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Taoist Yoga: Alchemy & Immortality

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"Taoist Yoga," by Charles Luk, will greatly aid those Americans who are confused by the point of "eastern" meditation, etc. The author makes very clear exactly what should be done in order to perfect one's human existence. The terminology is easily understood and practically oriented. Those with a background in meditation and spiritual transformation will relish this book. The book is not for the pure beginner as it is too practical and "hands on;" one needs to convince oneself that spiritual elevation and self-control are required.But it must be read by any Eastern Studies scholar. The text also puts to rest many notions about sex and the true value of sexual desire, called in the text "the generative force." It should be studied carefully for this reason. The book has many clear illustrations and copious footnotes all of which are useful. The book does not mention diet specifically but it does show how all ailments can be healed or prevented.There are very few references to the typical "folk" oriented five element theory which prevents the scientifically oriented American from being "put off." In short, it is amazingly simple, concise and understandable. Definitely recommended for the serious practioner as, although written in a terse style, it has sufficient common sense to be of use to Americans.

The 'yoga' teaching in this book never was easily accessible - nor ever meant to be. It is the highest rung on the Taoist ladder,and often, its practitioners lived on remote mountain peaks - disinterested in the 'numbers game' or winning converts. To find a Taoist master - of Chao Pi Chen's calibre would have taken years, many hardships. Loathe to set their teachings down in words, texts such as this are therefore precious. Even for a native Chinese, the idioms in this text are incomprehensible, minus access to the inner tradition. Luckily, Lu K'uan Yu knew the real (practical) meaning of these idioms - and therefore translates not just a text, but the practical nuance. This text opens up a remarkable world - one the West has yet to tap into,as regards our knowledge of the paraphysical energies underpinning the life of bodies and cells, vital centres etc. Before the Communist revolution, elderly people practicing this yoga, found their greying hair turning black again. This is not immortality 'Hollywood style,' but a by-product of the Yoga. When I took this practice seriously - in a retreat, I could actually hear little 'electronic' bleeps - as the 'microcosmic circuit' became energised. It happens naturally - you can't force it to happen. This Taoist yoga makes sense of the saying 'the kingdom of heaven is within you.' It is!

Highly recomended for sincere practitioners with a meditative understanding.

Read the Preface first, and pay particular attention to the first chapter. While not said in these words, what is unusual about this practice teaching is that it starts off with emphasizing a degree of stability in non-dual awareness (ch1) and emphasies its importance for any hope of success. This is what is lacking in so many watered down teachings, with people spinning around in the practices for years with little solid benefit from a higher viewpoint.

The english translation is not the most fluent, and terms such as 'the need to not be mindful of the process is absolutley necessary for success', is spot on in its original intent, but lost a bit in translation. In this instance what is refered to is an anchoring beyond the thinking mind and its ambitions, limited conceptualizations, which crowds the space so that the underlying light is not noticed and cultivated. It does not refer to an abandonment of awareness, rather a deepening of it.
There are a number of simular areas in the book, including things like a disaste for sexual relationships, etc; but if you get past the immeadiate words and undertand the essence of what is being said in the containement and how the underlying flows are qualified (or more so are not qualified into a dualistic energy), then this is the original true meaning.

While the feminine side is an inherent aspect of the internal landscape for anyone proceeding with this practice, nevertheless this book gives it no outward attention and its male mode of presentation might be a little difficult for female practitioners to sort through and integrate the teaching in a way meaningful for them.

The above comments are not meant to discourage anyone who loves meditative practice away from this book. It is truly one of the best and most rare books in a caliber far above most of what is offered.

Many years before almost any Taoist Yoga, Chi Gung books were available. Long before Mantak Chia great works that break it down in physical simple terms and Dr. Yang's Hallmark extremely detailed must read The Root of Chinese Qigong; this was the only book out there.
It allowed me to get started years ahead of what I would have been able to do otherwise.
This book is a must read because it was the first out there and gives some detail that is availble no where else.
The descriptions used here help much with being able to imagine, then really feel and subsequently control and manipulate "vital breath" (a form a chi energy) to eventually open psychic centers and transform jing to higher forms of chi (shen), and thus nourishing and evolving those centers.

I just want to say that I don't agree that this book isn't for beginners. I started practicing the meditation techniques taught in this book when I was seventeen and the only experience I had prior to that was a little bit of mantra meditation. I had great success! I got as far as feeling vibrations along the 8 channels and having wind pass through my ears. Very highly recommended.

