth of the fire to stay comfortable âny 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 stayedwith Pai Situ on Dragon nger Moun
tain lor many yearssince that fateful dat meditatiûg, traioina, and
studyiDs rhe systemof his Maste/s lineage.He had learnedmuch
and progresed to L€v€l Fo.ty' to his chaelin, his lask had srown
more difficult, not easier,as he increasedin level. Level Four,which
he had thought ea h shatteringat the time, had been aseasyas pie
67
The StoryofLiâo Situ
 in comparisoD,he srinned as he thought of some of the younger
studentsh€ knew,strusglinswith LevelsThreeorFourandso 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 somewhereup in the
mountains,then comeback down ro theirsmallhouseforren dàysto
recuperateand prepàrefor the nexr session.Moderation and persis
tence were the keys to success,Liao knew
Th€ OId Robbersname\irasAsam, and he was almost seventy
yea6 old. Assamhad been a highwayman and terorized the sur
roundina countrysideuntil he'd had rh€ n1isfo.tuneto pick Pai Lok
Nen as a victim. Vhen beaten by ihe nonchalàntimmortal, Assam
had pleadedfor his life, promisins that he wôuld do anything if he
couldlust be spared;he woûld nev€rst€alfrom or injureanyoneaaain
Pai Lok Nen had not knowr what to do with the man; he coutd not
v€ry well leâve him where he was, becausethe tandit was surely
untrustworthy.He finauy d€cidedto rakehim with him asa seruant.
T o m a l e \ u r e r h a rA r à n w o u l dn e , r h e ri n i u r ca n y o n ea 8 d . nn o r r u n
awar he had lâm€d him by partially paralyzinAthe grearersciâtic
nerve i. the robbers nshr les. Pai Situ then brousht him out to the
island, where ii was impossiblefor rhe man ro escape.Now Assam
hobbled around everywhereon rhe isle, the thumpiûe of the rhick
staff he used to suppo* his weisht the old man! tradema.ksound.
Liao had sent the Old Robberoui to sàther some fifewoodr ihe
old maD had gone sulkil, not appre.iàting the directives of the
younser Liao H€ whined constanrlx but what could he do2 After
all, Liao was a hish level studenrof the Master and Asam had no
power to speakol. He had tried repeat€dlyto convince Liao thathis
beiDs Pai Lok Nens seNant did not meân he was Iiaot sewant as
well, but the youoger man was not buying ir. And sinceAssamwas,
with sood reason,terified of Liào! powers, he did whar the orher
But he didn't hèveto 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 approachinathe house,a caretul man checkins his way as
he went, awareof dangers A man at war, Liao thousht. An enemy2
68
The Story of LiaoSi{r
He rosea'rd stalkedover to the door Beyondrheirsmall sarden
a dârk lorm approachedcautiously.It halted when it sensedhin,
waited, then beganto approachagain.
Liao sawthat it was a man with a dàrk cloth tied over his €y€s.A
blind man "Coodafternoon, brother" Liao said.Thiswas no normal
blind mani Liaodid not needto observethe way rhat ihe otherwalked
to know this. The man had mad€ it to the island, rhat in itsell was
enoush.
"Coodafternoon,"the rnanrepli€d."ls this xhehomeoftheMàster
Pai Lok Nenr"
"lt is."
'Ah.
Cood. I am ar old hiend of his. \I/e have not s€eneach
other in twelve years."
"Pleasecome in and warm yourself.Pai Sifu will return soon."
Liao stood àsideto let the blnrd man past He noticed rhat the
man enteredthe hut carefully,as ifchecking for possibleattack. He
also saw that the man vibrated and hummedwith a power similàr to
that ofhis teache. Sù.elymore rhân Lev€lFifty, Liao rhought Could
il be that he was highef than his Master?
Vhen he sensedthat there wasno one elseiûthe room, the man
gratelully sat by the fi.c and beganto warm his hands Liao sâw that
hewasanoldefman, in hiseighties,aboutthe sameàgeashis 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 askedwhile brewins rhe r€a.
"Ah. Ve met twelve yearsback, as I said It is to hiù rhar I owe
mycùffent...power"
"1see Are you a studentof my teacher! lineage?"
"No. I stqdiedwithanotherschool, justasold andjùs1aspowertul."
L i a oh d n d c dr h eo . h p rm a r a r r p o f I ' o . . c r
L i m s i p p e di t w i t h r e l i s h ' T h a n k y o u , 'h e s a i d ' T h e t e a i s m o s r
appropriateon such à cold day."
"Yesit is. You havereacheda very hish level, good sir"
"Yes.Ii took a long time and gfeat dedication,but I have nan-
agedto becomeâs lam afterten yeârsof fi€rcetraining. I think thâr
yoùr Masterwill be quite surprisedwith ûy power"
Li ao staredat the hooded face."He maybe surprised,butwillhe
be pleasedr"hc askedfinally.
69
The Story of Lieo S'frl
 The other put down his cup. "\X/hati5 your name?"Lim âsked
finally.
"Liao Tsu Tong."
"Liao Tsu Tong, if you do not inrerfe.e when we fishr, I will
spar€yoq.life thi, day,in sraritudefor the tea you haveofferedne,'
"Vhy do you hate him sor"
The other man untied rhe bândageover his eyes, rwo empty
socketsyawned back at htm. lt was the face of a demon.
"He took my eyesfrom me. I cannor forsive him," Ljm said.
"lunde6tand," Liao said."l also havewastedmylife in searchof
revense But Pai Sifu has alwaysbeenjust in his punishments.\ù(hat
did you do to deseruesuch a sentence:"
"lt does not marter"
"Ofcou.se it doesrCodljustice must be undererood."
"Oh? Did you follow Codijusrice when you rook reverser"
Liao looked away.
Th€ blind man laush€dironically."l supposenor, ehr" Lim said.
"And who is Pai L.okNen to speakfor cod, an).way2Yoùr name is
tàmiliar to me, Liao Tiu TonA, às it is to all China, though untilthis
moment I did not know that you were Paissrudent.
Liao searchedthe tortured face. "Vhat do you mean that my
name is known to all China?"
"lfyoubehave and do not interfere,lwill letyou liveto discover
"l myçeli hàve.€srtted my actions.After twelve yeare,hasyorlr
rage not been temperedby time?"Liao asked.
"Tèmperedby time? Are you a baby to ask û€ qùesiionslike
that? Fof ten years lracrificed my life, doing nothins but rrainins
everydar thinkina ofnorhins but findins him ànd takingvengeance.
It took me two years to find him; the people in the areaprotecred
him, the fools. No one would answermy questions!Bur find him I
'And
what was your criûe2"
The otherwâs silent. "Youare eithera very brave man or a very
stupid one. I was a warlord in a ûeishboring province My band of
wadorç demandedtribute hom the nearby rowns. At one point I
becàmesrcedy, ând an old man caUedin Pai Lok Nen. My bandwas
desfoyed and my eyeswere taken from me."
"lt soundslike you got whar you deserved"
70
The StoryofLiâo Sifu
"Perhaps.lt is not for you tojudse, destroyerof Pu Chia Sians."
"He sparedyour life. He was mercitul."
The teacupinstantlycrumbledto dust in Lim'shand and the hot
tea boiled away assuperheatedsteam.Liao fearedlorhis life in thàt
lnstânt."A thousandtimesthat he wouldhave killedrnel" Lim roar€d
"lwas powertulandhe made meweàh Vhatever I desired,a woman
or à jewcl, itwas mine for the tàkind lwas the kins of my land, and
h€ turned me into a b€ggan"
Liao kept his seai.
After a roment Lim calmed down and turned towald the fire.
H e r r a p p e d t l . eb a n d a e e
ote h,\ e\c\ on.e dsdin.
"\fould you like somemore tea?"Liao asked."Youseernto have
Lim laush€d."Yes,you areundoubtedlyà very braveman I would
indeed like anothercup."
Liao stoodand went over to a srnallcirpboard.He brousht ovef
a cup and off€Ied Lim tea. "You knoq" Liao said,"Pai Sifu is not all
"$?hat do you mean2"
"He was €rippled in à ficht. He lost the use of one l€g and now
"Hmm. It must have been someenemy.I'm slad that the oth€r
didnt krll him' that h€ left him for me."
"Yes,but Situ is not the Mast€r that he usedto be. He'sold and
ffippled now and has lost his powei."
"Are you that young and stupid or ar€ you just 1rying to tempt
fate andmy pati€nce?You know aswellas Ithat hls physicalcondi
tior has nothins to do with itr He c as pow€lul as ever Berides,I
hatehim so 'nuch that evenif he were deadI would deçftoyhis arave
and desecmtehis corpse."
"l se€. I pity you, Mr Liù. Havins felt such hatred myself, I
knowwhat a worm like thatcan do toyoursoul. Mayyou find peace."
The other man'sreply waschoked offby the soundof someone!
approach.They both heardth€ heavyfoohtep, the rhythmic thump-
insofthe cane.Lim stoodsmoothly andr$,ifxlyto facethe door He
pushedLiao to the wall behiod him. "Don't intenupt or else,"Lim
whisperedsoftly. "Reftemberwhat I said."
Assâmwâs canyins a load ol firewood, and th€ soins had been
difficult for the old man. He easedthe heary stackofl his back and
v
The Story of Liâo Siçr
 laid it down gently in â corner ol theeàrden, rtiU ticd with rhc ropes
he had usedto 'nake his bundle. He woutd be damnedif he,dbrins
rhe wood into the house for Liao as well. That ùpstart was almost
fifteen yearEyounser than he was, after all, and should have rd,,
respectfor his elders lt was enough that he had sone out ro set the
woodat Liao!.equest, too bad for the young punk ifithadtake, the
Insidethecottage Liào sawthc mans silhouettedarkenthe door
wây. He had ûo misconceptionsaboutwhat would happen,and knew
that Lim sensedthe othefi approàchaswell. Lim slood before him,
his back to hlrn ànd facms rhe door. He was reàdy to fight. Vell, so
He was at Level Fo.ry hinself, bur he knew that Lin was mùch
hisher. Srll, ti,r,rri borft,he thousht.
'Look
outt ki a tràp he yelled 1o Assam,and âr the samerime
h i t L i m w i t h a l l h i sp o w € ri n t h e a . e ao l t h e k i d r c y s( a n d o n l yf r o ma
yardt distance) He erpected the other to fly fotuàrd from the im.
pact, at which point he was ready to hit him repeareory.
Nothins happened.Lim was unaffected.
Liao was allowed a fraclion ()1a sccond in which to curse thc
.ircumstanceswith thc worer proianity he coùld think of. Then Lim
hoved like â whirlwind He kicked backward,hit Liao, and kDocked
him co'n pletely th rough the wallto land in the ga.denoutside,where
he lost conçciousncs At the same tiùe he hit Assam three times
hom llvc yardsùwaywilh enefsy blasrsgeneratcdfroû thecenrerof
h l s p a l m A s s a md i e d i n s t a n t l yw i t h t h e i i r t b l a s t b
, u t L i m c o u l dn o t
bclicvc Lhat Pai Lok Nen would be so easy ro deieat (for indeed,
L i a o t s f a t e g yo l p a s s i n s A $ a mo f l â , P a i L o k N e n h a d w o r k e d ) a D d
stru.k agarnard again
When Liao cane to, his Màçter was srandingover hiln. k was
nor.ins He had been unconsciousall nishr.
"Are you all rishu" PaiSifu askedhin.
L i a o s a t u p a n d c o ( s h e du p s o m eb l o o d " t r h i n k s o , , , h es a i d
"For somc reasonhe wanted to keep me alive.Assam?"
"Dead. Cone. \Y/ho did this?"
"Lim He said his narnewas Lim "
"Lim? I dol't k.ow any man na.nedLim "
Liào wasbdefly exàsperated. Ii s€emedthat hc teacherhadkilled
so many maraudersthat he had forsotren the detailsof the encoun-
ters."He was blind. He said you had taken out hts eyes.,,
72
The Story of LiaoSilu
Pai Lok Nen was astonished."Hiûr?The warlordr Yes,ofcou6e,
hh namewas Lim, thàts right, I remembernou But howr I mean,he
wasat a fairly high levelwhenwe fought, but nowherecloseto thk."
"Hatred."
"Sorryr"
"Hatr€dtueledhistrainins."
Pai was silent "Of couree,"he said finally. "l .esrct leavins him
alive. Manywill sufferbecauseI thousht to show mercy.Somemen
are beyond redemption."
Liao stood on quaverins legs He saw the hole in the wall his
bodv had madewhen 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 ûass v,asleft.
"Do you know why your stratesyworked2"Pai Situ askedhim.
"Maybe. I think it was becausethe man \i,asso obsess€dthat he
was blind in more ways than on€."
'No. It was becâuseLim is obviously more than Level Iifty. A
blow from a manlike thatrunsthroush the bonemanowandcrumbles
the bone to dûst.Assamwas hit at leastthree and maybe fourtimes,
asyou can see,th€re is not much left of him. His skull is mush; Lim
was unabl€to inspectthe body to seeif it was me or not."
"ri7hy did you trick him into believing thât Assan was fte?"
"Because honestly,Situ,the nan frishtenedmeand Ihad no idea
which ofyou had more power."
"Andyou thought nothins of sac.ificinsAssam'slife?"
"Beforeyour own, Situ, no."
"Andyou thought nothins of sâcrificirs yorr own life asweu, I
"lt wâs my duty, Master."
They buried Assam!body. It had no strucrur€and was difficult
to pickup, it wasas if the old man hadbeen turned into a siant, dead
invedebrate.Paiwâssilentall that day.Vhen eveningcame,th€y sat
by the fire. Pai Lok Nen handedLiao a large book and somescrolls.
"ln this book,'Sifu told him, "are the secretsof ioteroal power
allthe way up to LevelSeventyTwo. Thesescrolls desiflateyou âs
myheir. You are nowthe Mastc of my school of Pa Lei Chuàû (eisht
ways thunder boxirs). You may leavethis place or stay her€ asyou
73
The Story of Liâo Sifu
 "Youar€goinAàfrerLim." "\vhere did he go?"I asked.
"lt is fly duty.I haveunleashed
a monsreronthe landandmust "He was in for a surprise,"John said."He went to a large town
laceup to the consequence ofmy acrions.I forbidyouro comewith ncarbyand saw that he was famous.The governmenthad put a re
meiif that ii whàtyou weregoingto ask.'i
wardon his head,he wasthe mostwantedcriminalin China."
"Master . ."
"l fo|bid itL" "The village massacre," l said.
"Yes.Posterswith his picture on them were everywhere.He was
"But of course,"John continued, "Liao Situ did not listen to hirn lorced to flee first to Nanchang city in Jiangsi,where he remained
\/hen Pai Stfu left, he followed at a distance,stayins away frorn his for a tirne, then out of Ch;na. He finally settled as a pennilessrefu-
teâcherbut n€verlosingrrack of him. k took pai Lok Nen a week to gee in Java."
find Lim, but find him he did. They mer in a junsl€. Liao Situ was "lts exactlyllke the oldTV showKan4Fr, with David Canadinef'
closeby but he did not dare intrude." I said.
My teachertook a sip of tea. John thought about it for a while. "l neverwat€h that show,you
"For three days and three nights they fought,,,he said softly. knoq" he said at last. "l mean,I've seensegmentsof it from time to
"They were evenly rnatchedin the end; both were at Level Fifty, time on television,but lve never actuallysat down ro watch ân epi
One. They destroyedthe jungle around them in rheir struggle,and sode.Listen,you don't think that they heard âbout Liao Sifu'sstory
still no on€ could ger the upper hand. Lke the ancient gods they from somewhereand copied itt"*
foueht, throwing rhunderand Iightning at €achother, Kosta.Finally,
on the dawn of the fourrh day, pâi Situ in desperâtionused a tech
nique called Ching Tjik Tue Lik, whi€h in Chinesemeans,,Colden
Roosterstandson one leg." lshowed you that movementyesterdayr
it is a vcry dangeroustcchniquein tharyou can hit threepoints with
onc movemcnt, but you âlso open up weâk poinrs yourself,which
thc opponent can strike Of the three points attacked,Lirn managed
to block two, bufihe third blow caughthim in rhe chest,atthe same
time, however,he manaeedto kick pai Sifu in the chest.They both
fell over and lay still. Then Liao Situ emergedfrom hiding and ap_
proached;before that point he had not dared interfere,as I said,'
''ther€
is thar rnu€h differencein power between LevelsForty
and Flftyr'l asked.
"Yes,and betweenLevelsTwenty and Thirry or Thiri.J/and Forty
aswell,"John repl;ed.''tihe forestwas as if it had been desrroy€dby
bombs, Kosta. Liao Situ checkedthe bodies.Lim was dead,but pai
Lok Nen was altve. L;ao Situ buried Lim and srayedwith pai Situ,
trying to nursehim back to health. At sornepoint, though, pai Lok 'Sùch
is not ihe casetK'iù4Fû,
the orisinalseries,
wasan exampleof art
Nen passedaway. L;ao Stfu buried hirn and stayed in the ârea fo,
imitatinslife,asit were;the herowasa Buddhist.atber thana Taoist
lorty days,then moved on." monk,andhe hadkilledthe emperorisonratherthanàn entirevillâse.

l4 75
The StoryofLiâo Sifu The StoD. of Liâo Sifu
 A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library
\-napter ùtx
LESSONS
TO BE
LTARNED
THEEXAMINATION
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
lrav€ling, r€ading, aDd digestingthe teachingsof our previousen-
counters as best I could My wait hadnt been all that much tun,
bccauseI had seenmost of the country already,and rhe ciry he lived
in was a boring place.John telephonedon the day that he returned.
I took my usualtaxi out to his home in the late afternoon,eagerly
il
anticipatingseeinghjm again.
Ishook the rain off my windbreakerand enteredhis home.There
were many peoplethere, and there was considerableexcitementall
around.The atmospherewas that of a party waiting to happen.
Jobn yelled out a greeting."KosÎatyou arevery lucty tonight. I
will test â pair of studentsfor LevelTwo. rù/eare preparingnow,'
I had never seen such testing before and immediately became
excited myself. Ir had beeo worrh the week of waiting. perhapsthe
most importanr rhing abour rhe abilitj€s my teacherdisplayedwas
that they are an acquiredskill, what he hascan be passedon to oth_
ers. That evening I would seeproof of such a transmissionfor th€
lirst 1im€. lt should be noted rhat not everyone can become like
l:hn Chang, ;ust as not everyonecan becomean Olyrnpic êthleter
still, almost every able-bodiedperconcan be taught to run, and i[
not to run, at leasrto jog Levelïwo is somewhatlike that. Almosr
anyonewith the right degreeofperseverance and disciplinecancom-
plcte it (tboùgb it mighr rake as long as fifteen years).As far as be-
coming like Chang Sifu, howeveç perhapsooe man in â thousand
can achievcthis. lf that many.
An).wat I was quite eagerto seewhat rhesetwo men could do.
They were the only ones there who did not seempârticularly
happy.Both were very neffous, excusingthemselvesio run to .he
toiletonoccasion andspendingquire a bit oftime on ihe balconyin
ûeditation, trying to regaincontrol oftheir minds and bodies.I was
told that it was not up to the studentwhen 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 saidito catch rhe studentunawares
so tbat he would learn to be ready at any point in his life for whar
ever might occur to him.
I was glad it wasn'tme. One of the men looked particularly
An argumentençuedia studentofJohnt whom I knew well and
who was there as a witnessbeganprotesting loudly. Another man,
evidently a seniorstudent,took no reeard.lgnoring the others dis
approval,he selzedthe mant cigarettesand shook them out of tbeir
container.He handed the loose cigareftesback to my friend and
kept the pack The slighted party went ove. to a corner ând sulked,
stulfingthe cigarettes into a pocket.The seniorstudenrihen pro-
ducedtwo more empty packsof cigarettesand stackedthem atop a
table alons with the pack he had;ust pilfered. The empty boxes
(hardpacksL) were laid on their bases,threein a row, rhebrand names
all facing in one direction.
It wasup to the men b€ing tesredto move them with telekinesis
frorn more than four feet away.
John saunteredup to me. "You undemtandwhat we arc doing
heretonightr" he asked ! nodded.'They will havero movethe pâcks
from a distanceof five tirnestheir forearm length, this is oul tradi-
tion." He lookedat my long forearmand longer fingersand grinned.
77
L€ssonsto BeLeârned
 "ln your case,"he said,"it will have ro be more than one and a half
clcctrical or chemicâI,with allthe expertiseI had gainedaftertwelve
yards away."I squirmed,and he was delighted.
ycorsin the engineeringfield. Nothins. The tablev.aswood; I pick€d
John was a prâdicaljoker I had been with him on an elevator It up off the ground.Ther€ were no wires or strinss an)'where.The
on€ evening âlong with twenty oth* people. The elevator was a
packsof cigaretteswerejust thatr they had oot been tamperedwith,
glasswalled unit that fenied people up and down the floors of a
fhort ofbeing empti€dof cigârettes.I pulledout of myvest pocket a
shoppingrnall;there wasa steelrail;ng all aroundthat peoplerested
snall compassI alwayscany with me in th€ Orient, and ran it over
their backs on. \X/ewere going out to ear that evening at a local
thc table and sunoundinsarea.No masnets--or at leastno residual
restâuranton the top floor of the mall.
nragnetismwasevident.I could find no indication of the presenceof
Suddenly a burst of current pulsedthrough rhe steelbackstop.
chcmicalsof any sort. The roorn was brilliantly lit, ând everything
Vomen screamedand everyonepulled away,suspec.rnga short crr-
had happenedin plain sight. There was no hocus-pocusgoins oo.
cuit.John had pulled awar too, as Ihad, but I neededonly one look
The inspectionwas superfluous;I did it for everyoneelsei sake
at the barely suppressed grin on his face to realtzewhat had really
rath€rthan my own. I hâd no doubtsabout whât I wàsseeing.In âny
happened' He had sent a pulseoÊbio enersy throush the railinsl
càse,the group gainednothing by tricking me.
The elevator attendantcaution€deveryoneto stay away from the
"l wanr to makeone more inspectionwhen the testing is over,"I
backstop,and, as we reachedthe top floor, he radioed for mainte-
saidto John, who readily agreed.
nanceand shut the unit down.
The secondman! turn came up' this man was very nervous.It
All rieht, so it ,r,rstunny.
wasobviousto everyoneexceptme that he would not succeed.The
In any case,the studentswere newousashell They would have
group repeatedthe procedurefof him, draving â ôew line; he, as
to knock over all three packsro passthe tesr.
had his broiher student,took his place.
The f;rstmanbeganhistrial.Th€y measured hisforearm,hand,and And failed.Nothing happened.
flnsersanddrew a line beyondwhtchhe couldnot cross.Johnstoodon
John encouragedhim, told him to relax and try again.
thc line itsclfandscowledarthe studentashe approached, makingsure He did, andwas unsuccessful once more. The man was in a bad
that thc man would not darecbeat,not even a liftle. The mao stood
emotional state.I thought they would stop.
bchind Lheline in rhe HorseRidingStance,brouehthis right palm up
They didn't.John allowedthe man to try from a yards distance,
cvcn with the line, took a breathto calm himsell andbegan
the packetsnot only fell over, theyjeru off the table to land a good
Fle pusbed h;s ch'i through his palm and toward the cigarett€
yard away.At that moment I realizedsomethingof importance,The
boxcs. One of them fell over.
field phenomenonassociatedwith this action d€gradedexponen-
"He missed,"amannextto mewhispered."Buthe willpassforsur€.',
tially. That is to say,its behavior followed this paftern,
John reprimandedthestudentandrhe mant'ied asain This time

1
there was no h€sitation;he knew he could do it. He concentËt€d
fiercely and p,lsrrd
All three packetsfell over on the tablerop.The first was pushed
so hard that it fellotrhe table. The studenthad passed. STRENCTH
There was a pausebefore the second mân'strial, and Iwas al-
lowed to approachth€ tesringarea.
"Okay, Kosta,"Johnsaid."lnspecteverythingcarefully.,'
And I did. I looked for magnets,for wir€s,for fans,for anything
DISTANCE -------------->
78 79
Lessonsto Be Leârned
to BeLeârned
Lessons
Soneday I wll nap itsresponse
andchdracteriz(tbeprccas,I thought. I had
alreadyfigured out how to do it.
The man wasgiven anotherchance,which he alsofalled.At th;s
pointJohn let him stop. He would be given anothertest the follow
ing year, but the opponunitieswere not indefinite, at somepoint, if
you failed, you were deemedan inappropriatestudent and not al-
lowed turth€r instruction.
"Vhat additional examinationdidyou want to dor"John asked.
I pulled out a pock€tknifeandcut an empty pack of cigarettesin
half. lt was not lined with metalr there was no way it could have
been affectedby magnetism.Asain, I did it more forthe groupt sake
than my o\^m,it seemedvery importantto them that I be convinced,
and I bad to prov€ that Iwas.
I was good at that sort of thing. The previousyear a friend of
Johns had tried to play a trick on me He had offeredme a srick of
gum, which I took, then askedme if Iwould like to seehis power I
hâd repli€d affirmatjv€ly,and he dlpped the wrapper in water.
"Now hold it ln your hand and squeeze,"he said.
I did not need Johni look of disapprovalto know rhat I was
being hoodwinked;dipping the wrapper in water had given the man
away.Solirn naal, I thought,andonly pretendedtosqueezethewrap
per. It waswax coated,squeezingwould breakthe coatingand allow
the sodium to reâcl with the water,generaringintenseheat.
Thc man bccamedisconcerted, he expectedme to dropthe\rràp,
pcr in pain.I disappointed him. "Youcanlet go if you feelthe heat,"
hc said."Don't burn yourself."
"No, itt not hot at a11,"
I said innoc€ntly."See?"I gaveh;m back
lhe wrapper,which I had caretullypressedlnto a small ball. A look
ofpuzzlement cameonto his face,andhe took the wrapperfrom me
andsqueezedashard ashecould.Suddenlyhe grimacedanddropped
it. He look€d at me in wonderment,why hadn't the trick worked on
the foreigner2
John had loved it. Ànyway, Iknew I had to convince them on
that evening that I believedwhat they were doing was real, and so
cut the ernpty pa€k in half.
"How lons have you be€n studying2"I askedthe man who had
80
Lessonsto Be Leârned
"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 discoursewith the man. He
lccturedhim 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 L€vel Two, your ch'i is alwaysready to
move.Much of it is governedby your emotions.If he were to hit a
man in anger noq the ch'i would run into that man'sbody and de
rtroy his heart.The man would die."
"S/hat if h€ hits him on the arm, sayr"I asked.
"lt doesn'tmatterwherehe hits him. The ch'i will alwaysnrn up
to the other'sheart, and it will kill him. And you know, no Vestern
lrospitalin the world can help a man hit in that manner He ruilldle
unlesstreat€dby someonelike me within tweoty-four hours"
"You'reright. He should be very carefulfrom now on."
"Yes.You know, when we teach new studenls kung fu, we alwavs
move slowly,ând alwayswithout power Safetyis our primary con_
ccrn.Peopleseethaton occasionandthinkwe arew€akrbadmistake."
"Situ, what they just did, we call telekinesisin the Vest. Did
thcy managethat with their own power or didyou help lhem a bit?"
He looked atme, amused."l'helped them a blt,'asyou say They
cân passch'i Êromtheir body, but it is only yang ch'i. Dutingthe test
I myself generateyin ch'i and act as an opposite pole by standing
ncxt to the packs.This inducestJ?iryâng ch'i io extend over to my
yin, and that action allows them to move the €igârettepacks The
lcst is reâlly to seehow rnûchyang ch'i the studenthasin him "
"lsee.So when you saythat if they hit a personthey wllltransfer
clr'itohim, theymust touch that p€rsonphysicallyto do so,corr€ct?"
"Yes.Becausethey stilluse only yang ch'i. To do it lrom a dis-
tance,theywould haveto useyin andyang iogether That wouldbe
LevelFour."
"Situ,"I asked,"physiologically,what is the differencebetween
whât ljust sa\vand t€vellour?"
Ve moved over to a table andJohn beganto jot down notesfor
nrc."Look,"he said,"l havealreadytoldyou that LevelOne is simplv
81
Lessons Be Le.arned
to
 to fill up your dantienwith yang ch'i, right?Thar requireseighty-one
hours of absolutemeditation.Now, a beginningstudentcannothold
his concentrationforlong. Perhapsin on€ hoûof sitting,he is actually
in meditation fo; t.3 minutes.That meanshe is meditatingonly 2.2
percentof the time, rMhichmeansthat if he sitsfor one hour a day,he
needsten yeaE of trainingto get his eighty-on€hoursofmeditation.',
"\Vhat is actualmeditat;onlike/'l asked.
'There
are no thoughts and there is no senseof time. Ifyou are
thinking, you are not in meditation.Ifyou are awareofyourself, you
are alsonot in meditâtion.Youmustb€comelike a baby in thewornb,
there and yet not therc. Meditation is lik€ the borderlineb€tween
sleepand waking, betweenconsciousness
and unconsciousness.',
"Very difficult."
"Not so difficult, Kostâ. You srayedin medjtation for long peri,
ods when you were an embryo and a baby, and you passthrcugh it
no\. eachtime you drift offto sleep.Youjust haveto rememberhow/'
I felt uncomfortable."\X,/har
about L€velTwo?,'lasked,to change
the subj€ct.
"ln Level Two we fillup th€ channelsin our body with yans ch'i
while at the sametime shapingthe 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 becomesproficient ar this, he
can passth€ test that you witnessedthis €vcnrng.
'Aod
level Threer"
"Level Three is very difficult ro pass.Ir r€quiresat leasr rhree
continuoushours of training a day, perhapsmore.
"Youdon'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
Lessonsto Be Leârned
"Like the yin-yang symbol," I said.He nodded. "\Vhy is it thal,
in popularlit€rature,th€y put the tuo dots in cent€rof the opposing
circles,and say that yin hasyang in it and vice versa?"
"l donl kno\.v.I think that they mây hâvebecom€confusedover
the passingof time, or maybe their knowledgehas become sorne
whatmixedup dueto political circumstances. Tlere is alsoachan€€
that I myself am wrong."
B t I âorbtit,I thought. "Becausemany p€oplehave witten that
yin changesto yang ând 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 progr€sses from yin and yâng to tai
chi..."
"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 occurr€dwas the
equivalentof Mohammedthe Prophetasklnga Muslimiust who this
Allah was that they kept rcferring tot wtr-cri is a concept central to
Tàoisrn,and I was being askedby a man I considereda TàoistMês'
ter, in no uncertâinterms,exa€tlywhat it \{as that I vaç talking about.
"Er . . . wu chi is like this; beyond yin and yang," I stammered,
and drew on the pap€r,
"l see.I have neverseenanythins like this,"John said.
"But all the books on Tàoismrefer to this," Isaid. "it! the final
step,the transformationwhereahuman beingretumsto the Sourc€."
"l see.As l've toldyou many times,I'm not a Tàoist."He raiseda
hand to silencemy protest."Yes,I know, Iknow. There are many
-fao-
things about my teachingthatyou willsay areunquestioningly
ist, and my teachen camefrom a Taokt mountain. You have evety
83
Lessons
to BeLeârned

right to be confused.I consid€rmyself,howevet simply a practirio-
ner of neikuns."
He looked down at the circle I had draw".
"ln ourschoolman can neverbecomelik€ this. Human beings-
thosewho can completeLevelFout that is to sây-stay at t'ai chi all
the way up to Level S€v€nty,Two.Ve are ûever at wu-€hi Perhaps
in other lineag€s,like the Mao-shanPai or the Vutang-Pai,0 they
have discovereda method to accomphshthis, but I do not know of
it, norhave I everwilnessedit. In any case,we in the Mo-Pai* do not
use it. \yy'hatelsehaveyou been readingr"
Int' aJta$tatian1 I thousht, ,rr tÛlsis /ot tûetrne."Tlre problem
with the printedword is that anyonecan write whateverthey want,
Situ,"I sâid.
"Okay," he said,"you write a book."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes.I want to teach peopleâbout ch'i-thar it is real,and what
its natureis. I want them to knov/ that ch'ikung and neikung are not
hocus-pocusbut a science"
WhooyaytI thought. Tineto baoesone fur.
A, ChineseStory
In the days be{ore his passingLiao Sifu frequendy lecrur€dhis two
studentson the desiredmode of behavior acco.dina to the Taoistf
canonsof his own Iineage.On one such eveningthe followins inci
John Chàns, then in his earlytw€nties,sàrar the feet ofhis Mâs-
ter alons with his brother studentChan Ïen Sun Liao Situ was du€
to l€aveforChinawithin a month, andhewouldbe deadwithin two.
"11the three of us were suffering from a fatal illness, and sud
denly a bottle ol medicine that could cure this illoessappearedin
you. palm,vhatwouldyou do,lohn?" Liao Situ asked."Bearin mind
that there is enoqh ûediciûe th€re to cure only one peFon, and
thal the other two must die."
*
The schoolof Mo Tzu.
1l usethe termTao,,iin p{aceof the moreappropriateidtioea,$in6e
a4
Lessonsto Be tۉrned
John did not hesitate.There was one thinathat had beensnaw-
Ins ât his h€art and mind for a lons time, He loved the old man
Drokrselr withort reseryation,and had never been able to teu him
so. The mast€rhad been a fatber and nore to him, bui he was also
vcry much a part of the old Chlneseculture.Accordinsto the Con
fucianethic that had dominatedChiDesesocietysinceKungFuTzu!
passing,it wàs not appropriatefor him to voice rhe côiter emotiôns
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 às well as beinc
Chinese; his thoushts and feellnss had been influeûced bv
multicultural stimuli and by the information dissetuinâtionhom
\X/este..civilization.As sùch,he hadmanyoptions to considerasta.
aswhat was to be deemedproper socialbehavior Liao Silu had told
hln that he would soon be dead, and that he would be leavins for
China to seehis 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 andsayingitwas unacceptable.Perhapsthis momentwould
be one ofhis last opportunitiesto exptessit at all
"lwouldsiv€ ittoyoù, LiaoSitu,"he toldhisteacherwithàffection
Dsal Gol, the old tea.her thousht. Hôo cdf I tedchtbis boy tbdt ht
flun *e dbonebisaar t^ôtions,bisoM 1ik/5and dislik6,to ser|eth tliite as
a rùolet Hou car I teacbhin rb tue loacco s Jroû bedrer,thlt ndn 4s d
beiq cor atly àtaa closeto tbisBsercelHe mtst Dlae hunanity abo"Nhisôol
pesowlloouatd,lsimtln an instant Liao Situ knewwhât he had to do,
andharden€dhis head for it.
The old man moved like a blut and the blow was powerful; he
dapp€djohn acrossthe facewith such forc€ that the youns€r man
wasthrown acrossthe room. Liao Sifu stood, seeminslyturiouswith
his pùpil.
"Becauseyou spoke with yow heart and noi your mind, I will
forsive you this time," he said toJohn. "l struckyou so thaxyou will
rememberthis instanceallyoùrlife. 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 precioustreasur€
ofali, and no one siv€s it up readily.The fact that this t€dicine has
appearedin your hand meansthat it is tdrr destiDyto consumeit,
85
to BeLeârned
Lessons
l
 the.eforeyo, mùsr drink it and no other Fix yours€lf first and then
you càn help orhers!Do you understand?4
were Creek until 1952,when VentrisdecipheredLin€arB. All those
people had been wrong, and the few dreamerswho dared stand
John nodded,stung He would indeed never forget the lesson.
againstthem had been right. Even in our day the establishedcom-
munity o[ scholarstended to regard anything outside th€ir norm
with dismay,and often fought tooth and nail to crush it. The Inqui'
PO\/ER sition had burned Ciordano Brunoat the stakein 1600 for insisting
that the sun.and not the €arth, wasat th€ centerof th€ solalsystem.
I couldn'tsleepthatntght. The more I thought aboutwdtingâ book,
I wonderedif the estabhshedsci€ntificcommunity would try to burn
the more I realizedwhat a probl€m ir would be. The project would
m€ at the stak€aswell.
have to involve both a rext and a videotapedocumentary,I recog,
No matter,I thought. Giordano Bruno was an honest ltalian, I
nized, and it would be no easytask. How do you convince people
was a wily Creek, and I would use a tojan horse to batter down
thatwhat theywere seeingwasreal?Almosteveryonewould think it
their walls.
was a scam perpetratedby specialeffects and willing henchmen.
John was the stuff of legends,it was true, but he was /rdl,just as
And I was a scientist-an e'ritrrerfor Cod,ssake,wirh an inbred dis-
Tioy was real,just as the MycenaeanCreekshad surelyexisted.
like ofspacecookiesand everythingunsubstan tiated.Oh,l watched \X/hat was scienc€,after allz Our \Testern approach had been
and,enloyedTheX-Fihsas much âs anyone else,but I was primarily
founded on two major premises,careful and obiective obsewation,
conc€rnedwith reality, not fiction.
andreproducibleresults.As longas I followed thosetwo main crite'
"You know, I really dont think ir would be such a good idea to
ria, I could be doubted,but neverseriouslychallensed.
do a book," I had toldJohn after thinking about ir for a f€v/ minutes
Now. I was surethatjohn had no inclinâtion whatsoeverto go
(much to my dismay) I wasrarionatizins,Su€han effort would
have around to every local university and give a demonstrationfor the
màny repercussions/ and ir would be difficult ro plan for every con-
Drofessorsthere; nor did I want him to do so. However, there oat
tingency.My main conc€rnwasprot€ctingmy teacher,s privacy.On pr€cedentfor whai I was planning. In 1978 the Laetoli fooiprints
thc othcr hand, I really rlil want the information I had acquiredto
had been discoveredin the Serenseti.They w€re thr€e and a half
bcconrc cornmon scicntific knowledg€,if for no other reasonthan
million yean old and provedconclusivelythatearly hominidswalked
to salcguardpeoplefrom half tnrths.
upright in a fashionequal to, lf not better than, modern man. The
It hi1 me in rhe middle of the night like a ton of bricks and I
footDrintswere made in a volcanic ash that had com€ again to the
wcrkeup, excir€d. I knew how to do il The approachhad occurred
surfaceafter millennia of erosion' they were very fragile and could
10 me in my sleep.John \Lould get his book, and peoplewould real_
not be preservedfor long. To record them, the t€am of scientists
ize that the world was not as dull and gray as our materialisticsoci-
madeplastercastsand took carefulpictures.To pres€r1r'e them, they
ety made it out to be.
buriedthem once againdeepin the sand,with disastrousresults.The
Joho was a scienrist,too, he wasjust a different ful,l ofscientist.
sând they usedwas that prefened by the local Africân vegetation,
It was true that he was the stuff of Chinesemyths and legends,but
and d\ d conçêquen(e lhere are now acacrdlree(growingover lhe
that was okay. I knew from my own homelandthat rnanyscholarsin
sit€, whose roots are undoubtedlydestroyingthe very prints the re-
the nin€teenth century w€re posiriv€ that Troy was a myth before
searcherssoughtto protect. Nev€rtheless,scoresof documentsand
Schliemannbegan excavatingat Hisarlik, additionally, many emt-
analyseshadbeenwitten basedon the plastercastsandth€ pictures.
nent professorcvehementlyopposedthe rheory that the Mycenaeans
And how many researchers had seenth€ actual tracks themselves?

