YuèLǎng KūnLún 月朗昆侖 (My Own Moon)

Awakening your Inner Wisdom

Figure 1. I took picture of the moon up in the Arctic circle, during the winter solstice period of 2023. It was a magical experience because the full moon circled around us constantly, above the horizon, for an entire 3 days. As I started writing this article, I was immediately taken back to this moment.

Introduction

Over the last couple of years, I finally found some time in my busy life to take Swedish language and culture classes. For my most recent homework assignment, I had to listen to the Swedish song “Jag vill ha en egen måne“ (I want my own moon), by the late Swedish artist, Ted Gärdestad, and write a short essay about what feelings were generated when I listened to the song. I submitted the following to my Swedish teacher:

Bildspråket i den här låten framkallade känslor av ensamhet, frid och frihet inom mig. Jag tror att alla har sin egen måne. Din inre andliga värld är din egen måne. Jag tror detta eftersom jag har utforskat min egna måne i över femtio år. Du kan hitta din inre frid, styrka och frihet på din egna måne.

Translation:

The imagery in this song evoked within me feelings of solitude, peace, and freedom. I believe that everyone has their own moon. Your inner spiritual world is your own moon. I believe this because I have been exploring my own moon for over five decades. You can find your inner peace, strength, and freedom on your own moon.

After I submitted my homework, I felt that it would be nice share my method of exploring my inner moon here with you. This traditional method will help you deal with any kind of issue, from stress, to anxiety and depression, or physical illness, that arises in your life, and help you connect to your natural state of inner peace and happiness regardless of any external challenge.

I first published this traditional method in my book, Chinese Shamanic Cosmic Orbit Qigong — Esoteric Talismans, Mantras, and Mudras in Healing and Inner Cultivation (London: Singing Dragon, 2011). The following is an excerpt from the aforementioned book. We will focusing on the one movement of the form, which is called “Awakening your Inner Wisdom.”

---

YuèLǎng KūnLún 月朗昆侖

Awakening your Inner Wisdom

Figure 2 - Talisman of YuèLǎng KūnLún 月朗昆侖, calligraphy by Master Zhongxian Wu

Meaning

Yuè月 means moon. Lǎng 朗 means clear, bright, and brighten. KūnLún 昆侖 is the most sacred mountain in Chinese shamanic tradition, as it is the place where the Queen Mother of the West dwelt. We believe that the Queen Mother of the West was the first to have passed down the teachings of the shamanic and Daoist traditions. It is said that the Daoist teachings of Yellow Emperor, the ancient shaman king who is regarded as the founder of Chinese civilization (he lived about 5,000 years ago), and of Laozi, the author of DaoDeJing (the core Daoist text), came from her.

In Chinese inner cultivation practices, the moon symbolizes Yin energy whereas the sun symbolizes Yang energy. The luminescence of the moon (Yin) is simply a reflection of the brightness of the sun (Yang). In this spirit, during our Qigong practice we describe the different faces of the moon in terms of different stages of our Yang energy. We draw on the image of the new moon to represent the Yang energy at the very beginning of our practice, and that of the full moon to illustrate Yang energy reaching its peak level. We also describe different states of mind, consciousness, and wisdom in terms of various faces of the moon. A bright full moon, for example, is a picture of your clear, peaceful, and enlightened mind. In Chinese wisdom traditions, we refer to the brain, head, or spiritually realized states as KūnLún. The clear full moon shining its light on KūnLún Mountain is a depiction of the highest goal of our inner cultivation practice—to live our lives consciously and fully awakened.

YuèLǎng KūnLún is a way to look deep inside yourself, to awaken your consciousness, and to move through the world guided by your inner wisdom.

Figure 3 - YuèLǎng KūnLún 月朗昆侖 Posture, drawing by Master Zhongxian Wu

Movement

Come to a seated posture as the one see in above in Figure 3. Alternatively, you can find your seat on a chair or stool while keeping your feet parallel and shoulder-width apart.

Bring your hands to your Dantian (lower belly). Then turn your palms towards your Dantian and have your thumbs and index fingers touch gently. Your Laogong on both hands will be facing your Dantian in Yinguangyin 銀 光印—Silver Light Mudra. Practicing this mudra will help increase your Yin Qi, cultivate your gentleness, and reveal the source of great compassion for yourself and others.

Visualization

Imagine Qi, like a powerful waterfall, penetrating through your body when you bring your hands down to your Dantian. Imagine your hands covering the moon in your lower belly and that the light of the moon brightens your entire body as you hold the Silver Light Mudra.

Breathing

Take a deep breath, make the Mantra, Heng 哼 (pronounced “hung”), while exhaling. Heng means sacrificial offering. Then, hold the mudra and regulate your breathing to be slow, smooth, deep, and even.

Benefit

Practicing this movement is a great way to open the RenMai 任脈 and to enhance your Yin Qi. RenMai is commonly translated as Conception Vessel in English. Running along the midline of the front aspect of your body, it is the meridian that rules Yin energy of your entire body. As Yin energy gives birth to Yang (life) energy, the RenMai also nourishes the Yang energy of your entire body. Your body will maintain a healthy state and a high level of wellness if your RenMai is open with the Qi flowing smoothly within it. This movement is beneficial for those who have Yin related health problems such as insomnia, high blood pressure, ADD (attention deficit disorder), migraines, anxiety, and poor stress management.

In order to have a harmonious body and a harmonious mind, and by extension, a harmonious society, it is necessary to have good quality Yin within. As Laozi states in his DaoDeJing,

Wan wu fu Yin er bao Yang, chong Qi yi wei he

萬物負陰而抱陽 沖氣以為和

When Yin embraces Yang, harmony is found

I hope this practice will help your discover your inner moon and dissolve any problems, just as Ted Gärdestad sang in his song: “Jag kan sitta på min måne och göra vad jag vill. Där stannar jag till allting ordnat sig.” (Translation: I can sit on my moon and do what I want. I’ll stay there until everything is sorted out.)

In case you would like to see a video of Ted Gärdestad singing Jag vill ha en egen måne in 1972, the year the song was released, here is a YouTube video I found online. Please note that Ted, as he was known internationally, was just 16 years old at the time: