notes from recent Daoism seminar.

[mixjourneyman]

hey guys,
yesterday I taught a Daoist philosophy seminar in Guelph.
Here are the notes for anyone who is interested.


Daoism seminar
Sep 27 2014:



San Yuan, san guan, san gong Daoism theory:


Daoist thinking after the time of Laozi (the original Daoist philosopher who wrote the Dao De jing/way of virtue classic) began to evolve a series of descriptive terms which explain how the concept of “qi” (the energy field) works in the world, the universe, and by proxy, people.
These key terms include things like Dan (elixir), Jing, Qi, Shen (essence, energy, and spirit), and include ideas about how each interact with the other.
First, an explanation of the term qi in both classic and modern Daoist culture:
Qi has two major meanings in Daoism – the first 気 is the common character used in modern China to indicate that something contains oxygen or breath – or a certain alive feeling. In early Daoism, this qi is normally related to breath, or natural phenomenon such as emotions.
The second Qi in Daoism is slightly different – 炁, it is made up of the characters 無/无 wu and 火 huo.
In this case, the first part of the character means emptiness, or not having/existing – the second part means fire. The character for emptiness is placed over the top of fire – and as such, its meaning is a fire burning an empty place.
Daoist people after the time of Laozi believed in the idea that longevity could be achieved through alchemy – but in the early stages of Daoism, alchemy was not clearly separated into different schools.
For many hundreds of years, there was a search for a pill of youth, which could be derived from metals such as gold and mercury- as these metals even after being melted could return to their original forms.
This supported the Daoist idea that people could return to the youthfullness of a child, even when they had become very old.
Of course, this type of alchemy caused much suffering, as the ingestion of metals caused various diseases. At the same time, Daoist people also practiced meditation and religion – with these two schools eventually replacing the external alchemy school.
Even though the external school came to an end, the terms used in it continued to apply to both religion and meditation. 炁 continued to be used as a way to talk about the alchemical process of tempering metal through fire – but in this case, it began to mean the refining of emptiness into energy.
This is an analogy to talk about how a fire creates smoke, which gradually rises from it as if by magically appearing from nowhere.
In this case, fire is related to the way the ancient Chinese conceived of the mind – as being something which is active and overpowering. In this case, the mind is hot and palpable, but if it is too hot it will inevitably burn out – this is easy to see when people think too much and cause themselves stress.
In Daoism, the lower abdomen is typically considered to be associated with water, and emptiness.
So the character 炁 basically means that when the intention of the mind is placed into the lower abdomen, it will create an alchemical reaction such as the one that takes place between fire and water.
The steam of the fire will rise and form into a type of energy which may extend into and nourish the body.
This Qi usually follows a path called 元気 yuan qi, which is a circular route of energy from the abdomen, up the spine, over the head, down the chest, and back to the abdomen.
元気 also refers to how energy moves in the universe – because Daoists believe that the energy of the universe is essentially eternal and continuous - 元気 as an idea basically amounts to an ongoing type of energy which always occurs both in the body and in the rest of creation.
Because Chinese culture usually places people as being between the earth and the sky – this gives rise to the idea of a trinity of energies called 三元 san yuan, which brings us around to the first topic of our seminar.

三元 is a phrase meaning the three levels of existence in the world – the heavens (universe), earth (world), a people (conciousness). The heavens are represented by a purely positive energy which is always moving forward and away – it is creative and contains all things. The world is represented by a feminine energy which is receptive and always moves inward and down. Humanity is considered to be the balance of the heaven and earth – something which is both masculine and feminine at the same time. A balance of yin and yang.

三元 therefore is a way of understanding that people must try to achieve both the active quality of heaven, and the passive quality of earth. Heaven and earth are both extreme phenomenon which can not be controlled, but because they meet in the centre as sentient creatures, these creatures are given the ability to work with both of their energies in order to thrive and develop over the course of their lives.