86 87
Lessons
to BeLeârned Lessonsto BeLeârned

7
 Perhapslessthan a dozeo. yet no one doubted thar the tracks
€x-
isted (orat leastlal existed),simply becausetheir presencecouldbe
ascertainedby digging up the site again.
The "docurienr-and-bury,,approachwas common ror archae
oiogists in my native Creeceas well. The country had been settled
for five thousandyears,aod rherew€re ruins everywhere,jt was
dif-
ficult to dig in one'sbas€mentwirhoutuncov€ringsofisirin,As
such,
I when a buildine$.asin its preliminarystagesof fabrjcationand
were uncovered,the archaeologistswere called in; usuallytheyjust
ruins
photographedand documentedthe site, coaredit wrh a prorective
resin, and allowed construction to go on.* There were typically
enoughwitnessesto go aroundthat no one doubied the buried
sites
existence,or suspectedthat anyone had mâde ir up.
Veil, I knew that thousandsof peoptehad seenJohnand could
testify to his abilitiesin court. He h imselfcould reproduceâ demon
stration at any tim€, should he chooseto do so. I realized
rhat all I
had to do was docurnenthis powersand those of his students
before
a panel of reliable witnesses,and I'd be home free. The important
thingwouldbe to carefullychoosethe one eyewrtnessno one would
dare dispute.
Iv/as so excited that I rushedover to hts housethe following
morning uninvited, wirhout calling àheadfirst. That was a faux pas,
and something I usuallynever did. It was ten o,clock andJohn
was
still in his pajamas.He tooked ltke a truck had run over him.
"l couldn't sleeplast night,,,he said.,,Theair conditioner
broke
down in my bedroorn."
h;mself a cup of coffee, and I started laughing, I
_Te loured
couldn't help myselfrJohnChaq, flat1oJ contrasts, I thought. This late
riserwasth€ sameyogiwhocouldstophishearratwjlland
hadonce
spenteighr days in total meditation,hardly breathing,his vital
signs
so faini a doctor would have pronouncedhin dead. I real;zed
then
* power plants."
| have seenone insrancein which a contractorwàs so taken
\rith rhe
Romanmosaicucovered thar he made it a pa.t of rhe buildinss
majn
entrance,-sacnficingan entjft apartment! worth ofsquare footage in the
process._Cood for hinr h cosr him â prety penny, but t e p.o,eJ li.r,.tf
8a
Lessonsto 8e Leârned
how important this mân was to humanity, it was.he first time in
history that sucha hcrmanbeingexisted.Here wassomeonewho on
the one hand could be the life of a party vhen he chose,spenddays
watchingsoccer,or cut a high-dollar internationaldeal involving in-
dustrialproducts;on the otherhand, this samesomeonewas equally
happy in the wilderness,wearingsimplecotton cloth€s\,r'hileimper-
viousto heator cold. Here wasa man who could killa grizzly with a
puoch, a man who had once spent two years living in an isolated
cavein the mountainspracticingmeditation (srwiving on roots and
plants),a man who spokewith spiritsand healedthe patalyzed
A tme man of both worlds.
"l know how to go about doing your book," l sâid.
He glarcd at me. At the moment h€ was rnore interesxedin his
coffee. I caught the drift of his thoughts, Why dorl yor nn olJnne
wherea play,littlehoy.I grinned evenwider,and suddenlyhe couldn't
help laughingalong 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 studentsor patients."
"That will be a stumblingblock, but I'll seewhat I can do."
'And
Ican't makemoney frorn the dernonstration.Ifyou film me
demonsbating,lwon't be able to earn a penny.Remembermyvow"
"So donatethe money to a €harity."
He shot me a piercinsslance.He liked the ldea."Youknoq" he
said, sipping his coffee,"l have alwayswanted to build an orphan-
age."Johnstraightenedandlooked atrnewith renewedinterest."Not
that I think that it would sell," he continued. "Neikung has always
been for the few Can you imâginethe averagemân practicinghours
"No," Ireplied, "bùtthe averageman doesnt study nuclearphys-
ics either That doesn'tmeanthat therc ar€ no suchtbincs asnrcleaf
He smiledand sippedhis coffee."Letus hope thatyourexample
is not appropriat€and that the sâm€willnot happenwith.eikungas
did with nuclearpower"
"You mean the chanceof its being useddestructively2"
89
L-essons
to Be Leârned
 "l.don't think so. Not if everyrhing
rs open, abov€board,and
a\ailablero allmankind.,N4y marnworrv i\ proreiringvour privary... that one kung fu Master may challengeanother in order to deter-
tron r È'er on(ernedaboulr har.Ko\rà. lnlne the most powerful styler môny mârtial art'stsdo nor question
"t mean,redorrers this,but lollov the rraditionwirhout hesitâtion.It is what isexpected
will come from all over the world and
harass of them, you see.
''Ihey "One ofmy dreamsis to be ableto go to the Chinesepeopleand
cannot enter my horne if I do nor
, allow them to, and if
.n.r^"*:": rmpotire.I wi sendrhemaway. Éhov/them five studentswho have completedLevel Four,one frorn
""1.,1"g "nd cachraceofman. I would Iike to go even farther and put one sucha
6rn I r houghl.John wara pracricrliokerd\ wellar being
a para ,na,rin each country if I can. Like you, lbetieve that it is time for
normalrI pitied the poorjournalistwho
went too far, anricipatingan
exctusive.,Also, you will be swamped humanityto move on and leaveth€ restridions of the past behind.
by thou*ra, .f.,..t o..of.
hoping for a cure., llut thereare peoplein China who, havins beentrained in th€ tradi-
'Youie_not tlonal manner,have beliefs orher thân my own. Some of them are
going to print my address,are youu
"No, of coursenot.', tnuchmore powerful than I, those are the onesyou dont haveto be
"Fiae.Then if those peoplecan f;nd afraidof, Kosta.Since I am no threat to them, they will do nothing
me, ii js their karma to do
c o . i n d i r w i l l b e m y r o yr o r r e a agârnstme,
r h e ma ç i r h a . a l u a y s b e e n ,
a b o u tr e n p r r i c n r .a d a y u r u a l r vi n r h e "Llke when Liao Sifu, who was at LevelFory, attackedMr. Lim,
. . " ] . : ' " . : -be m o r n r n gI.
wantectto sure thar he understoodit might go who was at Level Fifty-One," I said."Lim just shruggedit off.,'
up to f;fty a diy,
and told htrn so. He was unperrurbed. "Yes,"he said, 'tecause it was like a child attacking a nan, you
"1haveconstdrredallthis before,Kosta. see?Tle reâl dangeris from someonewhois plusorminus five levels
, Noneofit marters The
real,,problern will be the Chinese,who may come lrom me, becausethen he will want ro fight. In that câseit comes
over ro challenge
down to martial technique, not levels of power,,He took a sip of
"Vhac" I was flabbersasred. coffee.'One of us may die,' he addedsoftty.
are ât l€asrten Masrersin China Likebell, I thoushi Youaft too lt?ciausto h tndtlity to r,sl. ,,How can
,"ïere who àre like me,,,he
said."One of them or all of them someonebe so advanced,"l said,"and still be so stupidr,'
may wanr to come over and chal
"Dont be so quick tojudge," he said.'Most of thesepeoplelive
"Vhyr \t(hat the hell forr,, in the wilds of China and have nothins to do v/ith the modern day.
"Becauseitl trâdition.,, Their traditionsar€ all they know"
"You'vegor ro be kjdding mel,, I thought of the television seies Highlo e\ dr.elof the tmmor-
jl,wrs.Joinsû,n ro be amu<êd. talscome to life . . . how asininel
twdç serins hor
rou oon I needro rÊproar
h rc. Kosra.he *ard. lundentandyou One ofJohn! studenrsenteredrhe room at that point. He had
h"le shownmerepeateary been removing his shoesat the entranceând had heard the gist of
::îfi:r.i";::i"., thatyoureârrydo
not
und€rsrandChinese{ulture. Unfornrnately,we Ch;neseare, for the
most part, ra€ist and ethnocentric. Iknew the man. Hewas a L€velThr€e student,a forrnerkungfu
There is the chance that many
kungtu Màs(er< w,ll be afhonredby our openrngup rhe Master of the praying mantisstyle, and qufte a good fighter
rnrrhbehind
eç:reûc<(ien,e ro rh€scrurinvor rhe\)/e<r "Vhy are you so opposedto honorablecombat?,'he asked.
:n':_:çe Now Lhàrredlty
ooesn r matter/since many of those insulted "Because combatfor the sakeofcombatis stupidr,,lâlmostshout€d.
p.obably do not kno*
the precisetruth rhemselves.Also,thereis a cuituraltradition in "Look, we Creeksgaveup suchnonsenseafter rhe Tro;anVar more
China than three thousândyears agot Thatt why we came up wirh th€

90
Lessonsto 8€ Leârned 91
Lessons
to BeLeârned
 Olympic Camesin the first placeiw€ were tired of "Can you imagine,',I ask€dhim, ,what ir would be
our bravestmen _ like jf four or
killing €ach orherjust ro prove who was rhe better llvc people like yourseif could get rogerherand work in
'And fighter,, harmony,
what if I were to challengeyou:,, Nomethinglike a \i/esternuniversityor a researchcentea*ratherthan
"To the deathr" [lghtingeach orhen Canyou imagineshanngnotesandexperiences
"Not necessarily." wlth a man Iike yourself2',
.Ihen
I would fightyou in the spirft of a contesr,with "l havewanted to do so, you are preachingto the choi, Kosra,,,
my prime .
interestbeing that neither you nor I were hurt. I hc said sofdy. "l have sone to Chinâ twice looking for people
would rather lose like
than hurt you, tor example.', myself,hoping to find a brorher i was unsuccessful both t;mes.,,
The abovewasnot true,l hatedbeing challengedas
nuch asthe "Butyou know of their existencenowr,,I asked.
next rnanând would rise to take the bait liKe any "Yes,"he said."l know that there are for suretwo and
oth€r seiiousmar- I can sense
tial arrist.I had even injured a few peoplern re process. clght more. I think thar there are at leastten.
tt rrrs trx€,
however,thar Ifelt sick to mystomachêfter everysuch He leanedback in hischatr'A fewyearsback,,,he said,,three
evenr,and at of
the moment Iwas representingâ point ofview, nor my Level Three studentswent to China and stayed for a month,
'And my own faults.
if Iwere to challengeyou to a fighr to th€ death?,, looking for neikungpractitioners.They seârchedeverywhere,
Kosta,
"\Vhar forzJusÛoseewho wasthe betrerfishter?Iwoutdconsider ln Taoi\t cenreN.ar rhc çhaorrnrÊmplc.in rhe mdjor cirie5
I hey
it an act of war andgo afreryou wth everythjngI had. t o u n dn o i h i n g n o r h i n C
d t a l l f i n r l l y .o n r h ed â \ b e f o r et t e y w e r e
That is, I would
use technology and chemistryand modern techniques
until I killed due.toleave,a shopkeeperin Beijing said to thern, ,Hey, I hear you
you. I wouldshootyou tn th€ darkfrom two hundrtd yards rre looking for neikung masters.Vell, you can be ar such-and
awaywith such
a sniperrifle given rhe opportuniryrI havebeentrajned ! parkat fouro'clock in the morning.There is an oldman who
'And ro do so.,, comes
if the two of us had perconaldifferencesrSeriouspersonal lnd practicesr'ai chi chuan rhere;h€ is a gr€at Mast€r.,
"Sothey went to rhe specifiedplaceand hid in the bushesnearby.
_
I squirmed;he had me. I was all for duel;ng and severely Promptly at four o'clock,an old man did appearand b€gan prac_
disap, to
pointed that it had been rnade illegal. In my rlceir r âi (hi. \X/henhe frnishedhir rorm he walkedover
opinion dueling had Loa large
been outlawed by the ruling classesin the pasrcenrury boulder/rhey rell me rr wa, a r ard rall,and pa.redhr. hand
to pr€venr overrr
I her ncrer\inglvllà((id progenyfiom berngslaughrered Then he steppedaway fiom it and, from a djstanceof ten yards
on lhe rield or
ot nonor.I wa5rrvrngro convincerhe orhÊr\ rhough. more, hit it v.ith ch'i. The bouidercrackedin two.
rhat hghlng
to the deathjusr to seewho wasthe more skillea figtrterwas "My studenrsieapr out and kneeled, asking for permission
stupià to
ashell. y battlewhenyoucouldinsteadbecomefriendsandshare speakto him, but he ignored them and walked away, they did
not
a few beerstogetherr darestop him. He had known they were there all along, of
'"Ihen course,
we would fight face to face,',1srowled. lnd had simply wanted theû ro know rhar rhey were nothing,
that
He laughed. "ln the Orient you Creeks have a reputation lheir abilirieswer€ those of ch;ldren.,'
. for
b€ing fiercewarrioru,both in the pastcenrurjesand in "Sifu,"I asked,"do thesepeopleunderstandthe shape
moderntimes. the world
Your peoplewon honor in Korea, for example,, ls in and what lies aheadfor us2Do rhey know how much
they can
"Yes,damn it, for life and home and to protect the
innocenr,but
not just fo( the fuck of iu Never for thâfl,'
I
wasdtspleasedwirhmy outbursrand stoodup from Actually more like a library ol an academyin rhe Alexandrian
_John his seat sens€
and went away. en he cameback, I had catmeddown. lhan a modern university.

92 93
Lessonsto BeLeârned L.essons
to BeLeârned
 contribute, thar possiblyv/ith their assistancewe can averrdrsaster
for the whole humanrace?You,the ten ofyou rhat remain,you mnsf
work togetherl"
"Kosta th€ innocent dreamer,"he said. ,,Do you expect that w€
will all meet, suddenlybecomegood friends,and crearea new sci-
ence out of the traditionsof rhe pasr?'
"Vhj, notz There are so few ofyou left thateach one is pr€cious
beyond compare.\(hy rot cr€atea new sci€nce?you know, Iike the
Jedi in Ceorse Lucas'sStarl[ars, who combined technology with
internal mastery The best of both worlds, Sifu.'
He smiledkindly. "lt is a good dream,Kosta,,,hesaid_,,Unfortu-
nately,I am not the one you have to convince.
"Do you want to know what I believeinr,,I asked.
To my chagrin both men groaned.,,1,mnot sure,',Johnlaughed.
"But I dont think rhat we'regoing to b€ given a choice, in any case.,,
"l believerhat humanityhaserown âlong rwo differentpaths,,'I
said."ln th€ Vest we have taken a yang approach,tuming outward.
Ve modify and catalogour enviro.ment to suit our desires.Our sci
ence !s a yang science,our liv€sare yang lives.In the Eastyou have
takenayin approach/turninginward.Youmodify andtràin thehuman
being,in both mind and body,to becomepotent andcompletein the
environmenrthatnahre hasalreadycreatedfor you, ro reachyour full
potentialwhile alteringnothing. Both âpproaches, Easternand Vest
ern, have to do wirh cultivatingpower,bur sinceeach hasbeen pur_
suedalong differenrlines,neitherapproachrscon€cr or compret€on
its own. \gell, the time hascome 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 languagebarrier preventedme from doing so. Intuitively, I
knew that they had understoodthe gisr of what I hadjust said,but ir
was the details rhat I wanted desperatelyto dtscusswith them \Ve
had gone too far in the \Vesr,and ir was time for people likeJohn,
the last true represenratives of rhe opposingpole of mans develop_
ment/ to saveus frcm ouÎselves.
The industrialprocesshad certainly been both a blessingand a
cursefor the hurnanrace.It had allowedus to reach new heights of
94
Lessons
to BeLeârned
technologicaldevelopment.On the other hand, in separatingthe
craltsmanfrom his product, it had begunwhat wasto be a long pro-
cessoi segregating p€oplefrom eachotherand from th€ world around
them. In essenc€both the industriâlprocessand consume.ismwer€
groundedin the processof isolation,of separation.Eachindividual
did his litd€ part, only those in the upper rungs of society could
bring italltogether The East,however--and Taoismin particular
were found€d on synthesis;it was in unity with the world rhat the
individual found hls streneth. The true Taoist did not build walls
betweenhimself and the world, human or otherwise.
\ùtrehad to l€arn that all over again.It was time.
"Look,"John sâid kindly. ''rù/eall approachlife in a way that re,
vealswho we really are. No one is ever abovethis. Sometimesit is
life itself that testsus, €xposingour weaknesses to scrutiny.Practi-
tionersofkung fu systemsare not exempt;som€timescircumstances
draw us into battle with eachother, it is our karma,ifyou will. These
peopleare not evil. k is simply theirway to test themselves.Can you
understândthis?"
I kept thinking of the HùlrlaalerTV series."l undentand your
words,"I said,"but I disagreewith this reasoning."
"lnteresting,"John said suddenly,stood up, and walked away.
"You know," the other man said conspiratorially,'John htmself
usedto challengepeople,and be challengedby people,all the time
when he was younger. He alwaysfought; he never tumed down a
challenge.I myself am an example.I usedto practiceand t€ach the
mantisstyler I defiedJohn becauseI didn't believethe stori€sabout
him. He beat me and sinceth€n I have becomehis student."
"\X/hathappened:"
'\vhat
do you think?k is impossibleto fighr someonewith pow€r
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, becausehe
had heard that there were peopl€ io the Chinesecommunity there
95
Lessons
to BeLeârned
F
 who had masteredch'i. He looked everywhereand found nothing.
Finally he did find one guy in San Franciscowho was a ch'tkung
marrer Iohn a.kedro.ee a demon,lrdrion
"Vell, the iran rook two clay pors, one in each hand, and
squeezed,exhaling with force. The pots shatteredinto 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
saidnothing.Finallythe manaskedastudentofhisro gerâmachete;
he stood there performing rhe €h'ikung called Iron Shirt while al-
lowingthe studenrto artackhim with the machete.The studentcould
not cut through the manl flesh.
"Johnturned to one oflis stLrdenrs,whom he had brought along,
andsenthim out on an enand.Then he addressedthe ch'ikungmaster
"'Finishedr'Johnasked.
"'Yes,'theman replied, a bir put off.
"'Cood. Do you hâve any coins?'
"'Coins?\X/hatsort of coins?'
"'Oh, anythins will do.'
"Tlre man gavehim two qualrers.Johnput them in the centerof
his palmsand squeezed.He handedthem back to the man folded in
half. Vhen the man sawthe coins,his eyesalmosrpoppedour ofhis
head.
"'Do you have a chopstick:'Johnasked.
"The man found a chopstick for him, and John pushedu into
and through rhe tableropwirh his palm, right next to the nail. The
ch'ikung masterwas stlent.Then Johnt studentcame back, he had
managedto find â srraightrazor at a local cutlery shop.John gave
the €h'ikungmastertherazorandaskedhim to cut hirn an).wherehe
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 happenedthent" I asked.
"Nothing. The man had lost the contesr.
"Dld he becorneJohnt studenç"
"No. H€ was too proud."
"Do you know why the man losn" John askedsuddenly from
behind us. He had crept up silently and v.aslisteningin
"Because he had only yang ch'i?"1 r€plied
96
Lessonsto BeLeârned
"Thatk correct. He was a dedlcatedpractitioner,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 anvwhereunlesshe
is conect in his training. It doesn'tmÀtterhow tflncbyou ttaint only
Loruyou traln ln whatevertime 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 ând ase, but
stillnessis the key to successin the end. Ve are overstirnulâtedbv
our environment.11is hard to keep vour thoughts in the prcsent
moment, isnt it? You âre alwayslooklng ahead,Iooklng back' wor-
ried âbout this, ànger€dby 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
cdnnoitell you Fachmu.t frndhi' own wa1
G/edtI thousht. HoJ,s "Sifu, LevelFour
/ r' a aqeit \otnedav l asked',
is compl€tedstrictly by mediration,isnt it1'
"Yes,"he sa;d."Meditation is most impoftant You balancevour
consciousând unconsciousminds when meditating.In this dav ând
agewe have come to ignore our limbic system,our stem brain, con-
€€ntratinginst€adsoleiyonour forebrainsaodplain logic But this is
unnaturaland limits our capabilities.It is like using onlv on€ hand
when you have two available"
"But how can we be unaffectedby all the stressand hurrv in oul
livesr"I asked.
"Dif{icult. You hav€ to make consciouschoicesr€gârdingvour
lif€style. For €xâmple,to cornpleteLevel Four' I left mv home and
v/ent into the jungle for a year' I did thiç in order to reacha stâteof
total calm. I revertedto the primitiver this is most important. Your
mind must be utterly still for yang andyin to come together'I mvself
managedto complete Level Four within a vear of finishing Level
Three, you know."
"Vhat was it like?"
"You becomevery weak in the endeavof,perhaps\teaker than
you were when you startedtraining in the first place You coax the
two centersto go together like lovers, positive and n€gative The
flrst tlme I was successfuland they met, the power was such that I
fainted,as I told you before.But the book mv Master hâd siven me
97
to BeLeârned
Lessons
on inner pow€r said,'lgnorethe pain. Don't focuson it, ifyou do, it
will becornetoo much.' I followed that advice,but the n€xt time I
tried, I couldn'l etandit eilher. It was on my third Îry that I grabb€d
the power and held on to it for ten minutes.Then it was mine."
"And then you becameasyou are now?/ Chapter Seven
He laughed."Of coursenotl I still had to progress,Kosta. You
know, when you areat LevelFour,you hâveto sweatandstrugglefor
fifteen minutes for the power to come out. lt was when I finished
YIN AND YANC
with Level Five that I beganto us€it."
"Soyou havethe battery in your belly but you still haveto hook
up the cables."
"Of coursetAndjust how powertulyou becomedependsonhow
many cablesyou are able to hook up, at first.

'Yes. Titanl to whose immonal eyes,

lt become.moretomplicareda* you go on.' The sulferinssof mortalit, seeûi' their sad realit,
"But when someonecompletesLevel Four,h€ is a hsien,an im \Y/erenot as ihings that gods despise'
Vhat was thy pity s recomPense?
"Not in my opinion. I think thât someonehas to be more than A silent sufferitg, and intenserthe rock' the vulture, and the chain'
Level Thirty to be considereda hsien." All that the proud can feei of pain
lwas going to askwhy, but lcould seethatJohn was in no mood
Ceorge Cordon, Lord Bvron' Promei'Nrs
tocontinue ihe conversation.His sonJohannsavedthe day,he came
over and challengedhis father to a gameof Ping Pong
Andreas was an Aussie of Polish extraction with all the exuberance
John could neverresista challenge.
and openness of the stereotypical Australian----a young€r form of
Paul Hogan, if you will. He was a brother studentt we had met in
Being around
Javaat Chang Sifus horne during one ofmvtripsthere
Andreas meant belng around his lncessant deluge of beer ând ciga-
rettes;usuallyit v/asfun.
Andreashad alsoencounteredChang Situ under circumstances
too bizarr€ to be coincidental,having sear€hedfor hirn previouslv
lor nine yearsafter seeingRin4oJFne.Ve had sharedmanv strange
cxperiences underthe guidanceof our teacher,andtradednoteswhen
and where we could.
At the mom€nt we were once agâin on ouf way to th€ prawn
farm,riding in avan at high velocitvasJohnnegotiat€dthe Javanese
roadswith his usualflair Vith uswasHandoko, a Chineseman who
wasalsoa brother student,a good friend, and our reliabl€translator

99
98
Lessonsto BeLeârned
 to Chang Sifu during those times when the discussionbecametoo
"deep"for conversationalEnglish.*Handoko had a problemwfth his
right leg, a congenital neurologicaldisorder that had rernainedun-
cured until he h;d met Chang Sifu severalyearsbefore.After con
tinual treatment, his leg was coming back, nervesthat had been
dormant for thirty yearswere springingto life. It was incredible to
witness.Each time I visited my teacherI could seemy hiendt leg
becomingstrongerand strong€r,the musclesmore pronounced;th€
circumfer€nc€of his thigh, onceatrophtedand ernaciated, waslarg€r
and more powerful on every occasion.
Sifu was keeping us entertainedwith a steady flov. of stories
about hisyouth, his training, andhis teacher He bad promisedusan
unusualdemonstrationthât eveningaswell, on€ by which he would
show us what the opposing forcesof yin and yang were truly liker
we were al1eagerfor th€ show and excitedby thejourney. Situ hirn
self had askedus out to rhe prawn farm, and this was itself unusual;
he typicallyjust told us to wait until he had returned.
I had finishedt€vel One andwasbeginningLevelTwo,the hard-
estpartswereaheadofme So far Ihadnot trainedseriouslybut rather
matter of-factly.A long seriesof personalproblems,rangingfrom my
fathersdeath frorn lung cancerto a string of financialsetbacks,had
impededmypracticeconsiderably. Theseproblemswerecompounded
by the fact that I had managedthus far to read eveD4hingin print in
Englishon neikung,ch'ikung,andTaoism,the manyrheorjesandmeth
ods put forth hadconfusedmegreatlyandmademe wastea gooddeal
of effon. It was ooly recentlythar I had come to understandthe two
pointsmy teacherhadput forth from the beginning.The firstwasthar,
althoughthe tea€hersofhis lineagehadcornehom Taoistcentenand
many of his theoriescoincidedwith toist principles,he himselfwas
not reallyaTâoist.Andsecond,therewereasmanymethodsof nejkung
and ch'ikungastherewere ChineseMasten;you reallyshouldoot try
to proeressby studyingwhatis in print. "Youwillonly confuseyounelf
-
Hândoko is p.esenrin every deep conversationin rhis book, it is only
lor reasonsof expediencythat his contribution has been rernoved.Many
of the major philosophicalpoiDtsare Handoko! tunslarion ofwhat
Chans Sifu was tellins rrre(and orhers)in Chinese.
100
Yn ândYânB
thatway,"Johnhadsaid.I hadfoundthat,asfar asmy own practicewas
concemed,h€ wascorrect. Neikung and ch ikung were essentiallymani-
festationsof Chines€scienceand philosophyrthey had adoptedvari-
ousreligioustrappingsover time simply in order to survive.B€ingby
narurea scholar,though, I had to put it all tosether historicallyand
culturallybeforefollowing a given pâth. Having satisfiedmyselfthat I
had done so, Icould concentrateon my training.
\X/estopped at a roadsiderestaurantând wolfed down sizâble
portions of stalefood. My teachersplace of businesswas closeby;
he drove off to run an errandand left us there.\Mesat ârounddrink-
ing warm Coca-Colas.
" ât do you think he'sgoing to showus tonight?"Andreassaid.
His pronunciationwasratherlike CrocodileDundeeiwouldhavebeen
aftera weekof drinking Foster!in theoutback.Andreastried to shove
a cigarettemy wayi his fing€rsw€re nicotine stainedfrom the habit.
"!flho knows. Something amazing,"I sa;d, mak;ng a face and
throwing the intâct cancerstick into a nearbybin with relish. I was
tired and €austic.A stomachdlsorderhad left me ten poundslighter;
my clotheshuog on me like rags.
"Oh come on, Kosta Don't be sucha grouch;lighten up a little."
"You know," Handoko said to Andreas,"Kosta is your senior;
you must alv/aysaddresshim respecttully."
"Bullshit."
'Myself also.rù/eare older,you are youngeriwe have seniority."
The strong Confucian ethic that bound all expâtriat€Chinese
wasan endlesssourceofsuffering to us'Ù/estemersi we did not agree
with it and often got into troublebecauseof this. As a Creek,rvhile I
believedthat ageshouldbe respected,I also knew that th€re were a
lot ofstupid oldmen out there.The thought of kowtowing io some-
one simply becauseof his age(orwealth) mademy blood boil.* You
shouldunde$tand that, while in the Vest we repeatedlyfind in lit
eraturethe imageof th€ pârentdying to savehis or her child, under
the Confucianethic theserol€swe(e reveÎsed,it \ras th€ child who
*
Vealth and educatlonare tied tosether for the expatriateChinese,the
conceptwe have in the \fest of a highly educatedûiddle cla.s is noi
101
Yn ândYân3
dutifully died for the par€nr.It was an alien and srrangephilosophy
tor me, and I wasn'tbuying any. In the yearsthat followed, my con-
tempt for Confucian morality would get me into trouble.
Andreassimply could nor stomachthe thought of me being his
"Kidt gettins hot," I said,and we all finally laughed.
"l'll tellyouwhat I'veseen,"I told Andreas."Lastyearjohnwanted
to show me what th€ yang was like. It was night. He had;ust fin
ishedpJayingPing-Pongwith Johann,asthey do everyevening Situ
took the Ping-Pongball in his left hand and held it in th€ center of
his palm He opened hts hands and held his right palrn about two
feet away.Suddenlythe ball pulsedwith a bluish-violetlighrr ir made
a noise, too, sort of like a canarysinging. Bluish white sparksflew
hom the ball toward his righr palm, rhey were like miniaturelight
ning bolts. He kept it up for a few secondsand then handedme the
ball. It wasn'toverly hot, but ir was warm. I did my usualth;ng and
cut it in hâlf on the spot, which pissedoffeverybodt becauseit was
the last ball in the houseand they wanted to continue their game.
But I had to makesurethat therewasn'tany circuitry insidethe ball.,'
"Bi! Tro$bhin Liuh Cbhq'Handoko said, referrins to a similar
scenein the op€ning sequenceof th€ filn byJohn Carpenter.
"Yeah,"l nodded,but my mindwas elsewhere.Iwas thinkins, as
I hadtheeveningofthat pafticulardemonstrarion, of Vilhelm Reicht
work in the 1940sand 1950s.Reich had sripulatedthat the particles
of the unknown lifeforcehe haddiscovered,which he hadcalled the
orgone bions, were blue. This was almost the samecolor 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.
Tberewerereasons why rhispaticular dernonstràrion wasthe most
importantof âll that I had seen,It deftnedthe natureofthe yangch,i.
Firstof all, the Ping-Pongball'ssurfacewas madeof solid nonporous
plastic,while the ball itselfwashollow I had trnmediatelyaskedJohn
if he could duplicatethe demonstrationwirh a solid-rubberball, and
he hâd repliedin th€ nesativerthe ball had to be holtow for this par-
ticulârtest to work. His starementimplied thar what I had witnessed
was not a surfacephenomenon.Rather,the energy had been trans-
ferreditide theball,whereit had shonemuch like a commonlishtbùtb
102
Yn ândYân8
On the scaleof molecularphysics,this also meant thât the en€rgy
John calledthe yang ch'i was neith€ra particlenor a wave,but both
I was convincedthat this demonstrationindicatedthat the vàng
cnergywasa solarphenomenon,just asthe Chineseclassics stipulated
Vilhelm Reich had died in federalprison in 1957 following a
wilch hunt by the U.S. gov€rnmentduringwhi€h hiswork and not€s
were seized-Had he discoveredthe yâng ch'i and been persecuted
by the powersthat be, who didn't want such knowledgeto become
common?Thisquestionfrightenedme,l wasalarmedbv what I would
be facingwhen it cam€time to do Sifut book
The possibility that the yang ch'i was color€d blue was impor
tant to me personallyfotone additionalreason.Throughout the east-
ern Medit€naneanpeoplehad historicallv worn blue beadsor blue
talismansto ward off the evil eye. This practic€ dates ba€k to
Neolithic timesand conrinuestodây.Could it be thatthe v/earingot
bluewassimply usingcolor ofyang as defenseagâinstthe pov/erol
yin energy?It was an €xciting speculâtion
"His right hand becamecompletely vin, his left hand vang' so
sparksflew betweenthe two," Handoko said
I nodded,still thinkins of Reich and his orgone
Thatevenjng,sittingon a couchinJohns cozv office,the threeof
usbroachedwithhim the questionof the exâctnatureofvin andvang
Johnlookedat our faces,orderedcoffeefor lour,andsaxbâckcomfort-
ably in his oflice chair;he knew itwâs going to be a long conversation
"Yn and yang," he said softl, "existin the world Thev are uni
versalforcesfound in all of nature,frorn one end of the univerçeto
the other. They are not poetry-thev are actual, phvsical forces'
tlrerefor all of us to experienc€and obs€rve"
"Vhere doesthe yang ch'i corne from?"I asked
"lt is in the âir.Naturecreatesit,lifeusesit Allthings that arealive
haveboth yin andyang ch'j."He poundedhis desk."This is vang Of
itselfit is lifeless.Fortife to exist,a body mûsthaveboth vin ândvang"
All thhgs carry th yh onrbeirbacksauànJolâyat4 uitb| ûhetlth'.ila
coûbi1ft,liJes e$rg| k crîted bamoriarsly lhis stanza from the Tao Tè
Ching leâpt into my mind once again;it was intriguing how Chang
Sifu'steachingsboth complementedand contradictedthe avaiiable
lilcràtureon Taoism.
103
Yn ândYâng
,t
"Vhen you sayalllivingthings,doyou meanplanh,animâls. . .2,, "Then, for Level Two, we compressthe yang ch'i and actually
"EverythinglEverythingrhat is alive hasyin and yang ch,i."
inlroduce twice asmuch into the samear€a.\/e make it hard, so to
"Vhere doesyin ch'i come from:,'Andreasasked.
speak.This is what you are working on now, Kosta. As you know,
"From the earth. The yin comesfrom the earth. Ir is some kind you must be sexuallyabstinentto cornpl€tethis training." On the
of field phenomenonthat feedsour lifeforce. It can be btocked by
insulators.For exarnple,if you have a carpet made from synthetic
materialsin your house,the yin ch'i cannor passthrough ir. Thatt
not so good for your health.
"The yin ch'i entersthe body through an acupuncturepoinr that
we call huiyit, he added."ltt located berweenthe urinary tract and I
Won,I thought Iarler Sly and Mother Earth,you dahdeeâ liee us tiJe.
lust asa1ltheatcient culnrcsoJtheoatà belh,,ed.And,we as a specieswere -
destroying both in our questfor gold. I wondered;f there would be
clean airenough in rhe frture forthe next generationto ger its share
of yang ch'i. Or even find a place with tre€s jn it ro sit quierly and
gather yin. Probably not.
"Vhen we train for L€v€l One, do we gather only yâng ch'i?,,

