Reality Check

Alexander combined it all well in this one line he posted in the practice section:
‘What really becomes immortal is the love you create…’

As for the Master Hunger (underneath), as for Plato’s cave (philosophy section),
this is the one practice that stands above all, it is the ultimate wisdom and the path that lies in every heart, reachable without any Master…Believe in yourself and love yourself and the path unfolds.

Hey Snow Lion,

Sounds like you have be deeply touched by the Healing Dao practices. I hope you will accept my appologies if my posts seemed like an attack. This was not my intension; I just wanted to simply share my personal experience.

Here’s what the Admin of Tao bums, Sean, recently wrote me:

“Nice post Sean (good name too ). You are sincere and this seems like an incredible opportunity for people drawn to it. I hope you do not feel that I have slammed your path or your teachers in any way. I respect the perspectives you are bringing here and I doubt I speak for myself when I say you’ve given me an opportunity to reevaluate some of my opinions. Thanks.”

And…

“I want to say though, that this thread and the John Chang Video thread are fascinating and giving me a lot of food for thought. My previous comments may have come off too dismissive or harshly. I do think there is a value in cultivating powers. At the very least I think witnessing/co-creating events that show us without a doubt the reality that we are all just part of a larger pattern of energy must have a powerful effect on one’s consciousness — could turn many more people to the Tao and skyrocket the bhakti of those already on the path.”

Here’s a recent letter I posted. I hope this will clear up any confusion

Dear All,

Thank you for your patience. Some you have already heard of my teacher David Verdesi. He is a student of many masters in China and other parts of Asia as well as an anthropologist and author. Despite the occasional attempts to discredit David in the past decade, he is truly one of the few western seekers, in my opinion, to have formed any meaningful relationship with high level masters in China. I will try and cover the basic idea of what’s being offered.

Let me start by just clearing any doubt that what David is teaching is in some way a cult. David and the people that take his trainings are for the most part quite ordinary, working class, normal people. I’m a school teacher in Oregon and very involved in my community; most people I work with have no idea I study qigong. I’m offering this opportunity for two reasons: one, it took me a long time to find the real thing and I can relate to people like me who just want to find a real master and begin pursuing some manner of authentic training; two, David and his masters want to share want they have learned with the world and genuinely want to help people and I’m happy to help them in that endeavor.

It wasn’t easy for me. I didn’t have someone just drop this in my lap on an internet discussion forum. Actually, my Dad got me into Tai Chi when I was around 21 years old. He had cancer and, because there was no treatment at that time for this particular type, he started doing tai chi and changed his diet among other alternative approaches. Anyway, something clicked for me and I went through a lot of money and time researching, in my own small way, what was out there and taking various workshops when I could afford it. I also got really Buddhism which is still something I still practice. I dabbled in Kriya Yoga and some of the other Indian systems and studied various Daoist qigong methods. Then around 1998 I started training to become a Healing Tao instructor as I’ve written about on the Tao Bums forum; after several negative experiences there and the disappointment of realizing I was practicing ineffective and incomplete methods, I decided it was time to move on.

In 2000 I read Kostas’ book and after a brief courtship went to Athens with my girl friend and then 6 month old son and asked to be accepted as a student. It was around this time that I received information about an ongoing lawsuit against the Healing Tao from an Author named Master Choa Kok Sui; I guess he’s some kind of Pranic Healing guru. Anyway there was a copy of his book and a line by line comparison of one of Mantak Chia’s new books written by Dirk Oellibrandt. It was page after page of word for word plagiarism. At this point I wasn’t surprised, but I did some further research and turned up other, similar lawsuits.

For about a month after word, I received letters from Mantak Chia’s people asking instructors not to panic and saying that the Dao belongs to everyone and a bunch of explanations that, quite frankly didn’t excuse the obvious dishonesty taking place. Anyway, the whole thing was disgusting and totally deleted whatever little respect for the Healing Dao I had left at that point. Eventually the whole thing was covered up the Pranic Healing people were paid some kind of settlement or something to that effect. Ironically the book went on to be published with the plagiarism reworded. Of course, people just eat it up and think they’re gifted “cosmic healers” after a few months of training. Anyway I could write a book on all the crap that people buy into out there and It’s not my intention to make the focus of this letter about the Healing Tao, but it just really burns me up that I spent two years teaching people these methods and giving them hope and having to turn around and say sorry, it’s all pretty useless.

