The Teacher's Role

Between the Internet, vcd and dvd, all the main information on the internal arts are almost in the public domain. If we are intelligent and we are sufficiently investigate, there is no practice that can remain hidden. In a world where information is king, where knowledge becomes horizontal and generalised, where everyone knows a little about everything and nothing in depth, it is possible to believe that this is enough to have a great self taught practice... Yet no! It is not possible!

We see more forums where both sides display their knowledge and ideas of revolutionarily mundane secrets perfect for training the basis with magical machines or restorative hormones or stimulants. We share to openly trick in order to reassure our obvious superiority on the strength of our discoveries and our secret vcds (not less than 15 000 copies!).

On these forums, some publish their CVs, other pictures or videos, but why this need to talk about practice? Why spread these arts when they've treated themselves otherwise to a comfortable discretion? Is this a need for reassurance or to check what is believed to be true? A commitment to openness and sharing with the rest of human beings or an opportunity to get their hands on new recruits?

If these forums are not "traditional" they are our new tradition and we have to go with it. I am the first to love reading these posts of practitioners its the same "voyeuristic" side which urges us to watch "Star Academy". The vcd or dvd which reveals the secrets of China's millennium are also of our time and they are sometimes useful, thus saving the endangered arts. These media are often like a virus in a river: they poison everything in their path imposing death to life (but it is one way to see). Often the films are a way to strengthen the illusions: the Chinese keep a sense of humour and remind us of that saying which is in the middle of the empire: "you can always fool a foreigner."

That is a lack there today in the world of Chinese internal arts? The lack of teachers.

There are professors, con artists, artists, acrobats, practitioners, experts, thieves, historians, liars, psychotics, humanitarians and sometimes even humanists ... but where are the teachers?

No teacher, no wrong answers, we are ready to do anything the moment when you follow a direction or there is a validation of our practices built between Gandhi, Bruce Lee and the series "Kung Fu" (the spiritual aspect ).

What is the definition of a master, you ask yourself, recognising your guide in the list of qualifiers above?

A teacher is an expert who has trained all that he speaks of, he is the holder of a “compete” style. This style, often old, is complete in itself and meets the needs of the life of the practitioner. It does not need to look in other traditions, for what it lacks, or to prove anything: it is a reflection of what is said. It is in his practice and his life it is an expression of his path. He lives in the world and he does not have to train in pajamas. Every movement is a technique and is training for the teacher. He is not 25 years in general and does not have sex with his disciples (ha bon?).

Basically, he is pretty cool!

We often hear in discussions that teachers are hard to find when it is so easy to go to a club around the corner. It's true! But if it sounds like, why work if you can fly? Why meditate when you can pray?

But if one retreats into a world that is not what we really want, that style is not one that we really like and that the teacher is not extraordinary for our taste but it is located not far from our sofa, it is not surprising to feel the need to go rant on the Internet at two o'clock in the morning.

Again, it is necessary to know what you really desire. Why choose a warrior or meditative path in a century like ours? Why take refuge in the energetic and meditative? What does it really search with the excuse of a spiritual practice? Is it not a strange practice? (fleeting meetings or our 'colleagues' work often remind us). Are we in another reality or just a fashion victim of spiritual-Energetical-bizarre?

It is illusory to believe that our path is random and stupid to think that it is a "hobby": who are we to be in this practice and how do we recognise? It is the role of the teacher to guide us to find ourselves, sometimes we meet, in an ancient tradition, reflecting on the identity of human beings. The same words and gestures that have liberated the masters of yesteryear are the practices of today. It is certainly possible to name them differently, let them grow with machines and elastic bands, to save time by doing weight training, using hypnosis or drugs, but the arts have been there for a long time and they act in the sense of tradition. They are complete in themselves and need nothing more than to practice. Maybe it is easier to hide his ignorance of revolutionary innovations in, but everything that is acquired quickly and effortlessly is often suspect or even useless.

