Certainly. I hope this information will benefit those seeking to maximize their Khan Black journey.
To begin, it is common for individuals to blend concepts from Indian and Chinese traditions without fully grasping their meanings or origins, leading to confusion and misinterpretations. For instance, the term “Kundalini” is often misunderstood by New Age practitioners as any unusual bodily sensation. However, the sole scholarly source on this topic, to my knowledge, is the book Kundalini: The Energy of the Depths by French Indologist Lilian Silburn. After reading it, I discovered that Kundalini has been greatly cheapened in modern times and that what the great majority of people experience has next to nothing to do with it. It is also rather unfortunate that due to globalisation and the Hippie movement, most Indian teachers now derive their understanding of Tantra from people in the West, which is just messed up (documented by David Gordon White).
A western teacher that has a legit lineage behind him and that is good at teaching(he has many free videos, although you gotta have some change to afford his courses):
Longmenpai
Now for some secret sauce, which once appeared on a review of Taoist Yoga and has since disappeared. I found it on theplace(a private torrent tracker focused on PUA and self-development). It contains technical details which are really useful for practicing the techniques contained in Taoist Yoga and his reading list is excellent. I do not know who wrote this, but I’ve since read all of his recommended books and have come to recognize that he knows what he’s talking about(note that the page numbers he mentions correspond to the copy that is found on archive.org):
Summary
At this point, I have read practically every Taoist book that has been published. And, not too long ago, I had written up reviews for a lot of the books that are out there—some of my reviews were reviews conferring praise but most were critical. Since I don’t want to have a trail of negative reviews, I have retracted all the reviews I have written and have, instead, decided to give one review here.
This is the only book in existence (that I have encountered—and I have read thousands) which provides genuine instructions for spiritual transformation. There are a lot of books out there that have bits and pieces of good things but this is the only one that gets candid about what actually needs to be done. So, if you have the good fortune to encounter this book, my hope is that the following information will be helpful.
The first and most important point is that genuine spiritual transformation requires that sex be given up. Many aberrations have emerged in the course of history that try to integrate sexuality or the sexual act into spiritual practice. This cannot be done except for a remedial cases. The reason for this is that spiritual transformation depends on prenatal energies. The citizen fire (fire associated with the perineum/root chakra and a superficial form of sexual arousal) deconverts and burns up prenatal energies so that reproductive substances can be generated.
It is permissible that practitioners who are middle aged (or older) and impotent can use sexual practices for the beginning part of their training because it is a means by which the jing channels of the reproductive track can be reactivated. The reason why it is permitted for people of advanced age is because their prenatal energies have been depleted to the point where they no longer produce new yang energy. And, for this reason, deconversion of prenatal energies by the citizen fire will be considered a trivial loss relative to the gain of re-animating the jing channels and restarting the body’s ability to generate yang (which will later be used to restore prenatal energies). The method for this is described on pages 12-16. If you are a practitioner who still has a functional reproductive system, this method is not for you. If you are not impotent and try to use any sexual methods, the methods will degenerate prenatal energies; it is only used to restart the energetic pathways of the reproductive tract for practitioners that do not have a currently functional reproductive system.
If you are a young person who has not yet passed beyond puberty, then the method on page 11 will be sufficient for beginning training.
But, for everyone (regardless of age), the thing that moves alchemy forward is the lunar-monthly generation of yang. This is experienced as a form of peak sexual arousal. It differs from anything that can be generated from mental imagery, physical stimulation, or any other sexual technique. The difference is that it begins from the kidneys. Anything else will be from secondary factors that will pollute the product. Chang Po-Tuan’s Understanding Reality, chapter 7, details the relations between the elder water and younger water that are integral to understanding this point. Page 8 of this book (Taoist Yoga) details the core practice that all of the advanced chapters build on—it is also reiterated on page 20 and the extended details are given on page 32. This technique is also described as sparks flying behind the navel or sparks flying behind the elbow in other writings. The peak emergence of yang is a necessary pre-condition for the “real” microcosmic orbit to take place—which is why Taoist Yoga describes most forms of the microcosmic orbit as “useless turnings of empty waterwheels”.
And, to this end, just about all of the practices are to be done in deep meditation. To provide context for Taoist Yoga, this book basically begins where Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras leave off. Taoist Yoga describes the deep forms of transformation that take place in the advanced Samadhi stages of practice.
