IV.  The Taoist Tradition

 

 

 

If thou wouldst complete the diamond body with no outflowing,

Diligently heat the roots of consciousness and life.

Kindle light in the blessed country ever close at hand,

And there hidden, let thy true self always dwell.

 

                             - Hui Ming Ching

 

 

 

The Taoist conception of mystical physiology seems a lot less mystical than plain physical as common names of physical organs were used to designate psycho-physical functions.  Especially in regards to this is the contribution of the liver, heart, kidneys, lungs, and spleen to the refining of the inner elixir of immortality.  Many discrepancies are found in the mapping of the Taoist subtle body mechanism, but this was because each adept in utilizing his power of "interior vision" (nei-che) was personal in his account.  "In shutting the eyes one has the interior vision of the five organs, one distinguishes them vividly, one knows their place."[i]  The main concern of the adept was success in his practice, and this was sufficient to vindicate his view.[ii]

 

Nevertheless, their is a consensus among the Taoists as well as the ancient Chinese medical authorities that the body consists of three regions, the lower, median, and superior, corresponding to the stomach, chest, and head.[iii]  These regions are also called "fields of cinnabar," cinnabar being the major ingredient of the Taoist al­chemical elixir.  The lower field of cinnabar has two important centers, the "gate of life" located a few inches below the navel, and the "yellow court" at the solar plexus.  A vast assortment of rather poetic synonyms have been concocted to refer to these three regions.

 

        Each of these three regions is the home of three very vital substances, ching, ch'i, and shen or sperm, breath, and spirit.[iv]  The lower region houses the ching, the heart or median region the spirit, and the superior field of cinnabar houses the breath.[v]  Three "worms" are also to be found in these regions, and they are responsible for aging and death.[vi]  A host of gods also put up at each site.

 

        As with the Indian model, the Taoist subtle body has many channels, two of which are of chief concern.  The "lesser heavenly circulation" is a channel that connects the heart with the lower belly or gate of life according to Chang Chung-yuan.[vii]  Luk calls it the "channel of thrusting" and has it connecting the perineum with the center of the superior field of cinnabar, the ni-wan, though not via the spinal columns.[viii]  The "grand heavenly circulation" is divided into two courses.  The to-mu or controlled course begins at the tip of the spine, rises up the back to the ni-wan where it curves and ends at the upper lip.  Its compliment, the jen-mo or involuntary course, begins at the lower lip and descends to the tip of the spine.  Along the tu-mo there are seven centers, but these do not play so central a role as do the centers in the Hindu and Buddhist systems.

 

Other circulations are spoken of as there were different approaches according to the interior vision of the adept and the results sought.  Probably the most important practice, directly related to immortality, is called embryonic or fetal breathing.  It is so named because the usual respiration (post-natal) ceases and an inner circulation replaces it.  "In returning to the low­est, in returning to the origin, one drives away old age, one returns to the state of the fetus."[ix]

 

Before a man is born, he is one with life (ming) and human nature (hsing).  Hsing is the spiritual consciousness in man and ming is the "substance of life and death."[x]  Ming is where the life-energy ch'i is produced; hsing is "where the spiritual con­sciousness of man has its origin."[xi]  Ming or life is identified with the involuntary descending course, hsing with the controlled ascending channel.  Before birth these two are connected, forming a wheel of unity.  At birth they are separated.  "When the embryo moves and the embryo vesicle is torn, it is as if a man lost footing on a high mountain: with a cry the man plunges down to earth, and from then on human nature can no longer see life nor life human nature."[xii]  Thus, extremely important is uniting hsing and ming and re-entering the "womb" for further development.

 

Another way to view man's "fall" concerns itself with his generation from the Tao and the function of the three essentials, ching, ch'i, and shen in their immaterial or primordial dimension.  In their primordial dimension shen is spiritual consciousness, ch'i primordial breath, and ching essence.[xiii]  The alchemy that leads to immortality and whose essential materials are these three elements thus takes place on both a personal and cosmic plane.

 

The process of generation of phenomena or the "ten thousand things" indicates the path of return for the prospective immortal.  Says the forty second chapter of the Tao Te Ching:

 

The Tao gave birth to the One;

The One gave birth to the Two;

The Two gave birth to the Three;

The Three gave birth to the myriad creatures.[xiv]

 

 

The Tao has two aspects: the Tao of Transcendence (wu-wei) referred to above simply as Tao, and the Tao of Immanence (yu-wei, t'ai-chi) referred to as "the One."[xv]  The Tao of Transcendence though the primal generator is unmoved in its generating and is not identical to the objects generated.  The One or t'ai-chi is chaos and out of this is born the "Two" or yin and yang.  "From the generated state of chaos comes by movement the principle yang, and by quiescence the principle yin.[xvi]  These three, then, t'ai-chi, yin and yang are responsible for the birth of the cosmos with its innumerable creatures.