"No. You gather both yin and yang, becauserne t\{.o alwaysgo
together,siruggling,one alwaystrying to complementthe other But
insid€your dantien,you put only yang ch'i. The yin ch,t goeselse-
where in the body It is uselessto you beforeyou fin;sh LevelFour'
'And
for Level T\i/o,' I asked,,we cornpressthe 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. "Saythis is the dantjen,right? First
it
is empty; then we fill it wirh yang ch,i. So:
LEVELZERO LEVELONE
I was not very happy about the sei:ualabstinencepart, but the
resultswereundeniableandthere wasno wayaroùnd it. Chang Sifui
explanationhad beenvery differenrfrom rhat put forth by the orh€r
theoriesI had read Accordingto mainsùeamChinesel;terature,the
ideawasthat the energyin the spermofthe male (the Ch;neseword
ci:ia4rneansboth 'tperm" and "essence") was transformedtnto ch't.
Chang Situ had simply saidthat s€xualabstinencekept "the gatesof
the dantien"opensothat the ch'icouldbecompressed. Ihad no idea
whether the actual methodology followed one or the other model
or both, I dil know that when tÎaining consistently,I had no prob-
lem with not ejaculating,whether I had nonorgasmicsexor simply
wâs abstinent.I had no idea if that meant that the ching v/asbeing
transformedinto ch'i.
"And LevelThree:" I asked.
He surprisedme by answering."ln Level Three we make the
dântienmobile. \X/ecàn make it move, in other words. Like this,

104 105
Yn ândYâng Yn andYanÉ
 "Sifu,what is thediffer€ncein ability between,for exampl€,some
one at Level Five and Level Six?"Andreâsasked.
"The power doubles,"John saidsimply "Foreachlevela_frer Level
Three, the power doubles."
"Vaii a minute,"I said.Handoko, Andreas,and I looked at each
other, shocked "Sifu, do you meanto say.. "
"Yes.Eachlevel hastwice the pow€r of the previous."
"So LevelS;xhastw;ce thatof LevelFive,LevelSev€nrwice that
of Level Six, and so on," Handoko said dowly.
'Yes,"
John replied simply.
Handoko and I looked at eachotheragain.My mouth fellopen.
It must have been very surr€al,like a silent movi€
'.lesus,"I
said.
The implication was that the levelsof power progressed€xpo-
nentiallr followins the algebra;claw 2("3).Someoneat Level Four
was two times stroogerthan a human being. Someoneat Level Six
"\Ve move it in thesefour directionsat first, like an was2 x 2 x 2 = I times more powertuLAnd someooeat L€v€lThirry
Xr after that was 2r7tirnes (or roughly 134 ,,l;llioxtimes) more powerful than the
we can make the dantien move anywhere,'he continued.
I thought about thar. I hada hiend in Creecewho av€ragehumanbeing, at least from the standpotntof lifeforce. Oh,
was a Korean I was sure that there wâs an algorithm involv€d and that the num-
Master of Tàng Soo Do and a practitioner or neikung.
He had on bers did not exactly follow a linear progressionasJohns tradtUon
.everà| occa\ioncpubl'Llydemor,rrared hrsprowe\\bv bredking rvo- seemedto suggest,but even if he were off by 50 percent,so what?
Dv-roJrwooctenbcàm\ rnvr(inadnvoncin rhe dudiente
ro arrempr Someoneat Level Thlrty would still be . . . a 4ol for all practical
the feat betore he did (no one had dared).This man
had a ,,ball,,in
his belly at the dantien point, a solid massrhat he moved
aroundat Iwas glad I was sitting down. Itwas imperativethat such power
wi1l. Manipularing the ball asJohn had indicated,
this man could not fall into the v/rong handsin our day and age.That includednot
passch i energy into his armsand leg5.One physician,
upon €xam only the criminal element oohn's stories had indi€ated rhat such
inins him, had rhousht rny frtend had cancerwhen
he felt the huge power could be achieved regardlessof an tndtviduall ethics) but
lump;.the doctor had gone rhrough rhe roof when rny
friend had ConsumerProductsInternationalaswell. There was no telling what
causedthe ball to dancearound.I said as much toJohn.
"lt is the sameforus,',he.epliedaftera Iong ,,This a multinationalcorporationcoulddowith sucha torce behind it. Or
silence. manis even a governmenragency.
àt leastLevel Three."
"You mean the ball that movesafound in his belly "Youknow,"Johnsaid,"in theentire history of China, therehave
corresponds only been two people who have mad€ it all the way up to Level
to our Level Three/'l asked.
"Yes.Itis a solid lump of hardenedyang ch,i he Seventy-Two. One was Tamo, or Bodhtdharma,who taught the
can tap into, and monks at Shaolin.The other was Chang San Feng of the Vutans-
uçe,ar will."
Pai,who was alsoone of the Headmastersin our schoolt lirreage."rl

106
107
Yn ândYâng
Yn ândYâng
 "\X/aita minute, Sifu,"Andreassaid-"ls this the sameChang San
Fengthey say foundedt'ai chi chuan?"
"lcân't tellyau whetheror not he foundedt'ai chi,"Johnreplied "l
lo know that h€ studiedforâwhile atthe Shaolinmonasteryand thàt
aftera time in isolâtionhe mad€it up to LevelSeventy-TÛoby studv
ing Tàoism.He lil found the intemal school ofkung tu, of which we
I hadseenitbefore, and so was not assurprisedasthe othertwo'
are â Dart.\l/e traceoùr lineageback to Chang SanFeng,you know"
"Situ,"I askedslowly,"when do you ihink that Chang SanFeng
"lf you are successtul,"John contlnued, "bv forcing the t\rr'oto-
gether,you also force them to react Remember,thev are oot like
lived?"
electrical poles; they do not âttract each other, but repel This is
"Almost a thousandyeaÎsaso," he replied. "\/hy?"
how the spark,the lightning boll betweenthe two is generated,and
Surgdyasty,I thousht. J $ lilc $e nornsaboutbin clain "Becatse
you begin to becomeas I am "
different r€cordsplacehim at different times in Chinesehistol,," l 'And if we are not successtul:"I asked
said. "Some say that he lived to be five hundred yearsold. Others '-fhen you will probably die,"Johnsaidsoftlv "Ther€is no point
say that he is still alive today,that he never died."''
in doing this type of training unl€ssyou afe readv to die for it "
John was silent."He was Level Seventy Two," he said simply
"Could he stillbe alive?" There was an awkwardsilence.
"For example,"John continued,"Do vou know of Mo-Tzu:"
"No. He lived to be two hundredand di€d like any man. So did
Bodhidharma."
"Mo'Tzuwas the founderof our lineage He knew aboutvin €h'i
"Sifu,"Andreassaid,"will you tell us about LevelFour nowr"
andyang ch'i, but he had no ideahow to put th€ two togethe' So he
"lf you wish. Vhen we àr€ finished with Level Three, we send
experimentedv'ith his students;he told one man to try it this way,
our yang down to the hui yin. There it gathersas much yin as we
anotherto try itthat way.Many peopledied' to thesemen we owe a
have sentdown yang.Afterê time, mayb€evenmonths oryears,yin
debt, becaùsewithout theiYsacrificewe would not have discov€red
and yang rise togethel like this,
the precisemethod of bringing the two energi€stogether"'
I did not knowwhat to think of this, it wasceftainlv cold' order'
ing men to their deathsin a sort of humanlaboratorv'On th€ other
hand, few cared to rememberhow our governmentshad gleefullv
absorb€dthe informaiion derivedfron1the Nazis'laboratoryexperi
ments on J€wishprisoners.And how much of ou' curr€nt medical
knowledgewasbasedon this data?As a sociery we had forfeited the
right to judg€ such things.
'Thewhitecircleis theyang,theblacktheyio.They floataround "Vas Mo-Tzu himself sLrccesstulr" I asked.
"No. He never managedto make vin and vang m€et. It was an
lnside the body, and the pain is incr€dible,constant,unbelievable.
unknown teacherof the school ofMo-Tzu, the Mo Pai,who finallv
Only if yoLrhave the discipline to ignore it can you control them
maoagedit hundreds of years later' After him there were various
and put their power insidc yourdâniien. At that point, they become
Headmastersat different levels,until Chang San Feng,who became
squeezedtogether and take this shape,Iike the t'ai chi symbol."
the first to reachLevelSeventvTwo He left us a book outlining the

109
108
 m€thodr ir was this book that Liao Sifu left to
me. If and when you
reach Level Three, you may copy it. But you He picked up an empty lruitjuice canrthe alloy wasnot the rhin
have to learn to read
ancient Chinesefirsr.', alumirrurrof Coca Cola cans,but rhe thicker "tin" meial found in
"Can you show us what yin and yang are Lunacâns, ior example.John began to pump up the air rifler âft€r
like, individuàllyt,'
about twelve full cycles,when he could no longer pressdown the
"Yes.Touch rny hand.,John extended his leverwith muscularstrcngth,he insefteda lead pell€tinto th€ charn
arm, and Andreas
touched his fingers with h;s own. John sent â bcf. He put the can on the ground with a thick phone book behind
burst of ch,i to his
linsertipsr immediately Andreaspulled his hand it. Placingthe muzzle of the rifle about an inch away from the can,
back as it he had he pulled the trigger
been,burned.I had sufferedthesamedtsplaymany
t;me. in the pust. The can was pierced rhrough both sidesdiametrically.The air
"Hot, isn'tit?"Johnlaughed.
"So.when you demonstrareby sefting a newspaper rifle had power, it could easilywound human flesh.
on tire, it,s "Okay, Handoko. You first," John sa;d. He handed rne the air
yang ch'i that you send down to it?',
"Yes.,' rifle' I pumped it twelve times and placed a pellet in the chamber
"And whât is rhe yin ch,i like?,' John told Handoko to place hts palm over rhe muzzle of the air
'Th€ rifle. "Vhen I tellyou to shoot, pull the trieger immediately,"John
yin is passive.It can only follow, never lead.
It can absorb
energy bur never initiate motion. you know the
rites where p€ople
walk on coalsànd su€hthings?', Standingbehind Handoko, John placed the first knuckle of his
risht index finser into the smallof Handokot back."Shoou"he said,
'Ve and I did. Tlre rifle went off with the characteristicci:lJfmade by
h a v er h e mi n C r c F L àe 5w e l l t b u e d , n . $ / e L a l t t h e m r h e
.
Anastenària.Andreasglaredar me
'Vhenpeoph Handokoopenedhishand.The pelletlay in his palm.
watk on coat, ius vin (h., rhar rheyrre u,ing
, , \àrd.'\omerime\ It was undeformed.Vhatever had absorbedthe momentum o[
John r<rheyrn or lhe,,own bodie\,somerrme\ir
is th€ yin ch'i oispirirs The yin absorbsthe yans the slug had not damagedit in any way. Nor had Handoko been
of the iire ,*
htcresti4, I thousht. Accordtngto Chinese harmedln the least.Neith€r had he felt anything.
med;caltheory, the "Me next," l said. Ipulled a lead pellet out of the packet V;th
acupunc.urepojntyo,r4nanwas found on the bo
om of th€ foot; ir my penknife,I scratchedthe surfaceof the slugi point. I would rec-
wa. d.,o(iarcdwith rhe krdneymendranwhr.h
wa, con.rderedro
be vin wà\ v,n chi \ro,edIn rhekidnev, rnd ognizeit in thismanner,itwouldbe impossible forsomeone to swap
drd rharch r somchow
ruD down that meridiân to rhe sole of rhe Êoot itwith anoiher I pumpedupthe airrifle twelvetimes,put the màrked
ro prore€t an indi-
vidual walking on coals2 slug in the chamber,and handedthe weaponto Handoko. I grasped
'1..an.how.ouuhar the muzzle in my r;ght hand.
r h e v i n r . l t e t o h n r a i dJ u \ r a m , n r ( e .
He drsrppedred for a tew mrnure. Vher he rerurnedhe was Johncameupbeh;ndmeandpulledmy shtrtout ofmy pants.As
h o l d ' n Bd n d i r n t l e r h e l r n d r h a vr o ùp u m pu p p n m e , with Handoko, he put a knuckleup againstthe smallof my back, tn
ro à n dr ( â r d -
Dodrdpackof lcadpellcts the areaof my kidneys
SuddenlyI felt l;ke I was being pump€dup with air I coLrldfeel
" Manyrererchos hne postulated
my belly distendins and my bladder being squeezed,I wanted to
rhe existenceof an unknown fotce to pee.There wâs no other sensation;no cold, no rush of energy,no
e x p ' à i nh ' r w à l t , n s b e L d , F eb o r h r h € I p , d e n r r o ,er r j a r n d t h e r m a ,
c o n o ù ir , , , t y t d w , \ c i h I n c u f i rire n ro n r h e . r electricaldischarge,nothing. Just the feeling of fullness.
owr,
"Shootr"John shouted.

lt0
l
Vn ândYâng
Yn and Yang
 heardthc cû4fland
lookedinro
.l
,n-ked p.rr.t,,,ndeio,,,,.fi;
;;.ii;ljî;Jil,î:l:,f:::;l; "Because
of Kostar He had a look on his face like
*':rïi'-Ii'ï::T-'the he ,ratltedto
rishtest
touch'butthatwasail
"Nonsense,,I said.,'l normally use
a sawedoff shotgxn fo. that
Jvas intrigued; rhe.air rifle sort of thing. Lesschanceyou'd get up.,,
had pierced both sidesof rhe ,,rin,,
-"-

j
ffi;liirT:i,iï
,1;*m,,:,,*
:ï{,!ii;ryïîî:iï};:..:h:rffi
John glared at me, then turned to Andreas.,,tf you
e n e d o r y o u r e m o r i o n \ d r c s o i n s s i t dr h ey , n
are fr;ght-
r n , n o rb e r r j t e

no way we would nor have

'llïi:ï:î:;i;i:i:ï;:t*;iff
j:lï J n o I r à n n o rp r o t e L\ro u r , m u ,h a , w h e n
why you were bruised,,
I picked up the iead pellet. It was undeformed,
v o u a r er a l m . f h a r s

beenwoundedby tfr.
o.il.,, n .f,""la as before. I said
do\r.n
ro thebone,cuttinsthroush asmuch and showedir toJohn.
H:.""ï."11i*i" muscre
Oh y:: he rard I g"re hrmrhe vrn enerev
And the slugwasundeformedt , heru.rrhrewa brr
Vhateverhad protectedus 01rr oui or his body by be,ngafrard.,,
prore:red ir dçwell Thi\ wd\noràninv,.ibt. had
f,"ra,fl,aa r.anwe hold rhi\ vrn Fnergyvou 1dn\le.
r n o r v r d r , d td \ \ o m e d u r h o , r ( , € \ ,i" , ,"Çifir. ro u. rF.ideoLJl
\ e e r n l o \ u g g e \ r \ V h a r e , e"-r"a
r*a.rh.,e Dodres ior long pelod5of hme-',I a5k€d
rhe
"", "r, enerev
wc,horer",h-.,,,,,"; No.Youranonlvte.pa,muchvrna,vou
;:i:::"î::,:;, ,.;; , h a v e r a r g $ / h e nI
oo d demonsrrdlion trkerhrs rhe vrn energyI grveyou lea,her
rwl\ dr1zy. trom
rhatenbv rheimprrtarron
rheFrrsr
yourbodv dtmo,trmmedrdlelv lr r\ d wd\rcot .nv own energywhi.h
^,
or If:ufenlv
hermodynamir\ raw
did nor <e"mro applvrn rhi,, I have to replenishby rneditation.,,
Ano rohnLoutdrrdn\rerrhr\ are.
for(e ro olhe^. "So yoLrdon't like to do this very o[ten...
'Of
orrhepowerrurge"jns
'|heir
hànd\ cowse not I did ir for you students,so rhat you
' . l;:':l::;:i:'lj;nkrng on standwhar the yin ch,iis like.,'
can undef-
-\.4€,ner,,
Andrea\âJmo.rl.apr our or "Thank you, S;tu,,we all chimed in together
hr\.harr
rohn..
,^".i:i,;:it:ll:il*l:::f ;î;:l;e,,".,"nr d I was silent for mosr of thar evening.The
ergy as a phenomenonrhat was associated
exisrenceof yin en
with rhe.n..gy iield of
-o immediat€lv besanto pumpaptheairrifre our plamrroutdposrbll irll in manygap,,n
held rh.o,y ; s.";.J.
*nn',f,j;.o""nt"o w rar wa\ ilr rohnhad\ardlhàI ir\ behdvrorwa\
"Twelvetimes, no more,,,John rrmrlarro rharol an
warned,nc. elec.romagnetictield, rhat an insulatorcoutd
btock it, and thar its
^.,,ii:i:;t1î*::*ï:.ï:l i::ïi,:.r*-dhe
e .hn,.., flow could be easilydisrupted.Howcould
a phenomenonhe could not trace?And how
any scientisrcharacterize
and,oo(ed Andr
ea.rah,,";,.ï." ;:;;i :;l;.ï i."ji;1 srstsuch_ a challengerFor example,germsand bacteria
couro any screntjstre-
r1e rdlrer"d.t. dn loo( mean il;,. ur dnd rh'oush u5 bv rhe bi ,on. bur we
float around
whenI wanrro.Balk"n,*,ut eannordr.ecrtvpercerve
tohn rhouredand I did ,.o,ur.,
,- ,.\h*], Therewa,d shorkedtook d r . c o r e no r , h c m , c , o , . o p <r h d h e )
qndreà\sld(e. hc wd\ on (: iould
: i bê ,,,"", ":,j",:r,h"
worlred.He e\pêcredrhe wor\t tla(ed Jô do r\e rme to, yrn enejgvwe would
pe er tetl oll hA.beltv. havc to
Thereua, a <maltred bruise L e e u u c n h o e kr , n d a w d v r o q u a n r iabn d m e a s u r e
rrhe rhere :',., :"1.""."
at,hemark''\y4r"."...
rooked rl, ànd rhenu\e thr\ info.màrionlo precenr
\ r\t\leni e lo I he \cten.
.,.ii:;"ïjl:;T:::.::d trrrLr on"munrry
";;;;;;l; ol rh" wnrld I warmoreextiredbv rheyrn rhan
rhe
yâng; I was fairly sùre that the yang
ch'i would be discoveredand
112
Yn ândYâng ï3
Vn ândYânÉ
quantified soon, with all the work being done on vital energieçand rplfitual iosight, in cssenccsubjugatingEasreDscienc€to Vestern.
psychic phenomena.But of the yin, w€ll, the \Y/estdid not yet lravc l-lcll dld indeed gape wide irs doors ar th€ end of rrri road. But I
r.ckoncd the trajl to successfollowed a more precipitousroute. \Me
There would be a Nob€l Prize for the scientistwho idenritied htd to rcris?Vestern physicaltheory and convrncescrenrsrsro em-
either yang or yin energy,of this I was sure-I also knew that thc Ilncc the conceptsof yin and yang ch'i. In doing so, the boundary
current shapeof the world wouldchangeonce we understoodch'i- hctwccnphysicsand metaphysics$.ould inevirablyfall, alt€ringrhe
and for the better. Lif€ and naturewould no longer be denied. worldk destiny forever.For th€ better I hoped.
John had mentionedthat a studenthad to be at leastLevelThrec The role model we had to emutate here was not Faust, bur
to be âble to s€nsethe yinr that a humân being, by his own naturc l'tonrctheus.I coLrldsee that John burned with the compulsion to
yang/ cannot sens€yin energy dir€ctly. Rather,a human sensesthe Itrlng the knowledge of this particular fire to mankind. \/hy etse
trcse$c.of yin by its r€action to the yang. Here is an unidenriijed lCccpl \l/estern stlrdents?My main apprehensionwas making sure
force that leavesno traceofitself, thatwe cannot feelinsideourown thnt the informarion would becomepublic knowledse. I want€d to
bodies even in excess(unlike electricit, but perhapslike gravity), lhnkc up the statusquo rock the chairsar rhe top and the founda
but whose resultsI had v.itnessed,experi€nced,ând felt ll0ns at the bottom. I had thought of a hundred applicarions,and
It wâs a frustratingposition for an engineerto be in. I had seen worked out àn approàchtoward quanrifyingthe phenomenon.
the "ether"but neededa way to prove its existenceto the world.rl Iwondered if the gods would chain me to a boulder and have an
Vhat was also intriguing wâs the fact that most people in the ltgle eat out my liver if I rnadethe attempr
\ftst think ofyin and yang asphilosophicalconceptsrather than as l)crhapsit would even be worth ft. I would wait and see
actual physical energies.A s€riouspresentationplacing the rwo in I slept like a baby, ôeaming ot Byron.
an orthological vein wouldbe revolutionaryat best.Oh, rherewerc
plenty of reterencesin the lit€rarure to yin and yang âs physical
energies (particularly in maftiâl arts books and related texts on
ch'ikung), but most sinologistsconsideredyin and yang oo more
than dualistic modelins, much like computer binonials. Similarly,I
had seen many respectedauthorstrcat Taoism like poetry, rath€r
thân the collection of adual biophysicallearnng rLwas.
I flnally grinned, a particularlyevil grin, thinking of the trouble
I would stir up given the opportunity.
Later thài nisht I traded ooteswith Andreas,who had studied
physicsat college.He washoÎrified. "Keepthis quiet," he said "Let's
digest it ànd seewhere it takesus. Maybe the world ts not ready for
information of this sort at the mom€nt. Maybe it neverwill be."
I grumbled somethinguncomplimentaryin return and wished
him a good nisht. To bellaith yo r Jean,[il, I rhousht. Tèn ro one
Andreashad nev€r actuallyread Coethe! Fact anyway.I could not
deny, though, that he had a point Andreas'sconcernswere justifi-
ableifyou soughtto simply quantifyJohnl powersûit ortrhe proper

114 115
\4n ând YânÉ YinândYânÉ
A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library
ChapterEi6ht
THEVILL OF HEAVEN
\7e were having a heatedargument.The issueat 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 previouslytaught the praying mantis style
of kung tu. Handoko was the referee,and Andreasthe audience.
The ring was John! front porch, as usual,and the fisht was very
bloody. I had rny opponentcornered,but he wastough, he managed
to slip and slide on the ropesal vill, avoiding my "blows."Justwhen
I thought I had him in the crushinggrtp of reason,he wriggled free
and punchedback hard.
It was tun. No on€ \r.aswinning.
''Iàoisrn,"
\x/ei Chin said,"is a religion \X/eare a school of kung
tu."
"Yes,"Isaid, "but we are a school ofkung fu whose Headmasten
camefrom Taoistcenterslike Lung Hu ShanandVutang-shan.Also,
much of the trâining is v€ry basicTaoist internal alchemy,just like
you read about in the litemtu:e, and the resultsare very much the
"The training method is very differentrit is not at all the same."
"Okay, but it dealswith many of the sameconcepts.Inthe Vest,
when you talk about yin and yang, or the t'ai chi stateof our Level
Four,or neikung,then you are talkins dbout Taoism.The word Tao-
116
isnrhasbeconc synonyrnous wi!h Chincscphilosophvin the Vest'"
"Yes,but for us Chinese,Taoism is the sameas Tao chiao, the
Taoist religion. \X/ein the Mo-Pai afe not Taoiçts You \X/estetn€rs
It was an interestingdile[rrna Vei Chln was verv educatedin
Chincsehistory and culture by traditional schooling;I had read cv
erythins publishedin Engliçh on Chinesephiiosophv.
All four of us were speakingat once when John came outside
carrying a cup of coffeerwe must havebeen like somethirg out of a
cartoon to him. He stood and watchedsilentlv for a vhile' amused'
"Vhat are we arglringabout?"he asked
'Taoism,"the mantiç ieachersaid.
Johnjustnoddedandpullcdup a chair "Okav,"he said"'tonisht
t will tellyou aboùt my owo spifitual beliefsand expcriences.Then
you can comparcmy beliefswith Taoismasvolt wish."
There was a stunnedand suneal moment of silenceon the fac€s
ofus two Vesterners,to be replacedbvlooks ofavid greed l shut up
completely,and Andreasdrew closer'
"Vhen Iwas young,"Johnbegan,"l reallvdld not pavattention
to the different things that my teacher,Liao Sllu' had told me about
metaphysics.I was not really interested,vou sceiI wanted çimplv io
learn to fight and to have power But m:nv of the things cameback
to me latc. I have already told you how, eventuallv,after I corr
pl€ted Level Fout my Mâsters spi'it found me and grridedme for
many years.He would alwayscome when I called hlm' and some
times when I didnt call hirn, more ofren than not to scold me for
somethingthat I had done wrong "
He took a sip of collee and looked at me
"Liao Sltu performedmanymiràcles,vou know lt is unfortunàte
that none of the peopleinvolved are now willing to come forth ând
testily.'
"For examplez"I asked.
"Okay, two cases.One is a student of mine who was riding on
his motorcycle when he suddenlvgot an intensefeeling that some-
thing wâsvery wrong. He pulled over to the side of the road lnside
his wallet h€ kept my picture' he pulled it out and pravedup to the
117
The\/illofHeâven
 I beganto 'ee splttt'
heavensaloud:'LiaoSifu,'hesâid,'pteas€, S,-ft,,4,*whatev€ri1 is ohvçrrrl.sncc I dcahwrrh iLrlmu'r cvcrvdav \
that is happeningand is a threat, pleâseprotect me and my fâmily., ii."r,.' r '..'. and I srrllrememberrhe rrrsrrrmerhdLI
At that very moment this mant brother was crushedby a truck in a """"a "or'
nrvselfwas out of mv phvsicalbodv'"
off into
constructiirn accident. Everyonethought that he was dead, it was He leanedback "l was lving on mv bed when I drift€d
mvself on the bed
impossiblethât he was alive, for a cement truck had failen on him. meditation. Suddenlv Istood there looking at
Vhen they clearedthe truck from his body, though,they foundthat iii"*r, sotbiso.tsrbenv vinboâva
' *."*nr' il,, t is tttvtdl1sbodv'
prove io
the man aliveandùnharmed" ^n **,a^*" h* ^*d Jrolttoîeto theotherSo I wanted to
over to the
John searchedour facesand saw acceptance.Ve had seen too ,,i,r."tl ,t'u, *t u, ** f'uppeningwas real First I walked
much to disbelieve the click'but nothins
'Another
him iinf',.*i,.1 *a tried to turn it on l heard
incident," he continued, ,îas the case of the high- ad
t6. r;grrtstavedoff o[av. I thorght'I'll ualkoutside
il"i...i,
jncome slrrgeonwhose daughter had developed it ajar'
bone cancer She hi'*'d"*"1* So I openedthedoorand walked out' leaving
was hospitalizedin Singapore,ànd the only treatrnentrhey had for were sometaxi drivers
Itookawalk aroundthe house Outsidethere
h€r was to amputateher right leg before the cancerspread.In des- sittingaroundonthesidewalkplavingcards; I rnemorizedtheirtaces
peration he came to me asktngfor help, he was not a student,jusl licençe nÙmben of their cars' and
-d Jhrt th.y.,.l... *.arins' the
op€n andwent
sorneonewho knew about rne. I càttedmy teacherand askedhirn wentback inside.I madesureagainthat the doorwas
Valking towaro
whetheror not he would help the doctor, and he said,,Oh, him. He to the bedroom,where I saw mv bodv on the bed
1 he lrghLs wereo{r
always refusestreatment to thoçe who cannot pay him and deals ir I wa. .udd€nlvdwakc h rngdown | 'rood up
with Deoplelike cattle. You tell him that if he wantshis dâughterto I thoÙsht Then I
and rhe.qrtch had not be'n roved :rr'!eorr
becornewell, he must firsr sive a third of all his wealth to the poor, there' it was locked
walked to the door to scewhat had happened
O[al
and then every night for a week, from midnight to five in the morn- o' r l"a left it b€fore lvins down on the bed'
ing, he must stay a{/ake and beg Cod for forgiveness.Only then ".Jl"lt.a,l',t ThereIdidinde€d
srri[etuo, I thought So I went outsidemv home
\Vill I give him the medicine to help his girl., just asI had seen them, plaving cards'th€ same
'Meanwhile find the taxi drivers,
the daughterwasunder a time constraint;they had faces,th€ samevehicles.'
Kosta' The
to amputatethe leg lrjth;n a lew days to saveh€r life. But the man He looked at me "l know what vou are thinkins'
believedin us becausehe had heardso much and decidedto rrustus. rÔomsall th€ time' risht?
sâm€thing happensin hospital operating
point
He gave away his money as Liao Sifu had ordered, and spenr hjs S", f.. .J ,lr. ,i-., it wâsa new experi€nceAnd trom that
"t people who did
ev€ningsin repentance.Vhen the weekwasup, he cameto me ask, on t.o.,ta una.rstund*hat washappeningto those
ins forthe medjcine,but Liao Situ would not answermy call. So the their consciousn€sç waçsimplv mov
haveout of-bor1vexperiences,
man went back to Sinsaporefuriousand cuning me. \ù/hen he got ltwas not mûch later
ing from theiryâng energvto theirvin energv
th€re, he put his daughterthrough a completeexarnination,hoping that I learnedto do so at will'
that there was rime to amputatethe leg. Of the bone cancer,they 'Ànnvay," hecontinued,"allduring thosefifteen vears'Liao Sifu
the mountainsand
c o u l dn o r J r n d ar r a r e i t u a . r o m p l e r e l y g o n e . kept telling me thàt it was mv dutv to go up to
and women Frnallvtn
He took another sip of coffee.Ve were all sjlenr,enthralted. soendtirnein r"treat dwrv lrom orhermer
"Liao Sifu! spirit was with me for abour fifteen years.In that w o r l df o r e t e rh t qt e t mo t
r ' g o : ' , , , - " r , , n ei o r h r mr o l c a v er h i ' 'This
time it was jmpossiblenot to develop a deep int€rest in the meta penunc.lvu,o'ne,*d h. couldgo up to Cod is vour lastchance"
i. .lta . *..
'f,t or n€ver''I had no inter€st in soins awav' I
" Literallr'?ràidfather-teacher." "* time' ând mv businesses
lik€d my life just finer I was having a good

