no treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis in 1900. Sunlight, fresh
air and adequate rest were the only hope.
However, they did come up with an idea — the last chapter of
the book: Annotated Chinese Medicinal Formulae recommended
Taoist Meditation as the best form of adequate rest. It suggested
that completing the Small Heavenly Cycle through the practice of
Taoist Meditation might activate the bodily defenses powerful enough
to overcome disease. Master Yun had practiced Taoist Meditation
since his teens but without any significent effect, except that he
always felt stronger when he practiced it regularly. Threatened by
death, he read the methodology in the Annotated Chinese Medici-
nal Formulae carefully and consulted the village elders for clarifi-
cation of certain details. Then he commenced practicing four times
a day for two hours at a time, isolating himself in a small cottage.
On the eighty-fifth day, a sudden vibrating in his navel area caused
heat to rush up his spine to the back of his skull. The same sort of
vibration occurred on six consecutive nights with heat traveling up
through his spine to the top of his head each time that he prac-
ticed. When it was all over, he seemed to have a new body. All
symptoms of his illness were gone and he felt light and bright like
never before.
One night, two years later, the vibration started up again in his
navel. This happened on three consecutive nights. The vibration
and heat rushed up his spine on its own, hitting the back of his
head (at the occiput) and causing considerable pain. One night his
‘skull suddenly felt as though it had cracked open and a sensation
of heat swirled round and round in the top of his head. This began
‘to happen every time he sat down to practice.
After another six months, a vibration again started suddenly in
his navel and the heat again rushed up to the top of his head, swirled
around in the vertex, came down his face, continued down to his
chest and went on to again reach his navel. Thereafter, during ev-
ery practice period, the heat went up his spine to the top of his
head, then came down his face and chest and returned to his na-
vel, after which, the heat circulated round and round without stop-
ping. Master Yun remained healthy until his passing in his nineties,
living a normal secular life.
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