 

"By reversing the process of generation, that is, by proceeding backward from the myriad creatures and the myriad spirits, one can arrive at the state of simplicity, or t'ai-chi.  It is at this point that the potency for standing before the Tao of Transcendence is made available.  By emptying the Yellow Court, the potency for the absolute is clarified.[xvii]   Thus, the generating process can be re­versed and immortality attained for, "Tao is forever and he that possesses it, though his body ceases, is not destroyed."[xviii]

 

 

The myriad things returning lead to the Three,

The Three to the Two,

The Two to the One,

The One to the Tao of Transcendence.[xix]

 

        This reversal is effected through the alchemical refining of the three microcosmic elements, the ching, ch'i, and shen into their macrocosmic counterparts.  Thus, the yogi's motto is: "Through compounding sperm (ching), the breath (ch'i) is transformed; through compounding the breath, the spirit (shen) is transformed.[xx]

 

        These three are congealed in the yellow court into t'ai-chi.  Saso maintains that the yellow court has no physical location but is rather the "void center" within man, "a place from which the source of life works invisibly."[xxi]   Nevertheless, other works locate this center at the solar plexus, and carry out their alchemical refinements there.  The three principles, then, when congealed form a "pill of immortality", which, according to Saso, provides the occasion for meditation upon the Tao of Transcendence.[xxii]  The process is a return to non-being, using the term non-being to designate a "mode of being entirely different (transcendent) from that of the thing generated."[xxiii]

 

Whereas non-being surely points to a non-personal, undifferen­tiated ground, most Taoists represent immortality as being in a body.  To the Taoist the body was the principle of unity as the common dwelling place of the spirits, souls, the three principles — in short, all that constituted the life and person of man.[xxiv]  "It is only in the body that it is possible to obtain an immortality which might continue the personality of the living, and which would not be divi­ded into several independent personalities drawing each to its side (of habitation) [at death].[xxv]  Therefore, an immortal body must be fabricated inside the mortal one or "melted out."[xxvi]  Out of the three principles is congealed an immortal fetus in the yellow court which, when mature, can be "wafted up into heaven in broad daylight."[xxvii]  Some block prints depict the Immortal as depart­ing from the top of his head like a genie from a bottle.

 

The following description of the alchemical process is taken from The Secrets of Cultivating Essential Nature and Eternal Life (Luk's Taoist Alchemy) a work of the nineteenth century.  By far the most important preliminary is the conservation of semen which on no account may be lost or expended during the entire alchemical process.  The generative force should also be augmented through swallowing saliva.  Next deep breathing and concentration are utilized to generate heat in the lower belly which serves as the lowest cauldron or furnace in this inner alchemy.  "Bellows" where inhalation is accompanied by the sinking of the abdomen and exhalation by its rising, is the proper means to generate heat.  Heat is all important.  "From the start to finish the successful practice of immortality is by means of fire."[xxviii]  In Rawson's account, an inner circulation of ch'i is mentally directed around the grand heavenly circuit.  As the process takes on its own initiative it picks up "fire" at the heart which when it reaches the lower belly heats up the cauldron.[xxix]

Whenever the generative force seeks outlet in sex, rather than give into the urge, deep breath­ing is utilized to send it around the "grand circulation orbit" (see drawing) for purification.  Then it is raised to the lower belly where heat further purifies it.  Next it ascends to the yellow court where it is transmuted into vitality.  Rising through the thrusting channel to the brain, it stimulates the dormant vital breath in the ni-wan which is trans­muted into spirit.  When vitality unites with pre-natal vital breath, it causes a bright light to manifest which is like moonlight.  This light or spirit should then be driven down the involuntary course to the lower cauldron for more refining.  Concentration between and behind the eyes as well as the rolling of them also help to awaken the hidden light in the superior cinnabar region.

 

The spirit is united with vitality in the lower cinnabar field forming an immortal fetus.  Under the constant pressure of the pre-natal vitality and spirit through the "circulation of the light" in the grand heavenly orbit the ni-wan center emits ambrosia which, descending via the involuntary course nurtures the immortal seed, the developing fetus.  At this point all breathing stops and embryonic breathing takes over.

 

Concentration upon the fetus gives rise to a golden light, a golden elixir, within the white light in the ni-wan.  With the union of these two, the immortal fetus is ready to emerge.  The practitioner "should now 'stir the thought' of leaping into the great emptiness which will open the heavenly gate at the top of the head so that spirit can leave the human body to appear In countless bodies in space.[xxx]   Exit from the body must be cultivated slowly and with great care lest a demon take possession of the body.  Eventually, through further cultivation consciousness returns to emptiness.

