Training Guān Xiǎng 观想 Ability

Guān Xiang (观想)

Guan = Observing
Xiang = Thinking
Original principle: toward meditation ability.

Sifu's Explanation

• Many times I see joyful lotus in the joint—I can already see the energy run inside my body.
• When I see a flower blooming, it gives a light and delicate feeling—I love that.
• Through looking at a flower, I can become aware and imagine that feeling in my body.
• I have good sense of our body Taiji to do this.

Wisdom in 4 Areas:

• Muscle – Functional muscle development
• Tendon – Feel tendon stretching and opening (Yi Jin Jing is not just motion)
• Duan Gu – Awareness of the bones, spine, and neck alignment
• Energy – Mixing awareness raises the level of perception
• Awakening means becoming aware of more.
• Imagination and thinking (6th consciousness) can block subconsciousness.
• So instead of imagining, I can really feel the joint area, muscle, ligament, and energy.
• Eventually, subconscious training leads directly to intuitive sensing.

How to Read Philosophy Like Sifu

• Clean out human moodiness, ego, doubt—anything not neutral or heavy.
• Read philosophy or sing mantra.
• Not just repeating the words or judging them quickly.

How to do it:

• Take it slow.
• Feel the intention of the consciousness behind the text.
• Why this word? Why this order?
• Philosophy = Fewest words possible, deep system and life meaning.
• Sense what kind of being wrote it.
• What awareness have they developed?
• What stage of being are they?
• Why must life be this way?

Then, feeling becomes real—awareness awakens in the present.
Laugh — touch the heart.
Awakening begins with “Ahhhhh!” 🙂

Example:

• Observing self. Being aware of how he lives.

Summary:

• United discipline of senses into no-I.
• Then senses become pure and open.

Guan Xiang and 3 Energy Training

• In Tai Chi, laser-line = straight spine.
• But two other lines run alongside it.
• To open the 7 chakras, all 3 lines must be open.
• Guān Xiang needs reality to practice.
• Real karma = action.
• Otherwise, like a seed not yet planted—only potential.
• Subconscious is like art, intuition.

Exercise – Practice Observing Your Feeling and Turn It Into Words

• A wisdom development method from Buddhist philosophy class.
• Helps develop intelligence.
• Practice describing feelings and their origins.
• The quicker you can convert feelings into language, the closer you are to Guan Xiang ability.
• Make feeling into language, and language into feeling.
• This will help in reading Buddhist philosophy.

Example Practicing Guān Xiang

• I watched the video.
• I enjoyed watching the video (why?).

Watching a video where a Buddha made of stars appeared behind the Alps gave me a feeling of:

• Amazement and awe – Seeing that force in action.
• Wonder – The non-human presence made me feel there is more to life.
• Inspiration – If that power exists, I can also develop it.
• Humility – Compared to that being, my self-importance shrinks in a healthy way.
• Touched – By the phrasing of the philosophical message.