Bi Gu can cause potential harm or even death or physical degeneration and continuous weight loss. As a general guideline, there should not be any weight loss over a period of a 10-day fast. In certain cases, there is even weight gain. The overall colour, circulation and appearance of the practitioner should also be noticeably improved. And it is at the peak of this increase in energy that we break the fast and start to consume food. This is when the regenerative powers of the body are at their peak. After normal food intake and doing the practices again, there will be significant differences in results, especially with the Tian Mu Xue (天目穴) exercise.
Most practitioners during a Bi Gu also have the desire to eat their regular meals, just like vegetarians who also sometimes crave for non vegetarian foods. But because of the awareness of a higher purpose or the beneficial outcomes resulting from the practice, practitioners persist and persevere in the practice.
One of the key aims of going vegetarian is to improve one’s sensitivity. Meat eaters all have a certain odour and so by default are less sensitive through their noses and the body pores. The reason why you can still be poisoned although you stop breathing is because the body pores still allow the poison access into the body. Vegetarians also have cleaner blood without the clumping seen in the blood work when compared to meat eaters. The different dietary preference also produce differences in the muscles: vegetarians have finer muscle fibres.
It is not advisable to become a vegetarian over-night; a gradual conversion process is recommended. Meat eaters also have more mucous and phlegm. When doing the X-ray vision practice or the Union of the Sun and Moon practices, it is a requirement to stop smoking, stop drinking alcohol and tea and to abstain from eating meat.
There are different types of vegetarianism and many theories: (1) plants: flowers are the best, roots, stems, leaves; (2) grains; (3) beans; (4) fruits; (5) micro-organisms – mostly Yin in nature.
Comments
6 responses to “Taoist Retreat (闭关) and Bi Gu (辟谷)”
dear person,
i will be in china from april 21st onwards and would like to study with Taoist Master Wang Liping. Would you kindly send me information on how I may be able to do this. I see he is having a retreat end of December 2013, but would like to know if I could study with him this spring. Please get back to me as soon as you are able to with a schedule of his upcoming events and the possibilty of me meeting with him in China this spring as well. Thank you very much, arya azadi
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Dear Folks,
Would it be possible to have a healing session with Master Wing?
How would I go about it?
Hi, master Wang is not performing healing activities. I mean not like a doctor but some healing happens during the practice at the seminar time, still one needs to be in quite good shape to be able to participate. Therefore the basic answer to your question is no, it is not possible.
Thanks Richard,
Currently i am reading Thomas Cleary’s book. I took up chikung subsequent to an accident several years ago and it has been very beneficial.
I have progressed to Taichi also. However my overall level of fitness isnt that great.
Cleary’s book impresses me a lot. Do you think Master Wing’s regime is do-able for a man in his 50s?
Best Regards
SD
Actually I will be 49 this year so… Master himself is closing to 70 and he still practices. There is always room for better provided that you are willing enough. Of course what you read in the book is not applicable at our age (no rope over legs) master is tuning the practice to fit us all the time.