Dedicated to my Tutor, Mantak Chia

Chapter One

Deceive the heavens to cross the ocean

Far, far away, in the Universe, there is a place that can be called Nothingness. Can be, but no one knows what it really is. I have never met any people who came back from that place. But this is not because such people have never existed, we just did not meet with them in time. When they started their journey to WOO-CHI – this is what that place is called – I had not yet arrived in this world. Thus, I can make judgments about it basing my opinions only on the information they left behind on this Earth.

Soon, in the year 2003 Anno Domini, according to my calculations, the stars will be exactly in the most favourable position, the one that would make the way to WOO-CHI the fastest and easiest, and I too will go there.

WOO-CHI is the final destination of all travels, it is a Mecca for the immortal. Of course, I might have left for WOO-CHI earlier, but I like to experiment. According to my calculations, the favourable star position occurs once every 10,800 years. So, I want not only to leave for WOO-CHI, but also to check the accuracy of my estimations.

Yes, I have always liked experiments. When I decided ‘to curb the dragon’, I was still young, and my only wish was to love and to be loved back, just like in my twenties, and it had been like that throughout all my life. That was why I found another way of doing it, not like all others, who feared or worshipped that ‘dragon’. I tamed him, and he became my friend and my support.

Of course, if you fear or worship, you can be giving away to him your pristine energy, JIN, from the very beginning, every month, probably little by little, but still you would be giving it away. And you can even change your life rhythm and cheat on the moon, make the tide periods longer, but all these, whether you recognize it or not, would be your concessions to your fear. No, I decided to make a loving agreement with the ‘dragon’, and he yielded to me. This is how I got the powerful support of his energy and was able to keep my JIN energy intact.

Sisters, however, did not assume my practice, they were just followers, in the direct meaning of this word, very talented, though.

………

They were not contributing anything new to the practice, because they considered it perfect. However, it was freedom that accounted for the perfection of it. I dearly loved Sun Bu’er, I adored both her and her poems. But she started practicing only when she was fifty-one, when a considerable part of her pristine energy, JIN, had already gone, and she did not have to spend so much time to resolve the problems associated with her dragon. This is why she did not value my experience. Besides, she had already had three children.

My first child arrived in this world when I was nineteen, and I gave birth to my beautiful goddess when the date of my birth moved by two centuries away from me.

I first met Sun Bu’er in 1184, when she was just sixty. She was sitting at the edge of a cliff, her eyes closed.

“To stop the Dragon.

When everything remains immobile,

It causes movement.

Yin and Yang are creating one another.

Catch the Jade Tiger

At a blow of the wind,

Catch the Golden Bird in the moonshine.

Follow the process of internal change,

And keep focused

On the cessation and return.

When all the bridges are crossed,

The alchemical energy

Returns to the oven.”

She slowly turned her head and addressed me, although I had not given any sign of my presence.

“Sister, come down and join me. It’s a nice morning today. My children are coming to see me and to celebrate my birthday. Earthly duties are also rewarding. I hope to see all my grandchildren. The tea ceremony preparations are in process.”

“Well, since you have noticed me, there is no point in hiding. I liked your poems, Sister. But what do you mean by ‘immobility’? However, I think, we will talk about it later, and now I want to give you some tea as a gift. You are sure to love it. It grew among peach-trees at the secret slope of Lu-Shan Mountain.”

“I do appreciate, Tea Elder, your calling me ‘Sister’. Your fame is like the tender odour of the eternity for those, who have chosen the Way.

“Please, follow me into the house. Soon, it will be filled with the cheerful voices of my grandchildren. It’s not often that we can allow ourselves to indulge in watching the joyous playfulness of these little rulers of the world.”

……….

This wonderful meeting with Sun Bu’er and her children touched me so deeply, that when I was left alone, I had an irresistible wish to experience maternity again.

It was a risky decision, which involved a great deal of responsibility. It was not hard to guess that no one would have approved of my move, even Sun Bu’er. Over the eight centuries I had preserved my ‘jade cluster’ intact. Now it was time ‘to eat’ one of the grapes of this wonderful garden. Besides, it had been quite a challenge to preserve one’s pristine energy for so long, and there was no way to measure it. How could I know whether my decision would be fateful for me, whether I would be able to get over the energy loss, and, besides, whether I would be able to pass on enough energy to my child?

This is why I decided that I should find such a father for my baby, who would possess the most pristine energy. I also made a point of choosing a man of great wealth and a most illustrious name, a man, whose parents might, in case of his death, take good care of the baby and bring him up appropriately. Children have to make their own way. A child needs to get care from both parents, the support of his entire blood, and develop the ability to live among people.

