Neidan Study Group Netherlands

14/04/2026

Some words on the nature of the Ba Mai according to Qing dynasty physician Luo Dong-Yi. Borrowing from Zhuangzi’s Tai Chong. Luo Dong-Yi was clearly influenced by Neidan ideas and builded further on Li Shizhen’s ideas on the Ba Mai.

14/04/2026

Zhang Boduan’s Ba Mai Jing , considered to be lost, only to be found back in fragments in Li Shizhen’s Qi Jing Ba Mai Kao and the later Imperial period Wu Liu school Neidan text, the Hui Ming Jing.

It’s interesting that Zhang Boduan’s observations have influenced Li Shizhen profoundly. According to Neidan, the Ba Mai needs to be opened by the surge of Primal Yang Qi.

Other interesting aspects of this Ba Mai Jing are quite different locations of the Ba Mai and the idea that you need to open the Yin Qiao first.

These ideas have somehow influenced Li Shizhen’s thinking on approaching the Ba Mai. This is quite different from the common view that the Ba Mai are open and you just need to circulate some Qi through it, a common idea in medicine and Qi Gong.

Neidan ideas are quite different than medical ideas about the Ba Mai, Li Shizhen tried to bridge that gap. Coming weekend I’ll explore that notion in more detail in a class on the Huang Dao (Central Channel ) and Dian Hua (ignition) in Engaging Vitality context at Qing Bai.

13/04/2026

Spring is associated with the wood element (if you want to be more specific, we are currently in the time of 辰 chen which is associated with Yang earth, but spring is generally associated with wood), new growth, increased light in the environment, sinew, the eyes, liver and green. This time of year is phrased in the Chinese calendrical system and especially Daoism and Medicine as being synonymous with dawn and early waking hours. During this time the whole cycle of nature springs to life after the earlier stirring of the spring season from the time around the Chinese new year. Martial artists and physical culture enthusiasts may be tempted to catapult directly into intense activity, but wisdom gleaned over thousands of years tells us that as a result of the body exiting winter dormancy we should gradually habituate ourselves to increases in movement in order to avoid injury.
I personally never stop training, even in the coldest months, but experience tells me that in spring I am particularly susceptible to jogging related knee strain, so I'm careful not to run on flat ground or concrete around this time of year, since I don't want a seasonal injury to inhibit my chances of enjoying advances in gongfu which accrue during this time.
Winter is a time of storage which can be treated as a secret building time that allows for magnificent flourishing in spring and summer.
This complies with Laozi's idea of 归根复命 gui gen fu ming "return to the root and come back to life."
Time is our guide in life, make yourself its disciple and you will have a better experience ✨️ 😊 💛 ♥️ 💯 🙂

12/04/2026

If you want to study Neidan, this is a must read, one of the most influential texts in Neidan literature. Only the first Juan has been translated in English and German. We studied the whole text over the course of two years together with Robert C***s and some friends. It remains an amazing text absorbing next to Daoist and Neo Confucian notions also notions from Buddhist schools, including Chan , Tiantai and even Vajrayana.

11/04/2026

Next week in Qing Bai. (only open for those who did the basic training in Engaging Vitality) Engaging Vitality is an approach to East Asian Medicine which integrates elements from Osteopathy, East Asian Medicine and Neidan. It has been developed by pioneers in the field, Dan Bensky and Charles Chace.

11/04/2026

11/04/2026

soon to come :

Neidan workshop at TCM Congress in Rothenburg ob der Tauber - Félix d Haas

Neidan (Internal Alchemy) has gained increasing attention in the recent years. Rooted in earlier Daoist internal cultivation systems, Neidan developed into a very sophisticated meditation system integrating also many Buddhist and Neo Confucian notions.
It became along with Chan the most practiced cultivation practice among the literati. In that way it influenced also many of the late imperial scholar physicians and had a profound influence on Chinese Medicine.
Good examples are ideas developed around the Ming Men by physicians like Zhao Xianke and Zhang Jiebin or ideas on the Qi Jing Ba Mai (Extraordinary Vessels) by Li Shizhen. Physicians like Li Shizhen argued that physicians needed to take in account ideas developed in Neidan with regards to the Ba Mai.
Neidan is therefore relevant from many angles.
First it explains us how some important ideas have developed in medicine, it helps us also better understanding these topics.
Next it can benefit one’s health and clarity of spirit
It can be also very useful in clinical practice, it can help us to be more aware during the diagnosis and during needling for example. As already is explained in the early classics like the Ling Shu, the art of needling is a delicate process which desires the right state of awareness.

This day will have the following set up:

Morning :
Introduction in to some historical aspects of Neidan.
Main ideas/ concepts in Neidan
Explanation of the difference between Neidan and other arts like Qi Gong
Examples how Neidan influenced medical thinking in late imperial China
Introduction to some very basic practices

Midday :
Further elaboration on some of the important ideas in Medicine derived from Neidan
Further introduction and instructions on some basic practices
How we can incorporate some of these elements in clinical practice, like during needling

The lecture and workshop may be given in German or in English, depending on the participants.

Der TCM-Kongress Rothenburg ist eine alljährlich stattfindende, nicht-kommer-zielle Veranstaltung der Arbeitsgemein-schaft für Klassische Akupunktur und TCM e. V.

10/04/2026

Hello, I have been asked over the past if I have a blog or website where they can find my articles related to East Asian Medicine , Philosophy , Buddhist and Daoist Meditation and related Arts. I have a website for my clinic with quite some articles, but this might be more accessible and also more easy to manage for myself. I am from a different generation and less digitally educated than newer generations, but I ll do my best to make more of my work accessible. By now you’ll only find my introduction, but soon you will find more material. You are all most welcome to join.

East Asian Medicine practitioner, Buddhist and Daoist meditation practitioner.

10/04/2026

Did Chinese Internal Alchemy travel outside China before the 20th century?

To be honest we don’t know. There are suspicions that ideas about internal alchemy might have traveled between Tibet and China, since some practices in Vajrayana have similarities to Neidan or earlier cultivation practices.
Did it travel further? We don’t know, but at least we see Daoist images appearing in Rachid al Din translation of medical literature in 14 th century Persia. How this was received in an Islamic environment is not sure . But we know that Alchemy on its own was serious practice in the Middle East. Abū Mūsā Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (9th century) is a a great example.

Image:

An example how Chinese medical and Daoist ideas were translated by Rachid Al Din in 14 the century Persia.

Human figure (right) and wrists (left). Rashid al-Din, Tansūqnāma-i Īlkhān dar funūn-i ulūm-i Khatāī, Tabriz, 1313. Istanbul, Süleymaniye Library, Ms. Aya Sofya 3596, fols. 79b–80a

Human figure (right) and wrist (left). Li Jiong, Bashiyi nanjing, preserved in the Ming edition of the Taoist Canon, which was published in facsimile as Dao zang: Wu si ba wu juan (Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1924–26

09/04/2026

Practicing visualization for energetic development is best done by returning the mind to a unified "one" and maintaining it until entering emptiness and self forgetting. This approach to "guarding the one" is what allows the post heaven mind and body interact with the pre heaven energy which is formless. This way of practice is more effective than visualization by itself and was an important stage in the development of Daoist energy practices before the Tang dynasty.

06/04/2026

Think I have shared it before, truly a treasure grove and a delight for the eye. Very interesting for those interested in Neidan but also in the history of Chinese Medicine.