It is therefore imperative in the Daoist framework of thought for people to recognize that they are part of a natural phenomenon which can be harnessed by them in order to improve the quality of their lives.
One of the great goals of Daoism is to do saintly deeds in the world in order to lessen the suffering of other beings – as such, the concept of 三元 is to teach people to work to achieve balance between the positive and the negative – becoming neutral and peaceful.

This is simply another way to talk about creating the balance of Yin and Yang.
Another meaning of 三元 in Daoist thinking is in relationship with three gods – one being the earth god, one being the god of heaven, and the other being the god of the water. These gods in Daoism have a relationship with the other deities, and are considered to be eternal and ephemeral.
These gods are not extremely improtant to the basic study of meditation or philosophy, so we will for the time being ignore them and go on to the concept of
三宫 san gong – or three palaces.
These three palaces are three places in the universe which contain energy – again these things accord with the trinity concept of yin and yang being poles which meet in the middle and create an alchemical process which causes the world to work and take form.
In this case, it also refers to three energy centres in the human body known as the 丹田
dan tian. These are places where 丹 dan, or elixir is contained in the body.
This elixir is a type of energy which is related to Qi and nourishes the body and organs.
It is also considered as a type of spiritual energy that works on three levels - 精 炁 神 jing, qi, shen – or essence, energy, and spirit. The essence energy is located in the lower abdomen, above the genitals and below the kidneys – energy is considered as being located in the chest and related to blood and breath flow being controlled by the lungs and heart – spirit is considered as being the thing which animates the mind and allows people to have perception and know their own existence.

三关 is therefore mainly a concept about how energy is stored in the body – and about how different types of energy live in different areas. The upper dantian in the head is the palace of the spirit, the middle dantian is the palace where the energy is stored and circulated by the blood and breath, and the lower dantian in the abdomen is the palace where the basic essence of the body is stored and distributed by the glands associated with digestion and sexuality. The three palace theory therefore relates to the idea that the body has three sacred places which accord with the yin of the earth, the yang of the heavens, and the balance of life (as represented by the heaviness of essence, the substantial nature of blood and breath, and the ephemeral nature of the spirit). These three palaces must be balanced according the the fundamental idea that gravity moves all things toward the earth – so again, the idea that the creation of qi works by moving the mind downward to the abdomen is the central principle which allows the energy and later spirit to be regulated by the rising steam coming from the alchemical reaction of the spirit (mind/fire) and essence (emptiness/water). Because both energy and spirit arise from the basic element of the earth – the basic energetic principle of 三宫 is that which moves down must move up.

This theory thus ties in closely with 三官 san guan – three gates.

三关 this is the idea that there are three vital gates that energy moves through in the human body.
The three gates begin at the bottom of the spine in the ming men, go above the kidneys to the jia ji, and end in the space from the neck to the back of the head in the yuzhen.
These gates work in cooperation with the three dantian in the front of the body in order to allow energy to recirculate after it has moved successfully through the front.
These three gates, unlike the dantian, can not be autonomously controlled- they are simply a natural route by which energy moves when provoked by using the fire of the mind to create energy in the lower abdomen.

三官 another character pronounced as guan, also refers to three types of god in Daoism who regulate the universe in various ways – but this idea is esoteric and of less value than their meaning when applied to the movement of energy and spirit in the body.


In closing, it should be noted that daoism attempts to follow a reverse course in life – viewing the direct course of life as the route to fate – and preferring instead to attempt to bring the body back to the suppleness of a child. Therefore, the three cycles, three palaces, and three gates of Daoism are treated as a way to counteract the bad movement and stagnation of energy in the human body , in order to create a healthier and happier life.

There are a whole array of exercises in Daoist practice to harmonize these three things in the body – with Taijiquan and Qigong being two of the most common and easy to learn ways of cultivating these qualities in active people.
Daoism also uses a meditation method called nei dan, which is the practice of cultivating the great medicine of energy in order to lengthen life and achieve enlightenment.
Although this seminar only touched on the theory of sanyuan, san gong, and san guan – all of this information is applicable to the intelligent practitioner of any type of meditation or martial art/qigong practice.