Since my blood was quite influential at the time of my birth, I realized the importance of this. Unfortunately, now the descendants of my family live all across the Celestial Empire, and the link with my parents fades with time, which makes me seek in the lower world support for my child in the strong family of the future father.

Guided by these considerations, I undertook a trip to the lower world to find a positive and potential family. Maybe, some time later I will tell you about that trip, too.

Well, be it for good or for evil, I managed overcome all these problems. But as soon as I had completed my search, I approached a new, an entirely comical problem.

Yes, it was all about love, and about passion. Even you, living in today’s world now, are very well aware that the energy of the embryo is the energy of the love and passion of both the parents. There was this concern: will this young, seventeen–year–old offspring of a wealthy family, who was spending more of his time practicing Kung-Fu than reading books, incite enough love in me. Another, still more amusing question was: which image I should take to make him desire me so passionately that our embryo would get the maximum of our energy support.

Maybe, it was then when I wondered for the first time why in Christianity it was a dove, which came to Virgin Mary. It might have been amusing to see an immortal to come in his real image. Yes, we do not know his name, we do not know what practices allowed him to gain such wisdom and such a degree of immortality, but one thing is clear, he is a great immortal. And one of the reasons to undertake my journey to WOO-CHI is the hope to meet him there.

Often I would imagine the idyllic pictures, how Jesus Christ, hand in hand with his father, was flying over a new beautiful planet somewhere in the vicinity of WOO-CHI. Maybe, they are the same age now, maybe not. Maybe, the father of Jesus Christ is on his second voyage to the Earth, and, maybe, it is not yet the second voyage.

Some time later I will tell you what I was able to learn about Jesus Christ. But I will do so when it is time for it. When you deal with matter, not with information, you are making amazing discoveries. But you get still more excited when you find written evidence of our suppositions in historical documents. It makes me think that some practices at that time in that region – the territories of modern Egypt and Israel – were well developed and accessible to some mortals.

The story of Jesus Christ has always been fascinating to me, but I will come back to this issue another time. I have too much to say about it. At least due to the fact that his father, just like myself, was obsessed about immortality, and also to have had a baby by an earthly, not enlightened, human, a beautiful young virgin. Unlike myself, he knew what destiny was in store for his son, while I did not know anything. I could not even foresee what my baby would be, a boy or a girl. I just wanted to have a baby. I had no one to ask for advice, I did not know any cases of this kind, and everything was against me.

So, who was he, the young man of my choice? His name was Shi, which means a ‘noble man’. He was a descendant of the Southern Song dynasty, Nán Sòng, which at that time was controlling vast territories in the south-east of the central part of China; it is the territory of the modern Guangdong Province. It was there, high in Longhu Shan, Dragon Tiger Mountain, where one could find the most favourable conditions for the alchemical practices of the immortal. It was there, where I was living at that time – these picturesque mountains had been known for thousands of years as a retreat for famous anchorites.

The first time I saw HIM was when he was meditating at dawn on the sports ground in the garden of his house. He was perfection itself. A boy-warrior, whose posture spoke of his great future. He was sitting in the lotus position, his heart meridian closed, a tender, wondering smile on his face. Everything was as clear and transparent as water in a mountain stream – I understood at once that the time had come for him to become a man. His tender heart was doing its best to protect against the storm of youth’s wishes. But who was the one he was going to entrust his heart to, and who was he smiling at in such a sweet way? The petals of peach blossom were slowly drifting down, acquiring the tender pink tints of the rising sun. The entire Earth had sunk into the bottomless silence, and the anticipation of the upcoming endless spring day, that would be filled with passionate looks, the droning bumble-bees, the redolent Jessamine bushes, the thin transparent air, which was manifesting itself by gentle touches of the silky wind on his half-parted lips.

I softly joined in his morning meditation, trying to guess the secret of his heart. It was entertaining to me. But at a certain moment I felt that he started leading me towards his secret dream and I saw the image he was cherishing in his heart. Seeing his dream girl stung my heart, and I cut short the connection, which betrayed me.

An experienced warrior, he jumped on his feet like a tiger ready to repel any attack, but then froze still in astonishment, as he could not see anyone. Not trusting his eyes, he cut through the air with his razor sharp sward. As my presence had been detected, I had to withdraw, leaving him with the fragrance of ylang-ylang flowers.

