Internal Alchemy Research Articles

Mapping the Daoist Body, Part Two: The Text of the Neijing Tu

Part One of the present article, published in JDS 1 (2008), presented the historical and terminological contours of the Neijing tu 內經圖 (Diagram of Internal Pathways). As a late nineteenth-century stele commissioned by the Longmen monk and court eunuch Liu Chengyin 劉誠印 (Suyun 素雲, Pure Cloud; d. 1894), it is currently housed in the Baiyun guan 白雲觀 (White Cloud Monastery; Beijing). This installment focuses on the content of the diagram as well as the Daoist cultivation methods embedded in its contours. I first provide a thorough analysis of the textual and visual dimensions of the Neijing tu , including a complete translation with the diagram divided into three sections. The article also clarifies some influences on this Daoist body map and its corresponding internal alchemy system, specifically indicating a possible connection with the emerging Wu-Liu 伍柳 sub-lineage of Longmen. This analysis is followed by a reconstruction of Daoist alchemical practice as expressed in the Neijing tu . I emphasize three methods: praxis-oriented applications of classical Chinese medical views of the body; visualizations which draw their inspiration from the Huangting jing and find clear historical precedents in Shangqing Daoism; and the alchemical technique known as the Waterwheel or Microcosmic Orbit. The three techniques form an interconnected system, wherein the adept’s overall psychosomatic health is maintained and strengthened, his body is osmicized, and he awakens the mystical body, the body-beyond-the-body or yang-spirit, i.e., the culmination of alchemical transformation and the precondition for post-mortem transcendence.

Globalisation and the ‘Internal Alchemy’ in Chinese Martial Arts:The Transmission of Taijiquan to Britain

Taijiquan (t’ai chi ch’uan) is a Chinese martial art that has grown substantially in popularity and global reach since the mid-twentieth century. Known as an ‘internal’ martial art that combines combat techniques with meditation and longevity practices, it has influenced, and been influenced by, the global dissemination of Chinese medical and therapeutic techniques. Like other martial arts, its pedagogy and techniques were changed significantly in early twentieth century China and later during the Cultural Revolution, in line with ideals of physical fitness as a tool for social reform and nation building. In the mid-twentieth century, taijiquan migrated West, becoming aligned in the 1960s and 1970s with Western interest in holistic health, Asian meditative systems and Chinese martial arts, but its martial techniques were little known until the 1980s and 1990s. British taijiquan illustrates the complex outcomes of globalisation processes, resulting in the establishment of different hybrids. There is evidence of the transmission of simplified systems promoted by the Chinese government; of innovative adaptations, developed to suit Western needs; and practices that appear to have survived suppression in mainland China, to be reconfigured in the West. These varied outcomes have been enabled by diverse channels of transmission and by colonial relationships, for example between Britain and Hong Kong, whilst the opening of mainland China in the 1980s has added further exchanges and complexities. In Britain (as in China), at the start of the twenty-first century, taijiquan is mostly practiced with therapeutic and meditative aims, and its naturalistic perspective on human well-being and ageing resonates with current debates in preventative medicine and public health. As a ‘traditional’ martial art, taijiquan has a less predictable future, which will be influenced by the degree to which it engages with the competitive sporting arena of official Chinese wushu (martial arts) and the extent to which martial arts become subject to formal regulation. The future identity of taijiquan will depend on the ways that technical and cultural control is negotiated between continents and on the interest shown by the global scientific community in the value of taijiquan for understanding health and well-being.

