“The experience of how the Descartes axiom of ‘Cogito ergo sum, or I think therefore I am.’ is a flawed, unskillful perception of the self and reality; for in truth, it is only when the cogito or idea-thought disappears, that the true self can arise. The experience that the ‘self’ exists only when there are no more arising thoughts is for most mediators an achievement of a lifetime. All my masters have repeatedly stated, ‘Everybody can do things and move their mind around to play with their qi. Few can keep it still and eventually dissolve it. This is gong fu, this is where Dao begins.’

Note that only when two hours of actual, unbroken non-arising thought, non-conceptual mind and complete empty stillness are achieved, can you actually talk of gong fu and consider your zhu ji to be worthy of the attention of a Xian (immortal master). Most masters don’t even look at you or simply do not reveal themselves and the true practices if those conditions are not rooted in the body-mind of the potential apprentice.

In order to reach this stage in the first year of practice, the first four months of celibacy, coupled with at least three hours of daily practice of the zhen fa is needed to reach a good level of san jing ji lei (the gathering of the first ingredient); which eventually leads to the ability to revert the direction of the current of the body-mind and collect the second ingredient.

Within 2 years or less, the ingredients are gathered and the so called xiao kan li or lesser kan & li actually takes place (this process has nothing to do with the practices that have been presented in the west by the various popular Daoist teachers and systems which have become widely available and written about). The result of this is the creation of the dan yao or zhu, the inner medicine of the body-mind; dispelling ignorance and disease and replenishing yang, the stage that requires the introduction of nei gong skills in order to open the dantien and fill it up with Yang.”