Isn’t it joy to learn Tao and then die?           

      I have been playing the “crossover” game my entire life. I call it Yun-You (roving): drifting like clouds, changing forms, gathering together or spreading out at varying temperatures. I just follow the flow of life. Chinese people often exclaim over the impermanence in life. In fact, all life forms are impermanent. Perhaps, the theme of life is endless change.

      I stayed in Beijing and taught at my university after graduation. One year later, I became an English teacher at a rural middle school in southeastern China. The following year, I went to a more distant place — Tibet. There I worked as a Chinese-English interpreter and traveled all over the magical land. Then, the next year, I went even further, to the U.S. for an MBA programme. Since then, I have further expanded the scope of my crossover game: from Wall Street to Hong Kong, from financial investment to co-authoring a novel titled Sex and Stocks, from the boisterous financial world to the lonely corners of Chinese medicine.

       For some time, I was totally immersed in the joy of curing illnesses and relieving people’s agonies. But soon I found that providing treatment is NOT the true way to helping patients. So I gave it up and turned to promoting PaidaLajin and other self-healing methods. This is a shift from curing people to teaching people how to self heal, or metaphorically, from offering people fish to teaching people how to fish.

       I’ve been to Tibet several times. Each time, I interacted with it in a different way. Early on, I went there to explore the land, later to cure Tibetans, and then to teach them how to self heal.

      The trajectory of my life may seem elusive, but there has always been an underlying theme. Perhaps, it can be called “Tao”, a word that runs through Chinese history, culture, tradition and philosophy. Tao, being abstract and concrete, formless and formal, is invisible, untouchable, and omnipresent.

      This book records some of my experiences of learning Chinese medicine and seeking Tao after I withdrew from the business world, and my reflections on body and soul, tradition and modernity. This is a journey of self-transcendence: from learning external therapies and curing patients to giving them up to promote self-healing methods. And it also reflects how I have been taking actions to propel health education and transformation of the health industry. Chinese medicine has provided an opportunity and opened the door for all these happenings.

      Why Chinese medicine? Because in it there is Tao. For a Chinese, Chinese medicine indeed points to a convenient way of realizing Tao. At the very least, I am applying Chinese therapies in an attempt to approach the Tao that is treading away from us. The Tao of Healing is an unusual Way. Realizing Tao through healing may be an unreachable ideal, yet nearing it is already most intriguing.

       Is it a blessing or a curse to be embroiled in the troubled times when the entire human race is experiencing massive changes unprecedented in tens of millennia?

       Ancient Chinese had it that the real havoc is not war but chaos in the heart. “Extraordinary men emerge in troubled times”, so goes another saying. How fortunate I was to acquaint with one such extraordinary man named Shi Xin De (also called Yue Hou Sheng). Under his guidance, I met masters of Chinese medicine, one after another. So I halted my money-making “busy-ness” and idle talk, and roved to learn Chinese medicine from folk masters. I believed that the essence of Chinese medicine could only be found among folk masters. Sure enough, this belief was continually proven correct. I felt that the learning of Chinese medicine should go hand in hand with clinical practice, so I always paralleled the learning with the practicing. I knew people in the countryside were in dire need of medical services, so I went and gave them free treatments. I realized that in this age there was too much talking and too little action, so I just kept on doing, doing and doing, to balance a life that was tilted by too much empty talk. When I found that man is not cured, but invariably self heals with better effect than that of medical intervention, without a moment’s hesitation, I plunged into promotion of self-healing methods across the world.

       Initially I learned acupressure (treatment of symptoms by applying pressure with the fingers to specific pressure points on the body) from a fisherman and Kungfu master in western Hunan province. I soon began to apply it on hemiplegic patients. My very first patient was a 70-year-old paralyzed man. Each day, I gave him two treatments, each for five minutes. After five days, he was able to walk on his own. In ten days, he was well enough to go back home. Later I used acupressure to cure a number of patients with hypertension, headaches, insomnia and depression.

