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Old 06-15-2012, 01:14 AM   #14
davoravo
Location: New Zealand
Join Date: Apr 2001
Posts: 67
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Re: Morihei Ueshiba and the Way of the Cross

The cross may refer to anatomc structures in the body at least in qigong. A cross can be drawn with a vertical line between the heart and the tandien and a horizontal line between the two kidneys. The centre of the cross is the Mingmen which is on the spine between L2 and 3 although some texts state the Mingmen is in the right kidney (even older texts say in both kidneys.

My apologies if all of this is obvious to everyone but me. It is all new stuff to me that I have been reading up on inspired by The blog.

The kidneys are water and the heart is fire. The kidneys provide yin and yang qi which is combine into Qi by the Mingmen. The heart also represents heaven while jing (essence) from the kidneys descends to the tandien and represents earth.

The goal of some qigong is to reach sagehood or virtue (te) as described in the tao te Ching. One who reaches such a state is in harmony with heaven and earth. This is achieved by balancing fire and water and combining the energies of jing (earth or physical essence), qi (yin and yang or fire and water) and Shen (heaven or spirit). To achieve this one opens and closes the mingmen by performing specific in-out breathing which is co-ordinated with physical movement while using the will (zhi housed in the kidneys) to focus the mind (Shen housed in the heart) on the Mingmen or the tandien.

The Mingmen is the "gate of life" but is also the female origin or mysterious female referred to in thetao te Ching. The Mingmen controls the triple or 3 level burner which is the 3 levels of energy interchange and conversion in the body. Because of its importance in the alchemic process the triple burner has been referred to poetically as the bridge of heaven.

Energies move between the body by ascending and descending, condensing and evaporating, expanding and contracting (also translate as exiting and entering), they also divide and reunite

Last edited by davoravo : 06-15-2012 at 01:19 AM.

David McNamara
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