LaoDan wrote:From Earth it appears like the stars that form the Big Dipper have a distinct relationship to each other that remains constant every year. But move to another solar system and the relationship would no longer be detectable. So how can the Big Dipper really be “the source of inherent energy in the human body” as written by Chen Xin?
I also just consider the practice space without paying attention to the actual compass directions. However, there is a real magnetic field radiating around the Earth in a specific orientation, so north and south could potentially have some slight influence on a human’s body, as could minerals in the earth, currents in the air, etc.
If you hear a noise behind you and turn around and see a cat, and you have never seen a cat or heard such a noise before you might be excused for thinking the noise came from a cat. What is probably being described here is Chen Xin writing something down that he didn't fully understand, but wanted to leave some sort of clue for the future or for someone who could figure it out.
What he is saying if you break it down is that if you face in certain directions there will be some sort of energy that you will be more (or less) in tune with,
and as a result of being aware of that energy, you would want to face that special direction in order to reap some sort of benefit. There's a benefit, if you are aware of it I suppose, and it is very difficult for me to say that if you're not aware of it or if you can't feel it you shouldn't worry about it. I think it's more important to be aware of the principle of what is going on here. At least in part it relates to ideas differentiating internal and external martial arts; so unfortunately it falls under a BTDT topic, but if I tried to delineate it in a different way I would go back to the professional/amateur idea, or draw some sort of analogy with meditating in an cleansed taoist temple vs. meditating in your living room. I'll try to give you an example.
One prominent spokesperson of the tai chi/internal strength world advocates testing your frame by having someone pull down on your shoulder, for example, or for example pushing a heavy bag. This is completely wrong because it advocates reaching for the far and ignoring the near. To put it another way, it puts the cart before the horse. To put it another way it means you are creating a top-heavy structure which then leads back towards the dantian. The big problem here is if you load it at the front and there is a blockage somewhere down the line, you are going to have a very bad day when the SHTF. On the contrary, when you remove the front-load and push from behind, i.e. when your zhong qi comes up out (which refers to qi coming out of the dantian along two very specific channels) if it hits a break the correct thing to do is relax the front-load even more--in such a case, adding to the load will cause you to hurt yourself. Imagine having someone apply a qin na technique to your wrist and moving into the lock (causing yourself pain) versus relaxing out of the lock (moving out of the blockage by opening up the joint, for example). This is always done by moving out of the blockage from behind the blockage. It is like jenga -- if you affect some part of the top, it rests upon the foundation. If you affect the balance of the top from a point along the middle, the support from the base does not change and it is this midway source-point which itself becomes the blockage when the load goes forwards or backwards through the body (and as a result through that point of intention).
So this energy affects you, at least theoretically, exposing (against your will and without your knowledge) all of the qi blockages of your body. Any front-load you place against this force will magnify the effect. The only way to get rid of this kind of problem is to relax and consider the small, if the wind is blowing only against your center you can easily counter it, since qi which flows outward by definition counters this force in order to move out. Going the other direction is like a building collapsing because one of it's supports was a popsicle stick. It doesn't matter how strong the supports above it are. If this happens inside your body you are going to have a very bad day.
To get to the level where you can notice such a force you would have to be at a very high level working solely from the internal mechanics described above, or you would never even feel it.
On the way there one of the principles is that you can start to be affected by things you can not directly feel. These kinds of effects are like half the body going numb, incredible pain or discomfort as your internals shift, or alternately intense feelings of relaxation or healing taking place in the body. This is the body being moved into position subconsciously and/or by forces outside of the direct control of the mind-body relationship. This is why it is important to develop a listening skill when considering the small, even if only to try and recognize the level of detail of these things which affect you. When you can recognize those levels of detail you can (almost) automatically control them and it becomes a matter of intention. But it can never be a matter of physical exertion, physical exertion is almost always going to "front-load" this structure. Only the intention of doing it can create the right setting for success.
So tl;dr if you don't understand why you have to face in a certain direction, don't worry about it. "My master told me to face (x)" is not sufficient because in different parts of the world and for different reasons people face in certain directions. Only when you become aware of this kind of internal mechanic can you pay attention to it. Before then it is almost better that you stand in the wrong direction so you can feel the difference.