The master is the guardian of a tradition, often of a road he travelled, he can guide the newcomers and the way back for those who are lost. He does this: guiding and recognising the best path for everyone, when they come to him. He should not be "nice" or gentle, he does not show what people want, but what they need. He must be like what he teaches. This is not a tourist guide, it is a mountain guide.

The teacher should not ask you to like him, but to recognise you and meet you. He offers a return to yourself, not a practice illogical and constraining, with no risk except that of success. But he does not work, this responsibility is yours.

It is not necessary to dazzle the master or to flatter, to become his friend (which can happen, but has nothing to do with the evolution). It is useless to talk too much or too describe, it is an illusion to hide. The only thing to do is practice. We must not do too much, one should not be locked in inaction or laziness: "If we do, it works if you do not, it does not."

Any intellectual research in isolation can feed the spirit, all physical practice without any tradition is likely to strengthen the body, any discovery of energy causes changes in the vitality, but only a path with a teacher can guide us towards the changes that will be the source of our "return".

The Way, the Pain and Misery.

Suffering that may exist in everyday life is not fatal. They are insidious, borers or deaf, the the different states of "ill-being" should not be accepted.

We are used to fighting against such suffering in several ways:

* Displacement,

* Concealment,

* Pity.

Other ways are subsets that we will not detail here.

The displacement of suffering is easy to implement, just find something to blame and curse.

By this lack of recognition of his state of unhappiness, by this projection on another object, we will delude ourselves.

Find any trauma, an enemy or his work, and move our frustration onto this subject. Our unhappiness is identical, except that we add our anger and feelings. In this state of suffering but strengthened by de-placing, we have eliminated the most important thing for our ego: I suffer “yes” , but it's not my fault and I can't do anything.

Versus, if we recognise that the state of unhappiness is ours, we must react and that's much more difficult!

Concealment is a method developed to not see the problem. This is the shopping, television or any other activity that moves our attention and prevents us from thinking. The growing unhappiness with the material comforts of the 20th century and the following methods of distraction and being multiplied to distract the unhappiness that's expanding ...

The pity is a way to recognise and identify himself by his unhappiness. It is the continual and irreversible complaint that leads only to more pain and an immobilisation in the suffering. He is determined by his problems and everything revolves around his suffering.

As you can understand, they are not aware, or rarely. We develop ways of responding to reality in the functions of the internal state, its education and its genetic heritage.

But whence does this evil come and how to explain the evolution?

The simplification that follows is not a comprehensive explanation of historical processes that led us to today. It is a gross simplification for a general idea of what happened in our evolution. The example is also targeted to enhance my topic, however nothing is invented.

In the beginning, was the survival.

The first men, too busy with escaping predators that run faster than than them, did not think about their moods. Furthermore, with the different forms of survival, hunting-gathering to agriculture, the work of horticulture and of the land, left little time to spend thinking about thinking.

Later, the settlement, the product of the evolution of survival, allowing time to look at the universe. Animistic beliefs which gave way to the practice of magic, men must please the gods. No room for complaints, it all depends on God. It is very clear in Homer, with frustration and anger always latent.

Plots are formed in small estates that make up the kingdoms and empires, small gods give way to various "One God". The magic becomes religious and man seeks the meaning of life in the hereafter. The art, the state and everyday life are managed by the divine. We suffer, but it will get better when you are dead, whether poor or rich.

In anticipation of a second sign of the different one god, man seeks to expand his knowledge and wealth. He will consider (but not too much otherwise its the stake) and it will travel (to bring more or less finely the truth). It's time for a revival of old values and the territorial conquests.

Suffering is everywhere, because the barbarians do not know the truth. The conquistadors, they will show how to firmly be happier. And in their case, it was a good example of de-placing their unhappiness to incessant massacres.

Tired of not finding and always unfortunate, men then turned to the only source of progress they have established: Science.

God is dying because we have invented better.