This is the best Chinese book on Taoist Yoga written by a great master born in Qing Dynasty. Charles Luk did a great job in translating this classic text (its Chinese original also contains the lineage of the master himself and his good intention to transmit this knowledge to a wider audience). The aim of this practice is to build an immortal soul (note: not an immortal body), and the process certainly demands more effort and time that can hardly be available to the average person who has to have a regular 9-5 job! The demand of such a practice is evident from the first chapters. Basically the first practice is meditation with one's mind focused on the point between one's eyebrows. Until when should one go to the second step? Well, until one gets into deep meditation that one (sorry for male only) gets an erection. And then one should test whether the erection will go away with simple deep breathes. If it does, sorry boy, continue your meditation. Only when erection stands after deep breaths should one do microcosmic orbit circulation (to "collect" one's sexual energy, so it says).

However, one should not be disappointed. If one's objective is to build a health body and a calm and relaxed mind (free from worry and depression), a contemporary teacher will advise one to do some initial meditation and then can directly go into microcosmic orbit circulation. After that one can practice (as per chapter 3) into opening eight psyche/chi channels. By that time, the practitioner's mind will be relaxed and his/her whole body filled with comfortable chi. He/she will come to a stage that he/she can benefit most, health wise, from the practice. For an average contemporary person, he/she has no need to proceed further (actually it would be quite difficult for him to proceed further because he lacks the initial training in total relaxation. Erection is actually a signal for being into the desired level of total relaxation; hence a female can also practice the immortal art, just that she won't have the benefit of a definite signal to go by).

Good luck to your practice. It's worth the effort, I can tell you....

Very good! I have been doing meditation for several years. This book has helped me add practical cultivation to my meditation. The book is more about energetic cultivation than meditation. It is good for meditation though. I would recomend that you first read Mantek Chia's "Awaken the Healing Power of the Tao" first. Then go for it!

I've ordered this book after receiving a suggestion by someone whose material I happen to follow extensively on the internet. I have to say this is an extremely radical book as it makes a strong connection between male sexuality and spirituality, in particular how the mind and body reacts to ejaculation. Here in the West, we are completely detached from the idea that sex has any direct effect on the other facets of our lives. We are programmed by the corporate media mafia that as men, we can "crack the nut" as much as we please with no consequences.

In consideration for people that may be new to this, I feel it would be nice to cover basic ground for the sake of facilitating a genuine understanding for the material. In Taoism, you have the concept of 'Chi', which is defined by many to be the universal life force energy. There are various forms of 'internal' martial arts that work with this 'chi' energy such as Qigong (also referred to as Chi Kung) and Tai Chi. In Qigong, 'chi' includes three basic forms of energy: Jing, CHI, and shen. Jing is the female electrochemical energy of the lower body (chakras), chi is the male electromagnetic energy of the upper body (especially the brain) that can be stored in the lower body, and shen, the spiritual light energy. Sexual fluid (semen in males) is the rawest, must crude form of the 'chi' energies, requiring it to be transformed into the more refined form of energies (to jing, to chi, THEN to shen). This implies that external male ejaculation doesn't allow this process, preventing any sort of healthy development of the mind-body-and-spirit complex.

Taoist Yoga actually goes into detail on methods achieving full mind and body transformation via "small universe microcosmic orbit" practices that can help one manage their sexual fluids for proper energetic conversion that even reverse aging and increase vitality. Masturbation, ejaculatory sex, and porn are considered to be completely destructive to the human body as one can lose significant amounts of chi energy that is required for spiritual light energy to develop. As men continue to commit to sexual perversion, he stands to lose his "life force", causing him to age rapidly and be susceptible to life threatening illnesses in late adulthood.

Charles Luk, the author of this book, presents information in the form of answers to various important questions, especially about the sexuality of the Tao and other non-mainstream tantric principles. This book does not bombard one with "empty" philosophy for the sake of the author having a best seller in the CIA sponsored new age book market, it focuses on practical solutions to a major problem in western society: pornographic capitalism. They are "no shortcuts" presented as the writer recognizes spirituality equates to discipline and transcendence of hormonal urges that happens to lock the majority of humanity in a mundane matrix of fear and anxiety, not allowing one escape the notion of 'survival at all cost'.

If you are ready for REAL spiritual development, it is greatest pleasure to suggest "Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality" as it works with the mind AND body. It has to be known that you can't have one without the other as Western Soceity seems to deliberately betray this virtue.

This is the best book ever written, in the area of Chinese ancient Daoist alchemic practices. And I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to advance further in internal alchemy. I have been reading and re-reading this book for over 20 years, and everytime I open it, there are still bits and pieces of information, that is still helpfull in my cultivation. For the price, I would say this book is a gift, "really,"

I found this book to be an insightful read into Taoist internal alchemy, however I'd also say that anyone reading it needs to have at least a couple years experience to even begin to get the concepts discussed. What I found was that the book provided greater clarity about some of the different exercises I'd already done, but I also realized that if I didn't already have experience with those exercises, I probably wouldn't get what the author was discussing. It's a useful book to have for an intermediate to advanced Taoist meditation practitioner.