       Then I had a seemingly accidental encounter with Dr. Zhu, a renowned orthopedic doctor practicing in Hong Kong. Dr. Zhu was nearly 70, and yet our age gap did not distance us. We clicked immediately and soon became good friends. I learned Lajin (stretching on a special bench) and bone-setting from him and cured many patients with neck and lower back pains. From the great number of clinical cases I treated, Dr. Zhu’s observation that most disc herniation are mis-diagnosed was affirmed. Dr. Zhu applied Lajin only to treat bone-related problems; what I discovered in my clinical practice was that Lajin also had very good curative effects on hypertension, insomnia, depression, obesity, urinary and reproductive disorders. Later on, Lajin was found to be effective on a growing number of diseases, through the voluntary practice of my readers.

       Meanwhile, Shi arranged for me to meet Mr. Yang, a master of acupuncture who had worked in mineral prospecting for decades. Yang taught me acupuncture, and in return I taught him acupressure and Lajin. On the first day I learned acupuncture, I began to insert needles into my own body. Very soon, I was able to cure some relatives and friends with acupuncture. However, the real learning with Mr. Yang only took place while we travelled together to Mt. Wuzhong, Mt. Qingcheng and Mt. Emei (all famous mountains in China). Constantly putting the learning into practice, I was soon able to see the instantaneous healing effects of acupuncture, acupressure, Lajin and bone-setting. With Mr. Yang guiding me, I cured patients of many different diseases, and was filled with the joy of artistic creation and healing the sick. Sometimes when throngs of patients came to us, it was almost like we were having a “carnival”.  

        Later on, I “coincidentally” met Taoist  Xiao on Mt. Emei twice, and learned Paida (a Taoist secret therapy originally called Revealing Diseases) from him. I was overjoyed to find that Paida is as effective as Lajin in terms of scope of application and healing effect, and that Paida and Lajin, when practiced together, have even greater curative power. Thus I began to vigorously promote PaidaLajin at home and abroad, and found it could cure many critical and rare diseases, including those related to internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, pediatrics, etc., and especially acute problems, prostate, gynecological, psychiatric disorders and skin problems. 

      With more and more people practicing PaidaLajin, the number of diseases relieved or healed with it kept growing. Increasingly, patients who had failed to find an effective cure after months or years of medical treatment experienced the wondrous effect of PaidaLajin by practicing it themselves!

       For instance, a woman, after slapping on her breasts for a month, found the breast tumor gone; a man with bilateral necrosis of the femoral head felt much improvement after stretching on a Lajin bench for just once; a patient suffering from blindness and edema due to kidney failure resumed his eyesight and the swelling disappeared after several slapping sessions; many falling unconscious as a result of acute heart attack have been saved by slaps on their inner elbows…

      More and more exhilarating testimonials came in. From preliminary statistics of successful healing cases, it was found that PaidaLajin has better healing effects when implemented by the patient himself rather than by a medical professional. And the healing effects are amazing. One can self heal almost any illness by conscientiously practicing PaidaLajin over time.

      This finding is way too abrupt, too significant. It can seem like a new therapy threatening the authority of mainstream medicine. Yet the reality is: PaidaLajin is NOT medical treatment. It refers to specific slapping and stretching exercises that can be learned in ONE minute, simpler than even a child’s game. Rather than being labeled as a therapy, it is a philosophic thinking, a way of life.

      PaidaLajin is no new invention. It has been practiced in China for millennia. We are only re-discovering and re-polishing a gem of the ancient civilization. In fact, different variations of slapping and stretching can be found throughout the ages and across the world. How come PaidaLajin gains sweeping popularity now? Well, it is an inevitable result of the excessive intervention of modern medicine on humanity. “Out of the depth of misfortune comes bliss.” These are words of wisdom in I Ching, or The Book of Changes, an ancient Chinese classic. Isn’t it so?

       The familiar Yin-Yang Tai Chi diagram vividly illustrates this natural change: when Yin energy rises, Yang energy falls and vice versa. The seemingly sudden change is in effect gradual. Hence, the self-healing method overturning and transcending modern medicine is a natural, gradual and inevitable process. It is even safe to say that every effort modern science and medicine makes is fueling this process of overturn and transcendence. After all efforts are made, man will discover that the best disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment happen naturally, the less intervention the better.