118 119
TheWiliofHeâven The Will of He.âven
 weresuccesstul liut becauseI had promiscdt_iàoSjlu that I woutd,I
finally did leave.One day I put on comfonableclorhesand shocs,put
my passportin my pocket,and took a fcw hLrndreddollarswith me. I
alsoworé my RolexbecauscI vanted somethinsthat kept time wetl
and that I could trade lor money tf I becamedesperare. I had no idea
wherc I would be sent, Ithought the Himalayasor somerhinslike
that So I told my wife I wasgojog down to rbe prawn farm for a few
daysand kissedher and rhe children soodbye On the way I handed
rny chauffeura letter explainingeveryrhing,then I told hjm to stop
for a while on the side of the road so that I could buy cisarettes.I
disappearedfrom sight. After a few hours of looking for me, he re
turned home and handedthe lefter to my wife. She cried and cried,
and so d;d the children,but becauseI had alreadyarrangedfor their
protectionand their welfare,therewas not much more I coutd do.
"l finally wound up in rhe junste, along the border between
Mâlaysiaand Borneo.The closestsmallvillagewasa three-daymarch
awayr I was isolatedfrom soci€ty.I hated the place at first. Vhen
night fell, I could not seemy hand in front of my face, jf I tried to
light a fire, so many mosquitoescamethat they would eat me alivel
tsutit was there that my teacherhad ins;stedI go.
"Therewasnot much to eat;I had to huntwild boarandscrounge
for benies and fruit. The funny thing was that there was a tribe of
Dayak nativesrherewho harassed me and finaily attackedme openly
with spears,and on one occasionarrows.I pulled down a large tree
and set it ablazewirh my ch't, after that they left rne alone. It rnust
have been very lrightening for rhem. I ber they are srill s€arins
naughty children with storiesabout me "
\(e all laughed,I could imasineJohn rhe practicaljoker retish-
ing the occasion.Poor natives.
"Anyway,"Johncontinued,"ir u.asthere that I stayedand lrredi
tated, living in a cave.lt rainedfreqLrently,and food wasscarce.De
spitethat, aftera moDthI could standit reasonably well, aftersix
months I did not want ro leave.
"ln time, somethingv€rystrangehappened.I could spendlonger
and longerperiodsin neditârion, once I didnot move foreight days.
And my consciousness wouldfly allovertheworld asIdesired.Isaw
rny family in their home soins aboùt theilbusiness;Isaw rny friends
120
The wll of Heeen
and felatives,€veryoneând anyonc I wanted to. All I had to do was
wish to seesomethiogand I was there, if I closed my eyes,actual
eventswould flashacrossmy mind asif I were watchins television.I
wrote Iettersto family and friendstelling them what they were do
ing on specificdays,then madethe trek to rhe village ro mail th€se
lettersto them. They were very surprisedwhenthey receivedtheml
lrememberevenwatching them asthey receivedihes€letters.----see-
ing the look on their faceswhen they readwhat I had written.
"ln thât mountainI sawmany spjritsiindeed,spiritsand animals
were my constantcompanions.And when my consciousness had ex-
panded,I could seespiritssoinsup r€gularly.One day Ibecamecuri-
ousanddecidedto follow them, to seevh€re they were going. I sent
my awareness out of my body and accompaniedthem asthey w€nt.
'"Ihe earth
recededbelow me, and somehowthere 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 placequickly ro find myself in a field of whue, there I saw
many spirits around rne wlro were very joyful. Someof them were
makingmotionsasiftheywere eatingand drinking ând invited me ro
join in. O[l)', I thousht, I'd lik?d rteceoJcrtcln. Vithoui warnins, a
tastydrumstickapp€aredbeforeme,wben Igrabbed;t, though, I saw
that it \Lasnot real,that it wasan illusjon forthe benelit of rhe spirits
in that place \{ho ihought they were still human. Still, I saw other
soulssoing hisher and higher. I follo\i/ed rhem rhroush two more
levelsofwhite energy,andbeyondthat point I couldpassno farther"
Iohn paused,and I checkedan urse to interrupt him. Therewer€
so mâny questionsthat I wanted to ask He was,after all, describtng
"After a while," John cootinued, "l becarneworried about my
physical body, becauseI knew that tlrne passedvery differently in
tbât place, and I had no idea how long I was gone. I decided to
return to the earth. In doing so, I passedonce again thro{rgh the
black wave. I was curiousryou cannot see anything at all in that
place,but you can hearthe spiritsmoaning.So I approachedone of
th€m and ask€dhim,'Hey,how areyou doingr'(Yes,Kosta,assimple
as thatl) He said,'Oh,I hurt, I'm in pain.'Suddenly I becamevery
afraid,and with that strong emotion I woke up back in my body."
121
TheWillofHeaven
 to love vou "
Vhat do you say in responsero a story like that2 I had heard it born. Vhat hc cannotrcmcmberi$ whal it waslike
in short form in the pasr,but that had not had the impad of this Ve were shocked,all oi us 'to what detinesth€ir
longernarration.That he had catledspiritsbeforeme Ino longer "They haveonlv vin," he continuedsoftlv'
That is whv it is so
doubted, on three separâteoccâsionçhe had spoken to the shades conlinuation is simplv their karma,good or bad'
your time com€s'
of the deadwith me as the silentwitness.Vhile I could not, as a lmportântto haveyang to take with you when
scjentist,swearin courarhat he was not producingan illusionfor "Because that wav vou retain vour humâniry" l whisper€d John
dântien some-
my benefit through hts Lrndeniablepowers, I would have to ques nodded approvinglv "Does having vang ch'i in our
tion the motivation lôr producing a fraud of this sort. He certainly how lessenthe effectsof karmal" l askedhirn
be re-
had no need to trick us. I did nor doubr rhat john could make me "No. You still have to pay for what you have done- or
all around' and
seesomethiog that wasnot th€re should he choose,but why woul<1 warded.But having yang with vou makesit easier
more deliberateeither way.'
I recalledthe shaman;sticorigins of Taoistpractices;,a what he "Heavenand hell," Andreassaid
hadjust describedwasvery similarro thejourney of the shamaninto "Not really,"Johnansw€red"None ofthe conditionsIdescribed
"
the spirit world, in€luding rhe various levels. I was very sure that is permanent.After a time all spiritsreturn to Cod
sinc€
Joho had never readJosephCarnpbell;he was describingwhat he Andth€re itwas, the bigquestionthat I had dancedaround
I dared' "tell us
had seen.And he gainednothing by fickery. Indeed,he sacrificed I had come io know him. I could not resist "Situ"'
Codwas
much becausehis powerswere very real. aboutCod. Youmention Hlm frequentlv" Andmentioning
between
"ls there any way of telljng if someonewill becornea white or notvery Taoist,I thought, perhapsthis was the disiinction
blackspirit?"1asked John'steachingand mainstreamTaoism
John shot me a piercing look. ,,Youar€ thirkjng of your father,,, John leanedback and looked at us
one bv one "All right,''he
of hearts'I did
he said.'rvell,y€s,ifth€irpassage is not duetovioleoceoraccident, sald."BeforeI went up to the mountain' in mv heaft
everv Sundav'
then usuallyyou can tell by the look on their faceswhat w;llbecome not real1ybellevein Cod Oh' I usedto go to church
of them. They get a glimpse of what li€s in srore for them before f., f ...i""ttv Ct'ristian' but I hâd no faixh;I went to church
"- " to expe-
they completely leaveour world.,, matter-of factly Vhen I was up in the mountain' I wanted
My father had died wùh retiefafte, fishting rh€ cancerfor half a rienceCod for mvself,to seeif He was real or not
year. Indeed,he had died conscjously,wairing for all of us to gather "l prayedandl pravedfor weets, askingCod to revealHimseli
mv awâreness
aroundhim beforele$ing go of his finalbrearh.Isaid asmuchtoJohn. to me. Finally I sat down in d€epmeditation and sent 'Cod'
I kept asking' please
"Your father is probably a white spirit now,',h€ said.,,Butyou out asbelore. Everv dav,every rnoment,
correcç Piease'
know, becausehe had no yang to take with him, his natu.eis much tell me the trlth aboutthe afterlife;which rehgion is
I kept at it with perçist€nce
sirnplerihân you think." Lord, tell me.' I receivedno answef'but
me
"Vhat do you mean,Situr" I asked. "\lgithout wârning,on€ dav a voice boomed in the âir above
"l meanthatatypicalspiritisbasically likeourunconscrous mrnd. It was like a thunderclap,and it saidto me:
n€ed
He cannofthink deliberarely, makedecisions,orcreate.He is subject "'R€ligionis like a walkins stick Vhen vou arevouns' voLr
needa cane'
to whateverhe hasbroughtwith hjm.,'John\,r'as silenrfor a time, then help from yout parentsto walk \Vhen vou are old' vou
caught my eye and held me wrth his gaze. ,For example,,'he said, a cane' it vou
Vhen you are a healthv adult, vou have no n€ed for
like thatr to ch
"your fathercan remembereverythingabouryou He knowsthat you tty to *n, ,t *ill onlv hinder vou All religions are
'
are his son. He rernembersholding you in his arms when you were Cod directly, and vou will have no need of them

122 123
The \\/illof Heaven TheWillof Heâven
 "l came out of meditarionwirh 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 beganto doubt; finally, I no longer believed
that it was Cod, just some strong spirir hêving fun with rne. I had
had many experiencesof the sort with L;ao Sifu, remember,and
I
knew that rhe.e were many such beingsour there. Finally I became
very angry.l roamedaroundthernounta;ntopslike a madman
scream
lng up ar neaven.
"'ïàlk to me, Cod,' I screamed.,lf you do not talk to me, I
will
not believein Yout"'
John chuckledto hirnself 'You cannorjnlâsinewhat Iwas Iike,,,
he said."l wasvery thin becauseI d;dn,thavemuch to earrmy beard
and hair were long becauseI had nothing to shavewith. My cloth-
ing hung on my body, and Imust have smelledvery bad I moved
foom tjmes of extremely deep meditation to moments of extreme
rage as if someonewere throwjng a swirch inside mei I oft€n
sat
down in the lorus position in Deditârion and rhen suddenlyleapt
up
all in one motion to go running around the mounraintops.All rhat
time I had only one thought in mind, to speakwith the Lord
Cod. I
wanted proof rhar He was real.
"Eighrdayslaterithappened.Iwas in meditationat
the moment
and begging Cod to let me come ro Him. Suddenlya star
bright
ened incredibly, like a second sun, and fell out oÊthe sky wi;h
a
crashto land before me in an explosionof earrh and dust. k made
a
huge hole and lay there,burning. A wind like a thousandhurricanes
buffeted my body and shook the ground.
"'You are not yet cleanenoughto come to Me!,ê voice said,and
Iknew it wasHim
"l came out o[ meditation \.rith a srart and op€ned my eyes.
In
hont ofme wasa larsecraterin 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 speakwirh Him.
'Many
thinss I askedHirn in the daysthat followed, Iwanted to
know what sort of behaviorwas right and what was wrong. For €x-
ample, I wanted to know if fjghting was okay,sioce I was a kune
fu
124
Ihe \)(/illofHeâven
Mastcrand had becnin nranylishts Thc voicetold me that it was
all rightto dclcndnryscll,but Ishouldneverinitiateaggressioni mdnv
thinss werc Ndsed by how vou felt inçlde lf I was afrajd for mv
safety,I could evenrtlrcl 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 askedHlm about hunting and killins same l detectedamuse-
meot in Hisvoice when he answer€dthatquestion'becauseHe said'
'You are asking Me about thls becausevoû killed a wild boâr last
week to eat, didn't you? It's okav to kill for food, all of nature is a
strugglefor sLrwival.But you must never kill for sport or for pride,
becauseall of natLrrebelongsto Cod."'
John bowed his head. "Anywav, manv things like that I asked
Him, to somequestionsI receivedanswers,to othersnot " Helooked
up at us and smtled.
Andreasbroke the silence."Sifu, are vou saving that vou spoke
to Cod:"
"l think so,"Johnsàid."l spoketo an unbelievablvpowertul sen-
tience.\X/heiherit was Cod or somekind of angel or other spirit, I
really don't know to this dav But soflrlrin4câme and answeredmv
que\lion..dnd stavedwrrhm< lor a Iong time
"How long were you up in the mountains2"l âsked
''Iwo years,"he sald."l cameback down becausernv son devel
oped rheumâtoidarthritis. Vestern medic;necould do nothins for
hlm; my hiends took hlm to ô nativc healer,who simplv said,'Onlv
the faiher can cure ihk boy.' So I cameback "
"Did you €ure him2"
"Yes,with acupuncture,within two monlhs "
"And you iust lærohe was illi no one sent vou a message?
"l have alreadytoJdyou that, when I was up in the mountâins,I
couldseepeopleand placesfar awavdlrrins the time lsPentin medi-
tation. I watch€dlny family a lot, it helped me feel lesslonelv"
A sewant carneout with tea, which we gratefullv accepted No
oBewaswillingto stârtupthe convenationagain Vhatwe hadjust
heard had shockedall of us more th:n anvthingJohn had ever said
ordone. Herewas a man who statedvervsimplv ànddirectlv that he
,|
TheWillofHeaven
 had spokento Cod, it was the pinnacleof humanexperien€e, and
there was not much anyonecould add to rt.
There were a thousandthinss thâr I\.ranledto askhim. \(/e have
lost the luxuiy in this dây and ase of being able to speakin such
personaltermswhen describingthe erernal,societyand scjencebe
ingwhat they are.Peopledonljust sit down and askCodquestions
The Lord Cod Himselfi
\Xfty the h€ll not2I beljevedrny teacher.At leastI believ€dthat
he was neither a liar nor delusional.He had seen . . something.
I darcd the question."Sifu,when you spoketo Cod, dtd you ask
Him what happensto our soulsafter we drer
He looked puzzled. "l have aheady describedthe 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 spiritswenr up to Cod "
"Yes."
"Sowhat happensnext2Do we reincàrnate2 Do we live only one
iife? Do we ceaseto exisP \X/hart the story?,'
"l have alreadytold you rhat I dont know
"But. . . ."
"He never answeredthat question."Johnpulled out a cigaretre,
lit;t up, and leanedback."lcd, tell you what Imyself, as an indi
vidual, believe.This is not somethios that Iteach, I have students
who areChristian,Buddhist,Muslim,skepticslike yourself,andmore.
NeikuDg has no basisin religioustheory. lf you wanr my own oprn,
ions,you arewelcometo rhem,btrrrcmember,they arenothingmore
than my own opinions."
"Okay."
"l believethat ir is logical for reincarnationto exist,sinceCod is
very just and very fâir. !/hy should someonesuffer for sorneth;ng
that they hav€n'tdon€: Vhy shoutdone man be born a cripple and
anothel with everything?It doesn'tseemfâir or even logical. So et
th€r the univ€rseis unjust or, if you believe in a just God, then He
hasplannedforjusticein our lives.So I beleve rn rejncaroation.,
I did not want to debatehim, different religjonsin rhe historyof
humanity have even postulatedthe exisrenceof an nj sr Cod to
explain lifes disparatedisrributionof blessiùBs.
126
The \(illofHeven
"You have rnentionedkarma* to mc in the past,"l continued.
'"Ihe consequenceof our actions?"
'Action and reaction.People paying for bad actioosand being
rewardedfor good ones.Makes sense,doesn'tit?"
"Doyou believethâtsom€onecaniestheirkarmawith them from
one life to the other?"Andreasasked
"Yes.I personallyas an individual,yes,"Johnanswered.
I had studied Buddhismior many years;one of the issuesnot
addressedsufflc;entlyby thât religion (in mv opinion) is the very
obviousevolution of the speci€sgoing on continuouslyaround us,
as if by divine p)an. And man'spresenceand developmenton the
planet cannot be accountedfor with satisfaction,even bv modern
science,giving rise to theorieç of little green men performing ex
perimentson primatesand what not "Sifu, is evolution directed?"I
cha.gedto drive the point hom€.
"Sorryr"
"DoesCodhave a plan for man and the earthr Is therea gùidins
intelligencebehind everything?"
"ln rny opinion, yes."
And there it was,the core of religion'sdebatewith science.
"And is this God a judge:" I continued "Does He decide
everyonetkarma?"
"No. Ve dec;de our own karma Cod HllTrse]finterferesvery
âfter oLr
little in our livesand in the judgment of our consciousness
deaths."
"But what about the white wâves and the b]ack wave vou
described2"
"Vhat about themr"
"Doesnt God decidewhosespirit goesinto which areaand how
long he remainsthere:"
"Not r€allyr kârma decidesthat. Cod baslcallvintercedesvery
little in the courseof affairs.Ve call the will of heaveniolo in Chi'
nese.Forexample,thatyou Kosta,andvouAndreas,arehere isiodo
* or"actron
The Sanskritwo.d means"consequence"
127
Thewillof Heâven
 Do you know how many peoplchavecomesearchinslof me ancl
could not find me?It is the will of heaventhat you are here.',
Ve lookedateachother Ve hadcertatnlyboth foundourreacher
under inusual cjrcumsrances-tflpo5sir/s circumstances,starisrically
speaking.
"Sifu,"l insisred,"\(/hy isnt findingyou merelyjust good karrna:
l(hat rs the differenceberweenjodo and kârnal
'lodo
começfrom Col,'he said."Karmacomesfrotr ls "
"So Cod hâsa plân,butit is rp tous ro live up to jt,,,Andreassaid
"Yes,"Johnanswered"And you will reapthc consequcnceot a
your actions,whether good or bad. Karnrais purely naturallaw, like
biolosyandphysics; jodo is the wjll of heaven.I cannotmakethiogs
any clearerthan thar. For mosr people,jodo simply decidesthe tine
and placeof thetr btrth and the tirneand placcof their death.Bui
bad karmacan alsomakeyour Iife shortcri if you aredestinedro live
a hundredyears,you may wincl rrp living lifry rnsreao.
"For example,"he continued suddenly,,,I_iaoStfu coutd sce an
individuali kama and dc€idero hcalhilr) or not basedon thatkarma
He could also seejodo, the will of heaven,as it approached.Let rnc
tellyouàçtory..."
The Letter
Old l.iao had fev friends, becàusemost people consideredhim a
srange and alien being, and so he held his true friendsvery dear He
hàd enjoyed himself gready i. Javai for the fiBr timc in his tifc he
had bcen a nember ot a boisrerousand conle.reo numan socrery
Neitherthe ci.cumstâncesof his yourh no. thc içolarionolhis middle
yeas hadoffercdhin much hopeforjoy in Iife, a,ro Lneconseqùence!
ot his cÎeat cfime haunted Ëim conriûuoudy with evil forcboding
Liaohad foundpeaccin Indonesia.He had ùany d.q
fricnds, and he was widely respectedas a sreat neârer.
Andhe had the boy at his sidewho'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! wasan affluentbustnessman who wasa learned
scholar of Chineçe histo'y and cultute as well Vith this man Liao
spentlong houresippingiea andwagingendlessdebate Hehadnade
128
ThewillolHeeven
a r r a n g e m e nxxosv i s i l h i m o n a g i v e nm o r n i n ga n ds e to u t t o t h e m a n s
house.Itwas roughly ten o'clock when he arrived.A seryantopened
the door and Liao was usheredinto the manl inner chambes. His
hi€rid roseto Areethim.
"Liao Situ," he said,"once asain you ho.or me."
Liao stoppedbriefly in his tracks,stunned.He could seethat the
mànwas 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! composurerindeed,what
had seemedlike an endlesspaur€to Liao had beenlessthan a quarter
ol a secondin real time, undetectableto the other.
"l cannot stay at the mom€nt, my friend," Liao said,"but I wart
yoû to do me à favor"
He noved with preternaturalspeedand stole a blank sheet of
pàper fron his kiend! desk,seeminslypùllins it out from urder his
"Do you have an enveloper"he asked.
His f.iend handed him one, and Liao folded the pàper inro the
envelope.Afterwritingsomethingon ihe top andscalingit, he handed
'At
exactly elevenforty-tive,l wantyou to take this envelopeto
t h e t o p o f t h e h i l l a t w h o s eb a r e y o u . l a n db e s i n s à, n d l € a v ei t t h e r e , "
"But lhave an agpointnentat noon, and, asyou know my house
bordea on the;ungle.Thathilltop is almosthalfa mile into thejunsle."
"l will have to changeclothes ànd ."
"Very w€ll, Liao Situ. If it is so important to you, I will do it.'
"Thankyou."To the manisùrprise,Liao Sifu save him an almost
Thc oldMasterwent lmm€diatelyback to his own dwellins and
beganto prayearnestly,centeredin deepmeditation,reque!tingrhat
Cod prolonc his triend'5life and lift whateverkarma had made ir so
short. At eleven forty-live his ffiend, impatient with having to go
into thejurgle and everythirs that action entailed,gavethe lerterro
a sewant instead,with the instruction rhar he tak€ it iDto rhe foresr
and leâve it at the top of the hill. The man himself ser off for his
appointmeDtin the city
129
The willof Heaven
 At noonp.ecisely,ashc crossed
thc roadiDlroDrot Lhecityposl rcligionhad developed2 And whal can the scienceof neikungoffer
officeon rhe way to his appointmenr,
he wasstruckandki ed try a
to the world in our time of rapid technologicalgro,/r'th?Here vas a
Thùs LiaoSilu learn€drhàrthe wilt ot reavencannorbe over- man who had many of the answersin his pocket.
"l suppose,Sifu," I said,"that you are whateveryou $.ant to be."
He smiled at that, and I looked down at the ground. A brief
discussionof plantsfollowed,John supportedthe postion that they
"So, Kosta,"Johncontinued,',teltrne now Am I a Thoistz,,
had awarenessand were telepathic,and Andreas,an avid botanist,
"ln my judgment as an educatedman, you
are very much a nei- wasagreeingwith everything he said.
chia Taoisr,Sifu."
I wâsuncharacteristicâllysilent for a while. Finallt in the pause
"l see.And il I told you that I practicedch,ikuns and neikuns
that followed, Iasked, "Sifu, w;ll you teach us?\Vill you teach the
strictly lor martlal artssktll, as I am the Headmasterof a marrialarts
world êbout neikung?"
school and not a plicst, what would you say to thaË Remembel I
"l am alreadyteachingyou."
only becameexposedto the realm ol spirjtsaJkr I had developed
"No,lmean,willyou teacheveryone in the world,willyou dem'
yin yang kung-Levels Four,Ftve,and so on. I wasth irry sevenyears
onstrateopenly and explain what you are doing?"
old when I first saw rny Master,sspirit; besjdesv/hich, I only devel
He was silent himself for a mom€nt, then said simply, "Do you
oped a knowledgeand an inrerestin maft€rsof the spiritr.[i?/Iwent
know about Atlantisr"
up to the mountainsfor my retreat in I992. In other words, Idid not
"Of course."
originâlly pursueneikung for any meraphysicalgain ir offered, nor
"Do you know why the islandof Atlantis was destroyedr"
becauseof any specificspirirualbelief.,,
"ln my culture we saythat it is becausethe gods werejealous."
"Okay, if you are not a Tâoistâlchemist,what are you, then7,,
"ltwas becausethey had gotten too €loseto the secretsof heaven.
"l'm the Headmasterof Pa Lei Chuan, a school of kung
tu. I arn \/hen humanity today sets too close,we also will be destroyed."
the teach€rof a Chinesesciencecâlled neikungrhat involvesstudy,
"Vhat the hell for?"
ing, enhancing,and finally combining the energiesofyin and yang
"Because the humananimal is not yet ready to becomea god."
in the body, rhe particularneikungIteach is of the lineageattributeà
"Then why createus in the first placel Logicallyiwe were either
to the sageMo-Tzu. Beyondthis t arn s;mply a man l;ke any other,,
cr€atedto developtoward somehlgher purpose,or we are the play
I did not know what to say ro all rhar.There €an be litde doubt
thinss of a hisher sentiencewho simply wants to keep us as slaves.
in our day and age thar consciousn€ss is as much a product of rhe To say that Cod Himself will destroy us makesme think much l€ss
physicalâsof rh€ spirftual_Descartessaxiomsseparatingthe psych€
of Cod."
from the flesh have long sincebeen proven wrong. An injury to
or That blunr.raremenr shockede!eryone.
illnessof the brain would readily affect someone'spersonality,mod, 'So you think I shouldcomeforth compl€tel, shareallmy knov/l
ern medicinehasmillions oI documentedcases.Our,tonsciousness,,
edge, becomefamous,andwin the Nobel Prize,"John said.
is the result of rhe intermingting of the mind and rhe body, of the
"Yesand no. I think you should offer the world concret€,repro'
spiritand the tlesh.Had the ancientphilosophersof China stumbled
ducible proof that yin and yang ch'i exist,without specificinforma-
onto th!s secretin their investigationof the energiesofyin andyang?
tion as to their precis€nature.That would be enoûgh tor you to go
Had they somehowisolatedthe bodyt energiesand seenhow rh€y
down in history asthe mânwho help€dhumanity evolveto the next
could be transfenedcompletelyro rhe spirit?Is this howTaoism the
plateau,"I rephed.

130 131
The\)villofHeâven TheWillofHeâven
 "lt has never beenthat way in human hisrory.'
"Ve have neverleeaat this point in human history before,Sifu.
Look at yourself,forexampletYou ar€ the fjrst Masterof the Mo-pai
to accepJl,)/esternstudents.Mankind is evolving, EastmeetsVest.
There is no hard evidence.hat Atlantis ever€xistedany.way;*maybe
itsjust a story that capturedthe imagjnarionofa Greek philosopher ChapterNine
centuriesin the past-man agâinstthegods.,,lmâdea silent promise
to buyJohn a copy of Platot works Knrtasand limrers. THE KTRIS
"And perhapsit is a true story t follow the w;ll of heaven,Kosra.
I rvill do what Cod wantsme to do."
He stood up
"But I will think about what you have satd,',he finished.
And with thar, our ev€ning lessonwas over
On theway back to ourhotelAndreas beratedme coniinuously.
He had beenshockedby my confrontationalapproach.,'Vhatwould There arenore thingsln heavenandearth,Ho.atio,thânâ.e
you do," he asked,"if you were Sifu:" dreamtof io yourphilosophy
"Bring fire to mankind,"l answeredunhesitatingly.
'înd Hcnlri,Act I, Scenev
be chained to a rock by the seawith an eagleeating oût
your liver for all eternity. . ." ând friend
Henky wasanotherJavanese Chrnese,a localbusinessman
"Prcmetheusttorment didnt last for all eternity,Andreas.After
of my Master for over twenty years.Henky had attemptedthe Mo-
a time, the godsset him fr€ebecausethey felt guilty. He did\,r'hathe
Pai trainins âs well but had unfortunately not progresscdvery iar'
did out of pity-to ajd humanity,you see,'
Stlll, he had garneredbenefits'he was over litty but looked much
"Are you sureit wasn'tpride2"
younger perhapsearly forties,vith a slim figu.e ânda springingstcp
It was my rurn to be silent. He had struck a point horne.
'\X/e A dedicatedspoftsman,he exerclsedand ran on a daily basisaswell.
didn't say much for the rest of rhat evening, each of us Henky wasvery much a product otJava.He spokenot a word of
wrappedin ourown thoughts.Andreas!commenthad brought home
Chineseand was ignorant of Chineselristoryr ràther, he spoke flu'
somethingvital,som€thingI hâdalwaysknown in my heartbùtthat, hc hadsoneto a Dutchschool.
ent DutchandgoodEoglishbecause
obfuscatedas it was by my own prid€, I had not clearly seenbefore.
A devot€d siudent of the hrstory of hls own home nation, He,1kv
I wasno ntan; irwas notup to me.OnlyJohn could play prometheuss Hindu empire,
was particularlyan experton the MajapahitJavanese
role and sharehis secretswith humaniry.Our missionwas to con-
which had held swayinJava and the surroundinsislandsdurins the
vince him to b€stow such a gift and, jn so convincins, shouldera
fourteenthcentury cE.
portion of the consequeoces.
He owned threeJavanese keris€s,all antiques,êllmore than five
hundred years old, all datiôs from the time of the Majapahit state
They were rnagicallycharged.
BeforeI proceed,it would bc usefulto go into the history and
* mythos of this particularbladedweapon.There was a time when all
Though there is linguistic ànd ci.cumstantialevidenceas such.
Javanesemen, from the âge ot three on, were required to wear a

132 133
TheV/illof Heâven

k€risi it is still worn today in formal ceremonies.The sheâthsand
hilts of the keriswere often exquisitelydecoratedwith carvingsand
j€\rels, \1,.hileomàmentson the blade itself were thousht to provide
additional protection from misfortune. The keris blade often has
undulationsflol), usuallysevenor nine, though up to rhirry one have
been counted.An odd numberof lok assuresthat luck will b€ sood
The wavy blade is also thought to createa more damagingwound,
though the kefs is a difficult blade to wield in combar.
Kerises are consideredto be magical by all Indonesiansand
Malaysians Tladitionally, o1d kerisesare kept as family heirlooms
and are passedfrom generationto generation.The mak;ng of the
keriswas a work involving great power and artr the orrr, or "smith,"
was considereda holy man, and his work was frausht with ritual.
Once ayear the keriswastakenout of its scabbard,cleanedwjth
lime juice aod arsenic,and sacrificedto. Incensewas bumed to it
and prayen offered, the blade was €oatedwirh a fragrant ott. The
number of times the weaponhad tastedblood addedto its power
Magicalkerises(not todaystourist fare)arerhoughtto be ableto
speak,fly, changeshape,and even father humanchildren.They can
protectthe wearerfrom harmor destroyhis enemies. They arethought
to rattle in theirscabbardsto warn theirown€rsof impend;ngdanger.
In general,they areob;ectsofgreat reverence,ândarevery powerful.
Vhen Henky offeredto showme h;skeris! powers,I vas t€mpred
to laugh, except for the fact that he was a good friend ofjohnl. In
truth, I had alreadyseenso much frornJohn himself that I no longer
knew how to approachsuch clairns,I no longer had the luxury of
skepticism.
"A magicalkeris:" I asked.
"No, three of them."
"Vhat can they dor"
"Many things,ordngputiir,*but for you they rnay move around a
bit, andyou canseeJohntalkingto them."
'John
can speakto a pieceof metal?"
"They are notjust piecesof metal,they are aware,just aswe âre."
I glared at Henky out of my left eye, the mean one. My face is
*
Oûiq purih" rtanslates as "white man"
134
I
e)rtremelyexpressivc,part of my Mediterraneanheritagc,and some_
what bimorphicr t am sentle and kind on the risht side and mean
and nastyon the left. I havea lot ofNeanderthal genesin me aswell,
xher€suttof millenniaof Balkaninbreeding,which givesme an edg€
when I wânt to look either dangercus,sâintl, or stupid'
"You'r€serious,right?" I àsked.
"l'm alwaysseriouswhen I talk about monev or things ot a spiri
My money had run out, and Henkv wasbuving me lunch l was
lot of weight on
settins tir€d of Chinese food, lndeed had lost a
what I called"therice diet," so Henkv wastreatingme 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 appointmentwith Sifu tonight l'm sureshe'dlove
to seethis aswell."
My girlfriend, Doris, had been mv constantcompanionduring
the yearsI hadknownJohn Chang and, asa result,had sufferedthe
sameassaulton her establishedperceptionof realitv thar I had dur-
ingthat time petiod. Sh€tendedto acceptthings much more readilv
than I, though, being more intelligent and having lessof a temper'
''fhe kerisesaresentientin their own wav
"l meanit," Henky said,
"Sure."
"Look, I could tell you manv stories,but I will s€ttlelor thiç one'
A few yearsago my dauchter$'as going to go on a trip with some
frlends.They pulled up to our housein their je€p and shestated to
go out the door, suddenlythere was a banging soundfrom the cup
board where we keep our kerrsesVhen I openedthe cupboard'mv
most povertul and oldestkeriswasshakingin his scabbardl told mv
daughternot to go on the trip, but sh€ insisied;new bovfriend' vou
see.\(ell,lcould not let her go unprotected,so I gaveherthe kerisio
takewith het with firm instructionçthat he protect her' That night
they had an a€cidentand the ieep w€nt off the mad TTev rolled over
three timesbeforethey hit a treerth€ vehicle\tas a total loss'but no
one wàs hurt, not even a scratch They were not wearingseat belts
and were thrown aroundinsidethe jeep consid€râblvasit rolled"
I did not know whât to think and had no wav of judsins his
slory. Certainiy thete were enough mvths of magical s$'ordsand
135
legcndsot scnticntwcaponsin gcncralin cvcrycultLrrc rll (,vcf th,
world (think Ircalir'rr. CoLrldthey be rruc rhc way John Charrr
wasreal, the way Tioy, which had been considcrcda myth by nrany
learnednien ior generations befor€its discoveryby Schliemannirr
the ninctccnth €entury,was real aswell:
I had seentoo much of the spilit world around my tcachcr to
scoff; the word si:anransuitedJohn aç well as the word TaoÂt,if yoLr
could truly distincuisbthe two. Indeed,as I wrote this book, Iwa\
ttoubledbywhat I shouldpresentresardinsJohn and the spirit world
Could I discountmy own eyesand earç lfjohn was pulling a scam,
he was fooling thousandsof people.There were other plausibleex-
planationsfor what we were s€eing one of which was simply lhàr
John was imposinghis will and imageryon the minds ol the partici
pants,a sort of masshypnosis.But even if thât were th€ case,it was
a power worth notins, and I would have no problem walking into a
courtroom and testifying to the experience.To say nothing at all
would sirnply be cowardly,and unfair toJohn aswell.
Lft me sharewith you one such encountelwith a power{ul and
benevolentspir;t.Judgefor yourself.
The Prince
Hefcùles (no relàtion to the hero) was a cousinol ninc whom I had
brousht with ne to Indonesiarlohn had been kiDd enough to allow
him toloin ourgroup and witne$ the summoningof a spirit who had
died at Level Three. This spirit was rcpùted to be so powerful that
anyone could hear him, and some people could see hin âs well, at
L e v e l T h r e eh, e c e r t a i n l yh a d a l o t o f y a n g c h ' l .
The ghost was the spi.it of a sixteenth-centuryprince, and his
sravesitewas situâtedin the PuncakPassnear Bogof in centralJava
Hc hâd slainmâny enen,esdurins hi! lifetime, and his kamrawas ro
watch ovc the island of Jàvain 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. Peoplecamc to sleepthere and ask
hin for lavor and protection,whlle Indonesiasleàders,even in this
moderû day, olten visited th€ site with variouspsychics
A largepaÉy ofus walkedùp the trail to th€ gravesite,an Indone
sian minister had pâved that path wilh concretefor his own conve
nlcncr FIcr. was er<citedand anxious.l-lc had fist metJohn on a
husincsstransactionI had arranged,knowin8 nothing at the tiûe of
nry tcacheri powers.This trip had changedallthat;John hadshowed
hlm rnuch and welcomed him i'rio his home. But seeins this ehost
(wcll, hearinshim, anlvây)wâs soins to be the piècede résistance. I
hrd beenbeggingJohn for yeârsto takeme tovisitthe prince Hehad
linally .onçented,aûdjust in time, In a few short monthsthe princ€'s
{piriLwouldbe goingup into the white waveforever Hercwas lucking
(,(t Vith us we.e Handoko, one of lndonesiasindustrialleaders,a
l.w hicnds,ând someofJohns stùdents,fifteen peoplein all
"Did you brins yourriûocassete recorder:"Handoko askedme
" N o p e .1 f o r g o ti t i n m y h o i e l r o o m "
"Peoplehave ried to record him ir the past,and all that comes
out G a kind of squeakinsnoise."
"Maybe he speaksdirectly to th€ b.ain centereof the people
present,"I said. "Maybe it's not sound ât all, but simply seemsthat
"Yeah.Or maybe the spirit simply doesn'twant to be .ecorded,
and erasesthe tâpe eàch tifte."
"lnterestins phenomenon,thoush," Isaid. "lt alsoshowsthat Situ
hasnt planteda wirelessnicrophone somewherein thc area."
"Cood point," Handoko said.
Ve reachedthe area,and my brother stùdentsimmediàtelybe-
gan to clear up and prepa.ethe site. As I had wiinessedin the past,
they laid out floweB and food for the spfit, ànd lit up an incense
AU fifteen o{ us gatheredclose to the offerinss andJohn went
into ùeditalion, summoningthe prince. lûmediately we heard the
loud and shrill whining of the wind, th€ mark of a spirit. I saw th€
incensestick move. Suddenly,to the risht of the offerings and di
r€ctly in frcntofmymaster, therewasano.âng€glow Asweet,gertle
voi€e spoketo 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 th€ir nanes?
"Handoko,"John began
"Handoko," the voice whisperedgently. "And next to him there
are white me'. Are thesemen from Hollandr"
"No,"John said quickly,"Dari,rdr, . . from Creece."
137

