“the right hand grabs the white tiger, left hand grabs the green dragon,”
![Image](https://www.thedaobums.com/applications/core/interface/imageproxy/imageproxy.php?img=https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/6f/c5/6d/6fc56dfdea5671493b943123a1741273--tai-ji-chi-kung.jpg&key=2798f7fd35b84da6e3d9664719594f66af5c729f020e96f724f01e8cfac27368)
http://springforestqigong.com qigong master Chunyi Lin
Taichi: A Personal Learning Experience, Part 1
By Arthur T. Orawski
I didn't realize he is actually a student of Waysun Liao out of Chicago....
And he mentions how anyone part of the Green Dragon Society - going back thousands of years - would be taught this secret of Tai Chi - the white tiger is the lung (yin qi of the po soul, the origin of the generative force of the body) and the green dragon is the yin qi of the hun soul, the origin of the generative force of heart spirit)....
O.K. so why are there no other sources for it on the interwebs? The only other source is from Feng Shui stating the right side is female, west and the white tiger, the left side is male, east and the green dragon. He cites this book Wu Dzing Pian as the source.
O.K. I found a second source!!
3. The White Dragon Plays in the Clouds
This movement will be familiar to all persons who practice T'ai Chi Ch'uan (Taijiquan). In Taijiquan, various names for this movement include: Moving Hands Like Clouds, Waving Hands Like Clouds, Playing with Clouds, Wave Hands in Clouds, Cloud Hands 云手 : Yun Shou. The Taijiquan the feet and hands move gracefully in a coordinated manner, while in Dragon Qigong the hands and waist move but both feet do not move.
Stand with your feet separated apart at a comfortable distance. Bring your right hand up to about the level of your mouth, palm facing towards the body. Bring you left hand up to about the level of your belly button, with your left palm facing towards the body. Your feet will remain flat on the ground during the entire exercise. Pause in this Wuji position. Inhale and exhale deeply a few times in the Wuji position: relax the abdomen as you inhale, draw the abdomen in as you exhale (natural abdominal breathing method). Figure 3.1
Slowly and gently turn at the waist towards the right side. Inhale as you turn to the right side. Turn as far as you can to the right side. When you reach your limit then exchange your hands by bringing the left hand up to the level of your mouth and by bringing your right hand down to the level of your belly button. Figures 3.2 and 3.3
Start to slowly and gently turn at the waist towards the left side. Exhale as you turn to the left side. Turn as far as you can to the left side. When you reach your limit then exchange your hands by bringing the right hand up to the level of your mouth and by bringing your left hand down to the level of your belly button. Figure 3.4 and 3.5
Then begin again to turn back to the right side as you inhale. Figure 3.5, and 3.2
At first the movement sequence will seem a bit stiff and mechanical. After numerous practice sessions, this "Cloud Hands" movement will become more fluid, flexible, playful, and flowing. You will begin to become the White Dragon Playing in the Clouds.
Repeat this movement sequence to the right side and left side for four to eight repetitions depending upon the time available and/or your level of physical conditioning. Don't hold the breath; breathe freely and easily in coordination with the movements. Take your time; move slowly and deliberately. I like to bend my knees and sink down a bit during parts of this movement - don't keep the knees stiff. Flow like a Dragon in the moving clouds. Be sure to turn at the waist.
Interesting - no mention of the Tiger!! But yet it is the SAME secret. But on deeper digging Michael P. Garofalo has lots on Dragon and Tiger:
"In ancient Chinese culture, the dragon usually represents the yang or male forces of nature and the tiger the yin or female forces. Balancing those energies inside yourself is an essential part of this ancient self-healing system. In China, the words "dragon" and "tiger" appear in many branches of qigong and in various martial arts.
Taoists brought Dragon and Tiger Qigong to China's Shaolin temple, where it was preserved intact by Chan Buddhists. This was the original form of qigong from which the usage of the words "dragon" and "tiger" entered into the world of martial arts and qigong. Dragon and Tiger Qigong was commonly taught only to the Shaolin high clergy and not to the general public or ordinary monks. For this reason, many people in China still refer to it as a form of Buddhist qigong. However, because Dragon and Tiger develops and integrates the internal energetic principles of neigong, it is deeply rooted in Taoist qigong."
