SELECTION OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
MAY 2012 PART 3

Islamic Science

Islamic science, picture reproduced from http://islamicsciences.blogspot.com/2010/04/muslim-scientists-experiments_09.html

Question 1

I am in sorrow over my practise of the Muslim prayers. I am not against the prayers, but the impact of the prayer on my health seems to be a subject of confusion.

— Zakaria, Switzerland

Answer

You can be a good Muslim and practice chi kung to improve your health. Chi Kung is non-religious. There are many healthy and devoted Muslims in our school, and we are very proud of them.

There is no relationship between religion and health. If you lack good health now, it is not because of your religion. There are many unhealthy persons of other religions just as there are many healthy Muslims.

Question 2

Since 2010 I have been praying and I haven't used a computer and internet back then. This year, 2011, I have a computer plus internet and I didn’t pray the orthodox Muslims until late May. Then I went on a voyage to Arabia where I was reintroduced to prayer by just following the masses and answering the call for prayer of course.

Answer

I am glad that you went on a voyage to Arabia, the fountainhead of Islam, and be inspired to resume your prayers. Prayers, where you communicate with God directly, are effective ways to good mental and physical health.

There is also no connection between the use of computers and religion. Many devoted Muslims access the internet with their computers, and remain very strong in their faith.

Some people of various religions mistakenly think that any modern facilities, like computers and other scientific inventions, are a deviation from religion. This is their perverted view. When I traveled in the United States a few years ago, I came upon whole settlements of people who refused to use modern facilities like electric lights, cars and refrigerators. They were kind and pious people who wanted to continue living in 15th century conditions which they regarded as the golden age of civilization.

What these kindly people failed to realize was that compared to previous centuries, the 15th century was the golden age in the 15th century. Compared to all previous times, the golden age is now.

Muslims were (and are) great scientists. Their contributions to mathematics and astronomy are well known. The numbers we now use like 1, 2, 3 for example, are a gift from the Muslims. In fact, it was the Muslims who stimulated the Renaisscance that brought Europe out of the dark ages.

Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa -- a famous Renaissance painting by Leonardo da Vinci, reproduced from http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/vinci/joconde/joconde.jpg

Question 3

After several voyages by plane, I was mostly irritated the first days when arriving back home. My view on women has been shaped by the view on airplane stewardesses. Now I have to choose whether I want to stay in the orthodox prayer practise or whether I have to stop so, just to keep the ways of my energy flow in check. It is really disturbing that no person speaks about the effects of prayers and chi flow.

Answer

You need not discard your religion to adore women. There must be a good reason why God created both men and women, not just men or just women alone. He wants them to be happily married and have a lot of children.

Admire as many beautiful women as you like, but always respect them and honour them the way God wants it.

You need not check your chi flow. Let your chi flow naturally and harmoniously. An excellent way to enhance your chi flow is to practice high-level chi kung.

The ways Muslims pray, like the particular ways they hold their hands and close their ears, enhance chi flow. The chanting of Muslim prayers with sonorous sounds also enhances chi flow.

Question 4

Behind the unspoken situation of prayers hides another problem which is called mobbing. There are groups of persons who agree in public and some of them are students in a neighbouring house.

My opinion is that I have been forced to do travelling, against my will and against my budget. Now that happens so much that this seems like a hidden professional ambition. They push me to travel against my will and against my budget. My opinion is I should get work, I should get family and I should get peace, love and happiness

Answer

You need not worry about the other persons when you pray. It is your communication with God. But you can, and should, pray for them.

You need not travel against your will and budget. It is your choice.

Yes, you should get work, get a family, and have peace, love and happiness. This is what God wants.

chi flow

When you have a chi flow, you will know it from direct experience

Question 5

In any art there is a point of time when one knows he has practiced the art correctly. At what point of time do I know that I have chi flow?

— Roberto, Venezuela

Answer

Don't intellectualize unnecessarily.

You will know from experience. When you have a chi flow, you will know it.

It is the same as asking at what point of time you know that you are eating a steak. You will know it when you eat a steak.

Question 6

Recently I saw your Five-Animal Set on YouTube. I like it very much. Compliments. It would be nice to know what animals appear in what order. I guess the hissing in the beginning is the snake. What is the ho, ha etc?

