I
started to understand the book better, but I have a question for
someone who read it: what is the "inner fire" that continously appears
in it? At the glossary it appears to be talking about some processes for
the transmutation, but from what i saw until now, it is a force/energy
in the body. Any ideas?
When I first asked about
this book on this website - over 10 years ago - I was told not to read
it because it was too dangerous. So then it took me many years later to
realize it was the ONLY book I could read that specifically answered
questions I had from training.
So regarding your question on "inner fire" - you can just word search the book in this format:
https://archive.org/stream/TaoistYogaAlchemyAndImmortalityLuKuanYCharlesLuk/Taoist
Yoga Alchemy and Immortality Lu K’uan Yü (Charles Luk)_djvu.txt
There are many terms in the book that are interchangeable - and so it is confusing.
So searching inner fire - we discover - it is actually the prenatal qi or yuan qi - called prenatal vitality also.
By regulated breathing is meant deep breathing that
reaches the lower abdomen to arouse the inner fire and then
bring pressure on the generative force already held there
forcing both fire and generative force to rise in the channel
of control in the spine to the head.
So we see here - inner fire is not the generative force or yin qi.
detailed explanation of inhalation and
exhalation of outer air to kindle the inner fire to cleanse and purify the
generative force during the microcosmic orbiting.
And the light that is produced by the inner fire - is NOT the same as the light when the third eye opens up:
Therefore, when the outer alchemical agent has
been gathered, it is necessary to roll the eyes to unite the
positive with the negative principles in order to develop
spirit in the bright light that emerges from the original cavity
of spirit between and behind the eyes. This bright light
shows the exact position of that cavity and should not be
confounded with the luminous inner fire that rises to the
head during the microcosmic orbiting as we have said earlier.
So
another way to explain this is that light seen internally is from the
"yang qi" - and so is the "relative void" but when you build up the yang
qi - then the yuan qi manifests the Yuan Shen - and this is the
"absolute void" and this light can be seen externally as well - and is
much brighter.
In Taoist yoga the negative vitality is represented by the
dragon and the positive vitality by the tiger, while their
‘copulation’ brings into manifestation the original spirit
in its bright light.
When original or prenatal spirit manifests thus, it should
be driven into the lower tan t’ien centre
So the original or prenatal spirit is also called Yuan Shen.
positive vitality is yang qi.
The arousal of the genital organ feeds the inner fire in
the stove which transforms the generative fluid derived
from digestion of food into negative generative force to
fortify the body and enliven spirit thereby lengthening the
span of life.
So negative generative force is yin qi.
So the "inner fire" transforms food into yin qi but the "inner fire" is STRONGER than then yin qi.
With inner fire soaring up in his body, his (essential)
nature is replaced by his heart so that desires and passions
fill his being.
So here we have at age 16 - the
"separation" of Shen or spirit that soars up - and then the qi that is
lost as fluid going down. Heaven and Earth are no longer harmonized but
separated - into heart and reproductive organ as kidney. So the inner
fire appears to be the "yang qi" or "po soul" that grabs onto the hun
soul (yin qi) that goes out the eyes.
in order to drive spirit
into the cavity of vitality (under the navel). This is like a
blacksmith using his bellows; the air from it blows the inner
fire which, becoming intense, transmutes the generative
force into vitality.
Here we have another hint:
By
‘shifting’ is meant arousing the inner fire so that both outer
and inner fires act on each other in order to enlarge all
obstructed psychic channels and clear them of obstructions.
Since positive fire is stronger than generative force, it
drives the latter into all parts of the body to remove all
impurities thus preventing the development of ailments.
So positive means yang. Inner fire means yang fire or yang qi which also means "with substance."
these two kinds of
breathing are motivated by the sole thought of ‘leading
the inner fire’ to turn the wheel of the law (for the double
purpose of stopping all wandering thoughts and of blocking
the drain of generative fluid).
As I said, "substance."
So that goes to the head instead of out the lower body.
When the lower abdomen is full of generative
force the inner fire is stopped by discontinuing all (alchemi¬
cal) breathing through the nose.