- Bruce Frantzis, Dragon and Tiger Qigong, p.4
And this is really the key quote:
"The dragon and tiger are respectively the yang and yin components of generative energy. Other names for the dragon are: the yang dragon that hides with the fluid, the yin within the yang (symbolized by the broken line flanked by two solid lines in the trigram Li), the vapor within the fluid, the vapor of pure yang, and the true fire. Other names for the tiger are: the yin tiger that hides within the vapor, the yang within the yin (symbolized by the solid line flanked by two broken lines in the trigram Kan), the fluid within the vapor, the fluid of pure yin (or the vapor of pure yin), and the true water. The dragon and tiger are therefore the components or ingredients of mundane generative energy. Do not confuse them with their carriers, fluid and vapor. Central to the preservation and cultivation of generative energy is the process known as the copulation of the dragon and tiger.
The yin and yang components of generative energy meet and merge to become purified generative energy, which is also called the primordial vapor. The process begins with the vapors of pure yang (dragon) and pure yin (tiger) rising from the base of the spine and traveling separately up the spine and through the shoulder blades. When the vapors reach the head, they interact (copulate) and merge to become one unified vapor. This unified vapor descents to the palate of the mouth and is manifested as nectar, a sweet, sticky fluid. Swallowed down the throat, the nectar enters the middle tan-t'ian (in the area of the solar plexus) and eventually completes its circuit when it reaches the base of the spine again."
- Nourishing the Essence of Life: The Outer, Inner and Secret Teachings of Taoism. Translated with and Introduction by Eva Wong. Boston, Shambhala, 2004. Pages 9-10, 8-23,94.
Translation of three texts from the Daoist Canon, circa 1400 CE, called The Mysteries of the Tao (Tao-hsuan p'ien), Understanding the Mysteries (Wu-shuan p'ien), and the Sacred Treatise on the Great Mystery (T'ai-hsuan pao-tien) of the Complete Reality School of Daoism.
John Chang, famed Daoist alchemist healer using right hang grabbing white tiger lungs and left hand grabbing green dragon liver secret
We can see the confusion: Tiger and Dragon are contained within each other - and hide as vapor in fluid and vice versa but BOTH tiger and dragon are yin qi energy..... manifested through the resonance of complementary opposites.....
Bruce Frantzis style of Tiger and Dragon qigong youtube
So it gives the movements but nothing about white tiger as lungs and green dragon as liver....
And so when we return back to the actual alchemy text it gives a slightly different meaning of the tiger
, p. 41 ( “The sun stands for the heart and the moon for the lower tan t'ien cavity (under the navel), respectively symbolized by the dragon (female or negative vitality) [yin qi] and the tiger (the male or positive vitality) [Yuan Qi].”
Taoist Yoga
Which is to say now the tiger is what above was called the purified generative energy, which is also called the primordial vapor and it is created AFTER the energy is cycled through the pineal gland and then swallowed back into the lower tan t'ien.....
“However if he can unite the element of metal (male) with that of wood (female) and the sun and the moon in one place….he will see the light of true vitality in front of his original cavity of spirit which will then hold it to prevent it from running away; the longer it is held the brighter it will be. When it becomes stable it reveals the successful union of the dragon and tiger (i.e. the female and male vital breaths).” p. 72
AND SO NOW - we get clarification. The male or positive vitality is the metal as the lung energy. And so the right hand is yin as lower body - that goes against the yang of the lung as yuan qi energy.... interesting!!
“The left eye stands for the East whose element is wood….” p. 65
“…the female element of moon is the wood….” p. 85
O.K. this is what I forgot!! the left eye is Moon as yin qi energy and then turns into Sun as the yuan shen.... If I remember correctly....
So the liver qi is moon as yin qi.....the moon within the Sun of the fire heart spirit. While the lung as metal is yuan qi yang.....
thereby finalizing the connection of the negative vitality as the source of the positive spirit of the sun of the left eye. From the glossary:
“negative fire in the stove” [lower tan tien]
fire derived from prenatal vitality is “negative fire” in the house of water….
