Guest guest Posted April 23, 2000 Report Share Posted April 23, 2000 _____ LETTER FROM CHINA April '00 (2) A newsletter on and modern China by Dagmar Riley ______ In this issue: THE 5 ELEMENTS ....(A) Short Revision ....(B) the Fire type: energy characteristics and personality QI-GONG IN YUNNAN by Julia Turnau ....First part: The Buddhist master DISCLAIMER SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE information ______ Please feel free to FORWARD this newsletter to friends. ______ A)SHORT REVISION: The 5 Elements are a symbol for the 5 basic energies of the Universe. The 5 Elements are: Wood - Fire - Earth - Metal - Water. The Element FIRE is associated with: Summer - Growth - Joy/Lust - Heat - Heart - Small Intestine - Tongue - bitter. For BACK ISSUES of this series, please visit http://www.topica.com/lists/Letter-from-China or send an e-mail to gesund2000 B) THE 5 ELEMENTS - FIRE Let us first examine aspects of nature associated with Fire, which will make it easy to understand the energy characteristics of Fire, its influence on the " fire type " person and the resulting personality traits. Fire is associated with summer. Summer heat - what an intense and sensual atmosphere! Everything is intense: Sunlight, heat, the colours of the flowers, the buzzing of colourful insects. Everything in nature is full of life and ripe, ready to be plucked (or loved). Now wonder we associate a " fiery " person with a passionate person! Fire energy causes things to fuse, to melt together, to ripen and be transformed, also in a spiritual sense. Fire functions as a strong spiritual symbol in all cultures: Most cultures use fire in their religious rites, mythology or witchcraft. Fire signals the presence of higher powers, it cleanses and it destroys (e.g. hellfire). Fire makes each of us open for the spiritual and magic: Just think how it affects your mood when you light candles, or how you feel sitting by a bonfire in the night. It is a force of nature that we humans can create for our own use: Fire can be a blessing when we control it, e.g. when used as a tool for transformation (cooking food, working metal etc). But what a powerful force of destruction it is when we lose control of it! Fire itself is without substance - we can't grasp it. However, it needs to consume substance for its existence; out of control, it consumes more and more substance as it grows, and ultimately kills itself by depriving itself of its source of existence. The body of a " Fire-type " is strongly affected by heat, the climatic factor associated with Fire: The " Fire-type " loves the warmth of summer, but excessive summer heat can cause the fire within his body to flare up and consume too much substance or Yin. The same goes for hot foods and stimulants like alcohol and cigarettes. Joy, the emotion associated with Fire, warms people's hearts, invigorates the body and makes eyes shine. Too much joy, though, acts on the human body like fire out of control: Once joy is uncontrolled or tends towards lust and selfish pleasure, the substance or Yin aspect of the body is affected. A " joyful heart " then turns into a hectic, nervous, manic or obsessive " heart " . Lasting, well-founded happiness is something very different from the obsession with constant joy! The organ associated with Fire is the Heart. Fire-types are " warm-hearted " and very popular people, the centre of every party. They also have what we call a " big heart " : They love to give, throw parties, do everything so that their numerous friends have a good time. Above all, they love to give themselves fully to the person they are with in this very moment: When a fire-type is with you, they make you feel like you are the centre of the universe, even if you are having a simple conversation. The legendary Don Juan was definitely a fire-type: Women loved him because he loved them. He was not out to exploit, but to give himself completely, in that very moment, to every woman he was with. Every woman to him was special, unique, magical. Of course not all fire-types are Don Juans on a sexual level! But they all like to melt with the people they are with that very moment, make them feel special, warm and alive - light a fire within them. [Now keep the feel of summer-heat while reading on.] Fire personalities: *are warm-hearted, generous, popular people. They love to be with other people, truly enjoy their company and know by experience that we are all not so different after all. To laugh together, enjoy together, love together - the Fire person seeks the experience that we are all one soul. *open themselves up to other people, truly give themselves and " melt with other people " . Fire-types tend to be open to the spiritual: They have the desire to melt with the whole world, the whole universe - and whatever