INTRODUCTION

There are two principal forces that make up our universe; the Chinese call them Yin & Yang. They are universal forces
found in all of nature, from one end of the universe to the other. They are not poetry, they are actual, physical forces,
there for all of us to experience and observe. ll things that are alive have Yin & Yang chi. These two energies oppose
each other continuously, locked in eternal combat. The Yin is the primal chaos that existed before our own space!time
was created. "t is beyond form and function, incomprehensible to us and yet an essential part of our being. #ravity, for
example, is part of the Yin field, as are black holes, as are our very souls. Yin is vibration, the interstellar cold of outer
space; it is winter and night, sleep and water. nd yet sleep and water are a necessary part of life; without them, we die.
The Yang energy is solar fire, the driving force that opposes gravity and creates space!time. $ithout this contrasting
dynamism, the force of gravity would have long ago collapsed all matter in the universe into one huge, solitary black
hole, in essence ending creation. "t is the Yang force of solar nuclear fusion that propels space and time and first
enabled us to live in the form we have now. The Yang fuels our lives; it is the positive that gives direction, the light that
drives away the darkness, the sum and substance that gives us %oy. nd yet the Yang by itself would kill us %ust as a
man unprotected in the desert will soon die of exposure. "t is only when it is balanced with the opposing Yin that life
thrives and has meaning. This un&uestionable axiom, Yang must be balanced by Yin, is an indication that the universe
has been created with intent and that this intent was none other than the creation of life.
ccording to the 'o!(ai tradition, there are seventy!two )evels of (ower that make up the steps to ultimate
enlightenment, the greatest point of human existence. "n the entire history of China, there have only been two people
who have made it all the way up to )evel *eventy!Two. +ne was Tamo, ,odhidharma, the "ndian -perhaps (ersian./
prince who taught Ch0an -1en/ ,uddhism and kung fu to the monks at the *haolin temple -234 ,C/ and the other was
Chang *an 5eng of the $utang!(ai -67!pr!89:;/ who lived as long as ,odhidharma around 966 years and was
credited by many as the creator of t0ai chi chuan, teacher of the lineage of the 'o!(ai. "n each generation of the 'o!(ai,
only one student has managed to go beyond )evel Three and complete )evel 5our and some more. +nly one student in
each generation throughout a 9,:66 year history should give you every reason to suspect that you have a snowball0s
chance of making it.
ll these levels have everything to do with Yin & Yang. +n their own, our spirits are Yin, a series of vibrations,
standing waves inscribed in the medium of the Yin field. )ike a computer program on a C<, your very essence is
nothing more than a =subroutine> in the energies of the primal chaos. s soon as we enter space and time and become
Yang, this vibration in the Yin field takes form. "n fact, it replicates itself fractally, taking shape first in our <? and
then, through our <?, in our human bodies. "t is similar to inserting a C< into a personal computer and calling up a
program, only to watch it materiali@e on the screen.
s spiritual beings we become more powerful, more self!aware, when we manage to combine the two energies, Yin and
Yang, inside the @ero nodes of this standing wave, finally reaching ultimate enlightenment when they reach the very top
of our head. "t is like filling up a glass. You start at the bottom and work your way up. The method followed by the 'o!
(ai is millennia!old and very effective. You begin by filling up the body0s =energy warehouse> with solar energy. This
warehouse, the dantien -elixir field/, is located four fingers below the navel.
LEVEL ONE
$hen you train for level one you gather both Yin & Yang chi, because the two always go together, struggling, one
always trying to complement the other. ,ut inside your dantien, you put only Yang chi. The Yin chi goes elsewhere in
the body. "t is useless to you until you finish )evel 5our. "f you imagine this dantienAenergy centre as a sphere, you
could assume that it would be empty at )evel 1ero, and full of Yang energy at the end of )evel +ne.
ccomplishing this is no easy task, because the only way to do so is exclusively through meditation. You must be in
actual meditation, a condition similar to the borderline between sleep and waking, for eighty!one hours in order to fill
the dantien. $hen the typical practitioner attempts meditation, he actually achieves it for only three minutes during
every hour of sitting. Therefore, completing )evel +ne can re&uire 8,396 hours of sitting in the meditative posture. t
an hour a day, it would take the average man four & a half years to conclude this stage of the training.
