Customer Reviews

The Taoist Soul Body: Harnessing the Power of Kan and Li

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Wow! If you're familiar with Mantak Chia and his system, this book will delight you. It is the next step from the Fusion Meditations and is packed with information. The main technique is the special method of combining Kan and Li energies and the resulting steaming process. It also goes into great detail on the science of Darkroom Meditations and incorporates the 12 acupuncture meridians. If you don't know Mantak Chia, you might want to check him out on the web and get a general feel for the meditation system or you may be a little lost. This book is a more advanced step of the Taoist Meditation system presented by the author. There are 8 - 10 books in the series before this, but he mentions them in his book so you know what you are getting in to. If you are an experienced practitioner, this book is a must have.

In this book Chia presents an advanced technique for Taoist inner alchemical work. While overall the information is good and in-depth, there are times were its clear Chia recycled content from previous books in order to fill out the book. Also some of the instructions are a bit more vague than they should be given the type of work involved. That said, if you've learned previous techniques it won't be hard to puzzle out what he means. The main thing to avoid is visualizing the work. You need to really experience it, and that's where the vagueness of the instructions is less than helpful. The technique in this book is worth reading and can be very helpful for body purification and health.

While I enjoyed some of Mantak Chia's other titles, I find myself quite disappointed by this book. It's true that each teacher/author has a different method for presenting information. Still, I find myself a bit put off by all the content jumbled together with new-agey theories, pseudo-science, and advertisement.

Mantak Chia has a penchant for colorful diagrams of the human body, DNA strands, and various other things he tries to incorporate into this text, to explain his many many theories. There are a lot of sections which in my opinion could have been skipped in favor of simple, concise, clearly defined set of instructions. In fact, what takes Mantak some 6-8 pages to illustrate, takes Dr. Yang Jwing Ming or Stuart Alve Olsen 3-4 pages max. to explain in a much clearer, sequential, logical manner that can serve as a set of clearly defined instructions (Unlike Mantak's which for the most part left me guessing.) Furthermore, much of this book is dedicated to advertising his retreat and other books, which for me is a major turn-off.

It also seems that in order to get the full benefit from this book, you need to be familiar with other Taoist Qi Gong practices outlined in his other books, otherwise you will be stuck with vague directions, and obscure terminology. The descriptions for this set of exercises can be vague, and lack a clearly defined structure. This book seems more like a general overview of the practice rather than an actual set of instructions. Unless you are a fan of Mantak Chia, and are already familiar with his writing style, you might be better off looking for another source for Taoist Qi Gong/ meditation.

One of my guiding principles when I study, especially when I study esoterica, is that if I can't explain something to my ten year old son, I don't really understand it myself. So...I'll begin this review by admitting to the "Cult of Mantak Chia" that I don't get it. I am incapable of "feeling a blue fragrance" but I suspect that is more than an absence of adequate levels of DMT in my system.

I was almost offended that this book served as little more than a brochure for Mantak Chia's little new age retreat in Thailand. Most of us will never know the benefits of meditating in total darkness for 21 days without that little visit. And in the end, if our studies of the esoteric don't provide some practical means for accomplishing the Great Work (a term I swear I use only rarely) then the author/teacher has wasted our time.

But...before we give up hope, I do have a better reference for you. I only bought this book because Mantak Chia, as well as the Kan and Li circuits, were referred to Glenn Morris's works, Path Notes of an American Ninja Master and Shadow Strategies of an American Ninja Master. Get over the wacky titles and your study of these works will provide a better glimpse of the processes that Mantak Chia succeeds only in obfusing...if that's even a word.

So...good luck in your quest to be human...but I'd skip this book if I were you.

Order arived promptly and in good condition. I have only browsed the book so far however it looks very interesting and I recommend to anyone wishing to research writings based on Taoist philosophy.