[JoeWood]

Thanks for sharing.

Joe

[neijia_boxer]

Nice read. in other words..... just practice diligently.

[mixjourneyman]

just want to correct myself on a few things - I made a number of mistakes in the Chinese characters used. Wrote it around midnight the day before - so made some typos. anyway, pronunciations and meanings are all right, just some wrong characters. may edit later when I have the time

[Wanderingdragon]

Interesting read and by far a study common to many students of CTIMA. I find what is most satisfying, we find that which we have come by in physical phenomena through our training, before we find validation in our intellectual pursuit. In essence to see what we have already felt in the words of past adepts. I.E. Your training journal echoes the which has been written, surely a feel that your physical study and true understanding is on track.

[KEND]

Thanks for the seminar notes. The concept of three Tan Tiens is not often discussed, in most articles the Tan Tien is described as a point below the navel. I became aware of this in the early 80's and it helped considerably in forming an energetic model for the body. Personally I prefer to think of the body as being a conglomeration of EM fields but the paradigm constructed by the early Taoists is remarkably sophisticated. The essence of a healthy body becomes the balancing of energy rather than the Western hunt and kill the baddies. Each method has its pros and cons but the latter seems to incur more collateral damage.

[mixjourneyman]

the material for tomorrow's class.

Saturday Oct 4 2014

Jin dan daoism meditation basics:



Today's class is focused on building a foundation in the root curriculum of Daoist meditation practice.
We will both study meditation theory and practice some excercises.
The first criteria of discussing meditation in a Daoist context is to set out goals and motivations behind practicing in this modality.
The first major point of focus is that Daoism is different from other religious practice.
Daoism
- does not focus on worship of god or messiah
- does not seek to obtain release from things like the cycle of karma
- does not have any specific moral precepts which are unchangeable or immutable.
- does not view the physical body as something to be discarded after a high level of practice is achieved
It does
- focus on nature and being naturally
- attempts to enlighten people through the practice of meditation and positive lifestyle choices
- does view kindness and caring for others as a prerequisite for caring for oneself, and views a main objective of practice is becoming saintly in nature.
- views the body as being worthy of care and protection.

Viewing the final two points as especially important – we can further interpret that Daoist people have many types of practice that improve the situation of the lives of individual practitioners and those around them.

Among those practices are meditation, martial arts, calligraphy, music, chanting, tea ceremony, and many other things which basically fall into the realm of “Dao Tong culture” (connected principle culture).
Because meditation is one of the most direct methods of achieving the goals of Daoism, it is seen as one of the most important areas to place emphasis.

Daoist meditation is alternatively known as “neidan” (internal elixir) “dandao” (the way of elixir), “xiudao” (to cultivate the dao) and “jin dan” (golden elixir practice).
This different things all basically mean the same thing – but have slightly different intonation in meaning.
Neidan essentially refers to the inside of the body as having an intrinsic medicine (elixir) which circulates around and nourishes the organs. Neidan is a type of practice which cultivates this medicine.
Dan Dao is basically the same meaning – but in this case, Dao refers to the universe or universal way of things. In this regard, it is the universal practice of elixir. Xiu Dao refers to the active cultivation of the way – so it can refer to anything including art, culture, work, relationships, government, or anything else which is capable of being used as a way to make progress in the study of the dao.
Jin dan, which is the topic of the day, simply means the cultivate the true elixir – or the golden elixir.
This type of practice is most commonly spoken of after the Ming Qing era of Chinese history (AD 1400 and onward), and is most typified by books such as “xingming guizhi” and “Dao de jing chan wei” among others. Jin Dan is a very well developed practice and has a profound theory that goes well beyond the mere practice of meditation, but also includes a full curriculum of understanding about how the energy of the body works in accord with the universe. As a practice, it is not complex, but as a way observing practice, it requires a great deal of research and attention to detail.
Neidan and Jin Dan are basically the same thing , so the words are interchangeable.

