How to Refine Essence into Qi to Transform the Physical Body?

Ru Chun: Not long after sitting down, a crisp crackling sound came from inside my head, like footsteps on crushed ice. With these crackling sounds, the structure of my head seemed to be collapsing. At the same time, I saw my chest cavity seemingly transformed into a lily-like structure, large and deep, with a sense of comfort. When the breath reached the chest cavity, it was as if it had entered empty space, vanishing in an instant. A stream of qi suddenly gathered in my two palms held in the meditation mudrā, gradually growing larger, and my palms seemed to grow larger along with it, like holding a big balloon of air, fully inflated. I thought I had only been meditating for a dozen or so minutes, but when I got up from the seat, I found that an hour had passed.

Assessment: This is a phenomenon of the qi meridians passing through the head and breaking through the skull. Because bone is rather hard, when material qi touches the bone, crackling sounds occur; and because the location of the skull's sounds is very close to the supreme faculty of the ear faculty, the sounds are heard very loudly. This is an ascending qi that travels from the root chakra through the navel chakra and heart chakra, and then surges up to the head. When it passes through the heart chakra, the qi in the chest cavity becomes very subtle, as if it had been vaporized, making the chest cavity very broad and deep. The coarse, heavy breath from external respiration is vaporized upon arriving here, so one no longer feels the breath. From then on, this makes a person open-minded and magnanimous, very tolerant. The subtle vaporized qi circulating in the chest cavity makes the chest feel extremely comfortable.

The qi in the palms growing larger shows that through meditative concentration, the four great elements of the originally condensed qi were transformed and became lighter — this is the phenomenon of vaporization, which is also the principle of the Daoist refinement of essence into qi. After vaporization, the four great elements of the qi are subtle, giving one a feeling of swelling and expanding, making the palms seem larger and puffed up with qi. If the whole body is vaporized, the entire body will grow larger and taller, feeling light, nimble, and comfortable, similar to the physical body of a deva. The physical body of a deva is composed of subtle four great elements, without any sense of heaviness — light and nimble, able to fly, free of illness, and possessing fragrance. Once a person's body is cultivated to the point of vaporization, there will be no illness; it will be light, nimble, and comfortable, feeling tall and grand.

How can one vaporize the qi? Through the continuous cultivation of meditative concentration, cutting off the emotions and desires within the mind so that the qi does not leak outward, the mind becomes tranquil, the body follows the mind's transformation, and the essence, qi, and spirit within the body will undergo transformation, gradually being refined and vaporized, becoming subtle and refined; the body is transformed and also acquires fragrance. Ordinary people's bodies generally have blockages; the qi in the body is condensed and does not circulate, so there is an unpleasant odor. Once everything is vaporized, the foul smell disappears and is replaced by fragrance instead.