Welcome to this month’s “Lift Qi Up Club” with Britta Stalling. Today we are looking into
the concept of “Empty, yet not empty”
1. Experiential Insight: The Inner Phenomenon
When practicing Zhineng Qigong—especially in mingjue (pure awareness) practice, or
deep meditative qigong states—practitioners may experience a moment when:
• The body no longer feels solid or bounded.
• The sense of “I” becomes diffuse, yet awareness is very clear.
• One feels spacious, like pure presence or light, but also rich, alive, and connected.
This is a direct experience of 空而不空 (empty yet not empty):
• You are empty of habitual identifications, forms, and conceptual boundaries.
• Yet you are not empty—there is presence, intelligence, awareness, and qi. You feel
whole, connected, even more real than before.
This paradox is not a puzzle to solve, but a doorway to a new mode of being.

2. Philosophical Roots: Dao, Sunyata, and Hun Yuan
Unity
🪷 Daoist View
In Daoist cosmology, the Dao is described as formless, nameless, empty, yet it gives birth
to all things. It is pure potential, and the source of 10,000 manifestations.
This correlates with:
Emptiness as the source of form
Form as the temporary expression of emptiness
The Dao is “empty” of separateness or identity, but “not empty” because it contains and
generates everything.
Buddhist Parallel: Sunyata
In Mahayana Buddhism, śūnyatā (emptiness) refers to the absence of inherent existence.
All things are “empty” of a separate self, yet this emptiness is not nihilism—it is a dynamic
field of inter-being, co-arising, and compassion.
Zhineng Qigong integrates these views with Hun Yuan science—a system where everything
(matter, qi, information) is a unified, dynamic field. In this model:• When you dissolve fixed distinctions (form, identity, etc.), you return to Hun Yuan.
• This unified state is “empty” of separation, but “not empty” because it is abundant,
responsive, and alive.

3. Energetic Understanding: Qi, Information, and the
Field
In Zhineng Qigong, qi is not just energy—it’s a carrier of information, intention, and
consciousness. When you enter “empty” mind:
• The qi field becomes fluid, formless, responsive.
• Blockages dissolve, not by force, but by integration into wholeness.
• The mingjue state perceives without interference, allowing natural intelligence to
reorganize body, mind, and energy.
This state is not a vacuum—it’s not empty in the way a glass with nothing in it is empty.
Instead, it is:
• Structurally formless
• Functionally infinite
It’s more like the space in which stars, thoughts, or healing appear—a living emptiness.

4. Mingjue and the Pure Awareness View
Mingjue consciousness (明觉)—pure, self-knowing awareness—is both the doorway and
the embodiment of this principle.
• Mingjue is empty of content: no identification, no grasping, no mental commentary.
• Yet it is not empty: it is luminous, awake, and deeply alive.
In mingjue:
• There’s no form, no attachment—so we are empty.
• There is clarity, wisdom, and silent knowing—so we are not empty.
This is not just a peaceful state—it is a higher-dimensional functional mode of life, where
transformation arises spontaneously from awareness itself.
5. “Empty Yet Not Empty” as a Life AttitudePracticing this principle isn’t limited to meditation:
• In daily life, you can remain inwardly empty—open, flexible, non-grasping.
• Yet fully engaged, with a heart full of life, clarity, and creativity.
This gives rise to:
• Compassion without emotional entanglement
• Powerful action without egoic will
• Presence without pressure
You become like space—soft, invisible, but capable of holding everything.
Closing Reflection
To truly live “empty yet not empty” is to:
• Abide in spacious clarity.
• Let go of form while embracing all of life as one integrated field.
• Rest in deep stillness while being fully available for movement, healing, and love.
“The mind becomes empty, and the universe flows in.”
This is not a metaphor. It is a direct realization of who and what we truly are.