'Ah r)/hai
a r et h e i rn a m e s ?t "h e p r i D c ea s K e d .
"Kosta ànd Hercules,"John answered,and the spirit fepeated
I concotratcdas hard asI couldon the shini ng orangeltght and
made out a slim hand da.cing in it, but try as I might I could see
rothine more. The conv€Barionweni on, roo difficult for me to
un-
derstandwith ny poor Indonesian;aÊtera rime,
.lohn thanked the
spirit and he left.
I immediarely approâchedmy Master.'\X/hy did he ask if we
were hom Hollandr" I asked.
"tsecause he sawHercules,s blo,rdhâir \T/hilethe princewasalive,
the white men who werecomins toJava were Dutch, and he was not
fond of them. He wonderedwhât you were doins here, rhats âll ,,
Brr I thoùsht. Cood thins he under$ooo we were not hrs an
cient enemies."Did ev€ryrhingAo well?" I asKeo.
"Not really. I wanted to ask him about a friendofùine who was
dyinA, \aherheror not he could help, the spirit simply said that my
friend had developedbad ka.ma, and that it was the wi ot heaven
thàt he die now He sussestedI remind my inend thar rhere wa!
a
Cod, to trust in Him complerely,and nor resistwhatever punish
ment his karma brousht him."
Iwas quiet. My teacher'swords hàd mov€d me, and I realizedat
the sametime that he hàd done us a grear honor
Ve were the fûst white rn€n thar rhe spirir of the prince had
seenin lour hundred years,rhe Iiret thar my Masrer had brought
up
r o t h e P u n .a t P d \ 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
displaysofaffedion in senerat.I hopedthat in the tuture I would
be
r b l " r o r e p a vh m r o . t h " m d n ys i l . L e h d d
s , v e nm €
Ve met John in the late €venjns and had dinner at his house,
as
usual Later, after the cÙstornary pleasanrries had b€en 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 thanthe others.The btadesof the firsrrwo wereundulared,
bur
the lastand mostbeautitulhad a straight,unwaveriogblade.The
I
$udaccof the mctalwasblackcncd, coarse,anddamascenedi aswas
thc customin Malàysiaand Indonesiarkeriseswere etchedwith hot
llmejuice andarsenicupon fabrication.
The kerisessmelled fra$ant, the ace of the bladescoated
with a sweersmellingoil. I askedHenky what it was.
"The oil of a tree that we use for this purposein Indonesia,"he
saidsimply."lt is th€ir lâvorite."
"lsee."
"You must usethe oil foom a living plant on a keris, n€ver a p€
troleumderivative."
"Okay."
"So am L How much doesone of thesethings cost?"
"Betweenrwenty andforty thousanddollarc,if it hasrealpower"
"l doubt I'll ever own one, Henky, but thanks for the tip," I said.
"Youmaydesireone to pmtect your family in the future,"he said
simply.
John steppedin. "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 wasstupidenoughto ask,"Vhy2"
"Becauseitt better,"Johnreplied, simply enough.
Ve clearedthe coffee tâble betweenus of the tea ùxensilsând
cupsandsat down around it. I satacrossfromJohn; Doris wasto my
left, Henky acrossfrom her.
John took a saucerand fhpped ;t over, settins it down on its
face.He took a stick of incenseand lit it, laying it down carefullyon
the back of the saùcerto protect the tabletop, which \ras Formica.
He took the smallestkeris and laid it out on the table, the blade
restingon the sheath.
Vithout warning he was all concentration,and my belly shook.
His facebecamelike a statueand I could almosthearhisheartslowins,
stopping Everythingseemedto condenseinto a spherearoundhim.
Suddenlythe blade turned to move over the inceôse.
Doris smiled.
John picked up the keris, played the incenseover it, and re'
turned it to its sheath.
"This one doesn'thaveall that much power,"he said.
139
 He took out the se€ondkeris and laid it on the table rhe samc whi{pcrcdson1clhing to lhc wcapon,thcrls'riit down on thc table
way as he hadthe first. Agâin he concentrated,rhis time briefly. The siickbàckon the dishandttrrnedto Henkv The
t't" pur thc lrrccnse
secondk€risturnedalso,rotatingto come overthe incense.lt seemed two m(:nsPoketo each other brictlv
evenins con
to be eagerlyèonsr-rminsthe smoke,vibratins slightly asit did. Iohn I looked at Dorls, who secmedverv happv That
viih spir-
pickedit up. {irrrcclfor her what I had told her of mv own expcriences
"This one is in a very bad mood tonight," he said.'Iyy'ewill not ils in John'scompanyin the Past
"Sihr,"sheaçked,"how cân the kc'is do vhat it do€s?
"lt all practical
He set the point ol the keris into its scabbard.The keris pulled "Becàuseit has vin power"' he answered is' for
'
the scabbardov€r its "body" with much force, making a loud clack purposes,a spirit
saucel lt had
rng norse. Ireached out to adjùst the incençestick on the
thât it mislrt
"l'd like to seethat asain,"l sâid rolted near the edge of the saucer,and I was wonied
John smiled."All risht," he said. "Here, hold the scabbard."He '- off and burn the Formica
roll
to cÙt me l
removedthe blade from its wooden sheathand offeredthe latter to ifl. f.-o SarnarspLIna'ound verv fast and tied
gasped
pdled my hând backin tim€ just asevervoneother thânJohn
I took the wooden scabbardin my right hand, holding ftrmly. "Becaretull"Henkv said. "Tlev have a mind of th€ir own' vou
John insertedthe tip of the blade into the sheath.Hewhispered
this "l'm
something to the keris I looked at the keris; somehowI knew how to handl€
"liustwanted
The scabbardwasjerkedfrom my graspwith considerableforce, notifngtotake awavvour incense'mv friend"'l said
the keris blâde pullins the wooden sheathover itself. to adiustit on the tabl€ "
go aheadand
"As I said,"John remarked,"this one is in a very bad mood and "ile doesnt understandEnglish,"John said "But
does not want to be bothered" tru to make hi€nds with him "
witb one hand
He removedthe blade from its sheath,playedthe incenseover I picked the weapon up ging€Ïlv bv the handle
oiherr I concen-
it, and retumed it to the scabbard.He placed it to one side. and passedthe incensestick ùnd€r him with the
much asI wouldhave
Henky handedhim the lasrkerjs,the onewith the straightblade. tratedan,1tr;e,1topro;ectapp€asingthoughts'
''Ihis a dislike to me'
one is very powerful,"Johnsaid."He was madeduring the done with th€ pet of a friend that had taken
fecl the vibrâ-
early yearsof the Majapahit empire,and his narneis Samar"* Êventhoueh I was expectingit, it was thrilling to
lohn laid the weapoô on the table in a sirnilar manner,and it tion in my hand asthe keris seemedto hum' '
immediately spun to settleove. the burning incensestick. "Apologv accepted'''Johnsaid "Put him down
"SifLr,"Dor;s asked,"how do yoù know its namer" I did so.
what he can
"He told me,"John answered."He rememberseverythiDsabout "He is actuâllvvery nice and nov wanrrçto show us
hjs mâkjng,the circumsrances andthe time. He remernbershis name do lohn sard He pr.rL rh' teapon bàLl' In ir\ '(dbbd d and 'er rr
lohrr and lookedat u'
as well. He is over five hundredyearsold." do.n rhe h'lt l* 'ng rowardhrm'eh "nied
said' andthe
John picked up the kerisand passedthe incensestick under it. If tfu,"t tt n.'H" to"t.aat the kerisbriellv "sâmârl"he
skip acrossthe tabl€
a piece of metal could appearcontent, that one certainly did John weapon leapt completelv out of its sheathto
andj mp into his openhand
-
Since to know the nameol a keris is ro hàve power over ir, I hàve \fle were delishted
said ves'
chânAedthe weapon! nametD protect Henky. "Vant to seeit again:"John asked'and we of coÙrse

14{) 141
 He calledthe kertsagain,andoncemoreit jumpedoverto him
"He seemsvery eagerto please,"Doris said.
I was reminded of a golden retriever I knewr rheir dispositions
seemedabout the same.
JohnpickedSamarupbythe hilt andra|lrhe inc€nse stickunder
him Th€ kerisvibratedin contentment.SuddenlyJobnlaughedand
put the w€apon back in his sheath,haoding it to Henky.
"Like a bab9" he said."He hashtsown mind and his opinionsare
JustthenJohn'sLhasaapso,caltedLovely,trotted up to my heels.
I reacheddown to pet rhe turry back. Lovety sniffed around a bit,
wr€stl€dbriefly with Do.is, then seroff to find somethingmorc in,
terestjngro oc€upy her time.
'A
keris spirit is somethingltke that,,'Johnsajd,pointing to
Lovely. "lf you pet him and stroke him and feed htm regLrtarly,he
will be loyal and happy.Ifyou starvehtm and ignore hirn, kick him
and beath;m, he canbecomeunpleasant.,'
"Their intelligenceis about the sâme?,,
I asked.
"No. The kerist sentienceis not so developed.,'
"Situ,"Doris sÂid,'you can speakto him bccauseyou havecom-
bined yin and yâng, correct?"
"Correct."
"And how about usr Can he hearusr"
"Oh yes. He can lrearyou and seeyou and senseyou in ways
you cannot understand.Ir isyo who cannot speakwith himi you
must be into L€velThree to senseyin powei unlessyou learn how
to useyour drearns.'
"There is a lbetan Buddhistdreammeditationcaltedthe nr;lan,"
I saicl.
"Yes,and in Indonesiapeopleoften go to the gravesof Muslim
saintsand sleepthere," Henky said, "hoping to communicatewith
them. Frequentlythesespiritsdo speakto rhe peoplein rheifdreams
and give them a|swersto their quesrions',
"Sifu,"I asked,"doesthekerishaveyanglIsthat how he canm ove,",'
"No. He hasyin power rrapp€d inside a frame of meral He is
taking yang from me at my requesr But sincehe hasyin power, he
can absorb yang and so protect you. If an individual managesto
142
combine yin and yang, thcn he can makea keris movc and speakto
him ât will."
I wanted to clearup somethingthat was gnawing at ihe back of
my mind, somethingthat would be incredibleif itwere true."Sifu,"l
asked,"Samaris a crsated beins, isn't he?"
John lookedât me wjth interest."No, Kosta,you aremissingthe
point. Nice try, but no cigar, as they say. Samar is not a creâted
beingar all, he s rh. exren.ionof a manwho ont e wa'.'
"Can you explainthis, Situ?"
"Vhen I first developedrny power,"John said, "l was curioos
about the abilitiesof the keris.In an antiquesshop I found a keris of
power that was rusting awayrthe storekeepercould not sensethat
the keriswascharged,you see.That weaponwas five hundredyears
old, but he thousht it was;unk and treatedit as such.lbought;t for
a few dollarsànd took it home,where I investigatedits origins using
my own skills.In the very centerof ihe keris, bLtriedin the layemof
metal,was a strip of pâperon whlch a charm waswritten in Sanskrit
Ieiters.It wàsvery similarto a Chinesetalisman,a fu. At that point I
undentood the techniqueof fabricâtingthe keris."
"Vbatt a fur" Doris asked.
"A charm,aTaoisttalismanof protectionandhealing,"Iaoswered
her quickly and turned toJohn.
'A tu comesfrom oLrrown person,"Johnsaid.'Vhen we makea
fu, we extendour consciousness and our power into the charm, and
th€re that power can s€ruea specificpurpose.For exampJe,when I
speakto a keris, it is actuallythe spirit o{ the kerisi maker whom I
am speakingto, this màû has,in the past,entendeda part ofh;s own
lifeforce and spirit into the fu in the heart of the keris."
'A
He leanedback. tu is like an antenna,"he continued. "You
know when I was young and wantedto medltate,Ihad ser;ousprob'
lemsat nightbecausetherear€so manymosquitoesherein theTiop
ics. \/e could not afford screens,and chemical repellentshad not
yet beendeveloped,so I had problemscon€entratinsbecause of their
constantattacks.Liao Sifu showed me how to make a fu tbat would
attract mosquitoes,I would focus,draw the charm on a pieceof pa-
pet andputpoverinto it. Then I wouldplac€itin my ba€kyatdând,
in this manner,be left in peacefor as long as I wanted to meditate.
143
 After I finished,lwould tearup the fu and rcleascrhe mosquirocs;
there were alwayshundredsof them there "
"YoumeâIl the mosquitoeswould be attractedto the paper?"
"Yes.But itwas my own lifeforcethat made the charm possible."
"How long doesa tu last:"
"All of theseitems have a time span,and their enersieshave to
Lrerenewedconstantlr"John answercd."ln the caseofthe keris,the
metal body naturallyholds the yin power well. Vhen the keris is a
family heirloom, its power is renewedon a ycarly basisbecauseof
the ceremoniesâssociated\r.ith its keeping Butyou know, to makea
tu, the pnctitioner must hàve abilitics like myself, and even then
perhapsmakesonly one or tvo fu in his \,/holelifetime. lr is no easy
thing The tourist'trade fuyou seeforsaletn Tàoistrempleshaveno
rcal pow€r, they ârc imitations,like a fake Rolex."
Doris was qùi€t. "lt soundsalnost like magic,"shc said ftnally.
John shrugged."Perhapsin a way.Mdric, or sorceryifyou will, is
by definition the use of outsidc energiesro fulfil a specifictâsk or
desir€.Strictlyspeakjng, sincea fu comesfrorrrour own pcrsor,rr rs
not nragic. One does not invoke spirits to rnakea fu. In any case,
Doris, even il you were to considerthcse kerisesrnagical,they are
oot m/ doine I am no sorcerer.Thc neikungrraining I have done all
my life sinrply givesme power over such things "
I thouÉthtover the conccpt of the fu as an ântennato thc dcad
makcr'sspirit. "Siftr,"l said,"you told me oncc ihat a spirit cannotlie.
That meanshe cannot createaswelli is that correcc"
"Yes,Kosta. It is the coming together ol yin and yang that al
lows crcation, it is specificallythis attribule that makesall lile on
earth special.The humanbeing is even more unique in that he pos-
sessesthe biological qualificarionsto |nakefulluse of the ability ro
"Our brains"
"So this fu in the keris,this aotenna,ir feedsthe maker informa-
tion and allows hirn to act on rhe earth aswell," l sàid.
"Yes,but only with yin power,"Johnanswered.
"Fair enouch. How strong his influence is dependson the fu,
right2 It! Iike computer proÊramming,isnt ir?"
144
@ E (b)
Fig L An €xample of à typicalChineseBuddhisttu usedlor prctection
âsainstneaativelorcesis shownat (a) The Sanskntsvllableusedto charse
th€talisman the inasebv itselljs not
is depictedin (b). Ho,^,ever,
"charged'-itwoùldbeuseless for youto copvit andattemPtto etplov it.
"Yesand no. The personalityof the makerwas establisheddul-
ing his lifetime by the interaction of yin ând yang, now that h€ is
onlyyin, he cannotdevelop,lie, orcreate.I seewhatvouaresaving'
though; hiç decisionsare filtered by the fu and constrâinedbv th€
fact that h€ is a spirit. Thât is conect."
Doris looked at John. "ls h€ right? Is this writing dovn of the
characters-whether Saôskrit 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 yourselfthe result of programmlngrYour brain, which js
a type of cornputer,read externalstimuli as input when you were a
baby.lt processedthe datâ,and, through the y€ars,vourpersonalftv
was fomed. It is much dre same,exc€pt that you as a humanbeing
possessboth yin and yang in equal balance Ïle keris does not
Making a fLtis like giving birth, in a way. You are essentiâllvputting
a part ofyourself lnto somethingelse,and this antennawill continu€
fol a given duration."
John pausedto hght a cisâretteand leanedback "The problem
is,"he said,"thatmany IndonesiansandMalavsianstreartheir familv
kerisesas articlesof worship rather than the loval companionsof
mediocreperceptionthat they rea1lyare "
Doris iooked at Henky, who grinned
John smiled."Not Henky. The truth is, I doubt that a keris will
everwin theNobelPrize in physlcs,becauseofthe doubleconstraints
145
thât we menrionedearlie.Samaris ân exampleof a highly inrelli_
sent ooe A kerisshould be treatedlike a pet, fed and cared fo1 bur
neve. worshipp€dlike a sod. This is a very seriousmjstake,and one
I constantly'reproacbmy frtendsfor Somepeopleevenpray to their
kerisest"
Lovelycametrottingupagain.John pickedherup,puther in his Chapter Tèn
Iap and beganto per her ''fhis is how a kerjs shouldbe treated-or
any fu, for that mafter like a loyal friend and protector. you can
caressher ifyou wish, bur I doubt you would everpray to her,would
THF NATUREOF
you?There is only one Cod, and He aloneshouldbe worshippedby REALITY
Ve could not really addmuch to thar simplesratement.perhaps
ot all the thinss I had seenaroundJohn,the kerisand the concept ol
tu were the most shockins.I could seethat Doris wasshakenaswell
by the ràmificarions.
Could all the myths and legendsof humanity indeed be true?
Suddenly many things were clear to me. Yearsof academicschool-
ing stoppedbuftjng headswith yearsofsearchingfor esoterictruths,
It was at sunseton a b€ach on the island of Evia, north of Athens,
.he momenrsI had spent with.lohn rushedthrcush my mind like a
that I finally enteredinto hypernormalstatesofconsciousnessI \vas
hurri€aneand I was grantedanswersto quesrionsrhat had plagued
seatedin a half lotus, engagedin my LevelTwo exercises,prtlling in
yang ch'i, se,rdingit down to my dântien, aod compressingit tbere
I had graspedan undersrandtngoÊnature.
by yogically holding rny breath.
It remainedto be seenwhat I would do wirh it
Suddenly there was a whirrinc noise, like a helicopter or the
John studiedme caretullyand nodded.Perhapshehadseensome propeller of a boat (indeed,at first I thought there waç â boat pass
lhing in my fâcethâr mirror€dthe thoughtsracingthrough mymind.
ingby). The noisekept gettinslouder andlouder Vithout warning,
Awkwardly, Doris and Istood up and said our goodnishts. It vr'as
everythingwent black: CoodGod,I'nbaoinga strokr,lthought kwas
not an uncomfortablefeeling, howeveri indeed, the sensationwàs
Since that day I haveseenhundredsof kerises,somewith great
ratherpleasant.lobsewed the phenomenonfor a while, complelelv
powel others with less,but each with its own distinct p€rsonality.
awareandconscious,beforeI beganto teelafraid and pulled mvch'i
The phenomenonneverceasesto amazeme. I willclose this châpter
back up.
with the simple affirmation rhat I have becorn€convinced that the
The world carneback to me and I reeled,dizzy for a few sec-
magic of the keris is genuine.For the moment, to sayanyrhing more
onds.I felt powerful,notweak; thiswas no stroke.Vânting to finish
would be pointless
the set of exercisesI had begun,I sent my ch'i back down lmtnedi'
ately,the whirring noisebeganagain,but this time I wasapprehen
siver I interrupted the processand pulled away A third repetition
yielded the sameresult. It was g€tting to be too much l stood on
shakylegs and walked over to where Doris was waiting

146 14?
The Keris
 She was furious."l thought you said you were only going to be
twenty minutesor sol" shesaid.
"Vell, I wqs,I mean,Ithought. . . . Vas llater" Istammered.
WlJrftdiàthetine40, I thought. A yogic repetition usuallytook me a
minute; I had wanted to do twenty before we went to dinn€r ât a
"Vhat are you talking about?I'v€ been waiting hete watching
you for forty-five minuteslYou didn't rnoveât all for at leasttwenty
minutesone time. Iwas worried."
I wasshocked.lt seemedthat,for twenty minutesor more, I had
held my breath and lost all awareness of time.
I immediatelycalledJohn.
"Congratulations,"he said.
"Vhat do you mean,congratulations?"
"Cood experience.It meansyou're progressingwell along l-evel
Two."
"lt was supposedto happenr"
"Sure."
"\i/hat wâs the whirring noise?A Sufi friend of mine sâidthat it
was the dantient chakrawheel as it spun."
He laughed."Oh yeahl Youtransfenedyour awareness down to
your dantien,thats all."
Thatl alll The miraculoushad apparentlybecomeroutine and
the sublimecommon aroundJohn. How could I go about brinsins
such knowledge to the Vestern world without being ridiculed or
condemnedzVhat was the best \{ay to proceed?And how to k€ep
my own ambitionsand hopesat bay while I did so?Tiese thoughts
were for€most on my mind at the time of the above incident, and
with good reâson.
You will recall that Liao Situ made my teacherpJedgenever to
demonstratehis powersin public, nor usethem for profit or for €vil
purposes.Vhen lohn made the decisionto so aheadwith a book
and film in May 1996,he consultedwith his Master,who had djed
mor€ than thirty-four years earlier and gone up in 1992.To reach
Liao Sifu'sconsciousness, John fastedfor more than ten days and
enteredde€p m€ditation,sendinghis awareness out ând avây. Liao
Sifu told him that it would be okay to proceedrthe time was ripe,
r48
The Nâtureof Reâlity
runtlhunanity wasrcady.tlc alsowarncdJohn thât w€ would bear
rhc karmaof the effort lfwe could teachhumaniiv about the factual
l)cocfits of meditatioo, ch'ikung, and neikùng, then the blessitss
would be greatlndeed,it it backfired,andw€ createda Frankenstein
nr,,n,ter, rhenrhe tarma wouldbÊveD bad.
Vhen initially taking up the task of producing a book for mv
tcacher,I had quickly se€nthe need for a noted scientific authoritv
to lend credibil;ty to what I was writing l was âlso acutelv awareof
thc limitations imposedbvJohn! oath to his own Master' A public
clcmounder chnlcal conditionswas not permitted The plan I came
up with to overcom€this obstâcl€was simple'John was allowed to
lrcat anyonewith a real illness,andthe phenomenonof electrogen
csishe used during theseacupuncturetr€atmentswas enougn or a
demonstrationfor any clinical phvsicist.Mv strategvwaç to tind a
distinguish€dauthority who was ill, set up a therapv s€ssionwith
uç
John, and hopetully induce this man or womân to support John
coLrldthen do a f"ll demonstrationootlttr in front of those students
o[his who were alsodegreedscientists,there vere quite a few ofus
It would be enough,with the right personin ourcorner I spentlong
lrours feeling peoplc out and setting up contactswith eminent re-
scarchers.ln two such casesJohn got cold feet at the last possible
lnstant,and I was left with making the nec€ssaryphone calls to the
rnen (who were probablv convincedat that moment that Dvnamo
Jackwasa fraud).
Aftermany frustratingmonthsI returnedto Indonesiain Novem-
ber 1997,whereI met with AndreasandHandoko At that tim€ Chans
ques
Sifu reaffirmedtous that a public demonstrationwas out ofthe
tion, \trhile he had receivedpemission from his teacherto do a book
and film, he wasstill bound bv his promiseto Liao Situ ln the round'
rable discussionsthat folloved, Andreashad the idea of bringing
LawrenceBlair*into the prolect,asa filmrnakerwhohad alreadvwit-
nessedwhat our Mastercould do, and becauseRrrg oJFnehad been
our introduction to.lohn in the first place h was a good idea The
next mornins I boardeda plane(or Bali and beganlooking for Blair
I
S e er h e r n t r o d u c n ^ na n d c h a p t e rI
149
The Nâture of Reâliq,
 Now, LawrenceBlâirandJohnhadnotspokenlof tcn ycârs;thc
latter was ansfy with the former, for he beltevedthat Dr. tslairhad
rricked him. Accordins to John, the orisinàl footâ{refor Rr 4 oJFre
had bccn fllnied for the purposeof scientificldcnftrridrlo,of his abili
ties,not lor commerciâl use.LawrcncewastenifiedolJohn dnd had
stayedaway from him for ten yearswhen he heard that my teacher
I mct with Dr Blairthat sameevenjns in his housein Ubud, ac
cording to him, a mimnderstândingwasêt the coreol the mdttcr Blail
had Lrsedthe Malay word/ollunoriairwhilespeakinsvithJohr, Chans
Sitr! had construedthe $.ord to mean "documentatior,"while ar the
samctnne Blairbelievedhe had carteblanchcto usethe footase.
I brought the two ften tos€thef that we€k, with thc intcnt of
having Lawrenccdo a seconddocumentaryenploying rhe existing
footage he had from R':4 oJFrre. Apparently that meetinsv/ent very
well bccauseJohn reachedan rrnexpected decision,Dr Blairwasgiven
pennissionto shoot a rsxrdocunentarv on John, wirh Henkyt assis
tance.I breatheda siebof relief,freeto continuewith .ny ovn pfoject.
I had an agendato keep. I wanted to reach out to those ltke
myseli, peoplewith \(/esterntechnicaldegreeswho were alsoexpe
riencedmdrtialartists,peoplewho couldandwouldcombineJohn!
neikung training with an orthological approachand \X/esternsci
cnce. lt had têken humanity a long, long tjme to evolve such stock,
menandwomenwho weren€itherEastnorVest but a littleofboth.
Itwas timeto cashin on the investm€nt.PerhapsthosewhomCeorge
Lucashad namedtheJed; would come in the flesh.
But it would be no easytask,for the rulescould not be broken I
knew first-handwhathappenedwhensomeonebrokean oath around
John. Let me shareone such incid€nt \i/ith the reader:
A ChanSjein the Weather
I wasdrivine backdown toAthens frornmy villagein northernCreece
when the rainstormhit
\X/rth me in my V\v Colf was Spiro, a twenry-€isht-yearold
pilotwhowàs both a tiiend andmy studentin the martial arts Itwas
sprinstime, llowerswe.e everywhere,and Easterhad come and sone.
The sun was shining and ther€ was not a cloud in the sky.
150
The Nâtureof Reâliry
Q u i L cs u d d c n l ra n d i n v i r w o t d r c l a c t t h a r S p i . o t Î â t h e rh â d
jus1lost a kidncy ro infectioD,rhe ropic of our conversationrurned
t o d e a t ha n d t h e p o t e n t i a l o f a na f t e r l t f el h a d k n o w n l o h n f o r a b o u t
â year at the time and wâs b(6ting to tell so'neone,anyone,what I
had witncssed.I was,however ûnderst.icr ordersnot to discusswhat
I had seen,alrd had promisedJohnas much
Scizing the moment, I told Spi.o whàr I had learnedin Indone
sia, how there was no longer any doûbt i. 'ny mind that there was
life after death. I describedthe whiie wave and the blàck wave and
whatJohn hâd tàught me.
Suddenlya massof water struck the windshield I couldnt see,
and tu.ncd the wipeB on.
\X/ewere passinsfreshly turned fields '\fe musr have pa$ed
ihfotgh a sprinkle.,"I said to Spiro. Srànge that I hadn'r seenit.
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 highestspeed.
"No, its a ràinstonn,"Spiro said He was puzzled.As a prof€r-
sionalpilot,he krew aboutwearher,and therehad beenoo indicarions
wewould be havinga showel let aloneone ofsuch inteDsiryThe raiû
continucd to pummelus wilh vigor so much thà1I could hardly see.
\N/erode on in silence After abour a mile I noriced sonethiDe
stmnge The ca6 that ûe.e conine toward ne in rhc oppolite laDc
didn't hâve their wipe.s on.
I lookcddown aLthe ground aswe paxed. kappcaredto be dryr
"Vhat kind ol fockins raiDsrormis thisr" I said ort loud
At the same ùoment I hcârd a snall and frishL€nedwhimper
kom the pasengers scat "LIh, did you do somerhingyou weren't
supposedto when you told ûre àbout all thisz"Spiro âsked 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
broughtto llfe, and I wasbeeinninsto enjoymyself.I adually srinned,
then looted up at the heavens.
"l'm s.,.ry Sif!," 1said "lt won'r happe. again."
Spatteing ûs with the rattle of a few final drops, the rain sud
denly stopped I pulled over to the curb aDdwe sot out quickly.
M y W w a s s o a k e d . Iht a d t h e l o o k o f a c a rt h a t h è sb e e nl e f t i .
tropicalthûnderstorns for aweek. Other cars,conpletely dry kept
pâsins us left and riaht aswe stood on the side ofthe road.The sun
was shiningras before, rherewas not a cloud in the sky.
151
The Nâtureof Reality

Spiro cauaht my cye. "Okar" he râid, "either it didn'1happen
and I walk away from you, or it did happenand t haveto start tfain
ing " He qausedfor a secondand smiled "Vhen can you show me
Level Onez"
I c a l l e d l o h na ss o o na ! l s o t b a c k h o m e ,d e s c d b i n st h e i n c i d e n t
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, yoù see, and try to be av/arc of th€m as rnuch às
possible. In writjng this book, forexample, in presentingJohn to the
\7est, I am walking on a tishûope. I, too, will have to pay the karma
of my actionç ând intentions, good and bad. I dread the latter, my
heart is far lrom pure, andrny hands notas clean as lwould Iike them
RFINVENTINC
THT\(/HËTL
As I've statedrepeatedly,the point is not to subiugateEasterosci
ence to \ù/estem,but rath€r to createa rri, sciencethat is neith€r
Eastnor V€st. Scientifictheory is always to paraphraseDr Frlqof
Capra*-at bestan drproxindtior,someone!attemptto mod€lor do€u-
ment the underlying nature and processesof physical reality. Fol
example,classicalNewtonian theory was quite adequatelor illus
tratingthe behaviorof large,slow'moving masses,
but had problems
charâcterizingelectromagneticfields and even more problems on
th€ atomic scale.The trials and tribulâtionsof the world'sthinkers
can be amusingto follow (ifyou're the type of individualwho enjoys
watching intelligent peoplerunning headfirstinto brick walls).Two
hundredyearsago,for exarnple,peoplebelievedin somethingcalled
ûloln]'on,an imasinarysubstancethought to exist only becausehu-
mankinddid not prope yunderstandcombustion.The failureto come
* Einstein,Max Planck,NielsBohr \Y/erner
Capn, Fitjol,'I\e TdooJPrlicr (NewYork,BantamNew AgeBooks,
1977).
152
The Nâtureof Reâlity
up with an adequatemodcl for combustionwas an insurmountable
obstacleagainstreal progressin chemical theory. Never willing to
say"l don't know,"the scientistsof the day announcedth€ existenc€
of the imponderablephlogiston,â substancecontâinedin all materi-
alscapableof sustainingoxidation.There is,ofcourse,no suchthing.
I could not, asa scien.ist,discountwhat Ihad seenwith my ov/n
cyes,and, unlessJohn was the greâiestmagicianin th€ world (or a
genetic mutânt), there was no way he could be tricking so many
people. You can compl€tely discount the rnetâphysicalaspectsof
this text as Johns own impressionsor delusions,but ther€ was no
discountingth€ energiesthat I and thousandsof people had wit
nessedand experienced.In addition,theassumptionthatJohni pow-
ers are the result of a genetic mutation is not vâlid, becauseall his
studentsencounteredthe energi€sh€ describedv/ithinour own bodies
during our training. In a sparringsession,for instance,I accidentally
nearlykilled one of my own students,who had surprisedme with a
quick punch. In r€action I hit him in the chest with my right palm
while blocking with my left. The man a strapping,powerfulCreek
villager-immediarely suffereda mild heart attack and collapsed.
There wasno rationalexplanationforsuch a reaction,nolcouldany
clarification of his condition be found in a hosoital. He was. and
thankfully still is, exceptionallyhealthy.
Th€ cornerstoncof our body ofknowledgeis the scienceof phys-
ics.Most peopletoday take quantumphysicsfor granted,or look at
that sciencewith distrusr,indeed,its imm€diatepracticalapplication,
nuclearpower,will plâgle usuntilwe cometounderstandthephysics
of fusion.In 1905,when Albert Einst€in(then a clerk in the Swiss
pat€ntoffice) publishedhisnow classicpaperson relativitsr/ andwhat
wasto becomequantummechanics,theresponçefrom theestablished
community of Newtonian physicistsv/asquite vicious.Despitethis
outcry within two decadesa teamof dedicated,brilliaot men,*work
ingâcrossinternationalborders, had irrefutablysetthe foundationsof
quantumtheory The point is that manl perceptionof the universe
.
Heisenbe.s,
EMin
Pauli,PaulDirac,andLoûisde B.oslie
\X/olfgang
Schrôdinge.,
The Nâture of Reâlib/
 changedradicallyand suddenly,destroyingthe establishedconcep, thc ultilr]ale. lirom this statc a point ol moveDcnt, of pure yang,
tions of the sci€ntificcommunity in a short and bewildering twenty shinesoutThereis interactionb€twcenyin andyangleadingto the
years.\X/hile it is more comforting to think that scientificth€ory is stateof t'al chl (the supremeextr€mity)' here yin and yang are em-
constant and on top of things thus reducingthe insecurityin our lrraced,distinct yet tog€ther,count€ractingeach others forces.
own lives the truth is that scientific theory is ever changingin its
attemptsto describ€realiry And I use the tem eovchan4n4rather
than mabh4 purposely,becausein many casesthe departurefrom
establishedpatternsof thought hasbeen quite revolutionary.
Imagincthe shockto the establishedscientificcommunitywhen
the realit/ of the atom came to be understood.Until then people
had supposedatoms to be incrcdibly hard, indivisible part;clesof
solid rnâss,qoânturn rnechalics (and the discovery of the X ray)
showed th€m to be mostly space,existing only in relation to €ach
other and definableonly by the lawsof probability.
Relativity theory and quantummechanicsare, of necessity,ho-
listic and ecological,however as far as humanityt social evolution
(d)
goestheir discoveryis fairly recent,andtherehasnotyei beeneôoùgh
time for them ro have a benevolenteffect. (lndeed,their initial de, Iis 2. (a)\/ù chi, pureyin. (b) and(c) A lpârkof movementin the
rivative nucl€ar power-has to date been negative) It is certaio (illness;yansin th€ centerofyin.(d)T'ai chi;yin andvangetbraced
that we will see their poçitive sid€ in the next fifty years;for the
moment it is reassrringto know that thc creatorsof quantumtheory
th€mselvesquickly âppreciatedhow closely their new physicsfol IfJohn! theoriesand the modelin fisure 2 areaccurate,th€n our
lowed the model of Eastrn mysticism.Many of thern beganstudy own archetypeof the universeis missinga key ingredient:the fact
ing the wisdorn of the Eastin ord€r to b€fler understandtheir own rhat the substanceexistingbefore the "Big Bang"*is in constântin-
bfain€hild. Niels Bohr visitedChina in 1937 Vhen he wasknishted terplaywiththelabricofourpresentphysical uôiverse,stillDess(vin)
ten years later by the king of Denmark, h€ chosethe t'ai chi (yin and motion (yang) foreverbalancedasone. It ls safeto saythat such
yang) symbol as his coat of armsto acknowledgethe harmony be a postulatewould accoùnt for the many discr€panciesin physi€al
tweenancrenrFarrernand modcrrr\{esrernriences theo)y that scientistsaroundthe world have obseruedand reported
Letus assurnefor a secondthat bothJohnt abilitiesandhis theo- The yin is not preciselythe "€ther"sought by Hendrik l-orentz and
ries prove tru€. Iwould like to iouch upon what such information Jules-HenriPoincaré,i'6but it /o?roffer many exciting possibilities
could offer humanity.(For a more detailedapproach,turn to appen-
dix 2.) ln the third century cE Chinesesagesdescribedthe process *
by which things were createdfrom the Sourceand would return to Assuminsthat there @a5a Big 8ang.The Chinesemodel also covemthe
possibilitythat eners'l'is constâDtlybeing Prodùced,and the universe
it.r5To symbolizethe statebefore time and spacebegan,thosewho
hasno b€sinnins or end.
would come to be calledTaoistscameup with the concept ofwu-cht t Int€restinslye.ouch, wh€n Poincarépostulâtedthat a clock slowed in
(literally,"ther€ is no extremity"),symbolizedby a circle. \/u-chi is rime âs it moved irto the ethet he wâs describinsone of the attrib(Itesof
thecondition ofstillnessinwhich allthings areund;fferentiatedtoom