People turn away from religion, seeking comfort in the outside for what is inside. Industrialisation and the service sector provide more time. This time is no longer the gods to be filled, and we start to gather in a single awkward silence. The unhappiness is still there and we realise it was all the time.

Fortunately through the science, radio, television and video games arrived to fill the silence. And man is finally happy, he is in a continual and nervous occupation to agree not to suffer.

But that will never change the fact that the problem is still there and if he does not deal with it, the body will speak louder. This is the golden age of therapy, psychoanalysis and other ways of projecting on the outside oneself, but on a professional this time, his unhappiness.

Is it better?

The problem is the recognition of this internal split that requires a practice of non-intellectual introspection and non progressive. The Spiritual Path, which has nothing to do with religion is a personal way to look beyond the limits of the mind, in an ignored non-duality. Beyond his ego and his daily life, it is possible to go and meet himself.

It seems simple, the solution is within reach of us all, we'll all be happy ...

Yes, but ...

Everyone understands that the problem is internal and that to try to resolve it by shopping (external) does not solve anything ... Yet there are more people who are "shopping sick" as practitioners of spiritual paths.

Everyone knows that it would be more profitable to spend a few hours to building each day, rather than watching TV ... Yet there is more presence to the "wheel of fortune" than for buying books of philosophy or history.

Everybody accepts the importance of a healthy body and misery of disease ... Yet there are more people at Mc Donald's than in gymnastics clubs.

This is not because the majority believes in something that is right.

We can't recognise normality by what is vomited on television.

Go to seek what's within us and what is, and see that this reality is global.

In this encounter with the real, the unhappiness has disappeared.

The simplicity of the practice.

Busy training.

Too often, under the cover of a daily practice, one can be having fun more than practicing. Indeed, the exercises that suit us are often those that amuse us, while those that bother us are forgotten. We take pleasure thus in a complexity and a confusion which occupies our mind.

But what are we doing here, in fact, in training?

What is the aim of the practice?

What do we do in it?

It goes without saying that a good discussion with your teacher can help…

There is no use in knowing the goal of the exercises that we practice, it does not make us progress more quickly, however the practice is simplified if one introduces spontaneity, naturalness.

This naturalness can only come into a relaxed body and a peaceful mind… achieved by training.

Training and practice

We cannot practice without learning. It is even impossible to practice properly without learning from a teacher. But we need to understand that neither the training nor the practice are the aim of the teaching.

With training, and then with practice, we aspire to get back freedom, spontaneity, naturalness.

The point of "learning" what is spontaneous and “natural" is a very Taoist paradox…

Always learning new things is meaningless if one is not practicing, it is a distraction. To practice without going to the bottom of our training limits the depth of the teaching. But to learn and practice without going towards a certain form of freedom is a waste of time.

This release, this "formlessness", finds its root in the precision of a clear practice.

The spontaneity, the naturalness, which rely on our confused perception of things and of the world, are mere illusions. Perceptions only get to the consciousness once they have been through all the egotistic filters of our unexplored mind… perception of reality at its most afflicting stage.

These three parts of the training (training, practice and release) are the "three treasures”, and are in relation to the three internal treasures: Jing (essence), Qi (energy) and Shen (mind).

Simplicity of the practice: San Bao.

You have a collection of a thousand and one exercises; I, myself, have ten times more, but all this jumble follows a simple logic:

"The study of the Three Units allows union and complete consciousness, with the aim of perception of the Changes in Reality”.

In short, the understanding of the three parts will enable us to unify our body and mind.

What are the three parts to work on (for those who aren’t following at all…)?

1. Body

2. Energy

3. Mind.

The body: relaxed, strong and rooted.

The work of the body is mostly work on health. We can only work while in good health, especially as the practice requires time. The good health expresses itself through three aspects:

1. Relaxation: for a fluid circulation of the body liquids. It is tested and learnt mostly by coordination.

2. Strength: for a body resistant to external and internal aggressions. One can work on it through “wai gong", external exercises.