Well, this is how I learned about his dream girl. It was a maid, a servant, Van by name. Nothing to worry about, but his heart was occupied. Of course, I did not think that he would take her up just to satisfy his desire. But is the young flame of passion always reasonable? I had to hurry up. Just two hours later I had a piece of good luck: the doll-like submissive mortal was sent to the market-place with all other servants.

The house was getting ready to receive guests. Everyone was busy, and Shi went to the back courtyard, where there was a little pond with red and gold fishes. When he was a child, he used to spend hours watching them. When someone would approach the pond, those tiny tremulous creatures would feel that and move towards him. And when someone would walk along the edge of the pond, they would follow him. When Shi was a child, he used to play with the fish. He would hide, crawl along the bank of the pond, trying to deceive them, but each time he would raise his head to look at the fish, he would unfailingly see the fish close to him.

Shi squatted down and pillowed his cheeks on his hands in a childlike manner watching the fish ‘rushing’ towards him from all over the pond. Today he felt ill at ease. He knew that there was a reason to invite so many guests. He anticipated something important, something that would probably affect his life.

The fish were playing, nearly tail-walking, showing their glittering red and golden sides. Shi was watching them in a detached way. Then one of the fishes headed to the opposite bank of the pond. It was followed by another, and then the third, and the fourth… They crossed the pond and started playing there as if someone were standing on the opposite side. Shi did not like that. He rushed to cross the little pond over bridge and … ran into Van.

Of course, it was not Van. I needed to do something to test him. It was a serious bewilderment for a warrior. He had spent years in training and meditation to learn to read the thoughts of others, to feel them at a distance, and… to run into … a girl? It was amusing to watch his feelings whirl: the wish to kill the cause of his shame, and the eagerness to touch, and his embarrassment in this unexpected situation. But it was not enough for me, and I added fuel to the fire. I covered my face with my hands and ‘rushed away’, catching – by accident, of course – my dress on a branch of a Jessamine bush, and tearing it in such a way, that it could not hide anything. On top of that, I tumbled over a little rock, and fell down on the grass near the pond, my energy dragging Shi to follow me.

Chapter Two

Kill with a borrowed knife

My objective seemed to be so close: his body lowered upon mine gently, enveloping me with his pleasant heaviness. I closed my eyes and was appealing to him in my thought to be more daring. He, however, drew two short breaths, jumped on his feet, and rushed to the house. I had nothing to do but quietly disappear, leaving behind a piece of silk impregnated with the thick odour of ylang-ylang, which, apparently, had betrayed me, having reminded Shi of the morning incident, when his anxiety caused by the invisible danger became entwined with the scent of ylang-ylang.

What was left for me to remember about this meeting of ours was the sweet memory of both the heaviness and lightness of his young body. This gave me wings, and I was inhaling the aroma of the spring mountain air with all my lungs, by impulses originating in the very heart of my being, in my Dantian.

It seemed to be the very first inhalation given by God to pristine man, the inhalation that made him a living being, the inhalation that gave him life, the soul. Air, inhalation, inspiration, spirit, breathing – all these words have the same root in my language. The Chinese language is remarkable, because if the original meaning of the word is forgotten and is interpreted by different people in different ways, there is always a hint in the form of the graphical representation of the word, the hieroglyph, which depicts the concept. Yes, nowadays lots of hieroglyphs are written in an abridged form and, thus, have lost their original magic sense, their visual formula, but still there is something left.

In my childhood, I used to enjoy myself meditating with my focus on hieroglyphs. I used to write them on large pieces of finest, almost transparent silk, usually of a white or golden yellow colour. Then I would hang them on the wall in my room, which I had painted pale purple, and gaze upon them like magic paintings. At that time, I sincerely believed that those were the structures of the universe – so harmonious they seemed to me.

Now I realize that it was invaluable experience, which the majority of contemporary mankind lack. People of other cultures, who do not use hieroglyphs, are deprived of the experience of building correct and harmonious visual images. Beautiful landscapes, photographs, even paintings fail to provide such an opportunity to process and make elaborate the space of the image. But people … their thoughts take the form of images, not of words, after all.

Comparing the space of the visual images of an individual, who uses hieroglyphs to write, with that of somebody, who uses an alphabet, as, say, the English do, is similar to comparing a classical violin concert with city noise. And our psyche is nothing, but a set of patterns in the space of visual, audio, and kinaesthetic images. It is this fundamental difference that accounts for the lack of western people’s understanding of the behaviour of their oriental neighbours.