Three Danjeon and Three Treasures (Secrets of Morphy)
제목: 3개의 단전과 3가지 보물 (모파이의 비밀)
개요:
이 글은 모파이(Mo Pai)라는 내공(Neigong) 수련법을 이해하기 위해, 인체의 세 단전(丹田), 세 가지 보물(三寶), 그리고 음양(陰陽) 에너지에 대한 이론적 설명을 제공합니다. 모파이는 본래 존 창(John Chang)이 이끌던 무술 유파였으나, 영적 스승들에 의해 해임되었습니다.
세 단전:
- 하단전 (下丹田): 배꼽 아래 위치하며, 인체의 주요 생체 에너지 저장고 역할을 합니다. 기(氣)를 저장하는 능력이 뛰어나 '기해(氣海)'라고도 불립니다.
- 중단전 (中丹田): 가슴 중앙에 위치합니다.
- 상단전 (上丹田): 머리 중앙에 위치합니다.
세 가지 보물:
세 단전에는 각각 다른 형태의 에너지가 존재하며, 이를 '세 가지 보물'이라고 합니다.
- 정 (精): 하단전에 존재하며, 생명의 근원적인 에너지입니다. 남성의 정액(精液) 형태로 존재하며, 신장(腎臟)에 저장됩니다.
- 기 (氣): 중단전에 존재하며, 생명 활동을 유지하는 에너지입니다.
- 신 (神): 상단전에 존재하며, 마음, 영혼, 자아 인식과 관련된 에너지입니다.
내단 (內丹)과 불사 (不死):
세 가지 보물을 정제하고 변환시켜, "영적 태아 (spirit embryo)"를 잉태하는 것이 내단 수련의 목표입니다. 영적 태아를 성공적으로 키워내면, 육체와 독립적으로 존재할 수 있는 영적인 몸을 얻어 불멸을 이룰 수 있다고 합니다.
정(精)의 보존:
남성의 경우, 정(精)을 보존하는 것이 중요합니다. 사정(射精)을 조절하고 정액을 보존하는 수련을 통해 정(精)을 기(氣)로, 기(氣)를 신(神)으로 변환시킬 수 있습니다. 모파이에서는 남성의 경우, 72시간 이상 사정하지 않은 후에 수련해야 한다고 합니다.
고요함의 중요성:
마음이 깊은 침묵 상태에 있지 않으면, 신(神)이 밖으로 투사되어 하단전으로 내려올 수 없습니다. 하단전은 연금술 과정이 일어나는 장소이며, 기(氣) 덩어리를 개발하고 영적 태아를 잉태하는 자궁과 같습니다.
영적 변환 과정:
지속적인 정(精)의 기(氣)로의 변환, 기(氣)의 신(神)으로의 변환 과정을 통해 영적 태아를 만들어내고, 신(神)을 근원(源)과 합치는 것이 목표입니다. 이 과정은 평생에 걸쳐 이루어지는 것이며, 매우 신중하게 접근해야 합니다.
요약:
이 글은 모파이 수련법의 핵심 개념인 세 단전, 세 가지 보물, 그리고 내단 수련을 통해 영적 불멸을 이루는 과정을 설명합니다. 특히 정(精)의 보존과 마음의 고요함 유지가 중요하며, 이 과정을 통해 영적 태아를 잉태하고 신(神)을 근원과 합치는 것이 최종 목표입니다.
원문:
쉬운한글번역
On the 3 dantien and 3 treasures (Text from an upcoming book I am working on called Secrets of Mo Pai.)
So, we are going to have to get into a certain amount of theory in this book, to describe the three dantiens, three treasures, and yin and yang energy, to better understand Mo Pai. Mo Pai, or the school of Mo Tzu, is the Neigong school of which John Chang was the head until he was removed by the spirit masters.
So, lets focus in on what Kosta Danaos says about the dantien. First, we should note that there are 3 dantien, the lower one is below the belly button, the middle is in the chest, and the upper dantien is in the center of the head. You will find that when Kosta Danaos or Jim McMillan says “the dantien,” they are referring to the lower dantien…
The dantien, or “elixir field,” is the primary bio-energy warehouse of the human body. Located four fingers below the navel in the middle of the torso, this center has the ability to store vast amounts of ch’i. For this reason it is also known as ch’i hai (ocean of ch’i). But it is a mistake to think that the dantien itself generates ch’i, as presented in many texts. Rather, it is possible to store there that ch’i which the practitioner intakes from the universe around him. It is practice and persistence that lead to “dantien power”; such power is not an implied characteristic of the human body. -Kosta Danaos, The Magus of Java
Kosta says that the lower dantien does not soak up or generate power of its own, that the energy must be put there. This is an interesting point, and we will look at how to put the energy there as we go along. I would differ with Kosta slightly on this point because the natural process of the body during deep, dreamless sleep, does fill the dantien, and this relates to the immortal embryo, turning the light around, and silence of the mind. More on this later.