3. Rooting: for a capacity to understand Reality. One can work on it in many ways…

Energy circulation: fluid exchanges

A fluid circulation is source of good physical and mental health, and requires us to go a little further than the relaxation of the body. We have three important steps in "nei gong":

1. Realisation of internal feelings

2. Mobilisation by will

3. Natural and conscious exchanges.

The knowledge of the mind: present but not affected.

Not to know ourselves is the source of constant discomfort, however we are rarely the one we think we are. The exercises of the knowledge of the mind are there to identify and meet that which we are. We have, of course, three stages:

1. Self observation

2. Observation of the world

3. Global perception

It is pointless to want to understand everything now, but it is an advantage to examine one’s practice in order to see whether it contains these three parts.

Once again, honest exchange with your teacher will provide you with a clear practice.

The natural state: training, practice and freedom

In a complete and clear practice, gradually, precise exercises will be understood and, in this mastering, freedom will be able to emerge. Freedom requires a certain structure, a sustained spontaneity of educated relaxation, an intuition fed by knowledge… The whole of it, leading to Naturalness.

The practice is not locked up in a move or a breathing. Without the learning of this move or this breathing, there cannot be practice… there is a paradox.

1. The exercises of the arts of combat are not combat.

2. The exercises of coordination are not the relaxation.

3. The exercises of internal alchemy are not alchemy.

4. The exercises of Qigong are not the exchange.

5. The exercises of meditation have nothing to do with the meditative state.

One should not make the confusion.

To conclude, understand this:

"All the practical application of the teaching must go in the direction of relaxing the body, to allow energy to circulate or bring peace to the mind, sometimes all three together. You can only practice with that in mind. Without realising this, there is no practice. In this realisation, you are in the simplicity of the Way".

The Paradox of Practicing

In the process of learning, in the Taoist way and any personal practice, we are confronted with the paradox of practicing ".

Why do some not feel evolution in their practices or they feel "trapped" in their evolution?

In learning, not to be confused with practice, it is possible to affect the relaxation to guide the practice itself. This confusion is the source of the paradox.

He who learns, who seeks to integrate a gesture or an exercise, is focused on technique. This focus may not need the benefits of practice, but it is an obligatory passage for the storage and digestion of a practice.

Once the act of memory and body relaxation is acquired, the exercise can leave "what one learns" to go to "what we practice:” The difference is that there is no need to make any effort to "recall" what to do and we have acquired the habit of the exercise.

In practice, where we crossed an act of concentration to an act of attention, the effort is in the feeling and in the "internal alchemy", than in the art of gesture, in the effort of memory (the mind).

We're here in practice.

After some time, through repetition of a practice with which we become intimate ( "which is engraved in the depths of our being"), we are in the mastery and in the liberation of the form (gong fu) This is ... what we occupy ...

But this increase (which it is in fact not) is not linear, hence the complications.

In learning, if not to reach liberation of the concentration, you can always try to find more details and variations without ever practicing: one who seeks, without a firm and intimate basis of practice, does not practice, he does not apprehend.

The researcher, who “goes around to find "is not in the practice, " one who is inside. " An intensive research permits their learning and choice of practice, but this is by no means practice.

This is attractive, but not in practice, there is no possible way. There is accumulation of knowledge and congestion of the brain and heart. We're here in the way of letters, not the practitioner.

In the practice contains, intimate and mastered, it is important to try and refine its understanding of the way through knowledge, but it is only for entertainment, not to help the practice.

Whoever is in the learning phase, after a while, just enjoying the moments of presence which leave the tensions and doubts: these are fleeting moments and clear memories, they are a "waste of time ".

The only thing left is the feelings of extreme relaxation and ease in his practice, in a very short time. This fluidity comes from a temporary lack of strong intent and a total presence on the exercise and the cessation of sneaky mind. It is a relaxation that comes from a "lack" of something, a "less": a lack of tension, absence of mind, a gesture without internal reviews.