Moving on, I studied with one of Kostas’ students for about two years, completing the first part of the level one training and beginning the second part. I thought I had finally found “it,” but two years later that was over and John Chang wasn’t taking students or teaching anymore. It was another disappointment; and not just for me, but a lot of people who had invested many years of their lives and a lot of money too. David was also a student of John Chang, among others, at this time and is still good friends with him. And it was at this time that Andreas, an older student of John Chang, asked David to offer his training to former Mo Pai who, finding themselves without a practice, needed something to fill the void. I guess David didn’t think much of the idea at the time because he already has more students then he truly wants on some levels. In any case, Andreas was persistent because he knew David knew other masters like John Chang.

Every year during the beginning of the New Year, John Chang calls on the ancestors for guidance. Students generally try to be there if they can as it’s generally an auspicious time. If you’ve never read the book, when Sherfu Chang calls his master, his master appears fully manifested in physical form accompanied by thunder and lightning and a tremendous wind. On several occasions these immortal masters recognized David for whatever reason, saying that he knew a great deal more than he should for a “western barbarian.” The Chinese present during these particular visits were surprised to learn David’s connections and knowledge are far more considerable than he lets on. Sherfu Chang was surprised too.

Then about a year and a half ago, David was invited to a private forum started by Andreas. He wrote some amazing articles in his “Italianized” English that basically blew me away. I hope he writes a book about his life so people can read this stuff because he’s led an amazing life; he says he’s waiting till he achieves yin yang gong (level 5) before he writes his story. Anyway, I had a lot of questions, very much like the questions I’m seeing in reaction to my posts. As hard as it is to paint a picture of what he knows via the internet, David managed to impress many of us with his heart and knowledge. Eventually he offered to train those who were interested.

David shared a lot with us and made some important points. He said that John Chang could sense the presence of at least 10 level 64 masters of the Lei Shan Dao in China and many more at or around his level, not to mention all the others below his level. None of these are MoPai, which is just one line of the Lei Shan Dao. Just as a reference, level 64 represents full enlightenment and a great deal of power in the Lei Shan Dao. Supposedly, at level 64, a master can will enlightenment on others and can extend his own life at will.

David told us that there are many methods more effective than Mo Pai in the line of the Lei Shan Dao. Especially, for women who have given birth; in Mo Pai the practice isn’t possible for women who have had a baby. Some of these methods have produced dozens of masters like John Chang in the past decade, where Mo Pai has produced only one, John Chang himself. This is mainly because, of the 12 or so techniques that are used to achieve level 4/5, Mo Pai only use four and John Chang only helps a student with his energy when they have reached level three, a feat almost impossible without the masters help and empowerment. David feels that Sherfu Chang never truly intended to teach but to a few close students and from the information I’ve gathered, I tend to concur.

He also shared some amazing stories about the history and origin of these teachings and how that history has played out over the last several hundred years in China, Tibet and India. David has traveled extensively in Tibet and India in addition to his travels in China looking for masters and researching the various traditions there. John Chang has done the same, even leaving his body to search out remote mountain retreats. By the way, the idea that Michael Winn “tracked” some of David’s teachers in the “astral” is a little silly in my opinion. Sherfu Chang said he found only three masters in the Himalayas, all in remote caves practicing alone. They both found nothing like the living tradition of the Lei Shan Dao in China.

David has many high connections with Tibetan masters and even studied with the tutor of Dilgo Kyetse’s tulku, who was one of the Dali Lama’s root gurus. During this time he personally interviewed a veritable who’s who of masters and lamas in Tibet, India, Nepal, and Bhutan and all said that the last remnants of these practices were lost 150 years ago.