Globalisation and the ‘Internal Alchemy’ In Chinese Martial Arts: The Transmission of Taijiquan to Britain

Taijiquan (t'ai chi ch'uan) is a Chinese martial art that has grown substantially in popularity and global reach since the mid-twentieth century. Known as an ‘internal’ martial art that combines combat techniques with meditation and longevity practices, it has influenced, and been influenced by, the global dissemination of Chinese medical and therapeutic techniques. Like other martial arts, its pedagogy and techniques were changed significantly in early twentieth century China and later during the Cultural Revolution, in line with ideals of physical fitness as a tool for social reform and nation building. In the mid-twentieth century, taijiquan migrated West, becoming aligned in the 1960s and 1970s with Western interest in holistic health, Asian meditative systems and Chinese martial arts, but its martial techniques were little known until the 1980s and 1990s. British taijiquan illustrates the complex outcomes of globalisation processes, resulting in the establishment of different hybrids. There is evidence of the transmission of simplified systems promoted by the Chinese government; of innovative adaptations, developed to suit Western needs; and practices that appear to have survived suppression in mainland China, to be reconfigured in the West. These varied outcomes have been enabled by diverse channels of transmission and by colonial relationships, for example between Britain and Hong Kong, whilst the opening of mainland China in the 1980s has added further exchanges and complexities. In Britain (as in China), at the start of the twenty-first century, taijiquan is mostlypracticed with therapeutic and meditative aims, and its naturalistic perspective on human well-being and ageing resonates with current debates in preventative medicine and public health. As a ‘traditional’ martial art, taijiquan has a less predictable future, which will be influenced by the degree to which it engages with the competitive sporting arena of official Chinese wushu (martial arts) and the extent to which martial arts become subject to formal regulation. The future identity of taijiquan will depend on the ways that technical and cultural control is negotiated between continents and on the interest shown by the global scientific community in the value of taijiquan for understanding health and well-being.

SOME TROUBLES AND PERILS OF TAOIST MEDITATION

Sometimes, Taoist meditation can entail certain troubles and perils. The troubles can be both mental and physical, and the perils can include neurosis, insanity, illness and even death. These problems, it would seem, are caused by the severity of the self-denial that practitioners are sometimes required or encouraged to undertake, as well as by the nature of the meditation technique and the consequent trance experience. This paper will examine how such troubles and perils are described in several Taoist texts of different periods, and how these texts respectively explain and propose to deal with such problems. Perhaps the most vivid and extensive description of the troubles and perils of Taoist meditation available is a discourse entitled Jindan zhengyan a^HiJR (Golden Elixir Signs of Proof). This text is included in the Zhuzhen neidanjiyao atUfafJllic (Collected Essentials of Internal Alchemy from the Realized Beings),1 an anthology of internal alchemical discourses and poems compiled by a certain Xuanquanzi ££-? (Master of the Completion of Mystery),2 perhaps around 13OO.3 Jindan zhengyan describes various unusual phenomena some pleasant,