After this state of grace, we wake up wanting to find this facility risen, we will try to replicate what we lost with more attention, more concentration and of course more tension.

It will not work: we replace a "less" by "too much". We try too much, we want too much, we are looking too much: then he must let go, let go and forget to look.

But this "non-research, that absence of waiting must be done in daily practice.

We also experience a normal process that goes from the non-understanding to master exercises and concepts, all passing through intermediate stages of various confusions.

We are experiencing that whatever happens, we always arrive with time to adjust to different practices, yet we can not judge our inability to perfection in the first few seconds of learning something new.

Successful one day to understand a movement, we refuse to not understand everything right away. This will occur on all new exercises over the years of practice.

Stuck in a boiling ego, focusing on our failure and convinced of our inability, we stay there, the arms swing, instead of practice.

We have experienced this progression in learning, but we are slowing down a bad concentration and need to do: we try too much, we do more.

Understanding this: in learning, we can touch the way, but we must not leave our work, "its not because we see the land in the distance that we can leave the ship."

We must continue, without paying too much attention or deny the phenomena that occur in research and fresh tension with the sole ambition of an aimless repetition. In the learning phase, we only build the foundations of a solid practice.

If we focus on phenomena, if we look for the feelings, if we try to reproduce or simulate fugitives statements, we are bogged down in endless waiting.

It is very difficult to get out of learning, often impossible to pass into a real practice, if we're looking for the easy pleasures of illusory sensations.

The phenomena in our learning the way, are stumbling blocks for us from our practice. They are pleasant or painful, short-lived or sustained in any case irrelevant ... except for the teacher.

The more we feel "things", the more we can attach, the less we practice. This slows us waiting like horseshoes on the feet of the prisoner.

It is interesting to notice what is happening to his teacher, because it allows us to "discharge" of these details and return to our practice.

Immersion in a constant search for phenomena, superficial gratification without issue, only allows the mind to rescue struggling with the progress of practice.

It is therefore ironic that what stimulates the practitioner, phenomena, or what will prevent them from moving towards the search for sensations can easily oust the true feelings.

It is therefore useful not to look, not try to replicate what is no more: the states come and go and we still need to remain stable in our practice.

This stability is the internalisation of feelings and move towards the knowledge of our reality.

The Connection to the Training

It is normal when one is immersed in a practice to ask questions ... but not normally useful.

The change that will start with daily exercises will multiply with an awareness of the depth of the Way.

The failure not to compare with other practitioners or the teacher will lead us into total confusion.

It is in this period of transition, sometimes confusing and even painful, to remember to practice: only the practice has value.

Engulfed in large sentiments, tied by excessive sentimentality or paralysed by his endless questions, we forget to practice.

He frames the citations of his teacher, read books which "give the truth" and trys to validate his progress with other practitioners, but does not practice much.

In this state of any latent power and probable realisation, we do nothing.

The new pain, a source of concern and questions, the connection changes to the body, which is most neglected, and this new capacity to not accept a certain form of stupidity we have a problem. So we sit down to digest this mass of information and we miss the training.

To keep things simple and use the first lines of Lu Bong Bin on its "hundred characters":

"Nourish the chi and guard the silence"

The practice gives the energy and intimacy which is the answer to all our questions.

Often, too often, we do not look, but we want to find. We want the result, but we do not spend enough time in the process of accessing it. Basically we would like to be accepted as the wisest and strongest in the world, but we would prefer not to have to work for it. Or "a little", since this does not change too many things in our lives.

Any change, even the happiest, is making its dose of "friction", pain or punishment, and in any case, it is necessary not to neglect the factor of "time".

We can not rely only on our direct experiences as it is the result of our practice. This practice is the way known by the an experienced teacher who may guide his student at every stage of his evolution.

The changes are the fruits of intelligent work on a serious way.

But we are talking about "work", not questioning.