154 155
The Nâtureof Reâlity TheNâtureofReâlity
 John dkclosed the following key sraremcnrro rne on one occa-
sion' "Everythingoathe earth is yang, but rhe earth irs€lf isyin.',Fof
me, asa scientist,this impliesthatyin energyis associâtedwithgravi-
tational,wellssuch as planetsand singulariri€s,and that the balance
describedby the t'ai chi symbol existsin the universeas follows,
STAR,/SOLAR
ENERCY
CREATERYANC
C likewise,ir had calledthe yans ch,i l;i (fire). Both namesare apropos.
Fig 3. Mac.ocosmic
yanAandyin.
This simplediasramsusgestsincrediblethinss. 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€createsit.,'l haveseenit ro be
blue in color, as I noted eâ(li€r As a neikung traine€,I can feel the
yang ch'i constantlystored within my dântienrit is hot, just as rhe
classicalChinesetextsdescribeitto be. Both.heseobservationsm€sh
perfectly with Vilhelm Reich,swork on the orgone.It seemsaswell
that the conceotrarionof yang ch'i increaseswith increasingeleva-
tioni in otherwords,yangch'itendsto breakawayfïom
enviry (v/hich
is why yogis flock to the mountains).I can feel the yans ch,iwanrins
to go up within myown body, ifrhat is âny indication.The existeDce
of the yang ch'i clearlyshowshow insanewe are asa species,Consid-
ering that our currentlifestyl€is benr on d€stroyingrhe environment,
* the study of our.xridc., not simpl€ matrer Forexanple, ifyou have
Indeed, I believethat, like lisht photons,yaosc6'i is neithe.a particle
nor a wave but borh.
156
The Nâtureof Reâlity
ind asslrmingthat oaturccirculatcsand propagatescsseoriâllife en
crgy,thenby eliminatingnaturewc arekillingourselves.
The greatsurprise,however,inJohni model of the univene is yjn
cnergy,becauseit simply behavesunlike any otherrecordedphysical
phenornenon. Nothingaccountsforit nottelekinesiç,notmindcon
trol.John passedit tnto my body on severaloccasions, andthe sensa
lion wasunlikeanythinselseI haveencountered.kwas a coldrush, a
winter breeze,the vacuumof outer space.ClassicalChinesetheory
calledthe yin ch'i larr (watel) in an artemprto describeits texturcr
The law of conservationof energyis a foundationpillar of phys
ics.Duling the incidentat the prâwn farm,whenJohn passedthe yin
ch'i into our bodiesand we caughtthe bulletsfoomthe air rifle, rhere
hadbeenno deforrnationofthe lead pellet,norany radiationofheat.
This suggestedthat the bullet'senergywas not conservedbut rather
somehowceasel tonrsr llndercunent physicallaw,thjs is not possible.
The prospectthat such a continuumexistsin our v/orld, passive
but everpresent,is mâddeninglyexciriûg.The yjn is the primalchaos
that existedbeforematterand space-timehad corne;suchorder aswe
haveln our world comesfrom the interactiondefinedby the tai chi
symbol.YinJor{4rt againstyang,but the balanceof their forcescreated
life.I reckonedthatunderstanding rhe natureof yin andyangch,iwould
givehumanityantignvity,faster,than-light speed,andalmostcertainly
cluesto the riddle ofrime; Ihadvalid reasonsfor theseassumprions.
Levitation
Ve were in Barcelona.John wàs tourins Europein the company o{
th€ lndonesianminister of th€ inrerior; he had conlided in me jok-
insly that the man fek saferwhen he was a,ound
John came into my horel room nunchtng on Indon€sianpeâ-
nuts, he toss€dme a bas and slumpedinto a lounge chair For a few
momena we madesmall talk; th€n, quite sùddent, rhe topic turned
to the subjecrof ch'i in relatjon to the biophysicalsciences.
"You cannot study ch'i undel a microscope,"John said ,,Ch'i is
ch'i,yoq can bypasslvhatwe definerodày asnarùiallaw you can walk
throush walls,you can ris€from the ground,you can doûanythinss.,,
157
The Nâtureof Reâlity
 "You mean levitation," I said."So the sroriesof yogis lcvitaring
off the groùnd 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 à yard off the
Croundand sil thert, yoùcannotmovein anydir€ction,just backdown ,,
"Yes,but...."
"Nô butst"heiûtempted. "Anyone withch'i càn lea.n howro do
this.Itl nothingl" He rhought thatstatementover for a second,then
added,"But firsr yoù hust have ch'i "
"Car yoù show me rhis, Sifr17"
John looked at mc with disappoinrment."Surc,"he sàid,and sa1
down on the 1loo.,crossinshis leesin a fullloxrs. He becamestlll; it
appearedthat his brearhingstopped. He was a sratueof an Eastern
mystic lor a timc.
Smoothly and suddenl, almost matter-of-factly,he rose horr
the floor at leâsieisht iDchcs,and remainedrhere.
My breath causht in my throat, alter half a minute or so, John
càmeback down
"Thecarpet is synrheti.,"he said,siàndinsup, ,,ôrheMiseIwould
have risenmùch more."
I thankedhim repearedly,he seemedsurprisedthat I was so im-
pressed.Forhim it hadbeer nosrcât fear{ pa.lortrick, funcrionally
uselcs exceptasa demonstFtion of the inhercntcapaciricsoinan
"\Ï/e'regoingolt tô dinrcf," he saidat the door "CominAwith us:"
"Chineselood asàin)" I asked
"Yes.The.es a sood Chineçerestaurântdown the s1reer.,,
The little hairson thc back of my oeck stoodup.
" S i t u , I"s a i d ," r n a yI a s ky o u s o m d h i n s :Y o u ' v e b e etno F I o l l a n d ,
Cermanr Arstriâ, Swirze.land,Italy, Nice, and now Spain, richrl,
He nodded."All this time, hàveyou only eatenChineseloodz"
"Ofcourse not " he replied iDdiAnantly."Sometiûeswe earThai
For an immediate outlook as to how modern marhematrcs cân b€
applied to Johnt theories, look at the work of Dr. IIya Prigogtne.* In
*
Bestknown for his confiburions to nonequilibriumstaristicatmechan
ics and his theorieson the role of time in ireversible processes.
154
The Nâture of Reâlity
l!)77hc rcccivcdLhcNobcl llrizc lor showinsrhatcomplexchemi-
calsystems tendto organiz€ihcnrsclvcs intoltructuredrelationçhips
ol their own accord in othcr vords, that self organizâtionis â fLrn-
damentalcharàcteristicof the universe.Thesechemicalsystcmsbe
havc in such a manneras 1rlalmostbe alive, except for the fact that
ihey do not generatcor reproducccells Suchseli organizedsystems
seemto be the halfijr'aypoint betwccnwhat can be consideredàlive
and whal cannot. lndeed,in recent decadesour establishcdconcep
tions of what life really is have receivedsevereblows. Viruses,for
example,cannot rcally bc consideredalive as we deiine the term
today becauçeoutsideof a livirlg ccll they have no real "stateof be
ing." It is only when they have infected a host and pcnctratcda ccll
thar they form a systernin conjunctionwith the cell, this systemdors
function in a self organizcdwây Coôtrary to most othel examples
of the biological cycle, howcvcr, the vi'us cell systemt purposeis
not the slrf,/ivalofthe system,but simply the gcnerationof hundreds
of nev vimsesât the expenseof the original €ell Perhapssuch be
haviorcanbe explainedby the simpleinterplayofyin andyangforces.
Mrusesaside,I arn convincedthat complexityand chaostheory
hold the mathematicalfomrula for modeling the int€raction of yin
and yang. As such, I sincer€lyhope that this rext will provide the
necessary impetusfor sucha model to be formulated.I cannot stress
enoughthât the yin-yangimagemadepopularby modernculturehas
beenmisinterpreted;yin andyang are,asI havesaidrepeatedly,0ppo5'
i''4 forces.*Yet life itself is a combination of yin and yang energies
runningin parallel.As such,thc archaict'aichi synbol Geefieureab)
describestheir balancefar bette. than the modernsymbolusedtoday
(figure4a).The configurationsuggestedby figrre 4a is a descriptioô
of yin andyans in flow andby natureincorstant. lt could be saidthat
'The
newer ùgûre is alchemical,describiDgthe transition and fluÎ of
€n€rgy with time rather than a steadystatesituation.The cunent
asttophysicalmodel of the evolutior of stamhelps us understandthis It
would seemthat the growth of a sta. to the red-siant stage,and its
subsequenttrandormation i'Îo a black hole, sugsestsâ transition koû
greateryans to yin. Check appendix2 for turthe. analysis.
159
"l1leNâture of Reâlity
 into the yang with each €poch. It se€msunlikely that the âncient
Chineseunderstoodthe evolutionaryproc€ssbetw€en1000BcEând
300cE,when the yin-yang theory wastully developed.Moreover,as
statedby the Tao I€ Ching and confirmedbyJohn, in order forlife to
exist,Iiving beings(plants,animals,bacteia) must haveboth yin and
(") (b) yang ch'i running parallelto each other A wooden tâbl€ is simply
yang and lifeless,whlle a tree has both yin and yang ând is alive.
Fis 4 Yn andyaDsin balance. Tbe figrreshownin (a)is undertension, Vhat I am saying,in summary,is that the reality of yin and yang
it relatesto LevelsFouraDdFiveof neikùnstraininsaûdrequires
energi€slendscr€d€nceto ourhopesthat th€rersa CreatorCod, and
heishtenedstatesof enersy.This symbolis erroneously usedin poputar uith th htat oJtrrodnngl:û axlJ.
to the idea that t ' 'rirrfse uasactualized
vo.kç to describethe naruralstateof our li feforces,
balance,
which is And thls, ln our age ofrigid logi€, is perhapsthe most shocking
moreaccurarely depictedin (b) (ThirdcenturycEdepiction)L?
realizationof all.

the archaicmodel better depictsyin and yang in their most produc-

tive balance,at rhar moment when the rwo energiescombineto cre-
ate life, whereasthe modern symbol better describestheir l,rocess oJ
cbdï|e ovet tlme. (One €xamplewould be that of a star in the red
giant phase*greater yang transforminginto a black hole, or lesser
yin. More on this in appendix2.) In the humanbody the moderntai
chi symbol is stricrly alchemicaland requiresheighr€nedstar€sof
energyto exist (though once ach;eved,it is permanent).
I will closethts chapterwith one final bornbshell.Considerthe
yin âsthe primal qualty beforespacetim€i the anragonisticcomple
ment of our own yang nature.John himsell sens€syrn energyby ,rs
interactionwith yang; he feelsan electricalcurrentwhen the two en-
ersiesare brousht together(asdo we all). Sincerhe yans ch'i is both
a prerequisir€ro and a resultof life-,--andassumingt is, as I believe,a
solafeoerg./-ahen its precenceimplies thar rnerewas ân intenr be
hind the cr€ationof mafter lù/ecân s€etestimonyof our continuous
growth from the yin toward the yang in the evolurionaryrecord of
life. \Y/hile our universeis a balanceof yang and yin forces,some
things are more one than rhe other. \X/ateris considereda yjn ele
ment. Life besan in the oceansin the form of ltuid one celledcreâ
tures,evolvedinto plants,into fish;and finally steppedawayfrom the
yin to the solid shore iD the shapeof amphibians.Our evolutionary
processcontinued on the land, we are still growiûs more and more

160 l6t
The Nâtureof Reâlity The Nâture ofReâlib),
A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library
Epilogue
FORA BREATH
r TARRy....
THELIMITSOFCRO\/TH
A human being is a part of the whole, €altedby us'Llniveree.". . .
The delusion(of separation)is a kind of prison for us . . . Our task
must be to hce ourselvesfron this prjson by widening our circle of
compassionto enbrace all ltving creaturesand the whole oi nature
AlbertEinsrein
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 whÀt he has read. For exarnple,if I myself $.ereoutside
looking in and oor intimately involved wirh rhe project, I would
probably be very hesitanrro expressa positivejudgmenr. Cranred,
thousaodsof wirnessescan affirm thatJohn Chane hasuniqueabili
ties Perhapsa hundred rnore,*ch as myself, would be willing to
come forward aod sweârin court thar he possesses the knowledge
whefeby most men can developsomeproficiencywith whar we (un,
til now) have labeledparanormalsktlls.To the skepri€rhis doesnot
162
mean that everything Chang Sifu beli€vesin is scientificallyverifi'
able, nor that it should be taken as gospel.As a sci€ntistI cannot,
and will not, arguewith this mode of thought.
I can take such a functional analysisa step farther Let me as_
sumethatyou acceptboth myown sincerityand thatofmy teacher:
Everything I have written here is fÀct and you believe it. The.e is
still room to wonder v/hat the point behind all the effort is. I mean,
why botherz \trhât is to be practically gained by the lessonspre'
sentedin this t€xt?Evenif everythingstatedhere is factualandtrue,
how and why should it affectyour day-to-dayexistence?
The answ€ris quite simple.Ifour day-to-dayexistencewere not
injeopardy if we didnot n€edthe lessonsprovid€d in this work-
the demonstrationswould never hav€ taken place, nor would this
volume hâve everbeen written-
It is a stâpleof rhe Chineseesot€rictradition to âvoid interven-
tion in the courseof the affalrsof the world at large.Ve have seen,
however,that historically this tradition has been broken from time
to time, and that many masten (suchas Pai Lok Nen and Mo'Tzu)
havewalked a fine line, mersins theif karmawith the world'swhere
they çaw fit. No Taoistmâstet not even on€ at hvel Seventy-Two,
is a god; they all remain human beings,with the desiresand €mo-
tions of a human being, however refined. Foremostamong these
emotions ar€ love and concern for their fellow men and for the
progressofhuman cultwe. They lo give a damn,so to speak,aod do
not âlwaysstàndby and watch. Sometimesthey step in, and this is
I do not know Chang Sifu'sreasonslor opening up his teaching
ro the world, but I do know my own. Therefore, in this s€ction, I
would like to speakfor myself. \(hat follows is basedon my own
idealsand opinions,and doesnot necessarilydefinethe teachingsof
Chans Sifu. However,nuch of my rationaleis groùndedin my ex-
periencesvith him. Therefore, any errors are my own, wbile any
credit belongsto my t€acher
\]/e live in â problematicworld. It is readily apparentthat greed is
our major sin, the major cancer inherent in our Vestern lifestyle.
''fhls much is enough," and that has been our
Ve can never say,
163
EpiloSue
 downfall. Most of us are not aware,or simply do not câre,that our
standardof living is in fact destroyingboth our planetand ourselves.
I will addressthe destnrctionof both our bodies and our wortd, but
before I do, I would like to addressthe issueof sreed.
It is very d;fficult to dealwith an intansible. How do we define
gred? Most dictionariescal! it "an ardent and selfish desire.,Itt as
good a definition asany.I pref€rtouse th€ t€rm shortsigbteùrcss,
which
implies that the personsufferingfrorn greed is not awar€that in the
end he is doing his own self harm. He simply does not have the
perception to seethis.
Properperceptionis an all-importanttrait and a djfficult one to
understand.Ve must be able to disengageourselvesfrom events,to
look ât them complet€lydetachedlyin order to be ableto assess cri
teriacorrectly.Ther€ is rhe much,usedmodel of the antelopeand 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
hasa purposein the schemeofthings, the predatorjs in fâct ensuring
the continued survivaland health of the prey. Insidenaturessystem
otchecks andbalances,one cannotsurvivewithout the other Butthe
antelopedoes not havethe perc€ptionro seeits dependencyon the
lion, and thereforewould like nothing b€tter than to be rid of it.
It is unfortunate that life is som€whattike this example.Our
d€siresand preconceptionsinduce us to look at the \rorld stnctly
from our own standpoint.The twin axiornsof ignoranceand greed
often serveto further separateus from reality as wet1.Sometirnes.
people as a masscan persistin a distorted standpointto the extent
that they wind up doing rhemselvesor others damage.Many cul-
tures have reachedannihilation in rhis manner.rù/e in the modern
day, too, have pushed the limit fat but luckily we have also been
given time and the meansro stop our self destrudion. Most people
do not realizethat we have becomelike the gods of old mythology,
for we have almost unlimited power and \i/ealth but lack the com-
mon senseto useit corr€ctly.'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 leadersof our society,we commonly let
things go until we are hard pressedto ignore them, regardlessof
164
EpiloÉue
whetherthis hasa positivcor ncgativeoverallellect on our well'
being.It is a miçtaketo think thal the scienceof sociodvnamics is
any lessadvancedin our day and agethan, sav'plrvsicsorchemistry,
the degreeof control that world leadershave over the populaceis
staggeringwhenanalyzed And the world can be a very/unforsivins
placewhen we live in it so narrow-mindedlv Most pheôomenain
nature tollow the law of expon€ntialprocression;this cardinalrule
hasled to our undoing from the beginning
In 1972 an internationalt€am of scientisisheadedbv Professor
Dennls L. Meadows of the Massàchusettslnstitute of Tèchnologv
publishedthe r€sLtltsof a study,p€rform€dat MIT undef the dir€c
tion of the Club of Rome, in which a compùter sim(lation tracked
the decline of world resourcesbasedon existing trends Th€ same
conclusionshad been reachedbv other scholarsin th€ past, more
notably by the geologist M. Kins Hubbelt in the earlv l95os, but
the MIT study wasthe first that world politicianspaid anv attention
to. Dr Meadows'sresearchwas eventuallvpublished {or the mass
*
marketand becamethe classicbestsellerTlr LiaitsoJGrootl which
sold rnillionsof copiesin the I 970sbut appearsto havebeen forgot-
ten in the I990s. Basicalty,the simulation projected the death bv
stârvationof a third of the world population bv the vear 2100, the
destructionof our€cosystemand the collapseof the world financlal
basewill induce and acco'npânvthis worldwide farnine
Manifestationsof the phenomenonare alreadv evident in Af.
rlca, Indla, and SoutheastAsia Few p€opleseemto care ln Creece'
for example,more sweatis spenton whether hemlinesshouldrisein
a siven year,or a new talk-showhostesshachad breastimplants(are
ttry reah),than on the hungry millionsin nearbvAlbaniaandKosovo
So given the continuing phenomenaof greed and ignorance,
howclosearewe to the destructionpr€dictedbv ProfessorMeadows!
model?At the moment, the simulationis uncornfortablvon track
There can be no more denyinc, for example'thât global warm
ing causedby irresponsibleindustrializationand deforestationis a
*
Meadows,Denris L., et al.,TtrlimiB oJGroo.L(NewYork'Sisnet
Books,The New AmericânLibrarv,1972).
165
EpiloSue
 fâct. The United Nations and the \Vorld MeteorologicalOrganiza theozone
solarradiation. lt confirmcdthat,duringthe springseason,
tion haveestablishedthe lntersovernmentPanelooClimateChange
level ir the Antarctic drops to 50 percentb€low the limit that en'
to monitor the situation and propose an actjon plan. To date the
suresproteclion from UV radiation This is just the beginning
IPCC hasanalyzedwhat we can expect in rhe tuture as far asglobal
Havingsaidalltheabove,letme alsoaffirmthatsvnth€ticmate-
warning is concern€d.Here is a brief surnmary.
dals are unquestioninglywonderful for usein their proper place As
The averagetemperalureof the planet will rise by one degree
I willdiscusç further on in this scction, th€re can be no doubt that
centisrade by the year 2025 and ao additional two desrecsty the
polymen and synthetic rnateriaishave giv€n mankind the kevs to
year2100 That may not soundlike nuch, but bearin mind that rhis
the future; the advanceswe are se€ingin technologv and medicine
rise will not be uniform all over the planet.The remperatureat thc
would not be availablewithout them.
poles may rise much more than at the equator and the air wjll be
No, the issuesI am addressingàre subtleones:gr€€d and igoo
much warmer over land mâssesthan over th€ seas.(Another model
rance,nothing else.I havelivedunder primitive conditions;ii is not
suggeststhat, follo\eing the initial meltdown of the poiar ice caps,
that great.My point here is that what Vestern civilization oeedsto
the poleswill actuallyger colder, initiaring anorherice age at high
succeedis a caretulbalanceof objectives,actions,aôd responsibili
latitudes).
ties. Our children and our childrent children will have to pav the
Establishedwind patlernswill change,El NiRo is one such ex-
price for our decisionsand our inaction todâv, as such,our love for
ample.Asian monsoonsftight becomeAmericanmonsoons.There
thern should temper our desires.
will be a worldwide increasein rainfaU,but this increasewill ako be " You don't alwavs
The word lama trans]atesês "consequence
unevcnlydistribded. At [roderatelatitudeswe might seean increase
hav€ to act to b€ responsiblefor something'vou can also,bv inac-
of 5 to l0 percentin anDualprecipitarion,but rhe areasof the planet
tion, promote conrequences. Ve in theVest haveallowedour elected
that arealreadydrywiilbecome evenmoreso PerhapsrheentireU S.
representatives to act asthey havertherefore,we alsomust shoulder
Sunbelt,for example,will at somepoinr becomeone endlessdesert.
part of the blame.Andwe will. A studentonce askedme if I thought
There will be an increasein severeclimatjc phenomena,hurricanes,
the citizens of Iraq deseruedto watch their homes destrovedand
srorrns,and floods.Ve arealreadyseeinerhisif ihe severefloodçand
their loved on€s killed iust becausea power'hungry dictator ruled
stormsin the làstthreeyearsof the pastcenturyare any indication.
theircountry Irepliedin the affirmative,becausethev uniortunatelv
Vithin the next fifty years,landscunently used for âgriculrure
bore the collective consequenceof allowing him to control their
will become arid and useless,cultivation will have to take place at
lives in the firçt place. Ltnder the rule of exponentialprogression,
higher€levationsto ensuregrowthin the lorthcominghotter climare.
they had allowedSaddamHusseinto srow in might until he became
The ice cap is indeedmeltiog, scientistsexpect a srx centimererrise
too powerful to deal with. Nature is not very forgiving
in the level of the oceansby every ten yeax from now on.
So what doesall thls have to do with Chans Situr Noth;ng and
And the ozone layertSevenyearsago a sunblockfactor of 2 was
everything.The hotrorstoriesoutlined aboveare simplv the factsof
acceptablefor thoseofus of Mediterraneandesceot;now we havero
life, but they cên also seweas examples.John Chang agreedto this
put on sunscreenrated level 24 andheed "sunintensity warnings',to
book for one reasononly, to expandthe horizons of peoplearound
the world and show them, beyond a shadow of a doubt' that their
In March 1997 the National Science Foundation esrablished
livesare not as limited asthey think. Sometimesit is €noughto give
beyond a shadowof a doubr that the fish in the Aotarctic were suf-
peoplea hint. All sortsof miraclescan happen l am remindedof the
fering incrcasedmutationratesandgenericanomaliesduero el€vared
memberof Creenpeacewho, having clandestinelvtaken a position

166
Epilo8ue Epilo8ue
 dinate to mind, Descartesdrove a wedge betweenman and the uni_
as a cook aboârda tuna boat, brought the tuna industryto its koces
verse-a w€dge that doesnot, ând cannot,physicallyexist.It is well
aft€r filmins the wholesaleslaughterof dolphinson tuna boats.That
known, forexample,thât Descartesvivisectedliving animals,ignor-
man struck the sparkthat startedê fire. I am hopins that this book
ing their cries of pain and despairin order to determin€the struc_
will work in a similàr mannef.
turesof their bodies.His was the mechanisticapproâch,naturewas
Chang Sifu! lessonsare intendedfor the leadefsof the world as
a machineto be analyzed,nothing more. Functionalanâlysiswas to
well as the common man. "Look," he tells the powers that be, "the
be carriedout in ever-increasingdetâil so that, in the end,eachcorn-
universejs not as simple and plain as you once thought it was.You
ponent would surrenderits final specificsecret.lt was undoubtedly
cannot act as you do with no thought for the future or regard for
the Cartesianmethodthat putman on the moon. On the otherhand,
retribution. You will have to pay for the consequences of your ac
it is apparent that, by embracing the Cartesianmethod, we have
tions. Therc are asp€ctsof the human state of being that you are
concentratedso much on the g€arsthat we hav€ lost sight not only
unawarcof at the moment." Perhapsthe leaderswill not care,you
of the machin€but of the road this machin€hastaken aswell.
say.Hasn'teveryreligion in the world issuedthe samewârnins?Many
I have used the wo '?Pantiotlasain âôd asâin (much to the
powertul people feel exemptsimply becausethere is no proof of th€
chagrin of the edltor of this text, l'm sure)simply becauseI believe
validity of thci. personalreligion or creed. H;story has shown us,
that it is iûde€d separationthat definesthe Cartesiansystem(and,
h o w e v e rt ,h a r. u t h a n a t r r r u drer e r r o n e o u r .
unfortunatel, todays Vestern society).The industrial process,for
The aforementionedCreenpeacemembernotwithstandins,it js
example-anunmistakablederivativeofCartesianphilosophy has
astonishinghow often the effortsof one man can affectthe courseof
separatedthe craftsmanfrom his product. In other words, by work
history. Our cunent Vestern civilization is essentiallystillbased on
ing in an âss€mbtyline, eachemployeefabricatesonly à tiny part of
the approachand methodology of two seventeenthc€ntury schol-
the entire project' his self-worth is only as greatas the partial prod-
ars:FrancisBaconand RenéDescartes.
uct he shapes.In contrast,the medievalblacksmithtook greatpride
Baconwasthe founderofthe modem scientificempiricalmethod.
in his work b€causeit wasl,isfrom beginning to end. Today! axem-
A ph;losopher and poiitician, he wrote that mân should "seizeNa
bly Ilneworkeç who rnaydo no rnorethan drillholes in a d€tail Part
ture and force her to sewe us." Baconassertedthat man should es
(which will be rivetedinto placeby someoneelse),hasno regardfor
sentiallymâkenaturchis slave,that he should"tie her hand and foot
hls chore and can hardly \,,/aitfor the weekend(or 4/y time when he
and torture herso thatshewillrevealher secr€ts."Todaysuchwords
isn't working). D€spite the progreçsVestern society has made to-
may sound insanerhistoriansrealize that the famous philosopher
ward advancingthe rights of the individual,employmenthas once
wassimply echoins th€ judicial systemof his day.One wonden how
againbecomeserfdom.
he would have enjoyed a tour through a nuclearwastedumpsit€.
Conversely,the Japanesehave enjoyed immensecommercial
As for Descartes,there can be no doubt that h€ v/as a brilliant
succ€ss with their factory goodsbasicallydue to theirpolicyof inte
man; therecan alsobe no doubt that jt is to him we owe much ofour
gration.The presidentof a companyoften goesdown to the assem
current misery.D€scârteswas a profound math€matician,scientist,
bly line and assiststhe workers; all white-collar enrployeesare
and philosopher,butunder his direction Vestern man begana sepa
expectedto hav€ spent their time "on the line." This approachfos-
ration from the earth, naturalforces,and his own kind the extent of
t€rs the id€a ofunity and pride in the product,which, in the manner
whichwe areonly now beginningto reâlize.Indeed,Descartes's most
ofthe craftsmanof pastcenturies,hasl€d to peopleconsideringtheir
famous line, "Cogito ergo sum,"definesthat separationclearJy.In
work important.As such,their merchandisehassold well.
severingmind and body and making the flesh worthlessand subor-