Daoist Neidan: Lineage and Secrecy Challenges for Western Adepts

195 Daoist Neidan Lineage and Secrecy Challenges for Western Adepts MICHAEL WINN October, 2002. I’m sipping tea with Chen Yuming, vice abbot of Mt. Hua. We’re in Qingkeping monastery; above us sheer granite cliff rises up three thousand feet to West Peak. It’s my fourth visit in four years to this sacred Daoist mountain, and we are now good friends. He’s arranged hidden caves for me and my neidan students to meditate in, but I’ve care‑ fully avoided ever asking him about his personal practice of internal al‑ chemy. Today, I casually ask if he would like to meditate with me. Chen Yuming flips open his cell phone. He must get permission, he informs me. He calls his teacher, and after an animated discussion, per‑ mission is finally granted. I ask him if the concern is that meditating with a “foreign devil” might pollute him spiritually. He smiles, and replies, “I am not allowed to meditate with anyone outside of our very small circle of initiates. It’s to avoid any disturbing influences”. We meditate for several hours in silence. The qi field, in my percep‑ tion, is “cooking.” Afterwards, Chen Yuming says with obvious surprise: “That was fantastic!” I share with him the Seven Dao Formulas for Im‑ mortality of hermit One Cloud I’ve been exploring for twenty years. He shakes his head. “Those are very deep secrets. Very few in China know these methods”. He had difficulty grasping that these internal alchemy methods are being offered to anyone in the West who wishes to study them. On 196 / Journal of Daoist Studies 1 (2008) Huashan, outside of small private circles, there is little public discussion of the deeper aspects of Dao. As a small example, I am told that Daoist cosmology is not something that would be casually discussed or debated at meals amongst the monks. Daoist internal alchemy lineages are amongst the most secretive in Chinese culture. They rely on one‑to‑one or small group transmission and loyalty to lineage. Many Daoist adepts belong to what is called the “School of Seclusion” or “Hidden Secrets.’ The premise: after admission to a tiny club of initiates, the adept is taught most people are not worthy nor capable of receiving the transmission. Because each adept must pass on their knowledge to only one worthy student – which is a lengthy process that doesn’t always happen – neidan within China is in danger of being slowly strangled into extinction by the School of Seclusion. Secrecy is a huge barrier to the appropriation of Daoist spiritual technology by Western seekers. Westerners are considered untrust‑ worthy, and face cultural racism as well. I once heard a Chinese teacher declare: “Westerners are incapable of experiencing qi, because they can’t speak Chinese.” But learning Chinese does not improve your chances of piercing the veil of secrecy. Chinese texts describe secret practices of in‑ ternal alchemy, but they are “protected” by an obscure code, words only initiates can understand. Only close friendship and trust opens the doors of neidan. Why all the secrecy? Ostensibly, to protect the purity of the lineage and prevent corruption by selfish people who might abuse the spiritual power gained. “Do not leak the secrets of the universe” is an ancient ad‑ age. One fear is that the secret methods will be used by power‑hungry demon immortals to obstruct the will of Heaven. Other Daoists in China tell me: “We don’t know why the ancients kept it so secret. We just imi‑ tate them.” If this secrecy poses a steep challenge to ordinary Chinese, it is a quadruply high barrier for Westerners. The most visible counter‑force to this secrecy has come from Thai‑ Chinese teacher Mantak Chia, the most prolific modern appropriator and publisher of Daoist esoteric methods. (Ni Hua‑Ching, based in Los Ange‑ les, has published more books than Chia’s thirty‑plus works, but rarely gives away detailed methods). I was editor of Chia’s Healing Dao Books for fifteen years, and ghostwriter or co‑author of the first seven books that established his fame. Looking back, I was culturally very naïve. I Winn, “Lineage and Secrecy...