What follows is a snippet of a much longer article written by David on a private forum:
“Always the Magus [John Chang] told, and showed proof of an otherwise lost truth; the real wheels of dharma, the flaming chakras of Vishnu, that once upon a time used to crown a new Buddha, are long lost from India and Tibet; altogether three sacred objects.” David is talking about objects of unimaginable power. “[According to Sherfu Chang,] until [the chakras are] reunited, real vajra power will not be born in Tibet anymore (and Tibet cannot be freed, he said, no-comment on political issues here). Nowadays the crowning of a new high lama is done by presenting a symbolic wheel of dharma, not the real one.”

“Where are they? In Indonesia, in China, not in Tibet or in India; and, the story goes, they were lost along with the vajrayana power… Truth or tale? I do not know, but Sherfu can prove his part at least.”

David actually saw one of these Chakras. It belongs to a Lei Shan Dao Master who is about level 20. I guess this master said he needs to be at full power before he can even hold it. According to this master, the Dali Lama requested to have this Chakra back (I can’t imagine that conversation). I guess the answer was no.

During his search in Tibet, David was led by a very unusual set of circumstances to study with a master of the Miao Tong or Enlightenment line of the Dao in Korea. This master, so we’re told, was the student of a living Buddha. When David was in Korea he met this Buddha and saw many well known masters there who were in residence and had come to study with him. These included the Dali Lama and other high lamas from Tibet, who were all bowing down to and paying respect, etc…

One day this Buddha gives a teaching called the shout of awakening. He takes his staff and pounds it on the stone floor of the mountain monastery with preternatural power. I’m told it sounded like thunder. Anyway, then the Buddha gives this un-human shout that David describes as a very loud alarm clock like sound. He went on to say that the shout was like hearing an alarm, but not being able to “wake up” and turn it off. As I understand it, if you are ready and you’ve gone through the requisite training, you can spontaneously awaken from the dream when the Buddha gives the shout of Awakening.

After the teaching was over, David walked away behind his master (I guess in this tradition the student always follows behind the master three paces). As they were walking, David indicated that he would like to ask a question, so the master stops and turns to David, “Master, it really is like trying to wake up from a deep sleep!” The master replies, “Oh David, you hear sound of awakening and you still sleep; this is very bad.” After which he turns around and keeps walking. Suddenly the Master stops and turns around to David, “It’s okay, Dali Lama still not awake also.”

There are dozens of stories like this; each one more incredible than the next. David also shared many unknown, and lesser known details of the history and development of modern Daoism. I’d like to share a few points that I found particularly useful:

There are, in China, 6 major lines of Taoism; in no particular order, they are:
Lei Shan Dao: the thunder and lightning path.
Yang Shen Dao: developing the immortal fetus.
Tong Ling: Religious Dao; prayer, incantation, use of symbols; devotional in nature.
Miao Tong Dao: Enlightenment Dao founded by Lao Tzu; most illusive path; no method path.
Jin Dan: Alchemical path.
Shamanic Tao: the study of nature.

All of these paths have different methods designed to achieve goals that, while they differ in many ways, all lead to liberation and similar abilities.

While it’s true that only the Lei Shan Dao produces this trade mark “electricity.” The other Lines of the Dao have there own variety of abilities and achievements. David told us of a meeting between 4 or 5 masters, each from a different line. Each was asked to make the same glass bottle rise with their respective powers. The Lei Shan Dao Master used his qi; the Miao Tong wished it with his mind; the Tong Ling called a spirit to lift it, etc… From the point of view of the outside observer, the bottle simply levitated the same way for each master, but, in reality, they each used a different energy. David told us this story to illustrate his assertion that one who claims to be enlightened should also be able to demonstrate it and that Masters who talk of enlightenment, but fail to demonstrate at least some ability beyond just talk should give us, as seekers, pause. “Superpowers” are simply a natural outcome of correct practice and, as such, they represent a much more profound internal transformation. As many of you have rightly stated, these powers are not the goal. They are however very specific indications of the level of internal development of “the body-mind” of a given individual. For example, the demonstration where I witnessed water being transformed into sweet necture by Sherfu J is indicative of the fact that Sherfu J has transformed his own body-mind in a profound way. The evidence of this is the healing power of this liquid, which makes those who drink it incredibly flexable. David told me that he could do the spilts after drinking a bottle of this altered water; I guess he used to be pretty tense and inflexable.