There is an order that must be followed for evolution of the way that is reality and not an illusion nourished by bad expectation: we must regulate many aspects of our nature.

We must regulate the body and this is done in three complementary steps:

* The root (the connection with the Earth)

* Strengthening (balance function / structure that preserves health)

* The relaxation (in conjunction with co-ordination)

When the body is at the point of acquiring these three conditions through an integrated practice and we can spend work breathing. There are three stages in this part of training:

* Recognition of respiratory movement (with the breath)

* Transformation of respiratory flow (rhythms and games of the breath)

* Liberation of respiratory constraint (exempt from any "technique")

In this body and the respiratory movement free, we have the tools to understand the emotional mind and facilitate internal silence. This work on the emotions will also include three parts:

* Discover the nature of emotions ( real and body)

* Feel the internal changes (linked to emotions)

* Relax its reactivity to emotions ( "surfing" rather than "drowning")

Only from that moment can we start a real energy work: how to feel "energy" in a tired body, fed by superficial breathing and inhabited by an almost constant fear? The work of energy is the beginning of the way, but without real foundation based on real practice, its only the wind. How to move this energy if it does not exist?

We can not use as the mass of energy that is available, the excess. If we do not practice enough, if we are in a phase of intense learning, if one is sick or if it is too contracted, there is not enough energy available tfor movement.

The learning phase requires a large amount of energy for the movements themselves but also to "become" news. Sometimes it is paradoxical to see that all his "practice", and no energy, but we must not forget that at this stage of the course, we don't do, we are learning to practice ... it ' is very different.

Can be seen as learning to drive a car: we use a large amount of energy and tensions in learning when it is possible to relax ... this is the phase of learning.

Whoever is in the practice does not have the time to ask questions or surmise ... he's training.

But who can train without questioning the practice today?

The problem of this connection with the practice is a relationship of trust, commitment. It is important to choose his own path and become totally immersed. The problem of choice and the questioning must come before practice at the time of choice (or no choice) that leads to the encounter with tradition. In practice itself and in his learning, it is wiser to stop rather than to return to any question: there is no way out and no lasting change.

The questions are important, but they are not practice: they are a part "relating" of the practice of the intellectual satisfaction, the food of the mind. The questions to calm his mind by giving him a bone to gnaw.

Be careful not to confuse the letter, "one who can speak" and the practitioner, "one who knows: one can speak of the practice, one can guide you on the way. Intellectual knowledge can never be a source of evolution on the way it can only guide them in ways that go through "divide and wander."

But in a clear and invested practice, it's very interesting to learn also about the mental data, to "cultivate" and "fill" say the classics.

Again, the teacher who can guide the practitioner.

It is important to communicate with him and it is useful to listen to his answers, concerned about the multiple issues and have already convinced the answer, ask one question to receive one validation.

If the teacher responds, it is important to listen to ... if only not to ask the same question twenty times.

Do not compare with others, do not watch the other practicioners, do not watch movies or documentaries on the way, do nothing, asks nothing more than your practice, do not have more, don't forget anything you're taught, do not ask easy questions , do not forget to ask the hard questions ... but practice.

True connection to practice is an intimate personal relationship where one is alone. One can not practice and only for himself. The rest is the result of that practice.

Until this relationship is established within the discovery of the enthusiasm and "bitter", we are learning. The way is the result of a practice that stems from learning, but is also the source of training ...

voila.

I thought the weather was going to be nice

Our mind (thinking) continuously bases itself on beliefs which reassure it.

This information is stored in our memory and becomes the basis of what we think we know. To form itself, the ego assimilates what is perceived, like a neurotic eater. All is taken, stolen from the world, to become "his".

In owning what is perceived, as well as it can, the ego builds itself comfortable limits by eliminating "what which is not known" and which is source of anguish.

Thus, a new experiment will be compared to another already stored in our memory, as soon as possible. What is new, different or too far from what we know, will be transformed to be acceptable. This phenomenon, unperceivable and hidden, is incredibly subtle, which makes it difficult to test consciously.