Lets touch on how jin dan is practiced:

The book Da Cheng Jie Yao (great achievement shortcut. The first real Daoist self help book),
says that there are three types of energy in the universe. To put it the most simple way, the the energy of the heavens is called great elixir – the energy of the earth is called spirit elixir – and the energy of people is called golden elixir.
Now we should understand that these energies are not separate phenomenon.
Daoism views the energy of all things as being mixed in a chaos and as interacting in harmony with each other.
The human body is also exemplified by three energy centres – the top centre being the home of the spirit – the middle centre the home of vital energy – and the lower centre being the home of human essence.
Daoists believe that the lower centre of the human body represents the earth – the middle represents humanity – and the upper part represents the heavens. Or to put it in a different way – the space between heaven and earth is humanity, but both heaven and earth are prerequisites to life. The middle centre of the body is where the yin of earth meets with the yang of the sky.
Because early Daoists observed life in all of its permutations – they knew certain sets of scientific rules, for instance, all things accord to gravity and even if moving from up, always tend to eventually move back down.
Because of this, article “Da dao shuo” in the book “xing ming gui zhi” says “the heavens are vast and honest, the earth is deep and real. Move honesty and diligence to the earth, and truth and depth will rise to the heavens.”
Practically, this means that when people move the trajectory of their intention toward the lower half of the body with great veneration and honesty – there will eventually be a feeling of positive energy moving up the body toward the sky.
It also says “I believe that for you to truly be satisfied with the rise of great light – you must first focus on the origin and opposite of Yang”
This means that if one wishes to manifest positive energy, they must focus first on the root of the positive, which is yin, or the energy of the earth. Alternatively, it means that male or active energy is always created by female or passive attention.
Also “to get to the dark and mysterious gate, one must focus on obtaining the root and opposite of yin.”
this means that if one wishes to take their practice beyond the normal realm and into the place where the whole body begins to feel as though it is clear and being healed by energy – one must practice with great dillegence.
Later it says “the general must all day continue moving forward without ceasing,” and “moving forward with true yang energy, one will return back to the dao.”
In other words, to achieve great enlightenment, one must put great effort into practicing.
It also means that the goal of practice is to achieve the true state of Yang, or the true positive energy in the universe.
This does not mean that Yin and Yang should be unbalanced, but it means that the ultimate expression and end result of practice should be that great progress is made and that the practitioner should become fully realized, healthy, and happy.
So from all this, we can interpret that a basic practice of Daoism is to move the mind toward the earth.
A basic exercise for this is to sit upright in a chair.
Close the eyes and relax the face – begin to feel the breath. Simply monitor the in and out breath and nothing else. Next, begin to set the mind in the lower abdomen (several inches below the navel), and do not allow it to move back up. The mind, if leaving the abdomen, should always simply be placed back there. The breath should be calm, vast, and relaxed. The mind should gradually slow down, and the body should begin to relax.
The breathing should go downward on both the in and out breath, with the in breath expanding and downward (the in breath is true yin, because it always moves to the earth), and the out breath should relax and move downward in the abdomen (the out breath is true yang, because breath is expelled from the body). After staying this way for a long time, the mind will naturally relax, as will the nervous system, and gradually the feeling will begin to move in the body. It is normal for the feeling to move to the head. Sometimes it may initially be felt in the back and then in the head. The next action is to let it stay in the head for a short period of time, and then as it gradually stirs, to move to the centre of the chest for a period of time – and then back to the abdomen.
This circulation should take between five minutes and one hour – simply depending on how well developed your practice becomes. Yin and Yang are balanced simply by turning the intensity of the mind down or up as energy builds or declines. This is done according to feeling, but it is safe to say, staying in the middle of the range of feelngs is quite safe. Going to great extremes of energy does not allow the mind to become calm – being too soft and gentle causes sluggishness and emotional problems such as meloncholy.
It is always best to stay balanced and not get too high or too low in practice.
The energy can be circulated as many times as desired – but to end the practice, the attention should always be brought back to the true centre of the body, just behind the navel. If the feeling is in the whole body, that is also an acceptable way to hold the mind when ending practice. It is important though, not to hold the energy in the upper body at the end of practice.