So more hints that the inner fire is indeed qi or vitality:
The method of gathering the microcosmic inner alchemical
agent consists of rolling the eyes from left to right and vice
versa to raise and lower the inner fire. The meditator should
first direct his eyes down and roll them from the left up to
the top of the head, thence lowering them to the right to
look into the navel and the centre of vitality below it to
complete a full turn as indicated in the diagram
So here
we have - hints of how the inner fire is the yang qi that then turns
into the yuan qi - to manifest the Yuan Shen, opening up the third eye:
This chapter discusses the method of using the micro¬
cosmic inner fire that passes through sublimating phases
at the cardinal points D and J (see figure 2 on page 13) to
produce the (microcosmic inner alchemical agent, which
method is also called ‘inner copulation’ (nei chiao kou)
meaning that after you have gathered enough of the (micro¬
cosmic) outer alchemical agent, true vitality, driven by
ventilation and fire, will soar up to the brain; you should
then roll your eyes from left to right in a complete circle
in order to push vitality up and down so that the vital
breath in the brain unites with the nervous system.
So true vitality also means Yuan Qi or prenatal vitality.
This negative state
comes from an interruption of the inner (vital) breath which
stops giving support to spirit fixed in the cavity of vitality
(below the navel) thereby cooling the inner fire in the lower
tan t’ien and preventing the light of the elixir from manifesting.
So to build up the spirit or shen - the qi has to be built up - the yuan qi - which is built up from the inner fire.
‘To remedy this negative state
requires concentration of true inner fire which is done by
fixing spirit in the lower tan t’ien, the source of foetal
breath, by drawing the pupils of the eyes close to each other
in order to bring the cavity of vitality into focus and by
using the bellows to bring quick fire into action; as a result
of pointed concentration a mass of true inner fire will soar
up causing spiritual light in the cauldron to illuminate the
whole body the four elements of which
So here for the first time we have "true inner fire" instead of just normal "inner fire."
So the yang qi as inner fire is transformed into "true vitality" or "true inner fire" aka Yuan Qi.
This
process is from the Shen being fixed, concentrated, or visualized as
fire below the water (the generative fluid) - thereby creating Air - the
Qi as inner fire. This is the essence of the practice.
Seven kinds of fire, derived from spirit, to transform the generative
force into vitality:
In this event inner fire should be gathered and lifted
to produce spiritual fire which will emit the golden light
So
now we have "spiritual fire" that is created from "inner fire." So it
is the "true inner fire" that opens the third eye as the "spiritual
fire" or prenatal spirit.
Therefore, when thoughts arise the practiser should use
the inner fire that has flared up to turn the wheel of the law
(i.e. direct it into the microcosmic orbit) to wipe them out,
but he should never turn it when unsteady concentration has
cooled down the inner fire so as not to injure the immortal
seed.
So this is a subtle difference - just as when a
person turns 16 - the inner fire rises up to the head based on thoughts
of passion, causing the separation and loss of the generative force -
and so this has to be reversed through meditation.
Ascent and descent of inner fire in the microcosmic orbit: When breathing
in, the heart, spirit and thought should rise together in the channel of control from the cardinal point A at the base of the penis
to the cardinal point G on the top of the head, and when breath¬
ing out, the heart, spirit and thought should together go down
in the channel of function from the cardinal point G to A (see
figure 2 ). The ascent is positive and the descent is negative.
So
this is the glossary definition - we can see then that "inner fire" is
the alchemical meditation process of the shen and the thought as qi -
together - that drives, cleanses and purifies the generative force.
A full fourfold breathing consists of in and out
breaths with corresponding ascent and descent of inner fire in
the microcosmic orbit which contributes to the immortal breath.
So
with the outer alchemical agent - as the breath goes in and down, the
inner fire goes up and vice versa and builds up the immortal breath or
yuan qi.
the passing of inner fire through sublimating phrases at the cardinal points D and J of the microcosmic orbit, for the purpose of transmuting vitality into spirit
whose full development causes a bright light, called the mysterious
gate (hsuan kuan) to manifest in the original cavity of spirit
between and behind the eyes.
So the generative force or jing (yin qi) is transformed into inner fire as yang qi aka
the psychic fire
which is transformed into "true vitality" as yuan qi that manifests the prenatal or yuan shen light.
Driving the fire (into) is driving into the microcosmic orbit
the inner fire which then passes through the sublimating phases
at D and J to' gather the inner alchemical agent so that true
vitality soars up to the brain which will then develop fully,
causing a bright light, called the mysterious gate, to manifest
between the eyes.
Stove (lu ): A cavity where the inner fire is kindled by regulated
breathing to put the generative force into microcosmic orbit
and transmute it into vitality.
So part of this process is the regulated or synchronized breathing with the heart beat - cardiorespiratory synchronization.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15940533
Eur J Appl Physiol. 2005 Sep;95(1):88-95. Epub 2005 Jun 7. Cardiorespiratory synchronization during Zen meditation. Cysarz D(1), Büssing A.