Of all of these paths, the Lei Shan Dao is the most realistic for the western mind and life style. The other five paths require tremendous commitments of time and energy and cannot be accomplished while living a normal life in society. For example the Yang Shen Dao, perhaps one of the more written about practices requires a life style of constant meditation for decades to master. I’m told Wang Li Ping, who is a master of the Yang Shen Dao as well as the other five lines, won’t even consider a student unless they can sit in a meditative state, in full lotus for at least four hours with no discomfort.

As a side note, the reason Wang Li Ping retreated from the public eye is very sad. It’s seems some westerners, convinced he is a fake, urged some of the more public Daoist teachers to denounce him. Ironically, the so called masters who were critical of Sherfu Wang are practitioners of little or no achievement, who, initially supported by the government as a kind of cultural renewal for tourists, really have done the world a disservice. In turn Sherfu Wang, not wanting to create a show and quite content to be out of the public eye, said, “Okay, you win” and retired from public teaching. Of course he continued his work privately and continues extend his influence and powers to help his community in incredible ways.
To be successful in all the paths, one also requires a teacher who has accomplished the requisite training and is qualified to teach in that line. For example, in the Lei Shan Dao, a teacher would need to be well above the so called level four and five as written about by Kostas in his book the Magus of Java. He would need to be able to use his energy to check the student’s progress and correct imbalances; also he would give empowerments to the student via energy transfer. A master of the enlightenment path would have to be fully awakened in order to be able to guide the student; a Tong Ling would be able to confer with high level spirits and command them to his will, etc…

When we first met David he told us about his first meeting with a real master who happens to belong to the line of Jin Dan or Alchemical Daoism. This master and his students are many hundreds of years old, some even older, and live in remote regions in China. They come and go from different worlds only dreamt of by mortals. They were the ones who blessed David with the ability to sense the location and energy of other masters. As a side note, this is how David met John Chang; he had a vision of Sherfu Chang and where he was living at the time. When they met for the first time, John Chang looked at David and said he could see that he had been drawn there by a vision. Anyway, David told us the story of this encounter with the Jin Dan masters and showed us two pieces of mercury that were originally liquid, but had been touched or blessed by the masters qi; one was consistency of clay and had been touched with yang qi and the other fully hardened in the shape of a perfect half sphere was touched with yin. David passed the one with yang qi around for us to feel; because I have developed some qi in my practice with Mo Pai, I felt a tiny electric tic when I touched the yang infused mercury. The point is this, when the master blesses you, your practice, just like the mercury David showed us, instantly progresses in a way that it never could without the blessing of an achieved master. A master can make your Dan tien grow much faster than it normally would.

Today we have come to believe that a blessing from a holy person is just a symbolic act with no power or energy behind it. Sadly, this is the case most of the time. But, when a real master touches you with his qi, Dan, the real elixir of alchemy, is created.

If you have an opportunity to study with David, he teaches the principles behind the cultivation of Dan, or cinnabar as it’s called in ancient Daoist texts, in depth. I have heard from several sources I trust that John Chang himself confirmed that David’s teaching methods and the masters he studies with and knows are authentic and high level. And, of course my own personal story with the masters was validation of the reality of these things for me in a very real way.