“spirit in li” the house of fire (the heart) is essential nature.
Nature-vitality is negative
golden light reveals the fullness of the “negative vitality within the generative force.”
O.K. so that digs deeper in the mystery....
that the Dragon is the yin within the yang of the Sun fire
So when Dragon is in the Sun-Fire it is the Moon-wood-female-yin or negative fire....
the Tiger is the yang within the yin of the water Moon
And so the Tiger is the Lung Metal Yuan Qi source of the generative fluid - so the fire within the water or yang sun within the moon.
You can see HOW Complicated this is!! haha.
When I search Bruce Frantzis book on Dragon and Tiger qigong for Lung - I get one hit that mentions dragon!
Dang!!
So far I have the book Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality corroborating Waysun Liao - so I will stick with that for now....
O.K. so Bruce Frantzis has an image saying "moving 1 energizes the lungs and liver" - and the movement 1 on the youtube vid is the same more or less as the "moving of yin and yang" exercise".....
O.K. so maybe he just doesn't get into all the complicated Taoist Alchemy secrets. haha.
The supreme Yin of the south gives birth the the fire of the heart,
within this fire is the Yin Water.
So what this means is that the yin qi of the liver is Moon - it will turn into generative fluid if left to its devices as water... but at the same time it powers the spirit as the fire of the heart....And my claim to this effect is corroborated by Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality stating:
Spirit can only hold vitality temporarily but lacks the driving power of breathing, and without breathing, vitality cannot be driven into the channels of control and function and will drain away by the genital gate; this is caused by lack of pressure from in and out breathing. p. 87
And this alchemy line?
The supreme Yang of the north gives birth to the water of the kidneys,
within this water is Yang Fire.
What this means then is the Lungs are Yuan qi as yang that is the source of the generative fluid of the Moon ....
O.K. so it makes sense but again it gets very complicated quickly....
The Yin within the Yang is the supreme spirit of Yin,
the essence of the sun.
Again the liver qi.
The Yang within the Yin is the the supreme essence of Yang,
the splendor of the moon.
The yuan qi source of the water tiger.....
The Sacred Treatise on the Great Mystery, T'ai-hsuan Pao-tien, circa 1200 CE
Translated by Eva Wong, Nourishing the Essence of Life, p. 94
So here is the secret - the "yin" of the fire is the liver of the heart while the yang of the water is the lungs.
So what the common saying of alchemy says to take from the water to feed the dragon as fire - that means a FULL cycle of the energy since it has to go through the pineal gland to get purified and returned back to the lower tan t'ien, now the dragon, instead of tiger.
I just word searched where I got that image and NO HITS for liver nor lung!! Hilarious - they don't know the SECRET
That is the secret of Dragon and tiger interchanging....as real alchemy.
Hence when yang (fire) contains a yin essence, it is known as wood (lesser yang) and when yin (water) contains a yang essence, it is known as metal (lesser yin)….just as greater yang (fire) grows from lesser yang (wood), so must fire be retracted back into wood. Just as greater yin (water) grows from lesser yin (metal), so must water be retracted back into metal. The two retracted halves - wood and metal, lesser yang and lesser yin, are then able to form the perfect earthly balance. This retraction and unification of yin and yang provides the matrix in which the golden embryo grows or is cultivated. 'Taking from water (☵) to fill in fire (☲)’: The History and Dynamics of Daoist Alchemy by Aaron Cheak, Ph.D.
So Aaron Cheak does know the real secret - but does he know that is also the secret of the Dragon and Tiger Tai Chi "moving hands like clouds" movement?
So this is why my "Idiot's Guide" article is confused on this - it is not clear. But now I have clarified things....
There was another great explanation of this process in a Tai Chi book from the UK - let's see if I can find it again.... NOW that I Have a handle on this stuff a bit better....
But you see where the noncommutative phase aspect comes in - it take the Quick Fire breathing to drive the yin qi of the liver back up above to keep it from turning into generative fluid - and so to turn it back into the air of water....