169
168
Epilo8ue
EpiloSue
 A further exampleof arroperarionthat thrives on separationis
todays food industry.The processof meat producrion is an abomi
nâ1ionianimalsaresequestered in stalls,not allowedto move,stùffed
with hormonesând recycled foods, and subsequentlydaughtered.
Their livesarea Iivinghellandhavenothingto do with the pleasanl
ranchesand wide-open spacesof the past. Meat is processedand
packagedand put on displayin neat câsesin the supermarket,most
children thesedays haveno ideathat they a:e earingwhat was onc€
a living animal. Fruits and vegetablesare unfortunatelyjust as bad,
The arnountof chemicalsand pesricidesus€dwould causemost of
us to quit buying fmit altogetherwere we awareof therr The con
tinual and incessantrapeof the seasand marinewildlife is evenworcer
in a few decad€sthere willbe no fish lefr to cd!.
The point is, all ofthis canbe rumed aroundif societyasa whole
adoptsth€ proper attitudc, if we càn realjzethat rhe lifestylewe âre
following has no real placein the world. I have seenmany \ù/estern
medicaldoctorswhopreviouslydisregarded Chinesemedicaltheory
completelystop in their trackswh€n someonesimply spoketo rhem
in their own language.Contrary to Descart€ssexpectarions,the
bodyt cell structureis rot a consrantand mechanisricrhing, indeed,
cellularbiology is somev.hatlike quanrumtheory.The pancreas,for
example, replacesall ;tscellseverytw€nty-four hours,while rhe stom-
ach replacesits cells every rhreedays.The body! white blood €ells
ar€ renewedevery ten days,while 98 percentof the proteio-based
tissuein that most complicât€dandwonderfulof organs,the human
bràin, is repla€edonce a month. Ve can thus approachmedicaldoc
toÎs with the simpleexplanation that Chioesemedtctneis basedon
the lrocsss of contilual change-not the detailsof pùnary ànatomy
focusedon by our Cartesian-based Vestern rnedicalsystem Cener-
aliy that distinction suff;cesto breakthe ice and seizethe audience!
To closethe loop and get back to Chang Sifu, ir is apparenrthat
your viewpoint of the vorld can govern your efforts and axioms,as
well as your resultingsocialdirection. It is ro the holistic vievr'point
afforded by Easternmysticisn (and modern Vestern science)that
we must turn if we wish to surviveas a species.For most of us, the
170
Ep'lo8ue
common peopte,thc lcssonsol thc Eastare simpl€ \Ve n€ed not
indulg€ in consumerismor blindlv follow the dir€ctivesof sp€cial-
interestmanipularorsVe are eachcapableo( thinkins and decidins
lor ourselves.The road of lif€ is on€ of balance,consequence,and
simplicity,
Taoist doctrine statesthat th€ universeis compris€dof heaven,
\J/e have
earth, and man, and that all embodv a patt of the Tao'
reachedthat stagein our developmentwhere we mosldccept this
truth. Everything and everyonearound us has the right to life, in
deed,all life is a preciousgift and should be treatedas such For all
our power,do we reallyrrlerstanllifer Tlre wisdom of ancientChina
tells us that everything begins in and returns to the Tao Similarlv'
our t€chnology can tell us much about the origins of our solar svs
tem and life on earth, and what we have learnedgives us causeto
wonder.The assumptionthat our world is simply the resultof a ran
dom agglomerationof elementsis no longer viâble The eafth is
roushly four billion years old. Even taking into account the latest
dev€lopmentsin complexity theory' there is no way thal we can
âccouniforthe factthat life, in the form ofbacteriaand single-celled
jnto the earths
animals,beganroughly four hundred million veârs
existence.A singlebact€riumcontâinstwo thousandenzymesiour
most liberâl estimatesof the time it would take for th€ random as-
sembly of such enzymesto give birth to bâcteria is roughlv forlv
bill;on years,two orders of masnitud€ off The secondprobJemis
that evolutioô seemsto haveoccuned in much too orderedand pur
posefu1a fashion,our currentmâthematicsandcurrent theorieçsim
ply cannotaccountlof the evidentcomplexitv and interdependenc€
of livins beinss.
It seemsthât if indeedeverything is a part of the Tao, then we
are quite a way frorn understandingone of its components,life on
earth.Andwhat aboût man himselfi Our own evolution is puzzling
Modern humanbeingshavebeenon this planetfor about foÉv ùou
saDdyearsrhow and whv did we come to f'e aswe atc?The size oi
our brains explodedin evolutionaryterms, doubling in âlmost two
million years.lndeed, the increasein brain size was so sÙddenthat
the rest of our bodjesdid not have a chanceto catch up As a result
lV
EpiloÉue
 of these larser brains,which could not passthroush thc mother's
birth canal, human infanrshad to be born very early in their devel_
opment. (The size of a humanchild,sbrain doublesin rhe first year
of lif€.) The ihfants of most mammalscan walk within a few daysof
theirbirth. Conversely,humanbabiescannot walk forayear and are
helplessfor âlmost thr€e. Thesetotally dependentchtldren restruc
tured the order of societyrth€y had to be protecredand taught to
function. The evolutionary history of the human animal seemsto
deô. both the srandardprocessof evolution and the principles of
s€lf-orgânizationoudined by complexirytheory. It is evenmore per
plexing if we examineclosely the history of mankind through rhe
last ten mill€nnià.The wheat plant, forexample, mutatedquire sud
denly teo thousandyearsago, almosras if ir oarrel .o be made into
bread by the people of that age.And there is still no evolutionar/
justification for the pleasanteffects that the fermenrationprocess
has on milk, grape,and grain.
So in d€aling with earth and man, have we finally come to ad-
dressheaven?Is evolurion directed?Ic there indeed a Codr As we
have seen,MâstefJohn Chang believesstrongly in Cod, and is un
doubtedly a creationist.I myself am a product of my age and so
questioneverything. Oh, I firmly believein unconditionaluniversal
principles:Iove,justice,consequence.
Ibelieve thât thereis an after,
life and that I have seenspjrirs.As a scientist,howevel I feel more
comfortable wirh the Easternnotion of heaven in rhe senseof an
indefinable, incomprehensible,quantum-physics-likeabsoluteen
compassingthe enrireuniversePerhapsthereisa penonalCod whose
domain is this planet, who has seen to our growth. perhapsHe is
even the mânifestationofa UniversalSpirit that encompasses
allthe
extant galaxies/âssuggestedby the Christianconcept 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 specieshavebeen given, and conrinueto receive,great
opportunities. \]/e are also in greâr peril. From now on, therefore,
we have to act carefully and with forethoueht-like responsible
adults-in order to reach our full potential. Ocrrworld will tolerate
no ,nore mistakesor loolishness,no more childishness.The human
172
Epilogue
anirnalis, aç a rcm:rkablcman so eloqucntlypùt it so long ago,at
Childhood\ End*
And there  hope for the future
Ve are neitherborn into the worldwithout sufferingthe pain of
birth nor passthrough adolescenc€ vithoùt experiencingdoubt and
heartache.Humanity âs an entity hasjust passedthrough pubeny
and standson the threshold of adulthood.Like a teenager,we have
sufferedfor a time andbeen subjectto ourweaknesses and inrpulses,
but now we aregrowingup. As we enter the third millennium of the
Common Era(morethan the fourth millenniûn of recordedhistory),
hurnâniryis indeed readyto becomea responslbleadult.
Look how far we havecome in lessthan one hundredyears,and
how rapidly we are progressingat this pointl Let us conc€ntratefor
awhile o. oùrtriurnphsratherthan ourfail tes.In the faceof nuclear
wa1 for instance,reasondid prevail; the superpowersof the world
took a stepback hom th€ir ColdVar antaeonism a war thât/ aher
all, was fought over an economic systemand nothing more. Eco-
logical organizationsare more powerful now than ever before. In-
formation disseminationhas become worldwide, and lit€racy is
growing in third vorld nations.Medical knowledge is soarine;we
can now performmiracles.lmaginetelling a nineteenth-centuryphy-
sicianthat it would b€comeroutine to rip out the sickenedheart of
an ill man and replaceit with anothet storedfor that purpose,from
a sujtabl€donor (andwith the donorsconsent-itself no smallthlng)r
Or imagin€ telling the sàmedoctor that, harnessingthe power of
light, we can perform surgeryon the delicatehuman eye, that we
can open and closethe humanbrain:
Citizensaround the world are nowmore than everâwareof their
ights and willing to standup and flght for them, not only thât, we
do not hesitateto stând and light rcniolntly for the rights of ottr's.
Evenmor€ surprising,this ryst€mworks, andworld leadersare ready
to concedeto itl Chandi would not have had a chanc€in medieval
Europe.
'Arthur
C. Clarke, foryounger readers
173
EpiloSue
 Despite setbacks,we have indeedset foot on thc moon and arc
making pfogresstoward conquering the solaf system.Ve rray be
close to a new form of cleanenergy.Legislationhasbeen passedtn
the \trest restricting corporationsfrom inesponsibleecologicàldarn-
age. Technology is advaocingso rapidly that electronicsare often
obsoletewithin a few years.Vonderful new materials-<r€ated by
our investigationson the molecularlevel will allowus to reacheven
fartherthan before.Very soon,ascompurersDecomemore and more
powertul,we willbe creatinsintelligentlife ourselves. Ve havecloned
mammalsand are closeto und€rstandinsthe fabric of lif€ irself.\/e
can map the DNA strand,the very building block of organic exist
ence.Perhapssomedaywe wil! be able to scientificâfiypinpoint the
locêtion of the soul irself
Five thousandwindmills jn the TehachapiMounrains norrh of
Los Angeles, Calitornia, produce I 6 billion kjlowâtrs of electric
ity-mofe than all the householdsof San Franciscouse in a year.
Studieshave shown that vind farms in the vindiest 1.5 percent of
the surfaceof the United Statescould produce 25 percent of the
electricity that counrry uses.Ev€n more amazing, prcphit theIl.S
goo.nt 1tLdrelisteh4. Similar stodieshave shown that if 4 pcrcenrof
the world's desertregionswere coveredby commercialsolar cefls,
thiswould provideenoughenersyro satistywortd\i/idedcmand.(This
equatesto an arearoughly five hundredm;lesby five hundredmtles,
and à capiralinvestmenrsftdlhr than that requiredin the tutureshould
we continue to useoil a|d fissionasfuel sources.)Once agaiopoliri
cal leadersaregiving the ideâseriousconsiderarionithe majorsrum
bling blocks are special-interestfacrionsand the need for various
. o v e . c i e In d r i o nr\ o s o r l r o a e r h eBr u l i l , , , o m i n g
On a similar nore,biological fermenratjollfarmsfor the produc-
tion of electricityhavebecomea fealirysince1995.ln rbe Unired
Statesone such farm,usinga combustionc€ll thât burnsmillet, pro
vides a i&oasanlhouscholdswith electricity while ar the samerime
usins only 250 acrcsforcùltivation ofthe miltel There doesseemto
be a real desireto useeôvironmentallyfriendty tuels in conjunction
with future technologiesForexample,the Russianaircrafrrnanufac,
turer Tlpolew, in partn€rshipwith the German giant Daimler-Benz
Aerospace,is readying an aircraft for production in the year 2010
Epilo8ue
thar will usc hydrogcnas a lucl. llydrogen burnsclcanly,Lurnins
into watcrvaporwheo oxidized.
Thc point is,hadwe not gonethroughà phaseol rapidindustri
alization and technolosicalsrowth, we would not hàve developed
the knowledgewe now have that makessuch dreamspossible.lt is
our.11lr./tmarerialand physj€alsciencesthat have handedus these
rewardson thc proverbialsilverplatter The world of the futurc will
indeedbe"clean"from an ecolosicalstandpoint, because the major
ity of peopleon the carthud'i il to 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
havedaredto wfite thesewords, nor presentthe conceptsI have,ior
fear of retribution. In truth, I rnysellam very much a produc! of the
yoke forged by earlier gene|ations,a person neither Occident nor
Orient but both * Moreover,it is certainthat MasterChang himselt
would not havc bothered to come forth in tbe past, for lack of a
çuiiableaudience.But in oÛrday everyonehasseenSldl"l'fdfr on the
silverscreenandKln4 Fr on television,many ofus both in youth ând
middle age, and such things:re more readily acceptedas natural
lf any of us needsmore proof of our growth as a species,then
nore than our accomplishmentsit is our lreansthal w€ must exam
ine. Vhere do we ud"i to be2Vhat 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 ê catch here,however,asIhâve triedto rnâke
clear in this chapter, In order to reach the starswe hunger for, we
must first pres€rvethe womb that bore us, this very planet earth
There is no way aroundthis.
" Other than the peFonâl erperiencesinvolved, nothing in this text
should be consideredinnovative.As far back as t93a, Piofe$or \v Y
Evans'\Ï/entzwas talking about torging a new sciencethat was neither
East nor Vest in his book TbetahYold and SrcretDoctrirts
I I retum to Ceorge Locas! work asàin and asai' simply becauseI feel
that it has beànns on where we as a speciescould be heading TheJedl
combine technologywirh
are all-iftpoltànt in that they successfully
mysticism,and in doins so, touch peoplesheads all around the wotld.
Epilque
 So how doesneikumg cnterthe picture2 Vell, whatif€verything
,_
I hav€ written is true2Can it be developedand nurtured?And if so,
where will it lead us2
I bel;evethat such inqrdry wilt guide us ro rhe thresholdof the
starswe so desire.Neikung rsthe studyofour lifes energiesandmore,
it is the study o[ our exisr€nceirs€lf.Mânyofthe answerswe seekare AppendixOne
hidden wirhin the acrivitiesof yin and yang Vhen we arereadyand
able to unlock thesesecretsfor all mankind,only then will we st€p
into the tuture promisedby our dreams.lbelieve that in rhis unfold_
NOTES
ing epoch, the boundary betweenphysicsand metaphysicswill 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 âs a specieswill
come to perceiv€rhe answelsro the questionsthat have plagued
us
sincethe dawn of time, Why areoe hero And Whueqft aegoin4,
Sucha world isJohn Changs sift to humaniry.
r . Alexanderof Macedon "King of the Creeks"in the words
of Kiplings Mat Who Worll BeKug-swept across Asia from 334 to
326 BcEwith an army of forty thousandmen to reâch the northern
bordersof India. He was stopped only by the unwillinsnessof his
men to go on; they rebelled,refusingto march eastwardbeyond the
Hyphasis River.Alexander! successors and their descendantspen-
etratedeven farth€rinto India,creatingkingdomsand becomingthe
stuff of legends.Somehistorianssay that the list of Creek kings in
India ls as long as that of the kings of England from the Norman
invasionto the prcsentday.* In any case,what is important is that
the two cultureslil meet and interactedin a waveofmutualadmira-
tion and r€spe€t.The resulting exchangeof ideasand infomation
had a profound effect on the history and developmentof both the
Eastand the Vest.
From the Creeksthe Indianslearnedsculpture,architecture,as-
tronomv.andmathematics. Fromthe Indiansthe Creeksleamedabout
the inner workings of manl mind and body. Many Creeksbecame
Buddhists;in fact, one Hellenisticking, Menandros,is honoredas a
Buddhistsaint bv the Theravadandenomination.There can be no

*'ù/oodcock,
if Llid (London,IaberçFaberLtd,
Ceorge,Trr creefrs
1966).

176 1n
Ep'lo8ue
 denyingthe pronouncedeffectthat Indianthoughthadon the Creek
philosophersof the period and, as a consequence, on later Vestern
development.Since it wasHdls"Àticthought and sciencerhar subse
quently influencedthe Romansand, through them, the early Euro,
pean natiors, I can safelystatethat the phtlosophyof the Eastdtd tn
fact strongly affect the history of the Vest. The two peopleshad
spokenwell ofeach other evenbeforeAlexande/scoming.The Brah
min leadersof lndia, in the classicIaos oJÂ1aw,placedthe laoanas
(the Sanskritword for "Creeks,"from'Iorveçor e,o-nes,asthe Cr€eks
ofAsia Minorwere called) in the warrior (Kshatriya)cast€rrhereis a
referenceto the Creeksin the Indianepic Mrrarûarafaaswell. In the
fifth century BcEthe CreeksHerodotus(a hisrorian)and Hekateus(a
geographer)affirmedthat "of all barbariansthe Indiansare leastbar-
baric"(a strong statem€ntfrom the ethnocentricclasstcalCreeks).Bv
Hellenistic times the Creekswere speakingof the Indian sageswith
open admiration.The famousphilosophersApolloniusand Plotinus
bothwentto India in searchof esotericknowledge,andmanya Creek
diplomat in the court of Indian klngs wrote bestsellingbooks de-
scribing India to the Creeksback homet*.1
Many scholarsare of the ooinion that it is the Greeks them
selveswho were responsibleforthe Mahayanaschoolof Buddhism.f
If this was th€ case,and taking into account that it was Mahayana
Buddhismthat spreadto China, Tber, Korea, and Japan,then tlre
Vest did inde€d strongly influence the history of rhe East.Con-
versely,there can be no denying the pronouncedeffect that lndian
tbought had on the Greek phiiosophersol the period and,asa con
sequence/on later'!?esterndevelopment.The phtlosopherPyrrhron,
for example-who followed Alexander to Indiê and returncd ro
Creeceto influenceallthosewhocameafterhim (Xenoand Eoicurus.
amons oth€fs)-was for all practical purposes a student of the
Digambara(sky'clad) secrof theJain religion.s
-
For example, Megasthenis! hliar lats andDiimachuss O,Itrlû.
neitherof which is extanttoday.
I oi.ou, Nit tl, G.,i B!/tra (Athens,Nefelipublicarions, r98a)
".,
+ Durant,\v., Irs S!,,1,,JCi,liza.io',vol. II (Ceneva:
Edito SeNice,te63).
3 Dimoù,ri,r Ci..l Brdlta
178
AppendixOne
The consequenccsof th€ Hell€nistic A8€ spreadall th€ way to
China in the first centuryBcEwith the estâblishmentofthe Silk Roadt
the coîtinuous exchangeof learningand technology that was a bv-
product of the silk tradeaffectedpeople! lives from Spainto north-
ern China.
:. I had often wonderedwhat prornptedMao Zedong to turn
so dramaticallyagainstChinesecultureand science,attackingbasi'
cally everyth;ngin sight first in 1949and th€n again so bloodilv in
1966 with the Cultural R€volution. I have come to believe that it
was this €litism and sequesteringof knowledge,this continual con
flict among the powerful, that the man resented.There can be no
doubt, howeveç that Mao botched thejob and destroyedmuchthat
would have othe'wise benefitedhumanity.
3. Manysinologistsandtranslato|s, quite rightlv, havedespaired
of everconveyingthe proper meaningto Vesternersand havebeen
content to use tbe term "energy{ime" for ltan4ir, duplicating the
simplicity of the Chineseideocrams.I\,r'ouldlike to take a moreJedi
approachto the ideograms'meaninæ.Ve cannot hope, asVestern-
ofthe Chinesecharâcterswith words.
ers,to duplicatethe con€iseness
However,we can useanother\X/esternapproach,that ofmathemat
ics, to duplicâteEasternculture. Io short,
ENERCY
TIME
Iig. 5. KûnsFu = Jt F(Ê,t)dt, whereE=enersvan.]t=time
In otherwords [u4la is equâlto the int€gral of the energvspent
in training p€r day, over the total anount of time spent in traiôingl
179
AppendixOne
 The areaunder the cuw€, the integral, definesthe total power that
you have achlevedthrough your efforts.You wilt seelater on how
precisethis definition is. (Yocrcan also see how a train€et €fforts
vary from day to day; &rrrj,r refersto the total power accumulatedin
the process.)It seemsthat there are indeedtwo English words that
convey the meaning of km4Jr, and those are barduorkt
4. The theory that Taoismhasmademost famousis rhat of two
opposinguniversalforces,I am referringof courseto yin and yang.
It is hardto imagineân areaoi the worldwhere thesetwoubiquitous
wolds hâvenotbeen heard.(lndeed,wheretheyhaverotbeen heard
is where the conceptsare probably stillrefened to by otherwordsl).
As I typed th;s text, I activatedmy word prccessortspellcheckoro-
gramrrt did no( pdu\eIor eitheryn or yang one moreindrcàrion of
the words'acceptancein the \X/est.
The twin forcesof yang and yin are complet€ opposires:mal€
and female,white and black, light and darkness,hot and cold, posi-
t;ve and negative.The Chin€seideogramforyar,, maybe translated
as"th€ sunny side of the mountain",that ofyil as,,theshadyside of
the mounta'n."Our physicalbodies areyang, the energy and being
of spirits is yin. Conversely,yang comesfrom heaven,yin from the
earth. Both forcesare presentin everything aliv€ on this planet,but
they are not harmoniousforces,as often representedin the !ù?€st.
Instead,they are in constantstruggle,neverable to meetyet always
interâcting.It must be stressedthar this clashis a struggleof natural
universalenergies,not a co.tention of sentienrdeitieslNeither yin
nor yang has anything to do wirh good and evil, they are indepen-
dent ofpurposeandmorality.lt is very intereslrngronote rhat many
diverse cultural groups have made use of the same imagery.The
Navajo Indiansdraw FatherSky and Mother Earthin rheir sandDaint-
ings rn.uch a wav rhat evenrhe morr naiveobcerverwill rhrnkof
yang andyin. The ancientCreeksmadeus€of the sameidea, asserr
ing in their rnyths that everything on the world was createdby the
.natins of FatherSky (Uranus)and Mother Earth (Caia).
By 1000BcEthe conc€ptsof yin and yang had been refined and
the patternsof the two forces'interactioncharted,the date indicates
180
AppendixOne
that this philosophy exist€d loog bclore the concept and word ot
%olsnwere developed
5. TheTaoistphilosophicaltndition (Tâo-chia)is associatedwith
the classicaltexts Tao Te Chins br LaoTzr), ChuatlgTzu,LiehTzu aîd
others.It hasbeen saidthat next to the Bible andthe BhagavadCita'
the Tào Te Ching is the most translatedbookin the \Torld Much also
hasbeen saidabout the conflict betw€enConfucianismand Taoiçm,
which in popularnotion portravsKung Fu Tzu as the glorified civil
servantstressingob€dienc€,while lao-tzu is the mysticalhemit r€
siding somewherein the mountainwildern€ss.The truth' however'
seemsto be that both were simply men of their age,strugglingwith
conceptsgerminatingând developingduring 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, savingswere collected
that were attribut€d to Li and presentedin 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 Tè Ching
sometimebetweenthe first century BcEand the first century cE,sets
the basefor phllosophicalTàoism Ho\tever' it is c€rtain that Lao'
tzu did not call himself a Taoist.Insteadthe l,o Tzl, like the works
of Confucius,is more concern€dwith providing a basefor correct
politicâl leadership-a manualfor rulers,ifvou\sill lndeed,the title
fto 1?Crir4 tells us much about the volume
Tro (simply translatedas "the wav") is the nameless,the origin
b€yond orisins. It cannot be definedbv human beinss it is untold
times beyond us, aswe are abovethe amoeba The Tào is unknow-
able,etemal,without shapeor endvet havlng allshapesand all end
ings.Formless,it petmeateseverything and is the goalof all existence
Teis an equally difficult concept lt can be translat€das "integ
rity," "virt e," "the proper mode of behaviorin relation to th€ will of
'ttrength effused
heaven,""power,""inner potencv,""knighthood,"
with honor" The key issueis that both Lào-tzu and Kung Fu Tzu
thought that te is somethinga good ruler should have Thev were
141
ÂppendixOne
 not too fdf apartin thcir bâsicidcasrit was thcir appfolchcsrhaL
diffcred. ContuciLrssaw the Vay as being a sct of rules that hcavcn
had bequeathed ro nan, hterarchical in naturcand lull of ftltaldc.
pendencies with clcarandunyieldinsrdnkines. Materialrewards and
staluçwere compensationsior correctly following the \\/ay. Hencc,
whât wasto be stresçedwaste (sincete cafte frorr heaven),thc Vay
would then tak€careof itself.(Because Confucianism emphasized
obedience,it is obviouswhy the rultng classeswere â11for its adop
tion by their subordinatest)
Lao tzu did not follov the sameroure.He counseled"sagehood"
andstressedthe Vay for its own sakeratherthan forrhe comnunityi
profit. Just as all bcingsassuredlyretirrnedto the Tào in death,so ir
was necessaryin life for eacb indivtdualto rerurnto the original pu
rity ând simplicity of his basicnature.The key was to "nlanifcstth€
sinlpleand embracethe prirnal" Taowas likencdro f' , rhe "uncaNed
log," the best metôphor for expressingthe simplicity of the Vay.
"Thoughthe uncarvcdlogis snall,"Lao tzusaid,"nooncin th€world
darcssubjLrgatc it." The key to achievingthe Tao wasor-ort, sponta
neity ànd noninterference "going\a.ithth€ Tlow,"tousea New Agc
ism. However, it shoLrldbc understoodthat wu wei does not irrply
passivity.Rather,like a wise swimmercrossinga deep and powerful
river, the Taoistswirnsoi* the current ratherthan againstit
The particular section ol the bo Tzu I quoted ro John Chang
goes as tollows, 'All thinss carry the yin on their backsand enfold
the yang withinr when the two combine,life! energyis createdhar-
moniously."(Tao Te Chins, section42)
6. Since ching is associated
with the reproductiveprocessand
apparently flows downward, some Tàoists {and Buddhistsof thc
Ch'arn sect both-the two dogmasare not rhat far apart) took to
using the Chlnesetheory of"opposing flows"to makethechingrise.
This theory says,simply, that if you want someihing to rise, pull ir
down, and vice vexa. To makethe ching ascendto a higherposirion
in the body where it canbe relined into ch'i, thesepractitionerstook
to hanging and swinging heavy weights from thejr peniseslI have
seenphotos of a monk hom the Shaoli. temple suspendiûga sixty-
pound stone from his organwith ropes.I am unawareif he achieved
142
AppendixOne
thc ascendance ol ihc ching throughthis practice,but hc had moçt
certainlt overmany yeàrsof repetition,developedwhatis colloqui
ally called "an enormousscboarstaecfter" Conversely,how many men
have sufferedlmpotenceor damageas a resultof this practice,I do
not know (and I say this by way of warnins, becauseI know that
there is not a male out there who did not, upon readingthis, irnme
diately think, "AharSo thatt the \,r'ayto do it!").
Oth€r Taoiststook io what is euphemisticallycalled "double
cultivâtion,"aod is a€tuallynonorgasmicsex.That is to say,the prac-
titionerengàgesin the serlalact up lo the point of orgasrn,atwhich
he withdraws and or ceases.The next step is to yogicâlly for€ethe
collectedsemento rise, once again,to an areaof the body whete it
can be processed.I have seenmany books in the \Vest describins
thistechnique,but, onceagain,I hâvenov€rificationof itsefficiency.
7. Becausethis is sùch an important verse,and one that you
must understandin order to conprehend the metâphysicaloutlook
ofJohnl school,it would be best if I presenteda literâl translationof
the Chineseideograrls.They are,
To die (a parent stândingover the death bed of a child)
m
bui (â m stache)
T
not (a seedunder the cround)
É
vanish,perish (a man in a crypt)
#
he who (an old rnanspeaking)
t
Eir
immortality, Ione life (lons lifc)
183
 Many diflèrentiDterpretations olthisstanzâhavebcenaftcmpted
in order !o make rhe passage/ifit/'into \Y/esternphilosophicôlmod-
€ls.ln truth its meaningis very literal.An exa€ttranslationwouldbe,
"He who dies but doesnot perish has lons life.', I chosea more pe
remptory usage:"He who dies but continuesro exist is i,nmortal.',
The passasetmeanincis simple,Individualswho llikeJohn Chang)
havereachedCaichi andcombinedyinandyansinsidetheirbeinss
retainallawareness, m€mory andab;lity afterdeath.They,,taketheir
yang with them," asJohn so aprly put it.
8. No accountofreligioustoismwouldbe compl€tewithour a
presentationof Chang Tào Ling Born Chang Lins during rhe Làte
Han dynasty in Szechuanprovince (probably in the year lsO cE,
thoush others say 35 cE), he was â child senius.At sevenhe could
read and elaborateon the Tào Te Ching, and by eight he had mas-
teredthe art of fengshui(divinarjon).As an adult he dtsplayedpreter
naturalabiliti€sandrremendoushealingpowers,on both the physical
and psychologicallevels.But Chang Ling was unique in more than
justhis capabiliries.Hewas alsothe first Taorsrmasrerto organrzehis
followersinto a movement
Chang managedthis by insrituting a lifetime fee for healing or
for mediation wirh the spirir world. Now it had be€n customary/
sinc€ primeval times for the village to support rhe shamân,but no
on€ priorto Chang Ling had graspedthe conceptoforyanizarioo so
tundamentally.Chang chârgedhis patienrsfive bushelsof rice each
year for lfe (the American Medical Associationwould approve of
this approach) This is a lot of food, and tne payment was guaran
teed for manyyean. Itwas a lifetime f€e also in the sensethat ifyou
pâid the fee, it ensuredunlimited medi€al and spirituâl treatment;
there was no extrachargeeachtim€ you becamesick (sort ofa com-
bined churchand HMO). Th;s tithe enabledChangto satheraround
him a large goup of followers,whom he promptly graded into a
hierarchy basedon each individualt abilitiesànd latent talents.So
unusualwas this innovation rhat his group becâmeknown as the
Five BushelsSect. In all fairness,however,it is said that he work€d
miracles;the pàralyz€dl;l walk and the btind lil se€,so to speak.
184
ÀppendixOne
Otherwise,he wouldncvcrhâvebeenableto pulliroÊf,not in China
(for reasonsI will explore io lurther chapters)and c€rtainly not in
the tei ond cenLuryLE.The manhad power
Chang Tao Ling and the peoplewho gatheredaroundhim were
uniqu€in one more specificway (indeed,in this casehis perspedive
goesradicallyagainstthe popularimageof the Tàoisthemit, indiffer-
ent to society).ChangLing, byorganizinghis followersand agreeing
to keeppeoplehealthy and happy through his powers,andby agree-
ing to fight with evil and exorcisedemonsand evil spirirs,consdrtelto
ifliercedein thecou$eoJhffitanityaberebccould-where karma allowed him
to. This was a profoundst€p for a Tàoist,primarily becausein doing
so, he acc€pt€dthe consequences of his actlons.Rememberthat, ac-
cordins to his beliefs,if he did well, his karmawould be good, if he
failed,he would haveto pay for it. Bearin mindalso that Chang lived
during the secondcentury cE, b€fore MahayanàBuddhismv/ith its
ideâofth€ bodhisatwaand self-denyingsacrificeenteredChtna.You
shouldbe able to seeby now that the imageofTaoism propagatedin
the \(est is not at all accurate.
Chang assumedthe title T'kn Shih,"heavenlymaste/' (or T'rer
SrJr,"heavenlyteacbey'';it dependson whom you ask) and passedu
on to his offspring (he l,l have children-once again in contrastto
the imageof th€ Taoist hermit). His descendants,after a history of
variouswars followed by the short-lived estâblishmentof a Taoist
theocracy,eventuallysettled on a mountain called Lung Hu Shan
(dragontiger mountain)inJiangsiprovince.Over the centuriesthey
continLredthe practiceofint€r€edinginhumânitylaffairs,storingin
their hâlls,arnonsoth€rthinss, thousandsofjars in which iheyjailed
the powerfuldemonsthey hadexorcised.OtherTàoists,not oftheir
denominatioobut loos€lyaffiliatedwith thern,andsharingtheirbe-
lief that à rnan blessedwith power should aid humanity, congr€,
gated on their mountain,there they were given shelterand a place
to meditatein peace.One such man will be central to this book, as
we will seelateron.
In 1927the Communistsectionof the NationalistArmy brokeoff
andattackedLung Hu Shanwhile en routeto Hailufeng.TTey forced
the monks in th€ temples,among them the hereditary Heavenly
185
AppendixOne
Mast€r,to flee for their lives.The troops smashedthousandsofjars
and containers/rel€asiog(a€cordinsto the monks)thousandsof evil
spirits to once again walk the ea h; purportedly,it is rhesespirits
that causedVorld rùflarII! The T'i€n Shih eventuallysettledon Tai-
wan, where they continue to ljve to th€ presentdày Vhat is âgain
central to our story is that (ashappenedalsoon Mao-Shanin 1949),
someof the hermits on Lung Hu Shanwere not at all put off by the
armys appearance,they were so powerful that they fotghtenedthe
soldiersaway from their retreats!
9. Chancesarethat ifyou askedone hundredpeoplewho have
readup on Chinesephilosophywho Lao-tzuwas,they could all tell
youi some perhapsin great detail.The typical researchelhoweveç
rnight be shockedto discovcrthat a man whose school was histori-
cally a greaterrivalto Confucianismthan Lao-rzu'sTàoismeverwas
is virtually unknown in our day. Such a man was Mo-Tzu or Mo T.
He is pertin€nt to this text in thàt rh€ schoolofkung fu inherited by
John Chans tracesits lineageback to Mo Tzu himself.
For the two centuriesfollowjns his dearh,the schoolofMo was
the main rival of Confucianism.Born in the stateof Lu in 469 BcE,
roughly ten yearsafterK'ungFuTzut passing,Mo Tzu wasextremely
well educatedas a youth and apparentlya martjal artist and master
oi strategy as well. Indicationsare that he was from a poor family
and may haveeven beenbrandedasa criminal, sinceMo-Tzl means
"Mr. Tàttoo " TTe priociplesofjustice wer€ the driving force of his
ministry, howev€r,and though by nature a stubborn and extreme
individual, universallove was the center of his teaching.Four hun-
dredyearspriorro the biÉh ofChrist, Mo-Tzu is recordedashaving
said the following,
"lf people were to regardother staresas they regard their own,
and their neishbor as th€y regard themselves,then they would not
âttack one another,for il would be like aitacking their own person.,'
Before I continue, it mighr be prudenr to say that there is â
difficulty in usingthe woÂs Mi1)trçtlloeeto describethe centralthem€
ofMo-Tzus philosophy.Fromrny own standpoint thosetwo words
better depict a Vestern consciousness than an Easternapproachto
ta6
AppendixOne
life (though I will continrc to usehioetsalloteIn the text for lack of
a better term). The reasonfor my insistenceon a distinction is that
Mo-Tzu wâs prcoccupiedwith justiceas much as he waswith com'
passion,and did not tend to be a very forgiving fellow Contrarily,
in the Vest, as a consequenceof our Judaeo-Christiantraditlon,
universallove has become associatedwith the forgivenessof sins,
which is not really focal here. Perhapsa better word for Mo-Tzui
teaching would be rriuers4ltt* v.hich does a b€tter job of tracins
back to the €entralessenceofTàoism and the concept of ka'ma. In
any case,the universalperson considen his neighbor tbe samۉs
hlmself, and the father of his neighbor the sameas his own fath€r,
and acts accofdingly.
In 393 BcEPrince \/en of Ku Yang was planning to attack the
much smallerstate of Cheng. Mo-Tzu went to him and âskedhim
what he would do if someof the laryercitiesin his country suddenly
raidedthe smâllertowns, killing and plundering.The princ€ replied
thât he would punish them severely.Mo-Tzu then askedh;m if he
himself would not be punishedin the samemanner by heavenfor
attackins Chens. Prince\Zen replied that he wasjustified in his as'
sault, for the people of Cheng had murdered their lords for three
generations,and were alreadysuffering the retribution o{ heaven.
Mo Tzu askedhim how he would feel if, when punishinghis son for
somebad deed, his neighbor suddenlyappearedand beganhittlng
the boy, declarinsthat it was heavent will that he do sol lf the lord
ot a $eat nation attackshis neighboringstate,killing its peopleand
st€alingiheir possessions, then writes down how grand andjustified
he is for doing so, how is he different hom the simple mân who
attackshis neighbors?Priôce\ven realizedthe wisdom of his words
and backeddown from his plans.t
Mo-Tzu neverhesitatedto standup to the powertul and risked
his life on many occasionswhile doing so. His drivins force wâs a
*
Vatson,Burton,ILe Basi.Witih4s
ôJMô-Ttu,
Hstn-Tzu,a Hat FdTzr
(NewYork,ColuûbiaUniversityPress,1967)
1 Bect,S"nae.son, o1Taosnad Mo-Tzuhttp,//www.san.beck.orel
Àrl,r..!
ECt5-Taoism.httÎll
147
ÀppendixOne
 pronouncedloveforjustic€.Indeed,Mo,Tzui followerslaterbecame
the protectors of the common man and of holy places.Heaven is
awareof ev€rycrime that peoplecommit,hewrote, andheavenloves
justic€ add hatesinjustice.How do we know that heavenloves jus-
tic€?In ajustworldthere is life, wealth, and order,while in an uniust
world there is death,pov€rty,and chaos.
Mo Tzu believedthat heavencherishedthe entire world uni-
versallyandsousht mutualbenefitforalllivingbeinss. This is a vely
simple, dir€ct, and eloquent statemenrattempting to describethe
Tào. According to Mo Tzu, heaven d€sired rhat those who have
strengthprotectandwork for otheE, thosewith weairhshareitwith
others,thosein positionsof authorit/ work ethically for proper gov
ernment,while thoselabor;ngshoulddiligently carry out their tasks.
Vhen a stateor societyasa whole avoidsconfl;cr along its bord€rs,
feeds the hungry, ministersto rhe ill, then that nation will flower
and prosper.Almost tw€nty-four hundred yearsago, Mo,Tzu had
written that if we substitutegood govemment for offensivewarfare
and spend lesson the army, we will gain many benefits;if a leader
acts according to the universallaws ofjustice and setsan examole.
then he will have no enerni€sand bring incalculablebenefit to the
world. As an exampleof this, Mo-Tzu noted how many hundredsof
officialsand how many thousândsofsoldiers ar€ requiredfor a mili-
lary exp€dition.In the meantimeinternalgovernmentwasneglected,
farrnersforgot their crops, merchantshoarded their wares. If one
flfth of the suppliesand veapons were salvagedafterward,it was
consideredfortunate.Countlessmen died or were crippled in a war.
Mo-Tzu askedif it was not pervers€that the leadersof the world
delighted in the injury and €xte.minationof their own citiz€ns.
Mo-Tzu âttackednepotismas well. Originally, h€ wrore, gov
ernmentwasint€ndedto beoefitandhelp the poor,bring safetywhere
there was danger,and restoreorder where there was chaos.Peoole
chosethe most capableamong.hemselvesasleadersso that govern,
ment could be unified under intelligent direction. However,admin
istrationin his day wascanied out by court flattery,while the relâtiv€s
and friendsof thosealreadyin power were exclusivelyappoinredto
positions of authority. Since the citizens realized that rhese indi-
148
vidualshad not bcencommissioned for the welfareof the people,
they resentedtbem and did not id€ntify with them, which fostered
revolution.Vas this surelynot insane?Mo-Tzu suggestedthatthose
in positionsof powerhonor the worthy and impartiallydemotethose
without abilitt to do away\rith interp€rsonalconflicts.
untortunately, no world leadefto date (other than Chandi) has
seenfit to listen to sûch common senseMo-Tzut observationsare
still pertin€nttodayrwe havelearnednothing in tvo millennia.Even
in our so-calledmodern democracies,"lt ain't what you knoq itt
whoyou know" and"Might makesright" are tundamentallyaccepted
principles.
Mo Tzu believedinnonhumanspiritualbeinss andihespiritsof
human ancestors,asevidenc€,h€ cornmentedthat countlesspeople
all over the world had experienc€dencounterswith such entities
His philosophyandworldviewwere,from a metaphysicalstandpoint,
v€ry closeto the shamânisti€model.
Mo Tzu could be very extreme in his views, ând certainly hts
asc€ticsoutlook appealedmoreto disciplinedwarriorsthan to layfolk.
He wore only coarseclothins and had few possessions. He prac-
ticedyoga and the martialartscontinuously.The historical (and sci
entific, by th€ standardsof the day) d,octrmentHui-nan ttu stated,
thât he n€v€rstayedin one placefor very long. Perhapsthe authors
main disagreementwith Mo-Tzu was his expresseddislikeof music.
Mo-Tzu thought that singing, dancing, aod playing music were a
\,r'asteoftime, that suchan €nlightenedindividual missedout on rhe
joys of crealive expressionis sâd to say the least.*The celebrated
TàoistphilosopherChuâng tzu himself,while calling Mo-Tzu "one
of the greatestof soulsin the world," criticiz€d him for economizing
on funeralsand music.Chuang-tzusaid that peoplewiJl sing when
happy and wail when in grief, and to attempt to stop such things
went againsthumân nature.I could not agre€more.
*
Fol those who ar€ interestedin such thinss, I am an (untalented)
amateurmusicianwho liv€swith a talentedand competentprofesrional
189
ÀppendixOne
 As statedearlier,for two ccnturiesafrer his dcarh in 391 J]c!,the
school of Mo-Tzu wasthe main rival to the schoolof K'ung Fu Tzu.
Mo-Tzu's followers becametemple sûafdiansand the defendersof
the simple manrmost of them were from common stock themselves
while alsovery educated(quite a contras!in the fourth century nce).
However, his school qLricklybroke into three branches,eachaccus
ing the other of heresy,and becauseof th;s confltct among them
selves and with Confucianism, they quickly lost power. By the
Conmon Era they had mostly disappearedor sone unoergrouno.
10. In addition to thc Lung Hu Shansect,there are three other
Tàoist traditions that have had an impact on Chinese history, all
were establishedin the fourrh to sixth centu.ies.One is th€ Mao-
sharSbargch'in, (Mao Mountain suprernepurity) sect, which fol
lowed the teachinss of Vei Hua-ts'irn, Yang Hsi, and T'ao
Hung ching, among others.This sect did come closerro rhe popù
lar image of the Tàoist hermir, stressingpeacef l meditation ànd a
reclusivelilestyle to obrain rbe prize of immorrality.The secondis
the Lins-pào (sacfedjewel)scriptufaltradition, which wasbasedon
sacredtexts and emphasizedcomplexritùalsandliturgies The third
is theVutang-Pai,whichemphasized marialartstrainiogasa meâns
io enlightenmentione of;ts members,Chang San Feng,is regarded
aç th€ founder ol internal martial arts and is certainly perrinent to
our story.(Seenote 12.)
r r. The issueof ùlrimate enlightenm€ntor immonaltty ;s one
that hasbeen written Âboutin detail and.equiresseveralvolrrmes to
address.In short, therc seemto be differentsragesto the game.From
the point ofviev ofJohni Iineage,the first stageis achievedbycorn-
pleting Level Four (actuallyLevel Five,though I have not addressed
the dislinction to avoid confusioo),which ensuresthar you can tàke
all your yang energy with you when you die. Such a spirir is still
bound by the lawsof karma,howeveç and will remainso until Level
Thity is attained.In otherwords, to ensureescapefrom the cycle of
r€birth you must attain t€vel Thirty or more while alive. Ukimate
enlightenrn€ntresultsat Level Seventy-Two,wh€n all seventy-rwo
190
ÂppendixOne
chakmsin thc body arc opcrrcdarrdthc very last, locatedat the top
of the skull,is allowedro bloom.At this point the yogi is one with
I have found Johni method to be similâr to tbât of Kundalini
yoga and the nbetan BLrddhistyosâs of Naropa (as well as some
branchesof Tàoismand shanranism), but, as meniionedabove,â
proper comparisonis bcyond the scopeof this book.
One issue,however,that I would like 10 address's the fact that
suchan approachis not lirniledto Eastern mysticism. ln my opinion
the ancientCrccks,Me5opotanria.rs, aDdËsyptians allusedthe same
nethod. \(/hile the evidencefor this is circumstantialrather than
hard, it would appearthat the theory is on track.
The serpenris a synbol iound everywhcrcin rhc Creek archaic
relisiousrecord asv€ll asihc Esyptian.The depiction of rhe snake
retersto "carth cnersy"or, in the words ofJohn Chang, "yin power"
(yin ch'i risiDgfrom the earth).
Certain researchershave proposedthe theory that the chakras
olEastem mysticisn1areno more than d nctwork of"standingwaves"
in the field of yin enereythât surroùndsand pervadesus.This stand-
ing wâve network reflectsour personalitlesand our karma both, a
colrntc.pat to our genetic makeup
In figure 6a a simplifiedversionof the chakrasof Easternmysti
cism is shown (ihat is, the main seven,rather than all seventytwo).
Comparethesechakrasto the bâsicstandingwaveofphysics (figlre
6b), ând to the stdff of Hernes (flgure 6c) usedasa symbol by phy-
siciansaroundthe world. This symbol is actuallyquire old ând can
be seen on a Mesopotamianvase in the Louvre dated to 2000 B(:E
(flgure 6d). You could alsolook at the stafl of Asclepius,god of heal
ins (fisure 6e), or the snakecrown ofthe pharaohsofancient Esypt
(figure 6f). All the imasesrefer to the ascensionof earth energy.I
will leâveit to othersto make a more detailedcomparison.+
" All of th.'. ."n..pt' *.re p.€s€ntedby LefterisSarasàsin
Âtraposmagazine,Aldebaranpublishing,Athens, Cleece,Jun€ 1998
The orisinal sketch of the vaseiD the Louvre was fi6t pùblishedin
the newspaperËletrroilpia, Athens, Octobel 4, I 998.
191