On this point, a key piece for understanding how the Hindu and Taoist systems relate has to do with the channels described on page 2—the “supreme ultimate” and “immaterial spirit” channels. These two channels actually relate to some of the lesser known nadis in the Hindu Tradition. In the tradition of Hindu yoga, a lot of attention is given to Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna. Ida and Pingala are a complex of nadis that are fueled by the breathing process. There are also adjunct nadis that relate to these nadis and they go by different names depending on the tradition. Using the nomenclature found in Yajnavalkya Yoga, they are the Hastijihva and Gandhari and the Pusha and Yasasvini nadis.
Though the relationship between Hindu Yoga and Taoist Yoga is complicated, a simple take-away is that Nadi Shodhana is a helpful practice that can be done as a preface to the deep practice described on pages 8, 20, and the advanced chapters.
You will need to gain tacit familiarity with how energy moves to proceed in the practice. One point that is a source of confusion is that the names of cardinal points are the same in chapters 4 and 6. Chapters 4 and 6 are distinct practices. Chapter 4 takes place after the conditions described on page 8, 20, and 32 are met. At this point, attention/yi and breath would be used to guide energy around the microcosmic orbit in the way typically described by other resources. The cardinal points in this chapter are the perineum, ming-men, top of the head, and solar plexus. Chapter 6 would be done to further refine the gathered external agent. The cardinal points relate to eye positions—specifically, 12, 3,6,and 9 O-Clock (using a clock-face as an example). These manipulate the energies in the “supreme ultimate” and “immaterial spirit” channels. If you follow-up with research on the lesser-known nadis, you will note that Hastijivha, Gandhari, Pusha, Yasasvini, Ida, and Pingala all connect to the navel center. Hence, with eye movements, we directly manipulate the lower dantian to render the inner agent from the outer agent. —But, it should also be kept in mind that the candle exercise is done before you gather the outer agent (you directly transition from the candle exercise to the slow fires and then the gathering of the outer agent).
**The outer agent is ready to gather when you enter an extreme yin state and the- yang of the agent activates. For this reason, both deep sleep and the deep meditation during the slow fires can/should elicit the aroused state and should precipitate the gathering of the outer agent.
If you get this far, you should have a proper basis for making sense of this text. As supplemental information, Nadi Shodhana is a good practice to do prior to the exercise described in chapter 10 before going to sleep each night. Though, if you do the shifting fire correctly, it can/will also cleanse the nadis (though from a slightly different angle). Some of the greatest difficulties will be from being in a state of oblivion while asleep and not waking up to perform the procedure described on pages 8, 20, and 32. Nadi Shodhana, for half an hour or more, can clear out the channels to prevent your consciousness from being deeply obscured while asleep and it can act as a good preface exercise to things involving the deeper channels that connect to the eyes and ears). The eye movement exercise (chapter 10) will seal the energies in the dantian using spirit energy to restrain them while you sleep.
As supplements and a guide to other written materials, other helpful books are:
Taoist Sources:
-Traite d’alchimie et de physiologie taoiste, -Zhao Bichen, trans, Despeaux (This book is by Zhao Bichen, the same author who wrote Taoist Yoga–unfortunately, only French and Portuguese editions exist. I don’t know either French or Portuguese but I have translated a French edition word-by-word and it does clarify finer points about the exercises in Taoist Yoga).
-The Secret of the Golden Flower, -Thomas Cleary
-Understanding Reality, -Thomas Cleary (Cleary does a better translation than Pregadio and Liu Yiming’s commentary is priceless)
-The Inner Teachings of Taoism, -Thomas Cleary
-Cultivating the Energy of Life, -Eva Wong
-The Tao of Health, Longevity, and Immortality, -Eva Wong
-The Secrets of Chinese Meditation, -Charles Luk
Daoist Internal Alchemy:Neigong and Weigong, Jerry Alan Johnson (This is probably the best book for getting a good understanding of Taoism as a whole—though I am a bit cautious with his rendering of the Neidan chapters because he devotes a decent number of pages—546 to 553—to anti-ejaculation methods that don’t really have a place in Neidan in you’re doing the first step correctly)
-Ling Bao Tong Zhi Neng Nei Gong Shu, -Wang Liping
-Practical Taoism, -Thomas Cleary
-The Immortal: True Accounts of the 250 year old man, -Yang Sen (though the teachings here tend to fixate on health practices and a number are not compatible with neidan, there are helpful bits of information and some good advice throughout—such as on page 183—which can help make sense of different sensations).
