The Taoist Soul Body (Harnessing the Power of Kan and Li)

The Lesser Enlightenment of Kan and Li practice combines the compassion of the heart energies (yang/fire) with sexual energies originating in the kidneys (yin/water) to form the soul, or energy, body. Practice of the Chinese formula Siaow Kan Li (yin and yang mixed) uses darkness technology to literally "steam" the sexual energy (jing) into life-force energy (chi) by reversing the location of yin and yang power. This inversion places the heat of the bodily fire from the heart center beneath the coolness of the bodily water generated by the sexual energy of the perineum, thereby activating the liberation of transformed sexual energy.

Darkness technology has been a key element of Taoist practice-and of all Inner Alchemy traditions-throughout the ages. A total darkness environment stimulates the pineal gland to release DMT into the brain. The darkness actualizes successively higher states of consciousness, correlating with the accumulation of psychedelic chemicals in the brain. In the darkness, mind and soul begin to wander freely in the vast realms of psychic and spiritual experience. Death is no longer to be feared, because life beyond the physical body is known through direct experience.

The birth of the soul is not a metaphor. It is an actual process of converting energy into a subtle body. Developing the soul body is the preparation for the growth of the immortal spirit body in the practice of the Greater Enlightenment of Kan and Li.

At the turn of the millennium, the West has become familiar with different Eastern practices such as martial arts, acupuncture, herbology, massage, nutrition, sexology, and Chi Kung. Bits and pieces of Eastern knowledge and art have been recorded from an integral system, repackaged and introduced to the West by teachers of varying persuasions and competence. Some teachers even offer instant expertise, wisdom, and peace of mind. There are, of course, authentic masters who have devoted their lives to the study and practice of different Eastern arts and disciplines, but unfortunately, they can be quite rare.

For a variety of reasons, little is known in the West of the ancient Taoist system of internal development. Like all traditions of the East, Taoism contains many practices designed to awaken an individual's deepest spiritual potential. Taoism, as many other esoteric systems, understood that this potential included the possibility of conscious freedom in the after death state, developed through exercises practiced in the previous life.

Toward this end, the Taoists saw the importance of working on all three levels of our being: physical body, soul body (sometimes referred to as our energy body), and spirit body (our true nature beyond the cycle of life and death). All three are considered important in forming a ladder that we can consciously climb into the spiritual worlds and, just as important, descend back into the physical world to be creatively active. This ladder enables the Taoists to maintain a conscious link with the inner worlds, and to act as the representatives of those worlds on Earth. In the after-death state, this link is maintained with the Earth world through the immortal body developed in the practice of Internal Alchemy.

The novice to the Taoist system begins with a wide range of exercises that develop the body into an efficient and healthy organism capable of living in the world, and yet free of the tensions and stresses of daily life. The aim of this level is to learn to heal oneself, to love oneself, and to love others as a result of self-love. This is accomplished by utilizing the Universal Tao practices of the Microcosmic Orbit, Inner Smile, Six Healing Sounds, Iron Shirt Chi Kung, Tai Chi, Chi Kung, and Cosmic Five Element nutrition. In addition, the individual is taught how to gain strength through the conservation and recycling of internal energy (Taoist Secrets of Love).*

The ability to control and transform sexual energy for use in meditation and the healing arts, as well as to increase and intensify sexual pleasure and communication, is very important to the Taoist system. When the sexual energy is collected, it becomes an incredible source of energy that can be shared with a sexual partner via the energy channels during sexual intercourse. Also, the collected and transformed sexual energy is an important alchemical catalyst used in the higher meditations.

Our emotional life, filled with ups and downs, drains our vital energy, especially when we are overly preoccupied with negative emotions. Through the meditation practice of Fusion of the Five Elements, we learn to transform the sick energy of negative emotions, which has become locked in the vital organs, into vitality. At this point, we start to grow the healing energy of positive emotions, restoring emotional equilibrium to the personality.

Taoists have understood morality and positive emotions not as mandates from a religious authority or an angry god, backed up by the threat of hell, but as a means of self-healing and balance. To be good to others is to be good to ourselves. We all share an intimate relation-ship with the universe and each other. Energy is exchanged and in constant flow. Understanding the principles of energy is the goal, not creating spiritual rules built upon mental ideology.

The transformed energy of our negative emotions adds another source of vitality that can be conserved for further growth and the helping of others. The next level is to begin to give birth, first to the soul, and then to the spirit in the body. The body has been developed to become a fit dwelling place for the soul and spirit, and must also provide nourishment through the energies accumulated through the beginning practices. Giving birth to the soul is awakening that part of ourselves that perceives and acts free from environmental, educational, and karmic conditioning. The Lesser Enlightenment of Kan and Li meditations lead to overcoming the cycle of reincarnation. Gaining awareness through the awakened soul to be creatively active in the world, we learn to not merely react to circumstances. This level of meditation has many physiological effects as well, further preparing the body to accommodate the greater amounts of energy necessary for the birth and nourishment of soul and spirit.

MASTER YOUR MIND, REFINE YOURSELF Normal Mind (Human Mind-Mechanical Mind): The Normal Mind worries, plans, and calculates, and greatly enjoys being in the midst of action and affairs. This land of mind is not filled with true love and compassion, but loves complicated arguments and heated discussions.

Universal Mind: Within the mind there is yet another mind: "Heaven's Storehouse"-we fill it, yet it never is full, we drain it, yet it never is empty. It is called "the one-with-heaven." This is the consciousness of the universe. In Taoism, the goal is to tap into this level of awareness within ourselves.

Pure Mind: The Pure Mind can see the drunkard's evil deeds without judgment. In this state, we achieve a certain control over the tendency of the mind to constantly identify with outer realities of right and wrong. From this perspective, we move past duality into wholeness.

Empty Mind: Emptiness is a type of fasting in which we don't listen with our ears, but with our mind. We actually don't even listen with our mind, but with our spirit. We let our mind be like a clear lake, reflective, open, and fluid.

The meditations of the Lesser, Greater, and Greatest Enlightenment of Kan and Li lead to the birth of the soul and the spirit in the body, as well as to the formation of the immortal spirit body. At this stage of practice, the energies of nature (the Sun, the Moon, the trees) and practically all sensory experiences of a positive nature become palatable nourishment for the growth and maturing of the spirit in the body. Through this practice, we awaken to that which is eternal and enduring behind the appearances of sensory information. Aware of our true nature as spirit, we experience a self beyond the cycle of life and death. In fact, we experience the ability to practice death and dying while remaining an active being in an immortal spirit body, leaving the physical body to experience the inner worlds of the spirit. The fear of death loses its sting because life beyond the physical body is known through direct experience.

At this stage, it is important to develop the internal compass associated with the pineal gland to guide us in the spiritual world: the place of origin and where we go after death. It is time to start uniting the immortal spirit body with the physical, and work with energies in the body that have a rejuvenating effect on it.

In the final stage of this practice, the adept unites spirit, soul, and body, or separates them at will. The human being then knows full and. complete freedom.

**Contents and Sample Pages**