\t.t
211
U/
I11
>K
(b)
1
(e)
Fig.6. (a)The chakrasof Easremmysricism(b) A çtandinswave.(c) The
staffof Hermes.(d) Mesopotaûian inase showingthe samenetworkof
enereies.(e)The staffof Asclepius(1)Thesnakecrownol Egypt
12. One other semibistorical figurewho hasa bearingon this
text is Châng San Feng An intcrnal alchemistof great power,he is
credited by many with originating the internal martiàl arts that is,
the applicationofnei-dantraining to martialtechn;que.John Changs
school of kung fu counts him as a prominent and highly successtul
memberolits lineage. Amongotherthings,ChangSanFengis con
192
sideredby somethe originatoro f t'ai chi chuan,althoughhis legacvt
allegedinflu€nceon t'ai chi is an areaof controversy.I will stick mv
neck out and say that I personallyam convinced that Chang San
Fengt internal martialart did indeedinfluenc€t'ai chi (though I will
not at this point get into the whys and hows). Fengsnameappears
in historical Chinesetexts under two different spellings,as Chang
"ThreeMountain Peaks"and Chang"Three Abundances"(both pro-
nouncedChaq SarFng). As such,someChinesewrit€rs suggestthat
Chang lived to be at leastfive hundredyearsold . . or more
The first referencewe have to Chang is from the seventeenth-
century scholarHuang Tsung Hsi in his frtidr, Jor Wa$qCbwgna4
who wrote, "Shaolinis famousfor its martial art. Howevet their art
stressesonly offense,which allows an opponent to tak€ advântag€
of this to strik€ weak points. There are internal martial ans, which
employ.lillnessro over(omeacrivenes\. a5soon a\ the dggret.o.'
com€ into bodily contaci, they are immediately thrown For this
reason,Shaolin is regardedas an extemal martial art The internal
martial arts originat€dwith Chang SanFeng IChang Three Moun
tain P€aksloî the Sung dynasty [960 1279 cE], who was an alche
mist on the mountainof Vu Tang.He receiveda summonsfrom th€
emperor Hui Tsuns. On the way to see him, he found the road
blockedbyagroupofbandits.Thatnighthedreamedthattheheav-
enJyemperorHsuan I/u, th€ Taoistgod of war, taught him martial
arts.ln the morning Chang killed over a hundred bandits"*
Of sisnificanceis Johnk insist€ncethat Chans was â Shaolin
monkbefore hebecamea Taoist,somethingthat fits in well with the
seventeenthcentury scholar Huang Pai Chiat (Tsung Hsi! son)
stat€rnentthat"Chang SanFengwasa masterof Shaolin,but reveÎs'
ing its principlesdevelopedthe Internal school."tThis is a distioc
tion ofsome consequ€nce to martialartshistorians,one that hasnot
been sufficiently stressed(in my opinion) and that, most assuredlv,
'The
wordinsis rny own,basedon two translâtions'
'lii
a. Huane,Alfred,Conrlar C,i,(Tokyo,CharlesE Tuttle,|993)
b Vil€, Douslas,lot T'ai-ChiClasicsJro^ thelih al i4 Dyd\tv
(AlbaDy, StateUniversityof New YorkPr€ss,I 996)
t Vit", il;/. I ."."-mend thisbook to the seriousscholar
193
AppendixOne
 Taoistscholarcwill takeumbragewith. Anothcr importantpoint is
Huangi useof the word sfiil'ress to describeinteroal martialarts He
is referringto yin energy It shoLrldbe noted that i nternalmartialarts
are not of necËssityflowingand evasive,âswe havecome to betiev€
in .he Vest (sinceall movern€ntis of n€cessityyang).Rather,in this
text, Huang is denoting yin in rhe context usedbyJohn Chang, in
other words asa "graviiationalforce"that absorbsenergyand warps
space-time.The Àpii4p,Jor WoU Cbng Mt offers considerablecir
cumstantialevidence that Johns schooi is indeed deccendedfrom
Chans San Feng
In the Ming historical text Mi", ShihFan Ci ûwan, we fiod,a
rcterenceto Chang San Fens;h€ is presentedas 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. Seventyycars
later ( jn rhe M ins texl,{4ifi ktl Yh Cbi ShouLei
Ko ) w€ find mention
ofhrm asajn That particularMinsemperorwassuccesstul, for Chang
dcigned to visir him r
Othcr Mtng referencescatalog ChamgThree Abrndancesas a
nativeof the Yi djstrict of Liaoningprovincein ôorthernChina. Hc is
listed as beins a Taoisrleaderbetwccn the end of the yuan and the
besinnins of the Mins dynasry( r 368 cr) who eventuallybuilt a cot
tasc oo \yy'uTàngmountainto devotehimçclfto rhe studyofTàoism+
\/as thefe a Chans San Fcng who lived 1rl be more than five
centuriesold: Even five yearsago I would have said rhar claimslike
this wcre sh€erno,rsenseThesedaysIhesitatcto evenoffer an opin-
ion on such matters.That th€re od5a historical Chang SanFcng (or
sevcralof then), therecan be no doubt. Vho or what he really was,
however, wecannotknowPerhaps his issinrplyacaseotoncrnan in
cachgencrationpo5ingashis predecessof-aqùitecomnronrusein
world hlstory. Or perhapshc wasindccd an agctessTàoistimmortal.
The Taoistaurh{trl.iHan hsu,in 1844,uponputrlishinsabook titled
Ttu Cù,kk Wûks ol (:hd", Sd'JFn . claimedto have mer rhe Dran.
YansJwinsMins, Al,arcrdYd"4Sr,leTdiCnl
a-lL,,rUàmaicaPlâin,Ma$,
YansiMartialA,rsAssociation, 1987J
l Ya.clwinsMinc,riil
+ Huùoc,Alhed, C-o,t1r.ni Cri
194
It world bc wondcr'lul if he werestill alive,sharinga ioke at this
author! cxpense. I'd like to think that indeed he is, somewherein
the mountâinçof China.
13. The question of the ethert existenceplâguedscientistsat
the turn ofthe century.Besinninswith Clerk Maxwell! andMichael
Faraday!discoveryof el€ctromagnetics,the controversyâs to how
suchforcesshouldpropagatepuzzledscientists,who werc still work
ing with Newtonian mechanicsand mateial bodies.Over tim€ the
b€havior of a "field" cam€ to be understood,and in turn that of a
"wave."Allefforts then centeredononderstand ins th€ natùfeof lisht,
with Fresnelitheory that Iight propdgated in à substancecalledthe
luminiferousether being rnostpopular(this ether wasthousht to bc
at rest in absolutespace) In 1887 the fanrousMichelson'Morley
experimentprov€d that a mechanicalether could not in fact exist
For eightccn yeârs this finding vas the center of d€bai€, but wàs
finally acceptcd,despitefi€rce rcsistancefrom someof thc sreateçt
scientistsof the day (such as Lord Kclvin, Hendrik Lorentz, and
JulesHenri Poincaré).The issuewas scttled in 1905 with Albcrt
Einstein'sfamouspaperson quantum theory and relativity. Ther€
were still adberentsto th€ old ether theory,howcver notably
Lorentz and Poincaré,who introduced à model whcrcby a clock
slowedas it nrovcd into the ether. I believethat they wcrc close to
the trulh.
14. The rootsof Taoismstretchbackto thc 'hamaniçtictradi-
tion that svcpt through all partsol the world beginning somethirty
thousandyears aeo.*The word sbanarcones from the Tunears people
of Siberia,who livcd on the northcrnmost bordersof the Chlntçe
world However,it is a mistâketo assume thatshâmanism asa bclici
bcgan in Siberia.According to lhe ârcha€olosicalrecord,its ofigins
werealmostcertainlyEuropcanI Sbamanism wasthe first |najorworld
'Pafincr,
Martin, Tir Ëimortsof Ïaorn (Sha{tesbury,Doret, Uement
B o o k s1 9 9 4 ) .
t Canpbell, I o'eph, Il,r WayoJttu AnindlpûDts,Nttbolalts ol ttu Ctùl
Hrrt (New York Harpe. ând Row, 1988J
195
 r€ligion andreachedfrom northernEuroDeacrossAsiâto theAmeri,
can contjnents. Indicationsare that it dispersedthrough Asja into
North Americâbetween 1t,000 and 8o0o BcE.
A shamanfunctionsby studyingând knowingnature,and thus is
abl€to reachoutto natureon all levels.The corebelief o[ shamanism
is that theuniverseis madeup of two parallelandoverlappingworlds,
the physicalandthe spiritual.Iùtreofthe physicalworldmav be influ-
encedby those of the spiritual-It is rhusnecessaryfor an intermedi-
ary to communicatewiththe denizensof the spirirworldandintercede
for the dwellerson the physicalplane;this mediatorwasthe shaman.
The forcesofthe spirit world, who maybe deceasedhumans or non-
humanin origin, canbringon goodfortune orbad, illnessor prosper-
iry Th€ shâmanentersthe spiritworld throughth€ rrancestare,during
which he speakswith and/or becomesa mouthDi€cefor the sDirits.
The spirit world'smain directiv€usuallywas that p€oplefollow and
understandthe way of nature,indeed,the cosmologyof shamanism
tookthe firststepsin €stablishingthat thererunsa Vay humanbe;ngs
could follow to be in accordwith the world and avoid sicknessand
disaster It is this primordial immediacy and und€rstandingof the
naturalworld that shamanismhasbequeathedto Taoism.
The early kings of China were shamans.lr was to the first king,
Fu Hsi, that the spirits r€vealedhow ro bring civilization to man,
reputedly around 3000 BcE.Fu Hsi tâught his subjeds agriculture
and writing, among other things. He is also the patron of the Chi
nesedivination artsin that he first originatedthe €ight trigrâmsfrr-
&îa) that led to the eventualdevelopmentof tbe I Ch;ng. It is said
that the secr€tof the eight trigramswas inscribedon the side of a
horsethat rosefrom the RiverHo to revealits€lf to Fu Hsi; thus this
pattern is called the Ho-t'u, and describ€sthe underlying nature of
all things. It is inte{estingto not€ that an ,riflal pres€ntsFu Hsi with
the knowledge of the workings of the univene, and that Fu Hsi is
olten drav/nv/earingatigers skin and accornpaniedby animalssuch
as th€ tortoise.There can be no clearerties ro shamanism.
One of the greatestshaman-kingsto follow, and one especiâlly
reveredby Taoistsastbe traditional founderof Tâoisn, is the Yellow
Emperoa Huang T, who reportedly lived between 2697 and 2597
BcE.H€ is credited with inventing govemment administrationand
196
ÀppendixOne
medicine,amongothef things. Indeed,Chinas most famousm€dical
text is called Tte lloo Enperor\ClasicoJlrxrnal l'Leàictue (thot'gh
chancesareit wass'ritten in the secondcentury8cE)Huang Ï is also
reputedto be th€ inventorof the chimney,of plov.s,andofsilk looms,
but is bett€r known for his experimentswith lnternal and external
alchemy and discoveryof the secretsof immortaliry Another sha
man-kingwasYue,who foundedthe Hsia dynas' (11os-1765 BcE) t
it wassaidthat he hadbeen designatedby heaven to leadhis people
Like hispredecessor io centuriespast,KingYu€ sawananimalemerge
from the wâters (in this caseâ tortoise from the River Lo) with a
patternof eight trigJâmsinscribedon its back.This pattern is called
the lo sll and is referredto as the Later Heaven pa-k'ua,while the
Ho-t'u is calledthe EarlierHeavenpa-k'ua.The Ho-tu describesthe
ideal ord€r of things in the universe,while the Lo shu describesthe
order of fluxand change.It canbe se€nthat whât shamanismoffered
to Taoismwasth€ senseof a relationshipbetweenthe lawsof nature
and the ultimate power of the universe,including the concept that
changecannot be forced or haltedbut simply underctood.The idea
of "going with the flow" is âs shamanisticas it is Taoistiindeed, it is
very difflcult to draw a line betweenthe two and specifywhere one
trad;tion endsand the other €ommences.
1 5. The saseKuo pts ChingJuq chag (Classic ol thePar
Treltise
tensoJtheGenLlontains), vritten during the third century cE,clearly
describesthe processby which things are createdfrom the Tao and
return to it. This work reflectsideasthàt had be€n in existencefor
nlillennia âod were confirmed by otber writers in the Suns dynasty
eight hundredyearslater*
The author begins,"ln the beginninCvâs darkness,for the Void
iç not visible."i Compare this with ihe ancient Cr€ek myth (per
Hesiod) that the earth sprangtoom chaos,the unfo'med,+o' to the
.
Vong, Eva,Fog 51,,i(Boston,ShambhalaPublications,1996)
I vone,ibid.
+ Th€ word craosin it! original context has nothing to do with its neaning
today o[ "contusedcrazedftâs." Insteadthe word (Xdoç)comesfron the
Creek root meaniog"to open wide,".efenine to space,the indefinable
197
AppendixOne
Old Testament. Vu chi is rheprimordial,thc Sourcelt is thecondi-
tion of stillnesswhefe all thinss are undiffereniiatedffom the ulti
mate. In this statç a poiot of movement-of pure yang shincsout
(scc fisure 7). There is interactionbetveen yin and yans leadins to
the stateof t'ai chi (the supremeextremity) vhere yin and yaôg are
embraced,distinct y€t tosether, balancingeach othcis forccs.This
is the One referfed to try Lâo tzu, the mother of "the ten thousand
$ings" (all liie). Vhere \ru-€hiis absolutestillness,fai chi hasthe
poteDtialof change.\(hen t'aichiis at r€st,yangandyin areunitedr
when t'ai chi is in motion, the two opposingforcesscparat€.Hercin
lies the secretof immortality.
(d)
Fig.7 Kùo'puspresentation.(a)Vu-chi, the Tào.(b) and(c) A sparkof
yang
movementin the stillnessi iû the centerof yin. (d) T'ai chi, yin and
yangembraced andbalanced
16. Seemy text for note 13.
17. Seemy text for note 15.
18. A historic exampleof how much damageman can do in the
processofbeing greedyand ignorant is the corDpleteelimination of
the buffalo in the United Statesin the late nin€teenthcentury Most
p€ople are awâre that the great herds that once roamed the plains
198
AppendixOne
werc wantonly slaughtered,but not rnanyrealizebow quickly it was
done, and by how few
In 1870 there were twenty million buffalo roaming the grass
lands; by 1889, lessthan twenty years later, there were onlv one
thor-rsandleft. Fromthosethousand,carefulconsewationhasvielded
a herd two hundredthousandstronc in our day. \flby were the buf
falo killedr 'ù/hat purposedid the eliminètion of such an incrediblv
large food supply server
Iti simple. Nobody owned them. They were free, and could
feed the economlcallydisadvantagedof the nation without anvone
makiîg a profit. Vith the buffalo extant, the cattle barons,and the
poliiicians in th€ir pa, coûld not hope to corner thc v/orld meat
market Thesemen had alreadydeterminedthat the srasslandçw€re
€xcellent for raisins câttle, so they made the buflalo go awav.The
€orpsesol the slaughteredanimalswere useiessas food, since thev
had normallv çpoiledby the time aoyonecouldset 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 caseof gfeed and ignoranceworking hand in
hand, as usual.Vhy did people do nothing at all bâck then in thc
faceof sucb slaughter:Perhapsthey didn't care. Perhapsthev had
been told that killins the bûffalo wouldn'r matter.Perhapsthev be
lieved that buffalo rneatwasiuçt no damn sood.
199
AppendixOne
A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library
Appendix Two
OBSERVATIONS
AND
SPECULATION
At thls point a truly academicdiscussionof the phenornenadelin
eàtedin the text is out of the questionbecauseno clinicalÎrials have
beenhe1d.Howwea I cannorhelp butspeculateturtheron the things
I witnessedin the courseof beingJohn Chang,sstudent,and in this
brief appendixwould like to offer additionarcomment.
It is €xcitingto believetharw€ r,rillone daycom€ to understand
the nature of the energiesthat lendJohn his powers.yang ch'i and
yin ch'l govern the equation of life, as Chang Situ h;mself has re-
p€atedly stated-A brother student of mine once mocked my
ps€udoscientific âttemptsto quantifyyin andyâng by remarkingthat
John experienced r€ality directly,andthus had no need foiquantifi_
cation. He was not far from the truih. Nevertheless,while Chang
Sifu may not needsuchdiscourseh;mself,the rest of us certainlydo,
so we may as well attempt it.
OBSËRVATIONS
Yân3Ener$y
. The Ping-Pong ball demonstration.Outlined;n chapter 7,
this demonstrationbasicallyinvolvedJohnt transfenjnsyane
200
energyinto a Ping-Pong ballheldin hk left handwhlleat the
sametime gen€ratinga yin pole in his right palm. The ball
pulsed with a blu€ light while at the sametim€ emitting a
chirping soundsimilar to the sons of a canary.A continuous
streamof bluish sparkswas observedto flow from the ball
to\,/ardJohn'sright palm,in ess€nce a miniaturelightning bolt.
John kept this up for about five seconds andstopped,fatigued.
Vhen questionedas 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 seenin Ri', oJFirsând capturedby myselfon
simplevideofilm aswell,Johnis€apableof inducinspyrog€nesis
usingthe yangch'i.The typicalsubjectmâtterisnitedis news'
paperor tissue,but he hasboiled water on occasionaswell.
o Energy blasts.Though I have not witnessedthissp€cificphe'
nomenonpersonally(yet), I haveheard it describedby other
students,Johnis capableof issuingenersybolts of gr€atpowef
overconsiderable distance,simiiarto lishtnins bolç. (The color
of theseblastsis alsoblue; the energyusedis identicalto that
used in th€ Pins-Ponsball derno.)I cannot help but think of
the flms Monal Conbat Pos,àet, Bi1 Trôlblein Lttle Chind,or the
Chineselegendof the god lei Krag (Zru in Creece).The ex
tent of thesepov/€rsis unknown. I have heard that brother
studentsof mine at LevelThree are capableof strikins up to
eight metersawaywith the addition of just a bit ofJohns yin
en€rgy into their bodies,v/hich allows their yang energy to
escapethe confinesof their own skin. (You can assumethat
our skin is a sort of Faradaycagefor our bodies'energies. )
. X ray diflraction. In trials held manyyearsagoJohn and two
of his studentsat LevelThree allowed their dantieopoints to
b€ subjectedio frontâI,donal, and lateralX-ray examination.
Johns dantienshowedup asa flatcircular disk,while thoseof
his studentsexhibited curvedglobular indications(alsoflat).
Yn Eneréiy
. Telekinesis.I havecapturedJohnon film movins a matchbox
from one yand away.He extendedhis left palm toward the
201
 box, which we had placedon the floor, generatinga yin pole but rather this one,
in that palm. The matchbox skidded acrossthe floor with
obs€rvabl€accelerationto rest in his grasp.
. Absorition of energy.On two sepaÊteo€casions John passed
yin energy into my body. I was then capableof catching a
bullet from an ajr rifle by plactng my hand over the muzzle.
Two differcnr air rifles were us€d in thesetrials. The pellets
showed no deformationand there was neither generationof
heat nor any impâct upon capture(chapter7).
Only time will tell if this assessment
is accurare.
Vn-YangEner6y
. Electrogenesis.The easiestofJohn's powersto witnessiit is
also the most difficult to quântiô/. Tlre repulsive force be-
SPËCULATlON
tween yin and yang brings about ihis dynâmismias the two Yan6Energy
energiesare"squeezed'togetherin ChangSifui dânrien.John
Tle Ping-Pongball demonstrationmention€d aboveand described
routinely us€sthis ability on a daily basisto treat patients
in chapter7very rnuchdefinesthe naturcofyang ch'i, should sucha
with âcupun€ture,pâssingsaid energy into rhe traditional
thing truly exist as an independentform of energy.The color blue
points.Howevet repeatedtestingwithborh AC andDC volt-
observedis reminiscentof Reich! orgone; indeed, many of the be-
meters and amperometersindicated neither currenr nor po-
havioralcharacteristicsdescribedar€ similar The nec€ssiiyofusing
t e n t i a l ; n o r w a s m y t € a c h e r c a p a b l eo f p r o d u c i n g
a hollow, plastic,seamless ball to accomplishthe demo is most im
incandescencein a DC light bulb of the lowesr volrage (ro
portant: It suggeststhatwhat lwitnessedvas not a surfacephenom-
ensurethat this /'currenr"v.asinde€dbeing passeddurtng the
enon, but râther ihat the energyhad penetratedthe polyrnericshell
trials,the aothoractedasground).Therefore,while this power
and shonei/'idr the ball much like licht shinesin an incandescent
feelslike electriciry,ir is most definitely not. One character-
Iightbulb. This seernsto indicate that the yang ch'i is neither par-
istic worth noting is that the "current" generateddoes not
ticle nor wave, but bo.h. I believethat it is a solar energy stored in
seemto follow the standardwaveform of physics,but instead
our earthi atmosphere.
consistsof a seriesof peaks.I have no hard data to quantify
The yang energy is roi. It is capableof incendtaryeffects, as
this statement,but I could feelth;s effecttn ChangSitut body
evidencedby the pyrogenesisdemonstrations.Moreover,there is an
during electrogenesis. That is, I receivedthe impressionthar
interestinscorrelationbetweenChans Situs êrchetypesand Reicht
th€ power generateddid not follow this mode,
observationson the orgone in the treatment of cancer Reich had
witten that cancercellsdie when placednearthe orgonebions.My
teacherhas successfullyusedan overdoseof yang ch'i to treat can
cer, stating thât cancercells"dry up" when exposedto strong yang.
(That said, I must at presentdashwhateverhopesI may have given
to thoseafflictedwith cancer.AsJohn hassaid,he cannot curecan-
cer He has madeseventrials to date and has hâd a 43 percentsuc,
c€ssrate. \X,/hilethree of those peoplewere instantly cured and are

202 203

alive today, the other four died on the spot, their weaken€dframes
unableto endurethe blast ofenergy. Chang Sifu no longer attempts
this type of therapy.I have written this pâssâgein faith thar further
researchmay lead us to a cure. Once we undentand the yang ch'i,
\{€ n illbe ableto curecancer) I am convin€€dthat what Reichcalled
the orgone,w€ in the Mo-Pai have for the last twenty five hundred
yearscalled yang ch'i.
The phenomenonof X ray diflraction is alsoan interestingpoint
(w€ know that it is the yang en€rgyinducing this effect by virtue of
the fact thatJohn'stwo LevelThree studentsalsoevid€ncedanindi-
cation). X ray diffraction may prove to be the method by which we
can correlât€and clinically prove bioenergy.
Yn EnerSy
It is simply impossibleat this poiot to have a cleal idea as to what
the yin ch'i really is. If any of the propeltiesaccountedcan be clini
cally proven,then we willhave to revisethe FirstLaw ofThermody
namics.The demonstrationinvolving th€ air rifle is most precis€in
defining the characteristicsof yin, The €nergy of the pellet was rrof
conserved,there was ro deformation, o generationof h€at, no im-
pact (conservationof momentum). In a rccent conversationJohn
describedthe yin as "being like gravity in that gravity itselfwasalso
a yin ch'i." I have stuck my neck out in this lext repeatedly,not least
by statingthat understandingthe yin €nergywill give us the secrets
to faster-thanlight speeds.Let me do so once again in this para-
sraph with another simple sentence,IJ etergycantisappear no nowben,
thenit canbecreatetrrafr rotbirgas 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 sp€culation.
During the demonstration of telekinesisdescribed,lohn ex-
plainedthat he hadusedyin ch'ito draw th€ matchboxinto hisgrâsp.
I beli€vethat what occurredduring this teleklnesiswasessentiallya
wârping of spaceand time in rhe direction of his left palm, much in
the mannerof a gravity well. In otherv/ords, to usea simple model,
what is transpiring is as shown in figure L Again, whether such an
assessment is accurateor not remainsto be secD.
204
|'
Fic. 8. (a) Fisùfativesurfaceof spacetime. (b) Yin field obiectbesins
to "fall."
Yn-Yaryl
Energy
Perhapsthe clear€ststatementI €an make rcgarding the power of
electrogenesis displayedby Chang Sifu is to saythat it is most defi-
nitely /ot the resultof electron flow If it were, such elecxronmove-
ment could have been recordedas 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 swearthat he feelsan ele€triccunent passingthrough his
body. In addition, this enersy is thoroughly transferrablethrough
conducton (metals,water), but not ihrough insulatoÎs.If this cur'
r€nt is not due to electron flow, then what is causingit?
Iwould like to take another shot in the dark at this point and
proposethat increasednu€l€aroscillâtionmay be the caus€of this
Several researchers(Kevran, Komaki, Pappas,HilJman,
Coldfein)* have suggest€dthat electrically induced nucleâr fusion
("cold" mrclearfusion)takesplace inside the body at all times, and
indeed may be the driving force that fuels the sodium-potassium
transferinsidethe cell. I havechosenthe word irarsJar
caretully.The
mainstreamtheory (called the Sodium-PotassiumPurnp) proposesa
mechânismwhereby sodiurnis exchangedfor polassiuminside and
'
Pleasecheck http,//wwpapimi.el for related literature.
205
out of the cell in an attemptto explain the transmembrane potential

K1v,; o CASPART!CLES

g
ofthe cellmembrane.Howevea this modelhasneverbeenvalidated
and stumpstodays investigators.Proponentsof the biological cold
nuclear fusion theory, on the other hand, sùggestthat sodium is
\-à
nuclearlytransmutedtopotassiuminsid€the cell,* andthat the pro- (b) k)
cessshould righttully be labeledthe Sodium-Potassium Tiânsmota
tion. This model is, of course,outside the acceptedboundaliesof
todayt physics.Taking everything into consideration,howevet it (")
se€msto me quite sensibleto proposethatJohn! yin-yaog kung en- Fis.9 (a)Our sùn.Its radiusis 1.4millionkm (b) Vhire dwa.f,radius
ergy may be due to increasedstatesof nuclearexcitâtion.This en 10,000km. (c) Neutronstâr;radius60 km. (d) Blackholeiradius6 kû1
efgy is geoeratedasa seriesof pulses,and is inducedbythe inteGction
of the solar yang energy with the "gravitational"or "dark-matter"
force of the yin ch'i. k is this increasednuclear€x€itation(or fusion) the caseof a black hole, where spaceand time lose all meaningand
thatJohn'spatientsand studentsfeel ascunent. (The differencebe ve hàve a singulariry(9d).
tween my viewpoint and that of the aforementionedresearchersis Ifyou look at the modern fai chi symboi below,vou cans€ethal
that I do not believe that this tusion is €lectrically induced.Neither it accurâtelydepictsthe transmutationof a starat peak solarpower
is it "cold," st.ictly speaking.) such as a red giant (greateryang), explosivelvtransformingiûto a
You will see that such a postulateis most logical if we look at black hole (lesseryin).
thingsonceagainhom amâcrocosmic,astrophysical perspective.
Our
curr€nt scienceacceptsthe notion that, were it not for the dynarnism
of nuclear tusion servingas an expansiveforce, our sun would col-
lapseunder the force of its own grâvity. In fact, models d€lineating
rhe evolution (life and death) of a star follow the archet.pei io fis-
ure 9 (not to scalet).
Vhat this m€ansis that dll starsare batdefieldsbetweensravity Let! look at our t'ai chi model of the univene once again,nsing
and some force providing outward pressure.Llnder normal condi- the ârchaicsymbol. It is probably begioning to makemore senseto
tions, the outward force exceedsthe force ofgravity, and a sun radi
atesenergy (9à). In a white dwarf the pressûreof gravity collapsesa ENERCY
STAR/SOTAR
stâr when its "fire "runs out, creating a d€nse'packedatomic struc- YANC
GREATËR
ture (9b). A neutron star,the result of the explosivedeath of a star
two to three solar masseslarge, is even more compact, its atoms
crushedand their nuclei stackedtosether (9c). Finally we com€ to

-lollowi'srhi\lormula
1 , N a 2 1' r O l 6 Â f n e r g u ' 1 q K { 9
r Ld.ou J'an Picrre"Llnra.krnsBla,k Hol". " Srnrry',q'o^4n 280.\.
May 1999.

206 207
 Uoderstanding fai chi is casieronce we redefincfundamcntal of the Creek wordneta/lor,(pétoÀl,ov), which meâns,quite simply,
concepts to coincide with the archetype. Let! start with graviry. "that which transmutes."Bettermen than I have found ancient cul-
\X,4ren most peoplethinkofgravity, they rememberthe basicsleamed tures to be extremely sagâciousin the ways of the world. Perhaps
in high school, One massexertçân attractiveforce on another,and the ancientCreekssimply understoodthlngs a bit better than we do
it is this attractive force that ke€psus on the planet'ssurface.Lett today.Leti closeon that thought.
take this truism one st€p farther and define things more precisely:
Craviry is that force in the universethat wântsallnaitarto collapse
into a singlemass,and ultimately into oflcsingularity.That is,gravity
is that force that seeksto compactspaceandrime into a single,mas-
sive black holei k is this dynamismthat absorbsenergyand sendsit
into nowhere Cravity is preciselyrhe intrinsic yin ch'i usedbyJohn
Changto achievehis spectacular, energy,absorblngdemonstrations.
(l must reiterate,however,that while gravity ir a yin ch'i, the yin
field is not limited to gravity.Th€re are other âspe€ts.)
Solal fire, on the oth€r hand, is rhe exparsiue
force thar defines
spaceand time and keepsit extant Vestern s€iencecalls this solar
torce nuclear fusion. The ancient scholarsof China called it yang
ch'i. lt is one and the sarne.Macrocosmicallythe combat between
the forcesof sravity and solar fire (yin andyans) defin€sthe naiure
of reality. Microcosmicallytheir interactionÂrelsour lifeforce.(lt is
losical to hypothesizethat should such a contestcompriçethe tun
danentalnaturalconditionolouruniv€rse, thenourown bodicsand
our very lifeforce would reflect it. The ancient Chinese,who knew
nothing of blackholesand rcdsiants, experiencedand deducedthis
struggleusing other methods.)
\Vhile â true cquatioDgoverningsuchbehaviorwould be fractal
in nature, we could mathematicallystate th€ balanceol t'ai chi in
simplifiedfo.m as,

l-l I ,:,rt+-i= r
.h.r. ]-- I dcfinesthe narureof rhe yjn ch'j, o:t [+-] rhat of
the yans,nnd K is a constant.('nme,t is not applicable ro the dcfi
nition of yin, becauseit is a yangcharacteristic.)
Lct me shakethingç 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 Enslishword'cia/ is an adaptation

208 209
 BOOKSOF RELATEDINTEREST

, Nei Kung
The SecretTèachingsof the \ù(arriorSages
by KostaDanaos
The Martial Arts of Ancient Crecce
Modern FightingTechniquesfrom the Age ofAlexander
by Kostas Dcnmisaul Nektarios
Lykiarào1,oulos
The SpiritualPra(tk es o[ rhe Ninja
Masteringthe FourGatesto Freedom
by RossHeaoen

Qigong Teachingsof a Taoist lmmorral

The Eighr EssentialËxcrcisesof MasterLi Ching yun
by StuartAloeOkan
The JadeEmperorsMind SealClassic
The TâoistGuideto Health,Longevity,andImrnonality
by Snat AloeOkol

Iron Shit Chi Kung

by Martak Cbia
BoneMarrow Nei Kung
TàoistTèchniques
for Rejuvenatingthe Bloodand Bone
by Nla takChia
Martial Arts TeachingTàlesof Powerand Paradox
Freeingthe Mind, locusingChi, and MasreringrheSelf
by PascolFaiot

InnerTiaditions. Bear& Company

PO. Box3BB
Rochester,VT 05767
t -800-246-8648
wwr.v.
InnerTiadirions.com

Or conmctyour localbookseller