Qigong Practice, Masters & the Process of Repetition
The process of repetition happens not only in the context of an individual’s practice (of asana or qigong or sitting meditation), but also across generations of practitioners. What creates continuity through time, within a particular tradition, is the transmission of technique, energy & mind from teacher to student, teacher to student âÂ?¦ Because traditions, like individual practitioners, are living beings, this unfolding across time will include not only repetition, but also an evolution of form: a (hopefully intelligent) transformation reflective of changes in context.
And it is here ~ in relation to the evolution through time of practice forms ~ that Taoism differs, at least in degree, from the Buddhist & Vedic traditions. If we look, for instance, at the practice of qigong, we find, today, two main traditions of practice: Shaolin (think: David Carradine’s Kung Fu) and Wudang (think: Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). But in addition to these large traditions, there exist many smaller ones. And within the Shaolin & Wudang lineages themselves there exist many sub-lineages. The result is that there are, quite literally, thousands of forms of qigong. How did this happen? And how does this relate, or not relate, to this issue of repetition (authenticity, etc.)?
Part of the answer is that there is an understanding, within these Taoist traditions, that once a practitioner has broken through to a level of Mastery (of whatever form they have ~ with much repetition over many years ~ been practicing), they will, quite naturally, begin to manifest the energy of that particular tradition in a unique way. The traditional forms that they had been using are understood to be something like scaffolding, used to construct a building. But once the building (a Master, a Buddha, an Immortal, awakened Mind) has been constructed, the scaffolding is no longer needed. The building will of course bear a certain resemblance to the scaffolding (as a metaphor to its referent), but also ~ and quite properly ~ will have a life of its “own.”
This is a uniqueness not of the ego (i.e. not the kind of “doing-my-own-thing” that is so often used as an excuse to avoid surrendering/dissolving ~ via the repetition of a form ~ our “unique” samskaric patterns), but rather of Awakened Mind manifesting as a particular “form” (i.e. the human form of the Master), in relation to a specific historical context. As the new Master then begins to accept students, what s/he will teach will be her/his unique expression of the form âÂ?¦ and hence the “birth” of a new lineage.
This new “form/body,” in its essence, is not a product of egoic action (but rather of the dissolution of ego that marks the “breaking through” to the level of Mastery). Though this is how it will initially be related to by the Master’s new students: as something for them also to “achieve.” The moment of this new form’s “perfection” (in the context of the students’ practice) will be, however, the moment when it also is revealed as being mere scaffolding: a skillful means, and something to be released when the new generation of practitioners break through to their own Mastery. And on and on âÂ?¦
So different lineages (like different practitioners within the “same” lineage) will bear distinct resemblances to one another, but there will over time be this evolution of the forms: new expressions of the wisdom, compassion & power of Awakened Mind, appropriate to the particular context in which it is manifesting. The paradox, in terms of practice, is that one is “given permission” (or even encouraged) to express this kind of uniqueness, only after one has surrendered egoic “uniqueness” completely âÂ?¦ i.e. only after years or decades or lifetimes of relating to the (boring, comforting, interesting or annoying) repetition of a given form.