Sources outside of Taoism:
-Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali, -Hariharananda
-Yoga Yajnavalkya, -A. G. Mohan
-Yoga—It’s Practice and Philosophy According to the Upanishads, -Ajai Chhawchharia
-The Surangama Sutra, -Charles Luk
-Swara Yoga, -Muktibodhananda
Some cautions about other sources::
-In general, I like Stuart Alve Olson’s translations. But, he doesn’t seem to understand the actual first step of alchemy. If you get his translation of the Yellow Court Classic (part 1), verse 52 is basically a reiteration of what is described in Taoist Yoga on pages 8, 20 and 32. His explanation is not even close (it is actually the opposite). And it is a mistaken premise that appears in the introductory chapters of basically all of his works when he describes the “stimulation” of jing as a necessary or helpful part of normal practice. Altogether, I would only consult his writings for the translations and not his commentary.
-I would raise the same caution against authors like Mantak Chia, Eric Yuledove, Steven Liu, Hsi Lai,and all others who promote the Chinese and Indian sexual practices as though they are spiritual practices.
There is always more to understand about genuine spiritual practice than can be conveyed in written words. But, rather than plastering negative reviews on bad materials, I have decided to give a general form of guidance for the one book that I can recommend without reservation. This is the only book that truthfully details the core aspects of real spiritual training. If you have the good fortune to happen upon this book and this review, I hope that it will be of help to you.
Endnote: One of the greatest difficulties with reading is that your ability to understand this text is related to the clarity of your own energy and the amount of Karma you carry. It took me 9 years of studying this book and others (paired with qigong and meditation practice) in order to understand it. The book itself has a living energy to it. Reading it and re-reading it in a way where you surrender your understanding and let your mind match the words and intent of the author is a good practice in itself. In my experience, you will be close to success when you realize that every single word, article, and preposition has a significance that is reflected in the embodied experience of the teachings.
Unfortunately, many reviews here are written by people who do not understand alchemy or their current energetic state. Do not be discouraged, though. This book is worth more than most are capable of realizing.
Thanks for the comment. I’d like to be able to give a quick comment in return, but it is probably going to be difficult for me to explain.
I have read most of his work but have not made a deep study of it. There was a time a few months back when I had read through practically everything on his Scholar Sage website. At that time, I was anticipating his newest “Comprehensive guide to Daoist Neigong” and wanted to know more about him. I have, in recent months, acquired digital copies of a number of his books and completed cursory readings of them.
From what I recall on the Scholar Sage website, he had written in one of his articles that he was not from a traditional lineage of Taoist Alchemy. It seemed to me (and I don’t remember if he stated it outright or not) that his teacher had more of a connection to the Wu shamanic practices.
This would be a long a probably controversial discussion, but (in my research) I have come to believe that “Taoism”, from the Dao De Jing onwards, doesn’t have a significant connection to the Wu people. Some things I’ve read in Jerry Alan Johnson’s work indicate that Taoist alchemy began with hermits and their practices had been passed down secretly and were eventually written into the Nei Yeh. You could see the book “Original Tao: Inward Training and the Foundations of Taoist Mysticism” to further explore this point.
It’s kind of difficult for me to explain what I think of Damo’s work because my evaluation is based on a very specific quality that I have experienced with my training. When doing alchemy, there is an accumulation of generative force and it gets refined through the application of the alchemical fires… etc. The progression of training causes prenatal energies to accumulate which have the effect of retrogressing bodily energies. The effect of this is that the prenatal energies will have a sort of time-reversing gravitational pull that causes features related to sexual dimorphism to revert and a person will literally have a pre-pubescent body structure.
Unfortunately, I have repeatedly failed in my training because of various misunderstandings and difficulty maintaining the deep meditative state that causes transmutation to take place (the state is described on pages 30 and 31 in Taoist Yoga). But the things I have experienced do not match what I have encountered in Damo’s work and the work of most other Qigong/Neigong teachers.
If I recall correctly, there was an article on Scholar Sage where Damo discussed different approaches that have existed in Taoism (his notion of Taoism includes the Wu people) and I think he identified two trends. One was that of the internal alchemy, which takes place in deep meditation, the other was of a state of expansion of the energy body in an attempt to integrate with the Dao. Basically, the method he seems to focus in on would be about expanding the energy body and dissolving blocks in a way similar to what is described in some Upanishads as the continuous removal of a layer of oil that clogs the nadis.
