◎ The Tao that can be told is not the Eternal Tao.

My childhood was one of suffering, full of illness and pain. It’s difficult to describe the feelings of helplessness and anger that I felt when I saw other kids my age run, laugh and play. However, it was this deep suffering that led me into the world of self-cultivation and allowed me to leave
my helplessness and weakness behind and embark on the destiny-changing journey of self-cultivation.

This transformational process was unforgettable, yet, at the same time, natural. It was like lotus seeds sprouting from mud and growing into beautiful lotus flowers, or a dark night suddenly lit by the appearance of stars. The feeling is hard to express in words. It’s a calm and peace born from darkness and suffering.

Energy Bagua is one of the special self-cultivation methods I learned during my long years of self-cultivation practice. When I practice Energy Bagua, I feel pain and aching in my bones and muscles, the sorrow that comes with the parting at death and the joy of growth. Circle after circle, I walk until I lose myself, as if entering the time and space of the Universe. 

Transcended and observed from another span of time and space, life is seen from a different perspective. All the different flavors of life, the joys and sorrows, pass in an instant. Everything is made of emptiness and illusion. Seeing this, my heart returns to peace. It’s like flying above the clouds and looking down at the world. I lose all ties with fame and fortune, love and hate, and the rights and wrongs of life. There is no exhilarating joy, excitement or sadness. I simply live with full awareness, master of my own life, and experience all the colors of life.

Like the old fisherman angling alone on the riverbank, I transcend the mundane world, respect Heaven and love my fellow human beings, becoming one with Heaven and Earth. I enjoy the hot summer with its sunshine and rain; I relish and accept the cold winter with its chill and loneliness. My mind has changed from its initial state of constantly calculating loss and gain and worrying to rising above a big river, following desires of the heart and roaming freely.

This kind of life seems surreal for many ordinary people.

Others may laugh at me for being silly, but I laugh at them for not understanding. An enlightened self-cultivator who is in tune with Heaven, Earth and Tao sees clearly the natural Universal laws that exist and are unknown by ordinary people. Heaven sends us signs, heralding good fortune and bad. Everything in this world is made up of earth, water, fire and wind, expressions of the different combinations of the elements. It’s like the five features on our face; different combinations make up different people, and different parts of the five features express joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness, and convey the joyful and sorrowful events in a person’s life. When we have a detached understanding of life, we can see clearly the Heavenly signs that exist in everything.

When we first start to explore the Heavenly Tao, the mountain is no longer a mountain; we no longer view it as it is. At this stage, some self-cultivators will quit their normal life “in order to pursue self-cultivation.” Farmers abandon their crops and those who shouldn’t leave their everyday life, do so. On the contrary, advanced self-cultivators, knowing clearly the natural laws, see the mountains as mountains; these people view them for what they truly are and take extra care to farm the land well and do their best to manage responsibilities. This is a special state of self-cultivation: returning to simplicity and truth. The self-cultivator experiences truth in simple things and marvels at life’s perfection.

Energy Bagua is a method of self-cultivation that can bring you to the state of simplicity and discovery of truth. Once you master the Tao within the practice, then on a smaller, worldly scale you will cultivate a strong body, become a kung fu master, enjoy exceptional interpersonal relationships, treasure a harmonious family, and realize a good career with great achievements. On a larger scale, you will learn and understand the origin of the Universe, become one with Heaven and Earth, avoid misfortunes, transform your fate entirely, and open to a newly broadened life.

This book is not an instruction manual on the movements of Energy Bagua; it is a record and summary of my experiences and reflections from years of Energy Bagua practice.