The Big Overview of Modern Neidan: Immortality Study School

At a glance:

When: Weekly classes for twelve weeks each Saturday morning from 10-11 AM Eastern time beginning 10 May (recordings available after class)

Where: ZOOM meetings and media shared on my gumroad page,

What will I learn: The key concepts and practices of Chen Yingning's Immortality Study, the only complete secular system of internal alchemy practice.

How Much: $350 USD for the whole course including videos, PDF docs, and lectures.

Course intro:

Chen Yingning was the greatest Daoist figure in the last 100 years and is one of the main reasons it is possible to study Neidan today.

Chen was a passionate follower of Daoism who was born during the late Qing dynasty and studied external alchemy, spirit writing, internal alchemy, Buddhism and Confucianism during the first half of the twentieth century.

He is famous in China for inventing secular Daoist meditation practice as contained in his Immortality Study school of thought which emphasizes the importance of following a Daoist lifestyle through the practice of Neidan rather than praying to deities and hoping to be saved by the decree of heaven.

Some accomplishments Chen is famous for:

• Chen is the only figure in the twentieth century to read all 5000 texts of the Daoist canon (he did this over three years in which he lived at the White Cloud Temple of Shanghai),
• Most complete research on external alchemy in modern Chinese history,
• Most complete research on Neidan in modern Chinese history,
• Created the first Magazine in China to promote Daoist practice (The Immortality Study Newspaper),
• Cofounded the China Daoist Research Association,
• A major figure in the development of the Jing Gong approach to Qigong,
• Researched Daoist Meditation as medical therapy in Chinese hospitals,
• His wife became famous as a result of using Nv Dan to help herself live longer while she had terminal cancer,
• His disciple Hu Haiya was the advisor on Internal Alchemy to the China Daoist Association,
  

You get it, Chen Yingning was a big deal and many modern Daoist priests and researchers such as Tian Chengyang, and Hu Fuchen strongly emphasize his methods in their understanding of Daoism.

Chen also had many disciples who moved to Taiwan after the conclusion of the civil war.

These students were responsible for passing down much of the Neidan found in Taiwan today, especially the so called Wen Shi School which Chen advocated as the purest “Heavenly Origin” Method of Neidan.

Chen Yingning is my hero in Daoism and I've read many of his books as well as those by his disciple Hu Haiya, so I'm very excited to present this fascinating course where we will not only learn Chen's Immortality Study school, but also many of the teachings of the Taiwanese branch contained in the text Fang Dao Yu Lu, the only book in which multiple Neidan masters compare their methods (the book is a series of interviews conducted by Taiwanese Neidan master Li Leqiu in the 1970s).

Here is the timeline of the course:

• Weeks 1 - 3: The Big Principle of Immortality Study: This text by Chen Yingning fully introduces the style, its goals, and how to get there,
• Weeks 4-6: Chen Yingning's Handwriting: this document explains how to practice meditation technique, including methods and outcomes, it is a key writing of modern Neidan which makes it easy to understand the core methods of practice,
• Weeks 7-8 Studying the Immortals Ensures Success: a major handbook by Chen Yingning about how to establish a meditation practice, perform life nurturing activities and how to properly organize a meditation retreat among other things,
• Weeks 8-12: Neidan explained by contemporary Taiwanese masters: We will read some of the best articles from Fang Dao Yu Lu to understand how the most recent generation of great Neidan masters practiced before Neidan entered into its current dormant phase.

This course is a really cool opportunity and there is nothing else like it out there. Learning modern Neidan is superior to learning classical Neidan because the lessons are written in plain language which is easy to understand. Modern Neidan is also free from the cultural dogma which exists in most major texts, so it is easier to learn and more appropriate for present day secular seekers.

Unlike most classical documents which only introduce the technique and outcomes of Neidan practice, Chen and co introduce the actual purpose, culture, and experience of practice along with the techniques. This is very important information and I recommend anyone who wants to learn Neidan at a deep level to study this program.

Interested in taking this course?

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