In my own experience, I don’t think that this is a correct or complete understanding of things. In the course of practicing alchemy, the dissolution of blocks and general expansion of the energy body takes place pretty much automatically (if you are correctly taking care of the “root of life” and are storing, transmuting, and refining internal energies). But, the process of storing, transmuting, and refining energies is basically a reverse-tracing of the growth and development cycles of the core energy in the body. To this end, it is a singular process and it has only been accurately described (to my knowledge) in the Alchemical classics of Taoism (This book–Taoist Yoga–is one of the most practical with regards to giving a direct connection to physiology).
So, to more directly speak to Damo’s merits, I think he has a very well developed understanding of the martial and medical side of qigong. If you want to pick up his work, I think you could probably go a long way with neigong through it. But, neigong is not necessarily the same thing as Neidan. The term neigong relates to internal transformation of structures in the body. This can take place with internal martial arts, qigong, and related trainings. Neidan relates to the internal structure of the “dan” or elixir pellet. Neidan only has one method and I have not found its methods in Damo’s work.
There are a handful of signs that also confirm that Damo doesn’t do Neidan. In his book, he mentions that a practitioner of neigong can have a certain number of ejaculations and still progress in training. It is true for neigong and generic qigong but it is absolutely not true for neidan. Furthermore, there are two key training elements that are done early in Taoist alchemy—the gathering of the external agent and the gathering of the internal agent. All of the work he does to explain the spinal fires and microcosmic orbit would be in the realm of the external agent. He doesn’t seem to have the transitional stuff that would actually raise neigong/qigong to the state of aiding neidan.
And, furthermore (again), a lot of his more recent work seems to have linked up with the Chinese sorcery practices involving Qi-Lun (the Chinese equivalent of chakras) and he has subsequently extended his studies to different Indian systems (with a focus on the tantras).
If you recall my sixth paragraph (which coincidentally begins with the words “if I recall”), all of the phenomena he covers would be on the level of clearing out and expanding the energy body. They’re all good things. But, when compared to what Taoist Yoga describes and teaches, it seems like the wrong outlook. It makes a good side-effect into the centerpiece of training and neglects the actual centerpiece that is supposed to drive the process. —Which is why a great multitude of methods exist for neigong and the development of the energy body. Neidan only has one process with minor variations on how different aspects are handled. But, all genuine methods should discuss the different forms of inner light and the lead-up to the the circle of light (the “supreme ultimate”) appears. After this point, all systems of practice are exactly the same.
In fact, if you were to survey the history of different spiritual manuals, you could chart a degradation that takes place over time. In Hinduism, there were the classical Upanishads, the Yoga sutras, and Yajnavalkya yoga. When more and more students failed to get the light to appear, side methods developed to in order to try and compensate for the deficiencies of the students. From here the tantras emerged and the original path (preserved in true alchemical Taoism) was lost in Hinduism. The early teachings of Buddhism, which are preserved in the Therevada tradition, would get a practitioner to the state where the “supreme ultimate” appears; they would have a practitioner progress through the different jhana states and they called the appearance of light a Nimitta. When monks failed to achieve it, Buddhism developed as Hinduism did with side methods to keep the monks busy. Taoism was similar, but there was a different form of degeneration that took place when the Dragon Tiger classic fell into the hands of non-alchemists and was interpreted as a sex manual and a whole lot of other aberrations emerged under the banner of Taoism and the core traditions were often in such disarray that external practices were freely incorporated into Taoist practice (hence why most people consider the Wu people and their practices to be the same thing as Taoism).
Anyways, that was a bit of a tangent providing very loose historical reasoning that is in line with the differences that I have experienced while practicing Alchemy and other systems. And, even citing Taoist Yoga’s author (Zhao Bichen’s) biographical information, he had to study his entire life with more than 30 teachers in order to reconstruct the complete alchemical process. So, even 100 years ago, most of what was considered Taoism was either wrong or incomplete.
Sorry that it was a long-winded reply. But this is something that I have actually had to wrestle with for a number of years and it has only become clear to me in the past two years.
I think this is enough to get anyone started. I cannot imagine what will be possible if you stick to Khan Black while practicing the above.