Daoism, Meditation, and the Wonders of Serenity

From the Latter Han Dynasty (25-220) to the Tang Dynasty (618-907)

Stephen Eskildsen

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781438458229, 9781438458236
• eBook ISBN: 9781438458243
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy

Stephen Eskildsen offers an overview of Daoist religious texts from the Latter Han (25–220) through Tang (618–907) periods, exploring passive meditation methods and their anticipated effects. These methods entailed observing the processes that unfold spontaneously within mind and body, rather than actively manipulating them by means common in medieval Daoist religion such as visualization, invocations, and the swallowing of breath or saliva. Through the resulting deep serenity, it was claimed, one could attain profound insights, experience visions, feel surges of vital force, overcome thirst and hunger, be cured of ailments, ascend the heavens, and gain eternal life. While the texts discussed follow the legacy of Warring States period Daoism such as the Laozi to a significant degree, they also draw upon medieval immortality methods and Buddhism. An understanding of the passive meditation literature provides important insights into the subsequent development of Neidan, or Internal Alchemy, meditation that emerged from the Song period onward.

ONE

INTRODUCTION

OPENING COMMENTS

Daoism has always emphasized mental serenity and maintained that good effects will come about from it. To be serene means that the mind is clear (qing 清), or free of any thoughts that confuse it; it also means that the mind is calm (jing 靜), without any emotions that agitate it. Daoism maintains that you should foster serenity at all times and in all activities. Activity itself is best limited to only what is most natural (ziran 自然) and necessary—“nonaction” (wuwei 無爲) is thus frequently enjoined.

For Daoists, meditation has been a primary means of fostering serenity and bringing it to greater depths. The greatest depths of serenity are entranced states of consciousness wherein mystical insights or experiences are said to come about,1 or where vital forces of both mind and body—typically conceived as spirit (shen 神), qi 氣/炁 and essence (jing 精)2—are said to be activated and mobilized in most salubrious and wondrous ways. However, for such wondrous occurrences to come about in full abundance, it is frequently maintained—as we shall see—that your method of meditation ought to be simple and passive, apparently so as not to hinder the wonders that can only arise naturally. Less is more in all things, including meditation.

An immense variety of meditation methods and regimens have been devised within Daoism. Many of these have actually been very complicated, and have involved the active manipulation of the psyche and physiology by means of techniques such as visualizations (especially of deities inside and outside the body), invocations, mental guiding of qi, controlling and holding of breath, swallowing of breath, swallowing of saliva, knocking of teeth, self-massages, bends, stretches, drawing or swallowing of talismans, and such. Techniques of this sort—which we refer to as proactive (as opposed to the sort that most concerns us, which we refer to as passive)—are presented in particular detail and abundance in a category of Daoist scriptures called the Shangqing 上清 or Maoshan 茅山 scriptures, which originated out of divine revelations that are said to have occurred in the latter half of the fourth century in Jurong 句容, not far from present day Nanjing. These scriptures were widely acknowledged as the highest of divine revelations in medieval Daoist circles, to the extent that in the structure of the Daoist canon as conceived in the early fifth century, the canon’s first section—the Dongzhen 洞真 section—was reserved for them. Modern scholarship has rightfully devoted a great deal of attention to the Shangqing scriptures, and Isabelle Robinet has provided us with particularly detailed and illuminating studies on their meditation methods.3

However, such elaborate, proactive meditation techniques are not described or endorsed in ancient Warring States (Zhanguo 戰國; 403–221 BCE) period Daoist texts such as the Laozi 老子 (The Old Master, aka Daode jing 道德經 [Classic of the Way and the Virtue]), the Zhuangzi 莊子 (Master Zhuang) or the Neiye 内業 (Inner Training). These texts endorse the habitual fostering of serenity throughout all circumstances and activities; if and when they do specifically speak of meditation, the method seems to involve little more than just calming and emptying out the mind.

As we shall see in this book, despite the profusion of proactive meditation techniques in Daoism during the first millennium of the Common Era, there also continued to exist and develop more passive approaches to meditation that calmly observed the processes that unfold spontaneously within the mind and body. Theorists and practitioners of such methods claimed that through deep serenity one could variously attain profound insights, experience numerous sorts of visions, feel surges of salubrious qi in the body, overcome thirst and hunger, be cured of all ailments and decrepitude, ascend the heavens, and gain eternal life. While they did not necessarily reject or disdain the proactive methods, they often viewed them as conferring lesser blessings, or as being rudimentary methods that should or can be practiced in preparation for undertaking the more sublime passive methods.

This book is a historical overview of Daoist religious texts of the late Latter Han 後漢 (25–220) through Tang 唐 periods (618–907) that describe meditation methods of the passive kind, along with the various effects that serenity—particularly that of the deep sort—was believed to bring about. These texts, in emphasizing serenity and promoting passive approaches to meditation can be said to follow the legacy of Warring States period Daoism to a significant degree, though they also draw inspiration from other sources, and attribute to serenity effects of far greater variety and magnitude. Also, this material is crucial to our understanding of the subsequent development of some of the major types of Neidan 内丹 (Internal Alchemy) meditation that emerged from the Song 宋 period (960–1279) onward,4 which also put a prime emphasis on deep serenity and passive observation. This subsequent development is intended as the subject of a sequel to our current study.