- 11 -
LEVEL TWO
5ollowing completion of )evel +ne, twice as much Yang energy has to be packed into the same area. "n other words the
student begins compressing the Yang chi in his dantien, in essence making it =hard>. This is accomplished through
breath retention and specific movements. graphic representation would look like thisB
"t is difficult. +ur bodies have only so much energy and we use that energy to compress the Yang chi in our dantien.
You have to be strong to do this type of training. (ush too hard and you drain away your very life force while trying to
progress. Train too little and you get nowhere. "t is a matter of balance and re&uires patience, consistency and
perseverance. You must also be sexually abstinent to complete this training. *exual abstinence keeps the gates of the
dantien open so that the chi can be compressed.
LEVEL THREE
nd the third level is even harder. $e have said that the Yin and Yang energies are opposing forces. The student who
finishes )evel Two has enough Yang energy in his dantien to begin =snapping> the restraints holding the dantien in
place, using the power of the stored and compressed Yang. "t is, in essence, like tugging hard to snap a piece of twine.
*o in )evel Three we make the dantien mobile. $e make it move, in other words. t first we move this solid lump of
hardened Yang chi we can tap into and use at will in these four directions, like an C; after that we can make the dantien
move anywhere. The dantien is held in place by five cords that have a correlation in both the physical -Yang/ and the
spiritual -Yin/ realms. $e can imagine them as strings, four on one plane diagonally opposing each other and one
centre string perpendicular to those. To break the confines of the Yin field you must break these strings one by one and
in doing so, allow the dantien -by then a hardened ball of compressed Yang/ to move around inside the body. $hen a
student cuts the first four strings, he completes )evel Three; graphically, it might look something like thisB
This is the peak that most people can hope for. 5inishing )evel Three endows the practitioner with superior abilities.
)evel Three students cannot be cut with a knife when aware of the blow. *tartling those at this level is dangerous, for
their chi is governed by their emotions and flies to protect them. There have been instances where students at )evel
Three killed the muggers who tried to assault them, despite their best intentions to restrain their power. Their hardened
chi, governed by the emotions of men protecting their own lives, had blown out the aggressors0 hearts; cursory
investigations at hospitals simply showed that each of these men had died of a heart attack. Those at )evel Three have
other powers beyond this physical strength and a degree of physical invulnerability. $hen the strings of karma are cut,
each student develops a particular ability according to his own psychophysical makeup. +ne man might be able to see
six months into the future; another can heal various illnesses with his touch. There are no rules that govern this gift; it is
up to Dodo, the will of heaven. fter )evel Three the power doubles, each level has twice the power of the previous. *o
- 12 -
someone at )evel 5our is two times stronger than a normal human being and someone at )evel 5ive is four times
stronger, )evel *ix eight times stronger.
LEVEL FOUR
,eyond this point, only those with a yellow aura can progress to )evel 5our. These fortunates sever the last thread, the
fith, mooring the dantien and send their yang down to meet the Yin that flows into the body through the hui
yinAperineum. There it gathers as much Yin as we have sent down Yang. fter a time, maybe even months or years, Yin
& Yang rise together like lovers -the white circle is the Yang, the black is the Yin/B
s these two will float around inside the body the pain will be incredible, constant, and unbelievable. +nly if you have
the discipline to ignore it can you control them and sei@e them by sheer force of will and s&uee@e them into the
vestibule of the dantien, where they will coexist as t0ai chi, the *upreme Eltimate. There in the dantien, they look like
the tFai chi symbol. "f you are successful by forcing the two together, you also force them to react. Gemember, they are
not like electrical poles; they do not attract each other, but repel.
The fortunate yogi who accomplishes t0ai chi at the end of )evel 5our has harnessed the lightning and as such has
power over space!time. He has sixty!eight more levels to progress through before achieving complete enlightenment,
that pinnacle of human existence. t that point, the crown chakra at the very top of the head opens and the yogi
completes )evel *eventy!Two.
- 13 -