Meet James Van Gelder, Author

Enter Mo Pai: The Ancient Training of the Immortals by James Van Gelder is an informational book for those who are serious about learning and understanding the 2,000 year old meditation practice known as Mo Pai. The book is available for purchase through CreateSpace.

1. How did you first become acquainted with the practice of Mo Pai?

John Chang made quite an entrance for himself when he was featured in the Lawrence Blair documentary, The Ring of Fire. In this documentary, John Chang is observed by skeptical physicists as he burns paper into ashes in front of them using his "chi energy." He is doing what many believe to be impossible, and on camera! You can see more on YouTube. At the time I saw this film, I already had a lot of interest in energy cultivation and meditation, so I knew that this was very possible, but seeing John Chang do it was on a different level. John Chang truly has a level of power that most masters can't reproduce.

2. For Westerners who haven't heard of Mo Pai, is the energy that you are talking about the same energy we hear about in practices such as acupuncture and Tai Chi?

For the most part, yes. John Chang himself actually takes acupuncture to a whole new level by introducing his "electric qi," also known as houtain qi by the Daoists. In normal acupuncture, the professionals are using the needles at specific points in order to stimulate qi flow within the meridians. John Chang actually uses electric qi to reproduce the stimulation effect but to an exponential degree. Tai Chi works with refining chi into shen and then finally into wuji or ling with a goal of lifting one towards enlightenment, so in that regard Tai Chi is a bit different.

Both Mo Pai and Tai Chi are involved with cultivating internal energy for martial arts purposes. In martial arts today, many are still very unaware of internal energy and cultivation. When we consider a move like the palm strike, to many westerners it just seems like a very useless move. However, to Mo Pai and Tai Chi masters, the strike can be very deadly. The palm strike connects the energy center in the palm directly to another's body, allowing the chi to actually force its way into a person and overwhelm their system. John Chang illustrates how if a person has more yang chi than another a strike like this could actually stop the other person's heart.

3. What are some of the benefits of practicing Mo Pai?

Mo Pai was primarily created as a means for self-defense and immortality. The system itself was created so that people could not only defend themselves here on earth, but also have conscious control of themselves after the death of the physical body. John Chang outlines how even a being with a little bit of yang is much different than a normal human with regards to the afterlife. While the benefits seem tempting, the system itself can be very dangerous if trained improperly. Kostas Danaos equates the training to being similar to taking steroids in the regards that it can turn out very badly for a practitioner.

4. What will readers find in your book, Enter Mo Pai: The Ancient Training of the Immortals?

In this book, readers will gain an understanding of Mo Pai on an energetic level. They will understand what is actually going on and how the Mo Pai technology works to produce the results that it does. One of the more important aspects is with regards to the fusion of the yin and yang chi. It explains how people outside of the Mo Pai tradition have been able to fuse Yin and Yang and also how that compares to the actual Mo Pai fusion of Yin and Yang chi. Hopefully the book will clear up a lot of misunderstanding that has been generated in the cultivation community over the last decade when trying to compare Mo Pai with other systems of internal cultivation.

5. Is there anything else you'd like to share about your book?

Enter Mo Pai: The Ancient Training of the Immortals dives into the world of Mo Pai, a legendary internal cultivation system that has been secretly handed down by successions of meditation masters for well over 2,000 years. The path of Mo Pai develops the practitioner in the present life, but also ascends the practitioner in status with regards to the afterlife. In the present life, the goal of Mo Pai is to develop supernatural abilities capable of aiding an individual both in self-defense and in the rejuvenation of the physical body. Concerning the afterlife, the true master of Mo Pai reserves the ability to consciously navigate their soul after the death of the physical body, freeing themselves from the continuous cycle of death and rebirth.

The greatest Mo Pai practitioner on Earth today, Master John Chang, has publicly displayed his extraordinary developments to the world by performing many spectacular abilities on video such as electrokinesis, pyrokinesis, levitation, suspended animation, and telekinesis. Behind these spectacular abilities is the knowledge of harnessing the secrets of nature in order to boost the potential and natural development of the human body. In order to attain supernatural capacities, this ancient training is focused towards gathering and harnessing the two fundamental life-force energies known as Yin Chi and Yang Chi. These two energies are abundant in nature and play an important role in sustaining the human body. Developing these vital energies to levels that many would consider unnatural, the Mo Pai student quickly gains an edge when compared to the average human. Included in this book is an analysis of the Mo Pai training and the techniques used for gathering, manipulating, and finally combining the two fundamental vital energies of Yang Chi and Yin Chi.

Thanks, John!