— Jorke, Germany

Answer

There are different versions of the Five-Animal Set, and they may have the five animals appearing in different order.

In my set, the appearance of the five animals at the beginning are in the following order: dragon, snake, tiger, leopard and crane. After than their appearance is at random, depending on the combat situations.

Yes, the hissing sound at the beginning is that of the snake. Generally the sound of the dragon is shi and sometimes ha, the tiger yaa, the leopard herit, and the crane xi and sometimes ha.

The sound shi and the hissing sound si relate to the kidney, yaa to the lungs, herit to the dan tian and the stomach, and ha to the heart and pericardium.

But you should not take the relationship of sounds to animals and to organs too rigidly. There are often variations and exceptions.

Shaolin Five-Animal Set

A crane pattern from the Shaolin Five-Animal Set

Question 7

I have read about the five acu-points listed in your books. Due to my long time illness, I have decided to ask an acupuncturist to do acupuncture on these 5 points. They proved to be very good.

I have found that these points can speed up cognitive function and improve physical function. My friend who has tried on these same points have found that his body has regained its passion for swimming within one session. My conclusion is thus that one does not need a qigong master to open up these points. An acupuncturist will do.

— Zhi Hao, Singapore

Answer

Yes, these are excellent points to stimulate energy flow. When your energy is flowing well, your cognitive, physical as well as other functions will improve.

Any professionals trained in traditional Chinese medicine, like acupuncturists, chi kung therapists, massage therapists and traumatologists can open these points. Herbalists can open these points too, but indirectly using herbal concoction taken by patients instead of acupuncture needles or the therapist's fingers.

But the finer effects may be different. An acupuncturist opens the points and uses his needles to stimulate your own energy flow along your meridians, clearing energy blockage and enabling you to overcome your illness.

A massage therapist or a traumatologist massages areas around those points to stimulate energy flow along your skin level and your muscle level to overcome external injuries. A chi kung therapist, besides stimulating your energy flow along your meridians, may also transmit some of his own energy to you to add as a catalyze.

A good chi kung teacher does more. He teaches you to generate your own energy flow not just along the meridians related to those points but all over your body, not just to overcome your illness but give you good health, vitality and longevity.

The benefits of chi kung training take over where the benefits of acupuncture, chi kung therapy, massage therapy, traumatolgy and other healing systems end. In other words, chi kung training not only overcome your illness, but gives you many more benefits after that.

But this does not necessarily mean chi kung training is always better than the various therapies. Firstly, it is not easy to find a good chi kung teacher, though teachers of external chi kung forms are plentiful. Secondly, you need to put in a lot of time and effort to train, whereas in the various therapies the therapists do the healing for you.

Question 8

No lamp heating is needed. The body is able to generate its own heat. I have experienced qi sensation on my kidney meridian and a hot sensation moving up my spine during acupuncture. One to two acupuncture sessions are enough.

Answer

The chi kung lamp is an aid; it is not essential. In other words, a chi kung therapist or any other therapists can heal you as well as generate various chi sensations without using the lamp.

It is helpful to differentiate between medicine and health care, though many agencies often confuse the two. In medicine you stop your treatment once you get well. It is not advisable to continue treatment infinitum. In other words, once you regain your health, you stop your acupuncture or other forms of treatment.

In health care you continue your practice infinitum to remain healthy. The aim is not to be sick at all. Besides being healthy, you also attain vitality and longevity -- benefits that medicine does not cover. As mentioned above, health care takes over where medicine ends.

Chi kung happens to span across both fields. If you are sick, chi kung practice can make you well. When you are healthy, chi kung practice can prevent you from ever becoming sick, then gives you vitality and longevity.

Medicine and all healing systems do not do this. Physical exercise, which can give you fitness and vitality, does not do this. Meditation, which makes your mind fresh and expands your spirit, does not do this.

But, again, this does not mean the other disciplines are not useful. They perform different functions. Generally, if you are sick it is more cost-effective to go to medicine. If you wish to expand your spirit, it is more cost-effective to go to meditation. If you want to feel heat immediately on your arm, it is more cost-effective to place it beneath a chi kung lamp.

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