David currently lives in Thailand and will be moving soon to live in China near his master. In August a gathering of over 300 masters and practitioners from eight sacred mountains that included Wutang Shan, Tian Shan, Emei Shan, Huang Shan, Song Shan, Kunlun Shan, Qing Cheng Shan and Hua Shan took place as David and his wife were made family or Tu Di disciples of one of the Masters there whom I have described in my posts on Taobums and Shaolin Wahnam (Sherfu J). David’s teacher, master J, is a Yin Yang Gong master of the Lei Shan Dao or Thunder and Lightening path. I personally witnessed this amazing event and the amazing feats of the masters who attended.
Interestingly, one of the members here posted a video of one of David’s masters. This particular master is well known in government circles and a good friend of the master David is currently training with. David does introduce students to this master:

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JYGqVA9xc4

Yesterday I received an exciting letter from David about an opportunity to meet a master and train with David in Asia. I decided to open this opportunity up to a larger audience in the various forums I have posted on because I feel it represents an important step for our community of seekers here in the States. Take your time to consider what’s being offered; this is an opportunity to meet a high level master and train with David for two to three weeks in the first steps of the foundation practice; the methods taught are given as a full transmission with the blessing of the masters who have passed them on to David. In addition, it looks like the master may spend some time personally overseeing the training and helping students with his energy. It looks like the master attending will be either Sherfu J or L as I have described in my earlier posts on this thread, but that will be decided later. It’s my deep hope that this offer is recognized for what it is; I can confidently say that this is the first time an offer like this has been presented in this way and that those who attend will have their lives altered in a profound way.

Whether or not the training becomes a reality will depend largely on the level of interest generated. David would like to hold the training in late May or early June 2007. Those who attend will need to commit at least two to three weeks to train and spend time with the master. The training I attended with David was condensed in the sense that David taught us a more complete version of the practice, usually taught over a two year period. This will probably be the case for this training as well. There is also a beginning training this summer in Denmark. The training in Denmark will be the standard first year training from what I understand and will be given by one of David’s other students as far as I know; David will be training students there too, so he may oversee the beginning training- I not sure about the details of this yet.

The tuition for the training in Asia is 5,000 Euros, not including travel expenses; however, if we have a large group the cost could potentially be considerably reduced. I know many of you are working class like me and this represents a substantial financial investment. Again, consider what’s being offered carefully and take your time to come to a decision. David has spent, literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in his years of research and study to be able to bring these opportunities into the light. What’s being offered is five to ten times less than what many of these masters charge to meet non-introduced students; and even then there is no guarantee you would receive the level of training offered by David. Some students wait years after meeting the master to receive just the first step; this was my experience with Mo Pai.

In the past David has allowed some students with legitimate financial circumstances to pay over time. I can’t speak for this training, but that may be an option for some of you. The cost for this type of training tends to weed out those who are less serious; just like any professional athletic trainer or consultant in any field for that matter, David teaches to those who are truly invested in the practice as a life long pursuit. Those that are, will see that this offer is a generous one and that opportunities like his are rare.

For those that are interested, but cannot afford the training in Asia, Denmark is still an option, but space it limited as David likes to keep the groups there relatively small and intimate. The prices for this have not been set yet, but I will pass on more details as I become aware of them.

I’m sure some of you will have questions, so feel free to ask. If you personally know people who would be interested, you are welcome to pass this information on to them.

Here is some basic information:

Foundation Training takes about 1.5 to 2 years of the 3 years total training. Ji Shen Ji Jubei, meaning to own and master yourself completely, is the process of creating the dan tien and gets you ready for the more advanced work of neikung. David usually requires you to go through this Foundation Training before he will take you to see a Master, but there are exceptions to this; the trip to Asia next spring will likely not be offered again. That’s partly why I wanted to open up the opportunity. It’s good to meet a master and experience some of these things first hand.

Here’s a quick run down of what’s being offered in terms of training for those who would like to explore for themselves.

A few of the requirements:

1. 4 months of celibacy when you begin the foundation training. Celibacy here means no sex of any kind.

2. Training is fairly expensive. It has to be important and something you really want to make an investment in.

3. Meditation for about an hour and 30 minutes twice a day. Plus a qigong form that was developed in the Lei Shan Dao Tradition for about an hour at least 3 times a week.

Since several of you have asked the same questions, I put together a few answers to try and address them all rather than responding to each of you personally:

What is the outcome of the three year training? After the first 1.5 to 2 years, you will have created your dan tien and, if you have practiced well, you will be able to still the mind totally and rest in the light of the ling qi or divine aspect of the qi. This is a critical step; with out it, nei gong cannot commence.