 

Sexual techniques also provide a means of attaining immortality.  In ancient times, there were both public and private varieties of such practices.  Both relied on the retention of semen during intercourse.  The results to be obtained from the practices ranged from effecting a cure of a sickness to attaining immortality.  "Each time the Essence [ching] is little, one is sick and when it is exhausted, one dies."[xxxi]   Says Ko Hung, perhaps the best known Chinese alchemical author, "the most important (result) consists uniquely in 'making the Essence return to repair the brain.'"[xxxii]

 

The practice is usually described from the male vantage point of view, though it could equally be practiced by women.  From the male point of view, the discipline involves copulating so as to make the woman emit her yin-essence as much as possible.[xxxiii]   This yin ­essence is then drawn into the man, mixed with his yang-essence and combined with ch'i and shen.  It is then further nourished until, one day, it is raised to the ni-wan through visualization and breath regulation.

 

Not only is it essential that one conserve and not emit his own ching, but he must also increase it through exciting it under the influence of copulation.[xxxiv]   The woman must be greatly aroused so that her yin emission is copious.  Various details are outlined by the "art of bedchamber" literature, some describing among other things the appropriate number and depth of thrusts to be used.  Many texts advise copulation with numerous partners for the maximum benefit.  Of vital importance, however, is the prevention of ejaculation and two techniques seem to have been most widely employed in regard to this.  In one the practitioner simply removes his penis to perhaps the depth of one inch when he becomes to excited.  The other seems to involve the attainment of orgasm, which is suppressed and diverted from emission by pressure exerted at the perineum by the hand.

 

A Book of the Immortals says: the principle of making the Essence return to repair the brain consists in copulating in order to agitate the Essence violently; (then) when it is about to be emitted, one quickly seizes (the penis) with the two middle fingers of the left hand behind the scrotum and in front of the anus, one pres­ses hard, and slowly expels the Breath through the mouth, at the same time grinding the teeth several tens of times without holding the Breath.  Then, when one emits the Essence, the Essence cannot emerge, but it returns from the Jade Stem (the penis) and rises to enter the brain.[xxxv]

 

 

There seems to be a marked difference between this practice and the aforementioned one where orgasm is not diverted but rather is "distilled."  The result, however, is the same.

 

…the men will keep (their minds fixed on) their loins, firmly preserving the Essence and distilling the Breath, which follows the spinal column and rises to the Ni-huan against the current; this is what is called 'causing to return to the Origin' huan-yuan; the women will keep (their mind fixed on) their hearts, nourishing the spirits, distilling an unchang­ing fire, making the Breath descend from the two breasts to the loins, whence it again mounts through the spinal column and also goes to the Ni-huan: this is what is called 'trans­forming the real,' hua-chen.  After a hundred days, one reaches Transcendence.  If one practices (this procedure) for a very long time, one spontaneously becomes a Real Man, and, living eternally, one traverses the centuries.  This is the method of not dying.[xxxvi]

 

As Gulik remarks after quoting the above entry, this is one of the rare cases where procedures for the woman are also described.[xxxvii]

 

The 'rising against the current' and 'making the Essence return to repair the brain' both refer to the same observation that the semen in its original form flows as a current downward from the ni­-wan in orgasm.  "When man and woman unite in sexual congress, the semen flows down from the ni-huan spot in the brain, descending along the spine to the bladder and the kidneys; then it is emitted and becomes an impure substance.  This is semen as activated by the sexual urge."[xxxviii]   For the reversal of the downward flow and the initiation of the alchemical process, it was not mandatory to make use of the opposite sex since masturbation was also an accepted means.[xxxix]   This, obviously, would not involve the intake of yin-essence.

 

        According to Jolan Chang, the art of bedchamber was originally of the mutually benefiting kind as quoted above.[xl]  Later it was debased and in its one-sidedness became a kind of "sexual vampirism" wherein men or women would seek to exploit the other's ching.  The practice of breath regulation likewise underwent changes in time.  Originally the concern was with the circulation of the outer air which was inhaled to replace the dead air which was exhaled.  Breath retention or the absorption of breath was at this time equivalent to embryonic breathing.[xli]   Later, much criticism was waged at the "adepts of the external breath" and the discipline of manipulating the internal breath replaced it for the most part.  Finally, as the notion of the soul changed under the influence of Buddhism, so it seems did the concept of immortality.  There is no doubt that immortality was still often conceived as a simple extension of the present life in either a material body or a refined one.  However, one finds the image of a bodily immortality juxtaposed on immortality as non-being.  At least two later Taoist works, The Secrets of Cultivating Essential Nature and Eternal Life and The Book of Consciousness and Life (Hui Ming Ching), have the immortal spirit rising out of the top of the head.  According to the former work, "the stirring of the thought of emptiness" is the means by which the immortal fetus leaves the "womb" and emerges as a separate entity.  Both texts, however, have non-being as a further and ultimate stage.  The Hui Ming Ching calls

it "Empty Infinity" and concludes as follows:

 

Without beginning, without end,

Without past, without future.

A halo of light surrounds the world of the law.

We forget one another, quiet and pure, altogether

powerful and empty.

The emptiness is irradiated by the light of the

heart and of heaven.

The water of the sea is smooth and mirrors the

moon in its surface.

The clouds disappear in blue space; the mountains

shine clear.

Consciousness reverts to contemplation; the moon-disk rests alone.[xlii]