The practice is often paved with attempts at innovations, direct experiments, which allow us to get our heads out of our preconceived ideas, to see things differently.

From childhood, we record information which shapes our ego. This "box" will become "what we believe to be". The environment, our education and our genes define this "character". With all of that, we put down prejudices which will enable the ego to own the world.

Reality, "what is", is interpreted by our perception and becomes "what appears to be". We perceive, the information is put in relation with our personal database, the ego monopolises it, and it is stored in a familiar form so as not to disturb the stability of our character. Thus we do not see a tree, a sunset or our partner anymore, but only the reminiscences of what is already in memory. Nothing new, therefore one gets bored, so one thinks.

If we try to explain to somebody what we believe to have perceived, it often becomes “what we are telling (ourselves)" … and from there, a deep gap is created compared to the initial perception.

What was already interpreted by our mind at the time of assimilation undergoes another egotistic interpretation with the regurgitation: The syndrome of the photocopy: the more we copy, the more we move away from the original.

When referring to what we have in stock (memories and beliefs), and not to that which we perceive, we cut ourselves from reality. In addition, with this habit of always referring to the known, we go towards the result of prejudice: calculation.

Knowing "what we believe", we offer the world a few sorted possibilities, based on the acceptable things which we condescend to perceive. We project so much onto the Universe, that we only perceive what confirms us mentally, that which flatters our ego.

In this jumble, we put our moods, our hopes, our regrets, and all of that “darkens our light".

We can summarise this by saying that the source of all this pathological functioning is Fear.

This functioning will spread to the world and more particularly to others. Thus, we will expect from our relations and our exchanges that everything goes in the direction of our ego. If this was not the case, we would filter the information perceived sufficiently, in order to only keep what confirms our gentle madness.

We will have also the capacity to avoid certain situations, more or less consciously, so that we don’t perceive what disturbs us.

The practice tends to remove prejudices in order to perceive clearly. It will go against all that has just been mentioned.

We will meet presence and confront our fear if we can bear it, to awaken us a little and move from a viscous unconsciousness towards a light version.

In this state known as "of awakening", we will have, thanks to the teaching, the moments of clear perceptions that will be a new basis for the beginning of the remainder of our life.

In the tradition, we start with ourselves. We will seek further than what we believe to be and we will try to get to know ourselves. This meeting with our mental functioning and our dissociation from it will give us a first approach.

Then, using precise exercises in a progressive evolution, we will go towards the release of our perception.

This capacity to perceive is incredibly pleasant, the benefits are numerous; for example, the disappearance of boredom and the capacity to discover unceasingly what is already known…

After this basic work, we realise, astonished, that there are things other than us: the World. After having developed this capacity to discover ourselves, we will apply it to "what is not us".

There will be a whole series of exercises which will enable us to perceive the world and others through this acquired freedom. The exchanges with others, our capacity to communicate and our respect for the world will change, thanks to these practices.

In an opening where I do not take my thinking mind as a reference, in this freedom of a new perception, each second; the whole of my practice will "crystallise" to take an unquestionable coherence.

It is tedious and illusory to believe that a spontaneous work and without structure can release the mind. In most cases, those who work without a teacher only manage to reinforce their already suffering ego.

How can one diminish the power of the thinking mind if one cannot even rely on a tradition and lighten the thought organ?

Some speak of a fear of being manipulated; actually, it is often just Fear.

Degrees of Simplicity

It is often difficult to see what happens within the progress of our practice. 

The teacher is there, but it is useful to understand a couple of things.

Several things should be seen:

* Phenomena
* Levels of consciousness
* Stages of evolution
* Developed qualities

In training, one can feel phenomena of various intensity, which aren’t important at all, but which are real. Whether you feel this or that, within the framework of your practice, is always true, if you feel it more than you imagine it, obviously… but it doesn’t matter.