Ok, so, let’s look at the three treasures. The three treasures are types of energy which exist in the three dantien. Jing in the lower dantien, chi in the middle, and shen in the upper dantien. Understanding these three energies, and the three dantiens is extremely important to the understanding of internal alchemy and Mo Pai. My God may I be worthy to write about Mo Pai. Here, Kosta talks about the three treasures, and the immortal embryo…
In China the three qualities of man’s energy are called the San Bao, or “three treasures.” They are ching, ch’i, and shen, or essence, energy, and consciousness. By transmutation of the three treasures from coarse to subtle form, and by subsequent inter-reaction, a mysterious “something” is conceived. That “something” is the spirit embryo, which, like any baby, requires further gestation prior to final birth. However, should the Taoist yogi be successful in developing the spirit body, he can exist independent of his physical body and is as such immortal. -Kosta Danaos, The Magus of Java
Now, Kosta doesn’t directly say that the immortal embryo of Neidan is the same thing as what John Chang was doing, but he comes close, and I think it is fair to say with absolute certainty that they are the same. Though Mo Pai may have its own methods for reaching the goal, the goal is the same. That goal is spiritual immortality through the creation of a new spirit body composed of the fused energies of yin and yang. This fusion is said to take place at level 4 of Mo Pai. Now let’s look at jing, or “ching.” As Kosta says…
Ching—the term essentially means “essence”—is the primal stuff of life. Many believe that you are given a fixed amount of ching for your lifetime, and that if you use it up, you are out of luck. In the male, ching is present in coarse form in the sperm, and is deposited in the testicles. In more refined form ching circulates through the bone marrow of the body, and is stored in the kidneys. Therefore, what was of crucial importance was to preserve essence; it is this approach that led to the theories of sperm retention and controlled ejaculation that have become representative of Taoism in popular Western literature. Some teachers stated that ching had a natural tendency to flow downward. -Kosta Danaos, The Magus of Java
Here we come to an unavoidable and crucial part of Mo Pai training. The retention of the seed in males. It’s all through Taoism, and readers are encouraged to read two books by Mantak Chia on this. The titles are “Taoist Secrets of Love: Cultivating Male Sexual Energy,” and for women, “Healing Love Through the Tao: Cultivating Female Sexual Energy.” And this is going to be very different for men than women. The exercises in the men’s book can greatly increase a man’s sexual energy, and thus jing, speeding up the entire process. I can’t tell you anything about how women’s sexual energy works, and I don’t know if there were ever any female members of the Mo Pai. It is known that there were female immortals in Chinese legend though.
They (Taoist Masters) thus forbade sexual intercourse for a thousand days at a time while training, so that the ching could “pile up” and enliven the energy centers of the body. Others allowed for a minimum amount of sexual release; the philosopher Sun Szue mo recommends the following program: “For men in their twenties, one ejaculation every four days; in their thirties, one in eight days; in their forties, one in sixteen days; in their fifties, one in twenty-one days. From the age of sixty upwards emission should be avoided al together, though a sixty year old who is still robust may allow himself one ejaculation a month.” -Kosta Danaos, The Magus of Java
This relates to Mo Pai’s “three-day rule” as well. Men must only train after three days abstinence. According to Jim McMillan, as a man, you must not train in Mo Pai unless you have gone more than 72 hours without loss of the seed. Jing is refined into chi, chi is refined into shen, and this supercharged or refined shen is then brought down into the lower dantien in level one practice. In males, the jing energy is present in their seed, and if you lose the seed, you can’t refine it into chi or shen. Concerning shen, Kosta says…
I have discussed ch’i. Shen, the final treasure, is a bit more difficult to identify. In coarse form it most certainly means “mind, self, soul”; I will use the term personal awareness. -Kosta Danaos, The Magus of Java
These terms of mind, soul, or personal awareness, are often a vague conception in people’s minds. It’s important to understand that shen is a very real force, an energy like electricity. These concepts of the three dantiens and three treasures are the foundation of Chinese internal Alchemy, Neidan. Once again, jing is in the lower dantien, chi is in the middle dantien, and shen is in the upper dantien. Jing is refined into chi, and chi to shen. Kosta mentions this here.
Once ching had been transmuted to ch’i through meditation and yogic breathing, the practitioner discarded the entanglements of mundane life and “sought stillness” so that he could further enliven the shen through the ch’i. -Kosta Danaos, The Magus of Java
Total stillness is the key here. If the mind is not in deep silence, the shen projects outward and cannot fall downward to the lower dantien. The lower dantien is where the alchemy process will take place. This is where the chi ball is developed. It is the womb where the immortal embryo is gestated and born from.
(Reportedly, the area where the seedling shen resides is between and behind the eyebrows—the third eye to some.) But once the shen was conceived it had to gestate; once gestated it had to be born; once born it required nourishment; and so forth until it could stand on its own. -Kosta Danaos, The Magus of Java
This relates to something called “the mysterious pass,” and “turning the light around.” Kosta is describing the exact process of the immortal embryo, the creation of a new spiritual body here. We will explain the nature of the mysterious pass, and the practice of turning the light around in our chapter on the immortal embryo.
The procedure demanded the continuous refinement of ching into ch’i and the transference of the energy of ch’i to the shen. Needless to say, it took a long time, perhaps the practitioner’s entire life, and was not something to be undertaken lightly. -Kosta Danaos, The Magus of Java
Once again, this relates to the immortal embryo, which is a lifetime process. And you can see that masters such as John, his master Liao, and Liao’s master Pai Lok Nen all continued to get more powerful throughout their entire lives. The lower dantien is the alchemy furnace where the pill of immortality was created. As Kosta says…
For the Taoist alchemist, the (lower) dantien was the crucible in which the elixir of immortality was brewed. It was there that ching was re fined into ch’i, while from the dantien purified ch’i was sent up to the “Spirit Valley” between the eyebrows to give birth to the embryo shen. -Kosta Danaos, The Magus of Java
Then there is one final refinement is shen to xu….
There was a further step from that point on if the yogi truly desired eternity: The independent shen had to be merged with the Source of All Things, the Tao. In essence, what the teachers were saying was that the personality had to unite with the flow of the whole universe. If such a thing is possible, it can only be the final stage in human development. -Kosta Danaos, The Magus of Java
Once again, it’s clear that Kosta is referring to the immortal Embryo process here, specifically, merging shen with the source. The formula is as follows: jing is refined to chi, chi to shen, and shen to xu.