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stories of jhanic force: taiji expert vs. speeding car

 

This story is about my friend and one of my taiji teachers. I'll call him Roy.

He was a senior disciple in a famous Taiji lineage.


The story takes place downtown  in a big city in the USA. Bad traffic, crowded streets, aggressive drivers and aggressive pedestrians.


Roy and his friend were riding their bikes downtown, maybe biking 5mph, not biking that fast.


A car driving probably over the speed limit for that downtown neighborhood, hit my friend Roy.

Roy's bike was seriously damaged, and Roy's whole body collided with the windshield of the car.


Roy's friend came over to check on him, very concerned and frightened.

Roy got up, was fine, not a scratch, not a bruise, no blood,  no pain, mind perfectly clear as if nothing had happened.


They looked over at the car.

The windshield was shattered!

Roy's friend exclaimed, "Whoah! Roy you fucked up that car!"


taiji expert vs. speeding car

taiji expert wins.


Naturally, I questioned my friend Roy about all the details of what he did in his meditation and taiji practice. Here are the key things that stand out.


At the time of the accident, Roy had maybe 4-5 years of taiji practice under his belt.

He did some Tibetan Buddhist meditation, not clear exactly what, but probably something 1st jhana with some intervals of  2nd jhana level of quality, based on my assessment of his taiji skill at the time.

But that not much daily meditation, 30-60min. at most.

He was doing probably at least 2-4 hours per day of taiji quan a day, and by how open his energy channels were, his hands getting red and puffy is a great sign of that.

For that level of taiji skill,  it's high quality relaxation (equivalent to passadhi sambojjhanga awakening factor). 

And another big factor was, for a period of at least a couple of years, he was very celibate, didn't have a girl friend, hadn't met his wife yet, and his views on masturbation was that it's a waste of time and energy and didn't do that. It's either sex with girl friend, or celibate.







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