Tai Chi Chüan: Harmonizing Taoist Belief and Practice - Jeaneane D. Fowler, Shifu Keith Ewers
This is it!! O.K. now to get the quote...
The triagram Li is fire and predominantly yang, but the important middle line is yin, and so the Dragon is female. It is the yin essence in the yang, water in fire, the female in the male, the moon in the sun. It is referred to as Green Dragon....It is water that rises, being heated, and is therefore fiery but yielding, rising to Heaven.
The triagram K'an/Kan is Water and predominantly yin and female. But the middle line is yang and alchemically it is the yang in the yin, the White Tiger, ....its function is to descend to Earth when fire reacts with it. It is the fire in the water.
So THIS is Damo Mitchell....
In the alchemical process, the yang in the water is used to settle the yin in the fire: the water rises and the fire descends. Thus the solid yang line is taken out of the Water to replace the middle yin line in the Fire, thus producing Heaven.
That's Triplex Unity:
“the male of kan [water] is the sun and the female of li [fire] is the moon."
So the deep breathing brings the lung qi DOWN to then pull the FIRE (the liver qi) DOWN with it... NOW I GET IT.... I was wondering why the LUng qi DESCENDS. Since it is Water as Tiger with yang in it... so it descends - that's what the water refers to....
The Lungs also direct Qi downward. A full inhalation can only occur when the Lungs send Qi down to the Kidneys, which in turn “Grasp The Qi.” This is essentially “Dantian Breathing,” or “Kidney Breathing,” the deep abdominal breathing advocated in meditation, Nei Gong and the martial arts. For this reason, natural deep breathing is of paramount importance in the internal arts.
Tom Bisio, author of Nei Gong: The Authentic Classic (Nei Gong Zhen Chuan)
Again the secret is the LUNG qi pulls down the FIRE of the heart (the liver qi) - since the lung qi is WATER.... Gotcha!!
But Fowler and Ewers took down their book? it's not on google anymore.
Since alchemy is concerned in the first place with the inner lines of the trigrams Li [fire] and Kan [water], the paradox of reversal consists in considering Li as female, while logically it should be male because its Yang-masculine lines are predominant. Analogously, Kan should be female, but is considered to be male. "The Sun is Li and belongs to Yang, and instead it is a girl. The Moon is Kan and belongs to Yin, and instead it is a boy. This is the reversal" (Xiuzhen shishu , 26.27a.)
Isabelle Robinet confirms my alchemical discovery
So this paradox is completely explained as the lung/kidney and heart/liver and how they are reversals within each other, etc. Somebody on a forum gives a plug for this book:
"Tai Chi Chuan, Harmonizing Taoist Beliefs and Practice, Jeaneane D. Fowler, and "Shifu" Keith Ewers (probably the one exception I made to my non martial sources position, mainly due to Fowler. Her work is some of the best and clearest on the subject of Taoist history.)
hmmm. Wonder what happened to this book?
He's got a youtube channel - Sifu Keith Ewers
Dragon chases the Moon
http://www.leefamilyinternalarts.com/Keith%20Ewers.html
There we go - a real INternal Arts ALCHEMY lineage!!
the Heart is considered to be the son of the Liver and the mother of the Spleen within traditional Chinese medicine the Heart is known as the emperor of all the internal organs (Zangfu).
https://lfiaa.wordpress.com/
Firstly let me explain what is meant by “Taming the Dragon & Tiger”. Within Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) they consider the Qi (energy) inside of us as (Yin) and corresponds to the Dragon (Long), whereas the Blood or Fire (Huo) that circulates inside us is considered to be (Yang) and corresponds to the Tiger (Hu). So the heading “Taming the Dragon & Tiger”
Fascinating....
The Taiji Pole is a central line that runs from the crown of the head at the (Bai Hui) “Hundred Meetings Du 20” directly through the centre of the body to the (Hui Yin) “Meeting of Yin Ren 1” located between the legs.