Daoist theories on deep serenity and its effects developed under the influence of far more than just ancient Daoist philosophy. During the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) and throughout the medieval period (covering roughly the years 220 through 960), the increasing emphasis put on the quest for physical immortality, and the incorporation of various macrobiotic theories and methods developed by various immortality-seeking lineages, led to the development of a much greater variety and complexity of meditation techniques, as well as more extensive, concrete, detailed, and audacious claims regarding the sensory and physical effects that can come about. From the fifth century onward certain key Buddhist doctrines and notions such as rebirth, the Dharma Body [fashen] 法身, compassion, skillful means, and Emptiness [kong] 空 came to be firmly incorporated into the Daoist worldview. There also emerged a renewed interest in the philosophy of the Laozi as reinterpreted through a mode of discourse (the so-called Twofold Mystery [Chongxuan 重玄]) modeled upon that of the Mādhyamika school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The incorporation of Buddhist ideas provided Daoists with new reasons for laying prime emphasis on mental serenity, as well as new insights and strategies for the cultivation of serenity. It also caused some Daoists to reexamine the nature and relationship of mind, spirit, and body in a way that apparently engendered a tendency to emphasize the cultivation of the spirit over that of the body. This latter tendency would come under explicit criticism from fellow Daoists, who lamented what appeared to them as an abandonment of the cherished goals of physical longevity and immortality.

The primary scope of this book is Daoist religion of the late Latter Han through Tang periods. To try to ascertain the original teachings and intentions (and identity) of the author(s) of the Laozi or other Warring States period Daoist works is a task that has been ably and strenuously undertaken by many others; it is not my objective to try to provide groundbreaking insights to this discussion. However, before proceeding with proper subject matter, it is necessary to overview what some of the Warring States period texts had to say regarding serenity, meditation, and the effects thereof. The ideas on these matters occurring in these texts were carried on and further developed in Common Era Daoist religion. Both the Laozi (especially) and the Zhuangzi are quoted by Daoist religious authors for inspiration and support of their teachings. The Neiye, on the other hand, has been virtually ignored by them. However, the groundbreaking research of Harold Roth has brought it to the attention of modern scholars as a rare and crucial text for understanding the mysticism and praxis of Warring States period Daoism.5 The Neiye contains some noteworthy observations on the cultivation of serenity and its resultant effects on the condition of the body and its vital forces—observations that anticipate theories that get developed in Common Era Daoist texts.

THE ANCIENT PRECEDENTS

The Laozi

In the first chapter of the received version of the Laozi (ca. third century BCE) is a passage that relates to the absence of desires (an essential condition for serenity) and that can quite readily be understood as describing a sort of mystical apprehension that can result from having no desires. The Laozi famously starts out by describing the eternal Dao (dao 道) as something that can be neither spoken of nor named, and states that this nameless Dao was at the beginning of Heaven and Earth (it also states, in what seems like a more ambiguous statement, that the “named” [youming 有名] is the “mother” of all things). After thus speaking of the elusive, ineffable quality of the eternal Dao, it states:

常無欲 以觀其妙 常有欲 以觀其徼

If you are always without desires, you thereby observe its marvels. If you always have desires, you thereby observe its outer fringe. (1/1b)6

To see the Dao’s marvels may or may not mean to actually observe the elusive, ineffable Dao itself; however, it would at least seem to mean witnessing something extraordinary that pertains to or is proper to the Dao. To always be without desire is really also something quite extraordinary, for in practice we seem to always be harboring some sort of desire. When we are in our ordinary desire-laden state, we cannot see the Dao’s marvels, but only its “outer fringe” (jiao 徼; here I follow the rendering of James Legge).7 Meant here by “outer fringe” are perhaps empirically observable natural phenomena, all of which come about through the power and workings of the mysterious Dao, but none of which manifest the Dao itself. By somehow becoming free of desires, it would appear that you are supposed to acquire a capacity to apprehend what eludes the grasp of ordinary consciousness.

At the outset of our discussion it was proposed that serenity is a mental condition where clarity and calmness prevail, and the Chinese words qing 清 and jing 靜 were presented as designations for these two attributes. The two words do quite often get joined into the compound qingjing 清靜, which is used in Daoist literature to describe the cherished state of mental serenity. (One also often finds the homophonic compound qingjing 清淨 [“clear and pure”] used interchangeably with it.) One of the most popular and influential scriptures of the Tang period that presents itself as the utterances of Lord Lao is the Qingjing jing, or the Scripture of Clarity and Calmness (to be discussed in chapter 5). In the ancient Laozi itself, the compound qingjing is indeed found, but just once. It is found in the 45th chapter, and occurs within a phrase that reads, “By means of clarity and calmness, you can bring about rectitude under Heaven” 清靜以爲天下正 (3/8b). The meaning of the passage would appear to be that mental serenity—on the part of the king, or perhaps the people more generally—can bring about optimal social harmony. Perhaps the idea is that if the ruler habitually keeps his mind clear and calm, he will be able to see every situation objectively for what it is, and respond in the most fair, appropriate, and effective manner. Or, perhaps, the idea is that if mental serenity prevailed among people in general, the world would be free of conflict and strife.

Separately, the words qing (clear) and jing (calm) occur four and ten times respectively in the Laozi; one of the passages conta...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Earliest-Known Daoist Religious Movements
• 3. Dramatic Physical and Sensory Effects
• 4. Integrating Buddhism: Earlier Phase
• 5. Integrating Buddhism: Emptiness and the Twofold Mystery
• 6. Serenity and the Reaffirmation of Physical Transformation
• 7. Serenity, Primal Qi, and Embryonic Breathing
• 8. Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover