Esoteric Martial Arts.2: Evolution at Source - Marrow Washing

This chi kung set is a complex one, with both physical and internal movements. It is not physically difficult, but the length of time required to pay attention to the subtle movements of the various energies is a suitable task for advanced students of the arts.

This second manual is a capstone to the tripartite training (18 Hands of the Lohan, Muscle-Tendon Changes, and Marrow Washing) as handed down by Bodhidharma at Shaolin Songshan Temple, ca. 530 A.D. See my first manual for a treatment of the first two systems.

“Returning to Source” refers to the conscious use of Original Heavenly Tien Chi and Earth Di Chi to renew your own chi and return to a natural, balanced state. From that point of balance you have access to a conscious modification of your DNA. How? By generating and guiding these energy sources of light into your muscles-organs-meridians, then pumping and packing the chi into your bones, into your marrow (includes your brain!), and then washing your genetic helixes with that light.

When we practice these integrated and open-ended systems of training, we reside within the realm of non-Aristotelian, non-Cartesian evidence, a locus that connects all possibilities of human existence simultaneously. We as traditional, classical martial artists don’t need no stinking badges from modern science to experience the truth of the matter: 1) We are responsible for our own existence, and 2) We can energetically control both our present and future genetic states. We don’t need to ask permission to grow beyond the boundaries of our previous experiences or beyond our culture. Or even beyond our genomes.

Have you considered how your training influences your genetic drift? We don’t need to leave our future to the vagaries of “drift.” Nor remain at the mercy of the pathetically inferior path of modern society, with its dependence on accepting central authorities outside of oneself (central message from Bodhidharma!). Clamoring and clawing through a life of getting and spending, accepting tidbits tossed to you by elitists swayed by destructive myopia, massive ignorance, and out-of control egos, is no life, but a hell.

The original impetus for sacred warriorhood—indeed, the worthwhile goal of all complete martial training—was and is to wake up. That is, by means of cathartic mind and body activities, to live with clarity.

Switch on your own light.