Within the framework of evolution on the Way, the pupil will go through stages, change level of consciousness, evolve towards a greater sensitivity to reality, but also, for a while, he will feel another reality. What you will be able to perceive will be analysed according to your understanding, to your progression within the great principles of evolutions; it is indeed only possible to understand with the mental tools we possess at any given time.

The developed qualities will be integrated within these perceptions with the level of awakening present at the time. They are different levels, different capacities, a different kind of work in order to evolve within each concept.

Phenomena:

When acquiring more energy, one can be prone to "flashes" of reality which might shock or awaken. The body being involved in this part of the training can give us new or old sensations on a perception level. All of that is real, you feel it, but you shouldn’t get too much attached to it.

To comment on, calculate of dissect these phenomena, is a waste of time, but it is also a way for your mind to get hold of your experience. It is very useful to share it with your teacher, in order to keep him informed, without expecting any particular feedback.

On all levels of practice, it is possible to be deluded.

Levels of conscience:

From the first day of practice until the last, one can get a taste of the Tao. It is possible, without practicing, to perceive the infinite, just as it is possible to practice unceasingly while remaining in the fog of our mind. In everyday life, we identify three basic levels consciousness: the waking state, the dream state and the deep sleep.

Within the framework of our practice, we will talk about nine states altogether, three in each basic level. Indeed, in the waking state, it is a euphemism to say that we are not always present, we often wander in states of unconsciousness which are more or less sticky. In the waking state, we speak of presence, of normal unconsciousness, and of deep unconsciousness.

In the dream state, we have the conscious dream, the guided dream and the unconscious dream.

But these incursions in the land of consciousness are not stable, there are only moments that come and go without knowing why. These little moments of clarity enable us to see that towards which we tend, that which we seek. It is useful for our search but it is not the search itself. The practice allows us to install this state of consciousness in order to make it normality.

Moreover, you will only be able to understand, interpret this perception of reality, according to your personal evolution.

Stages of evolution:

It is not a way of judging but a way of understanding: it is as the child who evolves towards language, it is not that it is "good", it is just an evolution. As opposed to the levels of consciousness, which can come and go, be unstable and changing; the stages of evolution, are permanent: the child who has access to language cannot go back.

It is only possible to go forward and when a stage is reached, it becomes unforgettable, acquired. One will always practise in the search to understand oneself. In this work, we will go towards knowing the other. In looking at oneself and the other, we will perceive the changes of the world differently.

The three stages of evolution go from our self, from one to the other, in the perspective to better seize the changes of the world.

We go from the one (us) towards the two (the other) then towards the world (all the rest).
道生一, 一生二, 二生三, 三生萬物

"The Tao produces the one, the one gives the two, the two gives the three and of the three (come) the 10.000 things."
Laozi, chap. 42

In practice we will talk about nine stages, three by basic level. The stages of evolution allow a different reading of identical elements.

The "great Taoist’s principles" have both: levels of consciousness and stages of evolution.

Developed qualities:

Whatever the discipline approached, and because people do not have the same education, the same ease or the same experience, each one will practice with his own strength and weaknesses. The idea here is simple: For the Way to be right, it must be balanced.

We must go into the aspects of the Way which we like and in those which underline our weaknesses.

The three basic qualities are body, energy and mind. We must go towards Qigong, Neidan (internal alchemy) and Shen gong (meditation) in order to cover all the facets of our being.

For the body, we work on the physical structure (strength), the relation to oneself in space (rooting) and the exchange between the body and the world (relaxation).

For Neidan, we practice the three stages described in the teaching.

There are also three levels to the work of Shengong.

It is not about working more, but about dividing our time of practice between the three levels of body, energy and mind.

That was for a finer understanding of our development in the Way, a dissection not very useful for the practice, but so satisfactory for our mind.

"A practice without concept evolves blindly, 

but concepts without practice are sterile”

(A. Einstein)