Question:

Why and how can Yellow bamboo students be able to demonstrate feats of power,  such as knocking down fierce attackers from a distance, within such a short duration of training?

Answer:

The answer has to be in several parts,  and I will put some parts below as examples:-

YB methodology is primarily a combination of Internal Power and Spiritual Power.  This synergy is greater and faster than each of its components singularly as well as combined.

Spiritual Power can only be easily obtained if the teacher already received his “aji”  or  “agi” from his/her teacher,  who also had received it from his/her teacher, …….. and so forth.  It is a line of unbroken and continuous transmission.

For the transmission to be genuine,  it must be “alive”.  That is,  it is still active, and can be invoked and used.  It must produce results or fruits.  The master who holds the transmission must be able to demonstrate its attainments and have realised its fruition.  A simple test of the master will do.  Another simple test is to see whether the new student can weld the power given to him by the master soon after the empowerment.  If the transmission is still very much alive, active, and strong,  then the new students can demonstrate their power very soon.  Unfortunately,  there are many spiritual teachers in the world who are exceedingly learned and sincere,  but they do not have a genuine “aji-ajian”,  hence,  obtaining powers and the fruits of practice under their training is a long and ardous task.  

The transmission within Yellow Bamboo is still short.  Therefore,  it is very effective.  When a transmission has been handled by humans for a long time,  it becomes corrupted or tainted,  and its energy or force begins to diminish.  Then a fresh transmission needs to be initiated.  This principle is similar to the concept of “near” and “distant” terma transmission in Tibetan Vajrayana.

Mantra practice, by itself is good.  There are many saints from various religions who have attained sainthood by constant prayers and praises to their deities.  Pranayama by itself is good.  Many yogis have attained realisations by controlling the prana in their internal channels and minds.  Yellow Bamboo combines mantra practice with pranayama practice!  A spiritual practice has been combined with a yogic practice to produce a synergy that is more powerful than the sum of the original components.

In the combined mantra and pranayama practice,  the Yellow Bamboo practitioner first prays to God and the deities of his religion to assist, protect and guide him/her during the practice.  The practitioner imagines himself/herself as being in the celestial realms.  Further,  the deities are imagined as approaching and being with the practitioner.  In addition,  the practitioner imagines and invites a favourite deity to be with him/her,  and identifies with the deity.  Thus,  the practitioner imagines himself/herself as the deity,  practising in a vast celestial realm.  This idea is similar to the essential Vajrayana idea of Deity Yoga.  As Chagdud Rinpoche strongly emphasised,  “The essence of Tantra is the pure view of oneself as deity, all sounds as melodious mantra, and all thoughts that arises within one’s mind is the expression of Buddha’s wisdom”  This part is similar to the Mahayoga section of Nyingma teachings.  

Now,  the practitioner goes through some pranayama exercises which involve both building and controlling the prana,  and well as physical exercise which like very much like Shaolin Chi Kung exercises.  The concept is similar to the “kumbaka”  of Tibetan Yantra Yoga.  These develop the practitioner’s internal prana and expands his forcefield so that it may be used as a shield.  This is equivalent to the Anuyoga section of Nyingma. 

Thus, Mahayoga and Anuyoga has been combined into a single practice.  This synergy is greater than the sum of both components separately.  

The combined practice is performed vigorously,  without ceasing,  and as a result of this,  the mind of the practitioner has no place to go or stray,  and thus,  Samadhi is naturally achieved.  (I suppose you can compare this with the method of some Burmese masters who use vigorous breathing to attain concentration).  Thus,  the state of Empty Bliss is quickly attained.  If one is a Dzogchen practitioner,  one may perhaps modify one’s practice at this point to remain in that state.  

The following summaries my criteria for achieving quick results:-

* There must be a genuine living, active transmission. 
* The genuine, living and active transmission must be conferred in person by a master who had received
the genuine, living and active transmission, and who has mastered the technique. (not via studying books or videos)
* The student practises in the presence of a master who has the genuine, living and active transmission, and who has mastered the technique. 
* All paths, all masters, all students must have the blessings and grace of God and their deities. 
 
For any spiritual path to achieve results quickly, the above 4 conditions are should be present. 

I will give an example of what I meant. I will use the Tibetan “phowa” technique of Transference of Consciousness Upon Death as an example.

1) Phowa as a technique and transmission (again, refer to my article on genuine transmission and 'aji') is still alive and effective to today. We see its results in this lifetime for many hundreds of people.  
2) Phowa initiation is conferred by a legitimate phowa master.
3) The phowa master who conferred the initiation must have received the genuine transmission from an unbroken line of genuine transmission. 
4) The transmission must be a genuine one, and one that is alive and active, and unbroken. This genuine transmission is important part of the whole spiritual process. 
5) Phowa is usually practiced in a group retreat in the presence of and under the direct guidance of a phowa master. The presence of the master who has mastered the phowa technique is important for the 'aji-ajian' to flow and transmit to the student. The energy of the phowa and its attainments flows from the master, and the students are within his energy field, which wakes up and guides the energy ('aji') of the students. With regular and constant awakening and guidance, the
students energy may have a chance to awaken and move,  and thus achieve some result. 
 
Attending to a master who has such qualities is extremely important. Nowadays, there are millions of teachers. But most of them, however famous, do not satisfy the above 4 criteria. Some satisfy the criteria for certain techniques only, for example, 
phowa. On reason for my interest in phowa because I know that the number of Tibetan lamas who have achieved the result is more than using other techniques. 

But I have just digressed a little there ………….   back to the topic. 

The Yellow Bamboo practitioner has received a blessing and transmission that is still alive and strong.  That transmission allows access to the deities of Yellow Bamboo who assistance is invoked to assist in the acquisition of the virtues and power.  Because of this “nearness”,  the deities can assist more effectively.  This, it shortens the time. 

Pak Serengen stressed that it is virtue and faith that protects the Yellow Bamboo practitioner.  As long as the practitioner is virtuous, and firmly believes in God and the gods,  he is protected.  Since this transmission is short, living and active,  it is very effective.  

The above article is written from my own knowledge and learning,  which may be faulty.  I am only a beginner on the spiritual path and I still have enormously much to learn.  

If anybody finds any errors or has an issue with my answers,  please email me to discuss and I will try to look into the objections and take the appropriate action as I see fit.  

Written by John Chow

5 November 2004