beyond. *love being in the centre of attention. Nothing is hidden in the glare of the summer sun, and Fire-personalities are equally extrovert and hardly hide anything from their fellow human beings. *easily attract and inspire others with their charisma, laughter and happiness. They let others forget grey reality and make them feel alive. They act like a spark that reminds us that there was something else about life than our everyday routine. *love to get to know new people, make new friends and are flirtatious. As Fire-types open themselves so readily to others, they inspire others to do the same. People are charmed by the experience of opening up so readily to another fellow human being, something they might not have done for a long time. Fire-types love creating these " magical moments " for others. *live in this very moment. The past and future don't exist for the fire type, he wants (to give) everything and he wants (to give) it now! *are enthusiastic and able to inspire enthusiasm in others so that any opposition just seems to " melt away " . They seem to attract luck and people naturally. What they aspire to seems to come to them naturally. *are in love with being in love. They want to " feel the pulse of life " : Drama and action, intensive feelings and emotions - they feel like " hugging the whole world " . Sometimes that can cause their fellow human beings to feel overwhelmed. Having a Fire-boy/girlfriend or spouse needs a lot of self-confidence and understanding: The Fire-partner will love his boy/girlfriend or spouse intensely, but will still make every man/woman at the party feel like a prince/princess. *are passionate in all aspects: sexual, emotional, intellectual or spiritual. *love to talk about themselves and their dreams for hours, but manage to do so in an interesting way. Others sometimes feel like the audience of a stage-play but enjoy it immensely. If the Fire gets out of control, however, too much substance (Yin) will be consumed and the Fire-type will be imbalanced. This can happen if the Fire-type becomes addicted to constant emotional or sexual stimulus without any rest, or if the internal organs associated with Fire (the Heart and Small Intestine) become unbalanced. This imbalance can cause the Fire-character to change (the physical consequences will be discussed in another issue): The Fire-type's boundless energy can change to nervousness and restlessness. His laughter will seem forced, too loud and out of context. Desire to melt with others becomes fear of being rejected and an obsession to please others. Where before he opened himself up readily, he now becomes chatty and superficial. The Fire-type becomes irrational, fearful, moody, depressive. His speech is hectic and unclear. He cannot separate thought from emotions; unable to think logically and clearly he becomes confused in his decisions. He lacks judgement when choosing partners and becomes emotionally unstable. In his unbound hunger for life, the Fire-type needs to realize that fire has to be fed by substance, the Yin aspect, and that he needs to nourish his Yin aspect with quiet, meditative hours. After experiencing peace on his own and recharging his batteries, he is ready to go out again and inspire us, enlighten us, and make our hearts feel warm and alive! *********************Ad 1******************************* Relieve physical & mental stress by improving your financial future! Get the most recent back issue of Probe Consultants' Free Household Money Saving Tips Newsletter. Send an email to autoresponder tips?Subject=LtrChina To free online or for more information, visit: http://www.go-probe.com/householdtips.shtml?LtrChina *********************Ad 2******************************* FREE Healing Herbs Newsletter~Weekly articles on Natural Health and Healing, with verse by the Master Healer! Join us for a chance at FREE weekly ads! healingherbsnl- *********************End Ad***************************** ______ QI-GONG IN YUNNAN by Julia Turnau First part: The Buddhist master Yunnan is a very special part of China, or at least it was when I was there many years ago. I am not going to describe this fascinating province here, the only way to know Yunnan would be to visit, which I recommend to anyone wanting to see a China far away from impressing official monuments and gray cities. Lao-wen, my Qi-gong master, said we should spend some time in Yunnan to be introduced to his own masters and study with them. I was only too happy to escape Beijing, and everyday life; I had already been to Yunnan on my first year in China and my stay there had extended so much I was two months late in going back to Beijing for university courses. Although I had to write a self-criticism then, my memories of Yunnan were still warm, exciting. Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, had, besides lovely lakes, wonderful food and others, an unusually pleasant hotel, so we (me and Dagmar) took beds in the dormitory: a large, clean room with many big, comfortable beds, wide windows, tables to make food on. The only problem was the showers- toilets: there was one for each dormitory floor, always busy, so we spent lots of time running from floor to floor with our soap and towels, trying to get hold of a vacant toilet. First day: we had to be at seven a.m. by a road corner, ready on our bicycles. Lao-Wen appeared, shouted " ciao " and pedaled on through winding streets. We followed as we could, and arrived suddenly in a very small street. This was Lao-Wen's Buddhist masters house. We entered respectfully and met the most incredibly special old man I had ever seen. He was wearing orange colour; his skin was translucid and his voice had a low, firm, strange quality to it. He had the peculiar quality of real masters: he managed to look like an old man happy to have visitors. Friendly. Almost humble. That made him even more impressing. We sat, were offered tea, smiled benevolently at, and the master started speaking. I had a notebook in which I planned to write down as much as possible. The master had had an epic life: he walked all the way from Yunnan to India, through Tibet, many years before, in order to see the source of Buddhism. And now there he was, in a small, clean apartment in Kumming. I looked at his feet thinking about all the mountains, altitude, and whatever else they had been through on his journey. While Lao-Wen told us about this, his master smiled, spoke a little in his faraway voice. There was a moment's silence, tea-drinking, smiling. The master looked serious. He was going to say something important, I felt awed and stood ready with poised pen. The master said one word. I had no idea what. I looked at the other students: they were as baffled as me. We all looked stupidly at the master. He repeated the word. It sounded like a jungle sound, something like: " eurghhrt " . I felt like my three years of study in China had melted into a sort of sound-jam: what on earth had he said? My fellow- sufferers looked at me hopefully: I was the linguistic student; they supposed I might have understood. Wrongly. Owing to the master's great age, that was it; to avoid tiring him too much, we just took some pictures together, and left. Afterwards, Lao-Wen took us to eat fantastic Yunnan vegetarian food in a stall. It took him the whole way back on bicycle and a lengthy session in the afternoon to explain the word: owing to his master's Yunnan accent, and to the complicated meaning of this one word, on my own I would have had no chance to understand. As it sometimes happens when one studies Buddhist philosophy in Chinese, one " word " can be the key to complicated ways through concepts such as the origin of the universe, with deep connections to moral rules as well. The word will remain " a secret " , because I would not lightly attempt to explain it in English, here. This " word " has already made me feel enough of a fool once. The master is now into a new life, or maybe has attained Nirvana. With this word of his. After some time in Yunnan, we started to understand better the local accent, and even ended up speaking Chinese like Yunnan people sometimes. I still prefer Yunnan Chinese; it feels like something that was flat and gray turned into flowers and fruit. (This story might continue with the other masters) Julia Turnau ______ DISCLAIMER The material in this newsletter is intended for informational purposes only. I do not prescribe and I do not diagnose. If you use the information in this newsletter without the approval of a health professional, you prescribe for yourself, which remains your constitutional right, but the author assumes no responsibility. _______ SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE The Letter from China is published every two weeks on Fridays. New rs will be forwarded the current issue. by sending a BLANK email to: Letter-from-China- by sending a BLANK email to: Letter-from-China- submit your own personal stories gesund2000 and write " article submission " in the subject line. comments, suggestions or criticism gesund2000 and write " comment " in the subject line. for back issues gesund2000 and write " back issues " in the subject line or visit http://www.topica.com/lists/Letter-from-China _______ Copyright ) 2000 by Dagmar Riley. All rights reserved worldwide. _______ Enlighten your in-box. http://www.topica.com/t/15 --------- End Forwarded Message --------- --== Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ ==-- Before you buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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