As a side note, one of the side effects of this stage of the practice is total control over your sexual organs and energy. This is the real sexual alchemy of the Dao; unlike the ill designed methods of the Healing Tao, these abilities occur naturally as a bi product of correct training and no woman can make you ejaculate if you don’t want her to. And for women, at some point in the practice, the monthly cycle ceases and they develop similar abilities to control their sex organs. Men who undergo this training can literally drink a glass of water with their penis and, despite what other so called experts have written on the subject, this is the true test of mastery for this relatively minor achievement.

Ironically, in terms of cultivation, it makes no difference whether you ejaculate or not; sex of any kind wastes the fragile jing. In fact, it’s better for you to just ejaculate if you are not training. All this saving your self that Mantak Chia is preaching is basically fruitless. John Chang has normal sex with his wife twice a week and has for the last 40 years and he’s one of the highest level masters on the planet.

At the end of this training, students are tested and must be able to pull an object (telekinesis) toward them using their qi. John Chang was amazed that David could do this without the help that he normally gives with his qi. By the way, completing the foundation practice allows you to progress in nei gong at a considerably quicker pace than those who have no prior training, saving years in the practice and preventing many possible health issues.

David does teach neigong after students have completed the foundation training. David knows the practice up to level three as far as I know and, if all goes well, he will achieve yin yang gong in the next two to three years and begin teaching it to his students. Several of his students have completed level two. When these students went to train with Sherfu L in Bangkok, Sherfu showed them how to levitate about an inch off the ground. David was able to levitate also. I guess Sherfu has you sit on news paper and when you start lifting off, he pulls it out from under you without tearing it.

A few of David’s students were recently accepted by Sherfu L and are now training with him. As David explained it, this has to be your Tian Ming or destiny. When the student is ready the master can see it.

Several of the masters David knows are open to teaching westerners. There are opportunities to study with these masters and the foundation training is common to several different major lines of the Dao, so there’s no real concern of having to commit to just the Lei Shan Dao. You might for example be more drawn to the Yang Shen Dao or practice dual cultivation. I’m told Wang Li Ping is a master in all of the major Dao and David told me he is going to bring his older students to meet Sherfu Wang as early as this year. At the highest levels, the distinction between lines begins to overlap; the highest level masters are often skilled in one or more of the lines from what I’m told.

Of course there are no guarantees in life. Like any endeavor, you have to do the work and be successful in your practice to move forward. But, David is very optimistic about the future and pleased that there is some interest in these things from you all.

David does bring scientific organizations or people just looking for healing or who really dream to witness a demonstration directly to meet some of these masters who are open to such things. Generally the fee for this type of service is quite high however and I sense that most of you are interested in the training and want to pursue that line if anything. If you want to train with David, just email me and let me know. Please write something that would convey your sincerity and perhaps a few words about yourself so I can get a picture of who you are. Just be yourself.

If you do know anyone who would like to meet a master directly without bothering with the training or you yourself have this desire, please contact me and I can arrange this for you. You would need to perhaps tell me a little about yourself and we would need to discuss the matter over the phone at the very least before you would meet with David. This would include demonstrations and treatments and video taping and recording of the demonstrations. Of course all this would be negotiated with David.

I hope this answers some of your questions. If you’re interested you can join a private forum that I’m putting together for David; it will be ready for new members in a few weeks. On it he has written about a dozen short articles with some amazing information in them. You can also interact with his students and ask questions about the training and so forth. There is a yearly fee to join. This is not a requirement in anyway and if you just want to train, but have more questions you can ask me, within reason. If you want, I can also put you in touch with David, but you really have to write me a letter that shows me some heart and gives me a sense of who you are before I do that.

Warm regards and God bless, Sean Denty seandenty@hotmail.com

Hi there,

I have been reading a lot on who’s who on the Dao Planet today. I found this video which if I am not mistaking is of David Shen and who appears to be one of his teachers. Is that so?

http://www.vbox7.com/play:60357b9b

Maybe not that expensive after all…

Regards,
Liuba

http://www.vbox7.com/play:60357b9b