The Taiji Pole is made up of three major energy vessels the Governing Vessel (Du Mai) which travels up the length of the back through the spinal column where it connects to the Conception Vessel (Ren Mai) that travels down the front of the body. The third major vessels is the Thrusting Vessel ( Chong Mai) which does travel through the Taiji Pole. Each of these three major energy vessels store the vital energy (Qi) and circulate it throughout the entire body through the Yin & Yang meridians which are connected to the internal organs (Zangfu).
Taiji is Neigong
One such aspect is to allow the breath to expand into the back muscles like the Lattissimus Dorsi muscle on either side of the back, when the student performs any of the Taiji Qigong exercise where the both arms are lifted together or in a singular method above the head the back muscles will come into play and with the intention of breathing deeply into the lungs like filling a balloon.
O.K. Finally - after speeding reading his blog....
As the Original Feng Shou Quan-Gongfu has its origins within Daoism, then it is obvious that this internal martial art (Neijiaquan) involves all of the Daoist symbolises to help give the practitioner a better understanding and knowledge on how best to skilfully use this internal martial art for both health, energy cultivation and self defence. The symbolism of the “Cloud Dragon and Wind Tiger” is just another repensentation of Yin & Yang, as the Cloud Dragon (Yun Long) represents the receptive or (Yin) energy and the Wind Tiger ( Feng Hu) represent the creative or (Yang) energy.
And now the final mystery --- what was the book referred to?
Wuzhen pian - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuzhen_pian
The Wuzhen pian is a 1075 Daoist classic on Neidan-style internal alchemy. Its author Zhang Boduan (張伯端; 987?–1082) was a Song dynasty scholar of the Three teachings (Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism). Contents. [hide]. 1 Author; 2 Texts; 3 Commentaries; 4 Title; 5 Translations; 6 References; 7 External links ...
[PDF]Introduction to Awakening to Reality - The Golden Elixir
http://www.goldenelixir.com/files/Intro ... eality.pdf
“Regulated Verses” of the Wuzhen pian, a Taoist Classic of Internal Alchemy. (Golden Elixir Press, 2009). ... The author of Awakening to Reality is Zhang Boduan, also known as True. Man of Purple Yang (Ziyang zhenren). ...... Wu Chên P'ien, Essay on the Understanding of the Truth: A Contribution to the Study of Chinese ...
Oh this one!! http://www.goldenelixir.com/jindan/text ... ian_3.html
So I word search for Liver and Lung - NOTHING!! Hilarious
We get more secrets in the commentaries.
therefore the full moon illustrates the symbolic "time" by which the collection of True Yang should happen.
So the metal energy is strongest at full moon - which is why Gabriel Cousens advocates fasting during full moons.....
The symbolic "pound" of Elixir, therefore, is made of eight ounces of Lead and eight ounces of Mercury.
So we now know the "lead' is from the liver qi that has descended. The mercury is from the lung qi....
Wow this is amazing that the Daoist alchemy texts now make sense to me!!
https://www.scribd.com/document/1559496 ... hen-Daoism
So I used the scribd conversion tool over on the ecoecho blog - and then get corroboration:
and the lead and mercury claim I made above is corroborated - again the tricky part is realizing it refers to liver and lung energy!!
The Five Element Creation Fist routine begins as with most Xingyiquan routines in the Three Body Posture (San Ti Shi). The San Ti Shi is the most important and most basic training method in Xingyiquan. All movements in the style do not stray away from the principles of the San Ti Shi.
Sure enough - right hand is up, while left hand is down - based on the SECRET of LUNG as yang qi of water, right hand is yin and LIVER is yin qi of fire, left hand is yang
The Santi posture is based on the metal element in the Xingyi five element fists. The metal element corresponds to the Lungs. Therefore by cultivating in this posture the Lungs and the Kong Chi are greatly enhanced.
AMAZINGLY - there is no understanding that the right hand is yin while the lungs are yang - and this is the real secret of the San Ti Shi posture as the CORE training of Xingyiquan martial arts internal alchemy!!!! The left hand is yang while the liver green dragon is yin.
This is just like licking a 9-volt battery.
![Image](http://www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/images/mpgsts1.jpg)