Introduction

TAN TIEN CHI KUNG

The Universal Tao is a practical system of self-development that enables individuals to complete the harmonious evolution of their physical, mental, and spiritual bodies. Through a series of ancient Chinese meditative and internal energy exercises, the practitioner learns to increase physical energy, release tension, improve health, practice self-defense, and gain the ability to heal oneself and others. In the process of creating a solid foundation of health and well-being in the physical body, one also creates the basis for developing one’s spiritual potential.

Tan Tien Chi Kung is an important branch of Universal Tao. Chi means “energy” or “life force”; kung means “work.” Traditionally, Chi Kung is the cultivation of the ability to conduct Chi for the purposes of healing. Tan Tien Chi Kung is a form of Chi Kung that particularly focuses on working with the lower Tan Tien, one of the principal energy centers of the body.

According to the Taoist view, there are three sources of Chi: cosmic Chi, universal Chi, and earth Chi. Cosmic Chi is born out of the original Chi of the Tao and literally carries the intelligence and essence of life. Guided by this intelligence, it spreads out into the universe and manifests in different densities and forms defined by the cosmic laws. This is how stars, planets, human cells, subatomic particles, and all other forms of life take form and are nourished.

Universal and earth Chi also have their genesis in the original energy of the Tao. The universal Chi is the radiating force of all galaxies, stars, and planets throughout the whole universe. It is the all-pervasive force that nourishes the life energy in all the forms of nature. The earth Chi is the third force of nature, which includes all the energies of mother earth. This force is activated by the electromagnetic field originating in the rotation of the earth. It is also integrated into all aspects of nature on our planet. The earth energy is accessed through the soles of the feet, the perineum, and the sexual organs. Earth energy nourishes the physical body. It supplies our daily life force and is one of the principal forces used to heal ourselves.

For the past five thousand years, practitioners of Chi Kung have used time-tested methods to tap into these unlimited reservoirs of Chi, greatly expanding the amount of energy available to them.

The Universal Tao system also speaks of two types of Chi operating in the human being: prenatal Chi and postnatal Chi. Prenatal Chi, which is a combination of universal Chi and Jing (generative energy/sexual essence), is inherited from the parents, and is visible as innate vitality. Postnatal Chi, which is the life force an individual cultivates in his or her lifetime, is visible as the light shining behind personality and self-awareness. To build their postnatal Chi, humans normally access Chi through food and air. Plants take the universal energies of the sun and the magnetic energies of the earth and digest and transform them, thereby making these energies available to all living beings.

Rather than connecting to this universal Chi only after it is processed through plants, however, Taoist practitioners of Chi Kung learn to go directly to the source of this primordial energy. The Taoist recognizes that human beings have a limited capacity for Chi. However, if we are able to connect with the sources of Chi within the universe, we gain an infinite capacity for Chi, and we constantly fill ourselves, within the limitations of our human nature, with the unlimited abundance of energy around us.

Tan Tien Chi Kung (also called “second brain Chi Kung” for reasons that will be discussed later) is the art of cultivating and condensing Chi in the lower Tan Tien through the Empty Force breathing practices and the Perineum Power exercises. The lower Tan Tien is the primary energy center of the body. It is the major generator and storage place for Chi energy in the body as well as the center of awareness. There are two other Tan Tiens, or energy centers, in the body: the middle Tan Tien and the upper Tan Tien. The three Tan Tiens each have specific energetic functions.

The lower Tan Tien, which is especially utilized in Tan Tien Chi Kung, is the center of the physical body and of physical strength. It is located behind and below the navel—in the triangle between the navel, the “kidney center point” (in the spine between the second and third lumbar, also called the “gate of life”), and the sexual center. For men, the sexual center is the prostate gland; for women, it lies in the top of the cervix between the ovaries.

The lower Tan Tien is also called the “medicine field” or “elixir field,” as it gathers and contains the healing power of Chi. Other names for it are the “ocean of Chi,” the “sea of energy,” the “cauldron,” and the “navel center.” The use of the expressions “ocean” and “sea” refer to the wavelike quality of Chi. The expression “cauldron” refers to the function of the lower Tan Tien as the center of internal alchemy that transforms energy.

THE LOWER TAN TIEN IS LIKE A BATTERY

The lower Tan Tien serves as the source of the life force or vital force. This then becomes transformed into the more subtle Shen Chi, or spirit power/energy. Thus, throughout all Universal Tao practices, the lower Tan Tien remains the key to supplying the body and the mind with a free, uninterrupted flow of energy. Tan Tien Chi Kung is above all a practice by which the unity of what is above and below is acknowledged and honored. Through its service as a reservoir and transformer of Chi, the lower Tan Tien confirms the unity between earth and heaven in the body.

In the Universal Tao System, there is a strong emphasis on practitioners being “rooted and grounded,” which refers to establishing stability both mentally and physically. Tan Tien Chi Kung is an effective method of bringing us “down to earth” and receiving the energy of the earth. It also helps us to live from our own center and be proactive instead of reactive. Tan Tien Chi Kung proposes that the source of true happiness and joy lies within our very selves and not anywhere else. The negative energies within and around us, which we may experience as obstacles to our happiness, are the “raw material” for energy transformation. Through this practice we may learn to accept and appreciate ourselves, others, and the world around us. We learn to see our own negative energies as garbage we can recycle into compost that can then serve to fortify our positive energies.

The lower Tan Tien is the place where our prenatal Chi is stored, it is the place where all the energy that we absorb and collect during the Chi Kung exercises is stored, and it is the place where denser energies are transformed into more subtle energies. In the various practices of Tan Tien Chi Kung discussed in this book, particularly the Empty Force and Perineum Power exercises, we learn to feel, strengthen, and conduct Chi through the power of the mind with particular attention to the lower Tan Tien.

UNIVERSAL TAO BASIC PRACTICES AND PREPARATION EXERCISES

In the Universal Tao System, we teach Tan Tien Chi Kung within a comprehensive framework of exercises and meditation. As a part of this system, Tan Tien Chi Kung focuses on cultivating the ability to sense, control, strengthen, and project Chi. One can easily learn the simple exercises of Tan Tien Chi Kung without doing any other Universal Tao practices, but if one truly wishes to master the art of Tan Tien Chi Kung, it is important to have a firm foundation in the basic Universal Tao practices. Therefore we suggest that you become familiar with the basic practices and exercises outlined in the first three chapters of Mantak Chia’s Taoist Cosmic Healing. Throughout this book, we will refer periodically to these preparatory practices and will direct you to Taoist Cosmic Healing. We will also refer you to other Mantak Chia books that present different aspects of Chi Kung practice.