        This is because there is a mechanism in us, preset by the “Creator”, the “self-healing power”. Since PaidaLajin self-healing method has much better healing effect than that of medical intervention, and everyone is born with a self-healing power, there is no need to seek for a cure externally. Why not opt for and promote self-healing? Moreover, the right to self heal, just like the right to pursue freedom and happiness, is a most basic human right. Why should we abandon this natural right?

      The story of Adam and Eve in Genesis, Old Testament of the Bible may give us some reflections: The ancestors of humanity secretively ate the forbidden fruit at the temptation of a serpent, and assumed that they had the access to knowledge. Armed with this limited human knowledge, they started to intervene and replace the original creation of the “Creator”. Human civilization has thus evolved till today, when we are constantly threatened by growing crises.

      From the Buddhist point of view, man already has everything necessary for his existence. Explore and manifest the sufficiency of the human nature, diseases will be self healed. Further explore the human nature, one can be conscious, or to put it another way, enlightened.

      Another way to decipher self-healing goes like this: Man was initially created as a lifeless form. Not until God blew air (Chinese call it Qi) into it did man become alive. PaidaLajin self-healing method is effective because it boosts the declining Qi (invisible energy) in the human body.

      Some may ask, “With so many effective self-healing options like yoga,Tai Chi and various sports out there, why do you have to promote PaidaLajin?”

      Well, the answer is clear: PaidaLajin responds to the calling of our time, and it is a vivid manifestation of the truth that the simplest way is the ultimately deepest way. It meets the main requirements in resolving humanity’s medical, aging and environmental crises. The reasons are as follows:

      1. PaidaLajin is NO medical treatment. It DOES NOT rely on medication, surgery or hospitals, and yet the healing effect is better than that of medical intervention. This is undoubtedly a milestone in human medical history.

      2. PaidaLajin has superior healing effect, and it basically solves medical problems, acute or chronic, many of which are considered “incurable” in mainstream medicine. Having better healing effect than mainstream medicine is a basic pre-condition for its rapid spread.

      3. PaidaLajin is super simple. Everyone can learn and grasp it. And it works as long as you practice it. Naturally, it can be rapidly popularized on a large scale.

      4. PaidaLajin is safe, with NO toxic side effects. Well, practicing it can make you slimmer and better-looking, and even increase sex drive, which can be the most “visible” side effects. This is “organic” healing, perfectly in line with today’s much sought-after trend of organic food and other green movements.

       5. PaidaLajin is widely applicable in empowering people to self heal acute and chronic health problems, including most of the common physical, psychological and spiritual problems. Its application scope is wider than that of medical intervention.

       6. PaidaLajin can greatly reduce humanity’s medical expenses, and can fundamentally avoid the excessive demand and waste of medical resources.

       7. PaidaLajin helps clear the source of alarming pollution on the human body, our Mother Earth and the outer space.

        Many people will harbor doubts about or be perplexed by these ideas, for there is way too much conflict with human knowledge, perception and mode of thinking. So I suggest that you bypass second- or third-hand knowledge, just plunge into it, explore it and practice it. This is the scientific spirit. And I have been treading this path myself.

      My exploration of the Tao of Healing and the amazing effect of PaidaLajin in helping people self heal acute, chronic and severe problems, have led me to feel it deeply that there is a natural bond between the way of thinking in Chinese medicine and Tao. I can only sigh with relief: How lucky humanity is to have Chinese medicine, which does belong to all men on earth! The Tao of Chinese medicine can inspire man to self heal. Were Chinese medicine to disappear, it would definitely be misfortune for the entire human race!

        One of the root causes of the crises challenging the world today is extreme westernization. Just imagine the nightmare that would haunt humanity if Chinese, Indian and other Oriental cultures were to be fully westernized. It goes without saying that Western culture is one of humanity’s remarkable cultures. If it merges with Oriental cultures and thus reduces extreme exclusion and excessive material pursuit, the entire human race will be healthier and happier.