Daoists on the Southern Marchmount

177 Daoists on the Southern Marchmount ROBIN R. WANG The Southern Mountain (Nanyue 南岳) in Hunan is one of the five cen‑ tral Daoist mountains, with a long history of living masters. According to legend, the Yellow Emperor lived there, and Zhang Daoling 張道陵, the founder of the Celestial Masters, visited the site. The female matriarch Wei Huacun 魏華存 (252‑334), one of the key revealing deities of Highest Clarity, had a sanctuary there, and the Huangting jing 黃庭經 (Yellow Court Scripture), a major meditative manual, is associated with the site. Today, the mountain is home to thirteen temples with over forty female and thirty male Daoists. There is an Academy of Female Daoists (Kundao Xueyuan 坤道學院) in the main temple (Damiao 大庙) at the bottom of the Southern March‑ mount. 1 Part of the Chinese Daoist College (Zhongguo Daojiao Xueyuan 中國道教學院), originally founded by the Chinese Daoist Association in 1990, the Academy houses a two‑year program committed to train fe‑ male Daoists. Both the academy and the mountain are under the leadership of the well‑known female master Huang Zhian 黃至安, president of the Hunan Daoist Association and also vice‑president of the Chinese Daoist Asso‑ ciation. She is one of the most prominent female Daoists in China today, at least in terms of political and social involvement. A member of the 1 For more detailed information about this school, its trainees, and curricu‑ lum, see my “To Become a Female Daoist Master: Kundao in Training” in Internal Alchemy: Energetic Transformations for Vitality and Transcendence (forthcoming in 2009). 178 / Journal of Daoist Studies 1 (2008) People’s Congress as a Daoist representative, she regularly attends ses‑ sions at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. She is also the chief editor of the biannual journal Hunan Daojiao 湖南道教, which contains ten sec‑ tions that range from discussions of current events through presentations of classical texts and Daoist history to contemporary moral issues. Mas‑ ter Huang has the long‑term vision and firm commitment to promote Daoism in the contemporary world. Supported by various kinds of fund‑ ing, she has recently acquired a large abandoned elementary school building and turned it to the site of the academy. The first class of female students matriculated on September 12, 2005 and graduated on June 25, 2007. The class consisted of forty‑eight female Daoists, selected from thirty‑two temples in sixteen provinces. Its mission is summarized in the slogan: “Honoring Dao, Respecting De; Learning and Cultivation Progressing Together” 尊道贵德, 学修并进. The goal of the program is to train Daoist leaders who can manage temples all over the country and participate in the official administration of the religion. Upon graduation, the women return to their original temples and take on the responsibilities of managing them in a modern way. Usually aged between 21 and 35, this newly trained elite is set to become a vigorous force affecting the development of Daoism in the coming decades. This group of students lives and studies in the temple facilities. Classrooms are located around a quiet courtyard; they are equipped with new equipment and computing facilities. Learning and living conditions are better than in many overcrowded Chinese colleges. Each dormitory is shared only by two students; a cafeteria provides three vegetarian meals a day. It even caters to the tastes of students from dif‑ ferent regions, making saltier food for northerners and spicier food for southerners. This academy is financially supported through a variety of sources: a) local fund raising; b) annual donations by Hong Kong organi‑ zations; c) a small amount of local and central government funding. Nanyue is located in Hengyang 衡陽 county of Hunan province. It is about 100 kilometers from Changsha 長沙, the provincial capital. Changsha’s claim to fame is as the location of Zhu Xi’s (1130‑1200) Con‑ fucian academy and as Mao Zedong’s hometown. Daily trains and buses connect it to Nanyue. The name of the stop is Hengshan 衡山. From there, a 20‑minute cab ride will take the visitor to the temple. I flew from Bei‑ Wang, “Daoists on the Southern Marchmount” / 179 jing to Changsha (about two hours) then arranged a private car to get to Nanyue in two hours. After concluding my work there, I took...

Of Alchemy and Authenticity: Teaching About Daoism Today

Abstract. The authors discuss the complexities and responsibilities of teaching about Daoism in contemporary North American colleges and universities. Expanding and revising the findings of Kirkland (1998), they argue that enough has changed in educational and cultural contexts to warrant new strategies for teaching about Daoism. Textbooks are now available that offer more accurate and responsible presentations of Daoist history, and this enables a richer appreciation of Daoist culture and religion, and its significance within broader areas of Chinese culture such as art, politics, and science. On the other hand, students have a far greater possibility of interacting outside the classroom with North Americans of Chinese and European background who claim affiliation to the Daoist tradition especially through techniques of moving meditation such as Qigong and internal alchemy. This situation poses challenges in the classroom concerning claims of authenticity, tradition, and representation. Rather than shying away from these contemporary North American cultural forms, the authors argue that the skilled teacher can use these interactions to facilitate a deeper inquiry into questions of authenticity and tradition. Moreover, the authors discuss the use of an interactive website designed specifically to assist in reflecting on these issues in the classroom.

The Early History of theZhouyi cantong qi

(2002). The Early History of the Zhouyi cantong qi. Journal of Chinese Religions: Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 149-176.

