Yanling’s childhood was enmeshed in Chinese Traditional Medicine, Qigong, and Tai Ji, which helped form her life-long interest in studying these disciplines in the ancient Chinese classics. Her education embraced Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. To broaden her knowledge, she has learned from well-respected masters of both Buddhism and Daoism. Her own practice focuses on one lineage that deals with examining the mind. Her daily reminder to check the state of her thinking is guided by the Xin Classic, which she has translated along with another book entitled (in English) What is Beyond the Earth Dimension.
She visits her teachers and continues to increase her knowledge when she visits China.
Yanling is a born educator. She taught for 22 years in schools in both Beijing and in the United States. In the late 1980s, she designed and diet and Qigong program for the Pacific Rim Cultures Curriculum and taught her students about “whole-person” healing when she was teaching in Alaska.
Since 1990, she has focused on writing and translating ancient Chinese texts. She also teaches Qigong, Tai Ji, and Chinese culture, literature, and healthful cooking and eating. She has taught in many places in the United States and has again accepted an invitation to teach abroad this year (2006).
She is not alone in her endeavors. Her entire family practices Qigong, Tai Ji and other martial arts, and Chinese medicine. Her husband, Dean Johnson, can be found at a whole health clinic (www.qi.org); her daughter, Claire, is a teacher and healer at ZY Qigong (www.zyqigong.com); and her son, Kyle, who earned his black belt while he was a teenager, continues his martial arts practice; he is currently traveling and studying in China.
Her Philosophy
Xin: Heart-Mind. Awareness. Conscious thought.
Such an understanding can only be gained through self-effort practice and cultivation. I see today’s more human natural powers getting recognized as a way to correct the extremes of believing in only what can be found in the laboratory and what can be seen by the naked eye. And I admire so many educated Americans who don’t worship supernatural powers.
I believe in practicing Dharma. Dharma is a Buddhist term, which, in Chinese, is called “Fa men” (“Fa” means doors that you can come in and go out through). According to Daoism, Dharma, or Fa men, is the methodologies, practices, and guidance handed down by the sages of Buddhism and Daoism.
I also believe in karma. Karma is a Buddhist belief, but also is a belief of Daoism. The Chinese word for karma is “ye. ” Ye means what a person has done and is creating, which is the meaning of Karma. I believe that when a person recognizes that his or her own mind creates things such as fear, anger, and jealousy, that person can let go of these negative emotions right away. This light, bright moment is the moment of being the true self---the baby Buddha. This state, using a term from Confucianism, is called the Middle Way and it is what I make efforts to retain. But it is not always easy to retain for long. I believe that by removing Karmas totally, anyone can become a bright “full moon”! And the base for growing into a “full moon” is a good root---kindness, and good nutrients---wisdom.
I believe in the Great Void, that is, the achievement of Buddhahood. The void that produces wonders and is the most powerful space is also the philosophy and practice of Daoism described in the I Jing and Dao De Jing. The highest Dharma of void/emptiness is the Xin Classic that Buddha taught the best of his best disciples. Although Xin Classic has been translated into English, I translated it again. I did it as a daily reminder in my life because translating helps deepen my understanding of how to coordinate my practice and spiritual cultivation.
I think that any belief that causes others to helping all people may be considered a “Big-Vehicle, ” which is loosely translated from Chinese and is a Buddhist term that means to focus only on helping others (Mahayana Buddhism). This Big Vehicle is characterized in different ways in different cultures. As long as the belief shows unconditional compassion for the world, it is a Big Vehicle. I think that Jesus was a great sage of the Big Vehicle by giving his life to educate people kindness and peace. The Chinese Daoism is another Big Vehicle that educates people to balance the Xin and body through the right combination of eating, thinking, physical exercise, etc. All of these sages have the aim of teaching humans how to purifying the self/soul with their spiritual treasures, which teaches mortals how to free the self.
I believe when a person is capable of taking off the “outfits” we wear in our lives by cultivating his or her own xin, anyone can achieve immortality and Buddhahood. When the Buddha taught the Xin Classic and that all Dharmas were equal and empty, He surely meant this.
Some Thoughts...
I included the Xin Classic in the What is Beyond the Earth Dimension (The Vast Light of Mighty Yamantaka) because this book helps understand the Xin Classic in a brilliant way. The book is the biography of a Tibetan Guru Rwa Dorji. In my opinion, Rwa’s life was about how to reach the Great Void, how to practice Dharma and how not to get attached to any Dharma. The misplaced criticism of Guru Rwa or I should say the worries and fears that his stories might give some less-than-decent masters excuses to do bad things, should become unnecessary as more people become educated and less superstitious. It’s time to tell people Rwa’s stories because he was as just as important as another great Tibetan Guru, Milareba, except they went through different life journeys. They lived through the same period. Rwa brought Yamantaka Sect to Tibet and contributed profoundly to Buddhism of Tibetan Tradition. He spread the Big Vehicle Buddhism broadly in Tibet as Guru Milereba
In my point of view, the world has always been under the universal law and the treasures for human spirits are preserved by moving and adapting and passing on when the time is right. For example, before the prosperous period of Buddhism ended in India and Nepal, Buddhism of the Big-Vehicle (Mahayana) gurus went China and spread the teaching. All these have been well preserved in China such as the Chan (Zen in Japanese) and the Xin Classic taught since 148 and 167 CE, respectively. Then Guru Damo went to China again in about 520 CE to promote Chan from Shaolin and later spread to the Asian countries and was preserved. When the Chinese became too focused on the Chan words, the Sixth Chan Successor (638-713 CE) became a guru who had no schooling; but he was a great achiever just as the previous five Chan lineage successors who all were well educated. We may think that the Sixth appeared for correcting a wrong trend and to show people that the essential and only way is through working on the self Xin. For the same reason Buddhism of Esoteric and Xian began developing in about 750 CE promoted by Guru Padmasambhava and has been well preserved in Tibet. When the 1959 political event occurred in Tibet, the time to totally end the Tibetan slavery system had come and at the same moment Buddhism of Tibetan tradition broke out and was brought to the world!
“Esoteric” teaching or “the secret guidance” in Daoist terms, means the very strict principle of passing on teachings to only the right practitioners. Some true stories happened in recent years prove this. In July 1987 in a town in north China a quiet, poor, 80 year old man died. He had no family no children. Suddenly at his funeral appeared over one hundred his disciples that surprised the neighbors. When his body was cremated, in the sky colorful clouds appeared, fragrance was filled in the funeral house and his ashes tuned into many small crystal, colorful pieces, called dan in Daoist terms. His name was Xu Dian-ming, a grand martial art master and the lineage carrier of a branch of Tai Ji, the Tai Yi School.