        As a Chinese descendent, I often wonder, “How many things have we got left that are not yet westernized?” Whatever we learned since we were little, be it science or liberal arts, scientific or medical knowledge...are basically western knowledge. Only Chinese medicine is the original creation of China. The profound wisdom of Chinese medicine is not only expressed in its scope and efficacy, but also through the Tao of Healing, i.e. the Tao of Yin-Yang interactions, which is distinctly different from the western way of scientific thinking. All Chinese therapies follow this Tao of Healing. For instance, acupuncture works like a precise GPS. Whatever disease it is, so long as the acupuncturist can accurately assess the Yin-Yang imbalance and insert needles at relevant acupoints along the meridians, it will work. The pleasure of making money is no way comparable to the joy of relieving people’s agonies. If even I, someone who only started learning Chinese medicine in midlife, could cure so many “incurable” diseases with “low-tech” Chinese therapies, I have to delve into the particularities of Chinese and western medicines, the cultures that nourish them, and how they could complement each other and integrate.

        During my one-month stay in Sichuan province, though I only healed just over a hundred patients, I was deeply moved by the miraculous effects and became very confident in Chinese medicine. Shortly afterwards, I traveled to Tibet. In the two weeks there, I alone treated more than 1,600 Tibetans, sometimes over 100 patients a day. Each day, I worked from early morning till midnight, and 90% of the patients benefited significantly from my treatment. In addition to curing various pains, I treated a number of deaf or tinnitus patients. One day, I treated a record number of over 10 patients with ear problems, and most had notable improvement. An elderly lama suffering deafness of both ears was able to hear us speak from over a dozen meters away after just one treatment. It was obvious that the formless, invisible and yet omnipresent “Tao” was manifested through my hands. Just as a saying goes, “hands follow the heart, and methods are thus created.” Indeed, the right state of the “heart” is of paramount importance. With this “heart” and practical experience, I no longer indulged in eloquent, empty talks on culture and religion, instead, I began to take real actions to heal people, and through application of Chinese therapies, I have been promoting long-lost Chinese traditions and way of life.

       Some may marvel at my romantic and colourful journeys, but tend to overlook the trials and tribulations of a roving healer, not to mention the complexity and perils of today’s world. From ancient times till now, there have been countless masters specialized in a certain domain, but not many dedicate themselves to seeking Tao, and it is more rare to actually realize it. Some Chinese therapists fixate their eyes on material gains; many learn Chinese medicine hoping for high returns. Some grow arrogant and biased against other therapies, trading honors for profits, or burdening themselves with fame. Some therapists give in on their moral grounds when they grow old, tarnishing their hard-won reputation. All these lead people astray, and even to obsession and eventual destruction. Some people repeatedly claim to have faith in Chinese medicine, but at critical moments, they turn to western medicine for saving their lives. Their deep-lying “faith” is thus as visible as lice on a bare head. More ironically, some therapists who have been practicing Chinese medicine for a lifetime eventually pass away after a surgery or taking western drugs. This is NOT a complete denial of western medicine, but one is likely to respond with a knowing smile at the elements of tragedy and farce in today’s world. Lao-tzu said, “God's mill grinds slow but sure.” Indeed so.

       At the end of these Chinese medicine learning journeys, my life was completely transformed. I used to go on domestic and international business trips; later on I traveled mostly to visit healing masters, promote Chinese medicine or cure patients; now I travel almost solely for promotion of PaidaLajin self-healing. Even I, a goof-off, have been frequently invited to treat patients. It is not that I am a medical expert as such. The sad truth is, Chinese medicine is abandoned by its own people, and there is no successor. And self-healing is abandoned by the entire human race. As I got increasingly immersed in promotion of the self-healing method, I became more and more convinced that Chinese medicine and other natural therapies, labeled as “superstitious” by many, manifest the Tao that transcends science; in contrast, modern science and western medicine, sacred in many people’s heart, can be quite misleading.

      Just imagine how many people with “lumbar disc herniation” are paying for the tortures of medication and surgery. In actual fact, “lumbar disc herniation” is a downright lie, for the lower back and leg pains that most patients suffered from are not caused by “lumbar disc herniation”. The real cause is that the stress one feels makes the intangible “Heart” contract, and contraction of the “Heart” in turn leads to contraction of tendons and displacement of bones. As long as the “Heart” is well regulated, several external treatments will work.