The overall goal of this practice is to make the body feel relaxed and as though there is a positive, medicinal feeling moving throughout the body. It can also have the spiritual benefit such as causing the mind to become silent, and causing the mind and body to feel as though they are melding together. Higher achievement can include things like the body melding with the world, and also enlightenment experiences of various sorts, as well as increased sensory abilities, such as the ability to feel glands and hormonal releases.
As we touched on previously, this type of energy is believed to manifest originally in the body as a result of the male semen fertilizing the female egg during conception. Because the place where the reproductive system rests in the human body is near the abdomen, the area above the genitals is considered to be very important for developing vitality. Because the foetus is fed through the umbilical chord, it is also considered that the area around the navel is very important in nourishing the energetic body. Laozi called this being “nourished by the great mother.”
because the area between these two important centres of energy is the lower abdomen – then daoists believe that the lower abdomen is a good place to fix the attention – causing the energetic elements of both of these areas to mix and create a synergy of yin and yang within the rest of the body.
Therefore, the first and most important step of jin dan practice is to use the mind to cultivate the energies of the lower body in order to nurture the “dan tian” (elixir field).

Because this is the first major step of our practice – your homework is to go home and meditate by fixing your attention on the lower abdomen and observing the breath. Try this for many days and if you have the experience of the energy moving in the body, simply follow nature and allow it to move on its own. If the energy moves to the head – simply let it stay there until it is ready to move to the chest. If it moves to the chest, let it rest naturally with the breathing until it moves to the abdomen and so on. The most important thing is to begin to create small medicine in the lower abdominal area.
Do your best, and if you have any questions, please contact me.

[cerebus]

Very cool stuff!

[kenneth fish]

Just curious - is this your own research? Do you have any textual references?

[Wanderingdragon]

Am I to gather from these lectures, that you are a realized human being and versed by accomplished practice, qualifying you to teach such efforts ? Or is it just diligent reading ?

[Mr_Wood]

I've never felt so confused about breathing

[vagabond]

interesting. aside from the obvious, how does this differ from focusing on the "golden triangle", upper lip below your nostrils), or the sensation of your breath, or similar buddhist meditation?

[mixjourneyman]

Dr. Fish and WD, i'll answer yoiur questions together if that is alright.


I learned most of my Daoist material from Master Yang - but I also do a lot of reading of Chinese classics. The texts I used mostly for these classes were Dao De jing Chan wei, Xing Ming gui Zhi, Da cheng jie Yao, and Jin dan bi yao.

Because I learned the structure of these books by studying with master Yang, it made them easier to read. I have to admit that my classical Chinese reading skill is an ongoing project, so I ask for guidance from my teahcer quite often.



Vadaga:
I'll get back to you a little later about this - after I finish lunch and have time to make a longer reply.

[mixjourneyman]

Vagabond:
a brief answer (I am in the middle of organizing for a big trade show next week):
daoism focuses on cultivating the energy sensation coming from the dantian and ming men (or qi xue point) and causing it to circulate throughout the body in various stages. There are many different ways of understanding and practicing, so I'm not brave enough to say all schools - but basically, that is the most condensed version possible. The end goal is basically the same as Buddhism, but with addition of the idea of xian tian, or pre heaven practice.
I dont know buddhism too well, so I can't get too specific.

[flints]

Fascinating. Thank you very much for posting this. Clear explanations and helpful. Please give us the rest if there is any as you develop it.