Lord of the Three in One: The Spread of a Cult in Southeast China (review)

Reviewed by: Lord of the Three in One: The Spread of a Cult in Southeast China Scott Lowe (bio) Kenneth Dean . Lord of the Three in One: The Spread of a Cult in Southeast China. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998. xii, 406 pp. Hardcover $45.00, ISBN 0-691-02881-8. Chinese "popular religion" has experienced a remarkable resurgence in the decades following the death of Mao Zedong, with Fujian Province often leading the way. In Lord of the Three in One, Kenneth Dean draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork in Putian and Xianyou, Fujian, and a number of rarely studied textual materials, to provide a complex and nuanced portrait of one particularly successful sectarian tradition, the Sanyijiao, or "Three in One," a distinctive religious tradition that attempts to assimilate selected teachings of Buddhism and Daoism into an idiosyncratic version of "Confucianism," while worshipping its founder Lin Zhao'en as a god. Dean does not restrict himself merely to describing the historical development of the tradition but attempts to analyze its cultural and economic contexts, focusing especially on the processes through which the Three in One became accepted by local society and the mechanisms employed by the Three in One to create a relatively new, economically competitive ritual tradition. Lin Zhao'en (Lin Longjiang, 1517-1598) was a brilliant and scholarly member of an affluent Fujian gentry family who became a xiucai at the age of eighteen yet rather mysteriously failed to progress through the exam system. After failing the juren exam in 1547, Lin renounced traditional Confucian studies and began practicing internal alchemy with a wandering Daoist sage. By 1554, Lin had assembled a group of disciples and built a hall for their studies. Lin and his followers achieved local fame in the next decade for their relief work during a period of social disruption caused by a series of pirate raids. For the rest of his long life, Lin enjoyed a high regard in his community as an exemplary civic leader and religious teacher. He traveled and lectured widely and wrote voluminously, providing his followers with commentaries on many important Confucian, Daoist, and Chan Buddhist texts. In addition to his efforts to harmonize the three teachings of China, Lin also created a sizable body of ritual and meditative practices distinctive to the tradition he was founding. Within a few decades of his death, Lin's deification as Xia Wuni, the Lord of the Three in One, was complete. He had become a god and was worshipped by thousands in the Xinghua area of Fujian Province. Currently there are more than one thousand temples in the People's Republic of China belonging to the various sub-traditions that claim allegiance to Lin's teachings, with a growing number of temples and followers in Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Dean estimates that half a million individuals, representing nearly all [End Page 84] social classes, participate in Three in One worship and rituals on a regular basis; many followers believe that the Three in One tradition is poised to spread worldwide in the near future. The book is divided into eight substantive chapters plus an introduction, conclusion, and eleven appendixes, most of which include translated materials from Three in One texts. Dean gives a solid overview of Lin's life; the careers of his successors; the schisms in the tradition; the actual teachings, yogic practices, and rituals of the various branches of the Three in One; the cultural and economic niche the tradition has secured; and the history of the tradition during the Qing and Republican eras, followed by an assessment of the current state of the faith. Most of Dean's claims are supported with evidence, although when he speaks, as he often does, of broad periods of time or large topics, his stance is magisterial. He summarizes and generalizes with plausibility and authority; only scholars specializing in the minutiae of the Xinghua area of Fujian could contest his assertions. Dean is to be commended for the thoroughness of his research. He and his Chinese colleagues have seemingly left no stone unturned in their search for texts and inscriptions related to the Three in One. They have uncovered a great...