So the inner alchemical agent is the Yuan Qi or prenatal true vitality.
The
outer alchemical agent creates the inner fire - through breathing - and
rotating the eyes (so the shen or spirit synchronizes with the qi).
Yuan Qi is also called "prenatal generative force" - such that yin qi is just "premature" yuan qi.
What do you mean by ‘driving the fire’?
Answer It is the positive fire as will be explained in Chapter
6. Chapter 4 has already dealt with gathering the microcosmic outer alchemical agent in order to return it to the
stove (in the lower abdomen); since this agent is still not yet
sublimated by fire, it can drain away like tea poured continuously into a cup which overflows and spreads outside.
This positive fire can transmute the agent in the stove into
vitality (in order to stop its overflow).
And so it is the third eye that actually builds up the yuan qi:
the psychic strength to develop, expand and unite into one
whole reaching the core of the brain where it transmutes
the (microcosmic) outer alchemical agent (already gathered
there) into life-preserving true vitality;
The microcosmic sublimation of vitality....to raise positive fire
So here again we have vitality or qi as fire.
heart (the house of fire) by driving his mind
into the field of concentration so as to still and disengage
it from sense data.
So the heart is the shen but it is
powered by the liver as the yin qi - and so with the eyes open this goes
out of the eyes. So the inner fire is the alchemical process of
reversing this loss - and uniting the shen and the yin qi of the shen
back with the yang qi (the inner fire) - of the kidneys. So then the yin
qi then restores the yang qi and through purification and cleansing -
creates the yuan qi.
the element of fire in spirit
goes down to scorch the element of water in the lower abdomen which will be transformed into steam that will
soar up linking the heart and lower abdomen. When he
wakes up and opens his eyes, spirit returns to his organ of
sight thereby disengaging the heart from the lower abdomen which will not reunite even if he starves for a week.
So
this is the yin qi in the shen - and the steam is the increased qi
created from meditation - with the eyes open this does not happen.
If the outer sun and moon
do not mingle their lights the inner water and fire do not
‘copulate’ and prenatal true vitality cannot manifest.
So
the outer sun and moon means the left eye and right eye - need to be
rotated with the eyes closed - the inner water and fire is the heart and
kidneys.
If
they are left to themselves to follow their postnatal course the
element of fire will remain dry and that of water will
continue wet, with the former soaring up and the latter
going down, both running in opposite directions. If water is
not scorched by fire it will not evaporate to become steam
that soars up.
So the "outer agent" gathered wrongly -
is the evil fire of passion - with the sun and moon being disconnected -
the left and right eye.
It will...
the
most you can expect is to improve your health by eradicating
all ailments.
So that is the DIFFERENCE between the inner
fire as "yang qi" and the TRUE inner fire as yuan qi from cleansing and
purification.
The inner fire as yang qi has the power to clear
out yin qi blockages to heal the body - but it is not the real
spiritual energy of the yuan qi.
The outer agent which you have gathered is an
illusory false one created by wrong thoughts; hence the
nocturnal emission. This illusory agent is the generative
fluid which contains the evil fire that develops when it is
aroused by the vital force.
So the qi activates the evil fire - but it is still just yang qi as inner fire and not the true inner fire.
The latter is like a ball of fire, the size of a
bullet, in the lower tan t’ien centre which will become hot
causing the root of the genital organ to vibrate and set
prenatal vitality in motion.
True inner fire.
The light of the eyes directed downward is positive
So that is to build up the yang qi - or positive qi.
Lowering the fire (to cause the negative fire to retreat so
that the positive yang develops fully
to the heart as the vital breath of the element of fire
If the element of fire is strong in the heart
it will scorch the blood; so the practiser should avoid excessive talking and thinking to rest his heart. This restfulness
will invigorate spirit and body, for spirit withers in disturbance and thrives in stillness
This is the proper time to stop fire (produced by
regulated breathing)
So at the end of the practice -
external breathing is no longer used - only the qi is moved with the
spirit ... but there is STILL internal heat.
Hence the divine
mirror which is achieved only after positive fire has transmuted the demons into prenatal (divine) spirit.
So here - the fire is not the same as the spirit...
look inward to produce divine fire there. With the fire
of positive spirit in the head, the practiser should concentrate
on it in silence so that the fire above will descend and the
fire below will soar up
And so the Qi or vitality has to surround the spirit..
This
continual sublimation will result in deeper concealment
of the spiritual fire in the light of vitality so that the positive
spirit will be kept in its original cavity (tsu ch’iao).