        When I discovered the wonder of PaidaLajin, I knew that patients could practice it and self heal pains and diseases (refer to related chapters in the book). When I shared PaidaLajin with others, thousands of them self healed their problems, without the need to go to hospital. Isn’t it even better?! Later on, I went to Tibet again, not to cure the sick, but to teach people how to self heal. And I myself have transformed from a therapist to an instructor and promoter of self-healing.

       If you still have a very abstract impression of the self-healing method, I can very specifically describe you several inevitable trends: Just by practicing PaidaLajin, hundreds of millions of people will be relieved of lower back and leg pains, and be freed from reliance on medication, surgery, wheelchair or crutches; hundreds of millions of women will be freed from the threat of breast cancer, and the tortures of medical checkups and surgery; hundreds of millions of men will no longer constantly go to the toilet in the night because of prostate disorders; hundreds of millions of people can easily lose weight, keep fit and become better-looking; the vast majority of Alzheimer’s patients will feel the good curative effect; and billions of people will use this organic therapy in prevention of diseases and aging...

       Since preventing and curing diseases and losing weight can be this simple, what is the need for lifelong medication? Why operate with knives, pincers and scissors? Why cut the body open and drain the Qi and blood? Why the need for fighter aircraft when there can be peace without fighting? This is the charm of self-healing, the power of the human heart. In addition to having good efficacy, self-healing is low cost, simple and natural with minimal side effects. It is for everyone. It can fulfill almost all of men’s aspirations for health and disease prevention, and environmental protection. This is exactly why the self-healing method can be popularized in the world. Such strong and graceful soft power will un-necessitate man’s war on himself and the plunder and pollution of the nature. When man does not need surgical knives or medication, is there still any need for warships and nuclear weapons?

       If man strays away from Tao, pseudo-science will draw the world into greater chaos. We are lucky, perhaps exactly because we are born into a messy world spoiled by pseudo-science. Pseudo-science is holding high the banner of science but having no exploratory spirit essential for science advancement.

       After drifting for years abroad, in mid-life, I, a total layman, began to learn and apply the wisdom of Chinese medicine and self-healing. My experience of healing and health promotion can mirror that of many, for most people are not medical professionals after all. But who does not care about life and health? And who is not concerned about the future of mankind?

        Impacted by waves of modernization, man’s rootlessness and ignorance have led to countless chaos and tragedies. Hence, the topic of Chinese medicine, western medicine and self-healing relates to tradition and modernity, and to both theory and practice. If I talk only of the metaphysical Tao, it will be too theoretical and impractical; if I focus solely on healing, it will be too specialized and pragmatic. In the latter case, I will be just another healer. If I can sit here with you and talk about Chinese medicine and Tao, and can get up instantly to improve a patient’s condition, then Tao and the theory will be more convincing. If you can not only self heal, but can teach thousands of people to self heal and transform man’s medical behavior into a self-healing health regime, what a wondrous leap it will be! A theory is subject to discourse, whereas Tao has to be realized through concrete action.

       This book is part of my effort to balance empty talk with action. I am here to share with you my learning experience and insights into healing. Hopefully, as soon as you finish the book, you will be able to heal yourself and your loved ones with PaidaLajin and other simple methods. Get ready to be wowed by their magical curative effect. This is not supernatural power or something mysterious. Everyone can do it, for “the simplest way is the truest”.

        My roving, once it started, has never stopped. All these seemingly magical happenings are in effect very natural, for all this is at the hand of the “Creator”. Chinese people use another word to describe it — Tao (the Way). Hence, in Lao Tse, the description of Genesis is as follows: “The Way bears one; one becomes two; two becomes three; and three nurtures everything.” All things originated from the “ONENESS”. As Tao is invisible to the naked eye, it needs to be manifested in certain tangible ways. PaidaLajin self-healing method is one way of manifesting and promoting the simplest and yet deepest Tao. 

       Isn’t it joy to learn Tao and then die?

Translated by Anandi, Email: liveitnow@163.com