CONDITIONS, WAYS AND MEANS OF HEALING IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE CHINESE TAOIST

Chinese literature reveals an astonishing proliferation of notions pertaining to healing and medical help. However the medical doctor or physician does not always appear to be the main actor. The good effects of healing may well come about without proper physicians being called in to see the patient. Buddhist monks and Taoists, whom we think of as religious specialists, seem to perform effectively medical skills. On the other hand we hardly get information about any medical training which they might have received. The relationship between these religious specialists and the medical profession is worthwhile studying. We want to concentrate our study on the sphere of Taoism. Taoist literary collections contain many books on alchemical matters, also pertaining to the sphere of medicine, which convey the impression that religious elements uniquely contribute to make these practical matters work. Talismans (fu) would be such an element1. A reknown book of this type is Ko Hung's (283-347 A.D.) Pao-p'u tzu, nei-p'ien2. The Taoist Canon abounds with texts which feature the production of elixirs and methods of prolonging human life. In the course of history two types of alchemy developed, the operational and the internal alchemy, which to some degree use similar terminologies3. In the field of internal alchemy the human body itself turns out to be

Le monde à l'envers dans l'alchimie intérieure taoïste

The World Upside Down in Taoist Internal Alchemy. The process of inversion is one of the fundamental principles of internal alchemy. The course of the seasons flows in a direction opposite to the natural one : Water-winter gives birth to Metal-autumn. Metal floats and Wood sinks, Fire goes down and Water up. Fire is above Water, Earth above Heaven, woman above man. In the same way one takes the interior concealed in its envelope : Yin in Yang and Yang in Yin. So, for instance, the moon is masculine and yang and the sun is feminine and yin. This illustrates the hierogamic exchange of attributes. This process of inversion co-exists with the natural process so that the two opposite movements can be seen at the same time (« en transparence ») and it realizes the figure of the "coincidentia oppositorum".

Recherche sur l'alchimie intérieure (neidan) : L'école Zhenyuan

Internal alchemy (neidan) must be distinguished from operative alchemy (waidan) and from the various techniques of breath- circulation. Internal alchemy borrows from operative alchemy its use of the Yijing and of certain chemical terms, but it does not seek to produce any chemical substance; rather, it transfers the alchemical goal of synthesis into the realm of breath and meditation techniques and philosophy. The nine texts to be examined here belong to the teaching of the True Origin (Zhenyuan), a school whose history remains obscure. This tradition traces its origins back to Ge Hong and to operative alchemy. The texts also refer to the Yinfu jing and the Cantongqi. Numerous borrowings from the Shangqing literature also occur, among them the term zhenyuan itself. This is hardly surprising, as the Shangqing incorporation of chemical recipes and breathing techniques may be considered to be the impulse at the origin of internal alchemy. But the synthetic drive behind the Zhenyuan texts goes beyond purely Taoist sources: -correspondences are established between Taoist and Buddhist notions (wu and you, for example); -the zhenyuan the "true origin," is identified with both Mencius' haoran zhi qi and the Taoist yuanqi; -elements from Taoist neiguan, "internal contemplation," and from medical texts are incorporated in the Zhenyuan synthesis, as are Buddho-Confucian notions of morality inherited from Taoist Lingbao scriptures. The texts devote considerable space to cosmogenetic speculation and seek to synthesize Laotzian metaphysics, notions of Taiji, Qian, and Kun, and the Taoist concept of primordial breath as the link between the one and the many, via the mechanisms of its circulation in the macro- and microcosms. It is in the context of this speculation that one of the texts presents the Taiji diagram that plays so important a role in Sung Neo-Confucianism. Most of the oppositions characteristic of other neidan texts are also to be found in the texts of the Zhenyuan school— water and fire, lead and mercury, etc. — as is the contrast between ordinary people who "follow" the natural course of things and engender children and those who "master" this course and engender their immortal self. Also noteworthy is the characteristic neidan emphasis on "double cultivation" of the physical and the mental. Most important, however, is the symbolic use of alchemical terminology: the "true crucible" is identified with the Big Dipper, the "true mercury" with the sun, and the "true cinnabar " or lead, with the moon; these heavenly bodies are in turn linked to the hun and po souls in the human body. The union of these elements is to be effected according to a calendar divided into twelve sections represented by hexagrams. In short, the Zhenyuan school gives us yet another example of the Taoist genius for synthesis. At the same time, it has its own unique characteristics linking it to the Shangqing and Yijing traditions.