Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
Most people today have cast aside traditional culture and the national heritage, and do not know what “circulation” (zhoutian) is. The so-called Microcosmic and Macrocosmic Orbits are a qigong method developed by the ancients, later adopted by Taoism for Taoist health cultivation and for the secret transmissions of the immortals' practice.
The Microcosmic Orbit is the circulation of qi; the Macrocosmic Orbit is the circulation of spirit. The human body is a small heaven and earth, and the void outside the body is the great heaven and earth. When the practitioner becomes hazy and indistinct, dark and profound, in emptiness and nothingness, undifferentiated chaos, then after long stillness yang is born; the yang qi bursts open the hundred vessels, the primordial harmony circulates within, rising to the crown and descending to the heels, a single qi flowing all around like a circle or a ring. Because this concerns the small heaven and earth of the body, it is called the Microcosmic Orbit. If one then practices further—hazy and indistinct, dark and profound, emptier and emptier still—the whole body becomes soft and limp, all 84,000 pores of the body open, and the prior-heaven qi of pure Qian yang enters. At this time emptiness reaches its limit and stillness is complete, one merges wondrously with the Great Void, the physical body has become true emptiness, and the prior-heaven qi within that emptiness penetrates within and without, passes through crown and soles, and flows without hindrance. Because this concerns union with the great heaven and earth of the Great Void, it is called the Macrocosmic Orbit.
The many kinds of qigong taught or invented by qigong “masters” in China and abroad today are mostly “methods of comfort” that refine later-heaven essence, qi, and spirit. Even some forms of qigong that claim to reach the “Microcosmic Orbit” or “Macrocosmic Orbit” are only at the stage of laying the foundation in inner alchemy. As for the various novel methods that strive to be different, none of them go beyond the range of the 3,600 side gates that already existed in ancient times. Hence the circulation of inner alchemy and the circulation of qigong are fundamentally different.
The prerequisite for opening the Microcosmic Orbit with qi is to gather true qi intentionally in the lower elixir field, the lower dantian (inside the lower abdomen). When the true qi has gathered to fullness, one feels fullness, burning heat, a sensation like fetal movement, and a sense of bliss in the abdomen. When such sensations appear, the true qi will spontaneously travel down the Conception Vessel, pass the perineum, rise along the Governing Vessel to the crown, and descend again to the abdomen, completing one cycle—the “Microcosmic Orbit.”
The prerequisites for opening the Microcosmic Orbit with the elixir are far deeper and more complex than opening it with qi. The circulation of the alchemical path values above all the prior-heaven qi. Prior-heaven qi originates from prior-heaven essence and is formed by the steaming of the fire of the Gate of Life (mingmen). This process happens in one unbroken flow: as it is said, when the qi is full, the Conception and Governing Vessels open by themselves. It belongs entirely to prior heaven, involves no deliberate action, and comes about as naturally as a channel forming where water flows. No later-heaven intention or guiding (daoyin) is added; it moves entirely on its own once the qi is sufficient, and is achieved of itself when the work is complete.
Gathering prior-heaven qi in the lower dantian is only the first step. On this basis one continually condenses the qi, and as the days lengthen and the work deepens (generally about a hundred days, which inner alchemy calls “laying the foundation in a hundred days”), a solid, high-energy ball of light—the elixir—forms at the lower dantian. Finding no outlet through the yang pass below, and unable to break through the heart above, it naturally bursts open the Tailbone Pass (Weilü), passes through the Spine Pass (Jiaji), goes straight through the Jade Pillow Pass (Yuzhen), and rises to Niwan (the Muddy Pellet, crown center). Then it rushes down from the front of the crown, passes the upper Magpie Bridge, goes through the Twelve-Storied Tower, descends to the Crimson Palace, and returns to the dantian, where it is sealed and secured. This is the so-called Microcosmic Orbit opened by the elixir, rising at the back and descending at the front.
When the circulation opens, the flow of qi is coarse and forceful, with tremendous power, passing through the gates by way of the spinal cord. For a body still in its childhood purity, whose prior-heaven qi is relatively ample, this is relatively easy to achieve once one truly enters the retreat chamber and does the work. For the middle-aged and elderly it is harder, because it takes a great deal of effort to make up for what has been depleted. Some compare the elixir to “nuclear energy” within the human body; its energy is extremely powerful. The elixir may range from the size of a soybean to that of a hen's egg. For most people the elixir formed is about the size of a pigeon's egg.
Once the elixir has formed, it is pushed along the Conception and Governing Vessels, together with corresponding breathing and intention. Although it is said to rise along the Governing Vessel, the route the elixir actually takes is no longer the Governing Vessel but the spinal cord. As the elixir passes through the spinal cord, it thoroughly transforms and renews all the bones, marrow, and nervous system along its path.
Therefore, when the elixir rises along the spine for the first time, the physical and mental reactions are extremely intense. Some people experience cessation of breath (not breathing), cessation of pulse (no heartbeat or pulse), near-death (passing through a period without consciousness or sensation, as if returning to life after death), “shedding the womb and exchanging the bones” (the whole body sheds its skin and regrows it, teeth fall out and grow again), and the yang spirit leaving the body (one's own spiritual self leaves the physical body and watches it from several meters away). Or the body may show extreme phenomena such as extreme cold, extreme heat, extreme heaviness, or extreme lightness. The process of opening the circulation with the elixir varies from person to person: some complete the Microcosmic Orbit in a single pass, while others may need three to five days, several months, or longer.
Opening the circulation with the elixir is the hardest of the several kinds of circulation to achieve. Especially the first time the circulation opens, the physical and mental reactions are so intense that many people find them hard to bear, and it feels very much like being reborn after death. Hence the alchemists say: “If you want a person not to die, a person must die.” And also: “Small death, small life; great death, great life; no death, no life.”
After the elixir has opened the circulation for the first time, the circulation flows freely thereafter, never ceasing for a moment. Once the circulation has opened, the Conception and Governing Vessels among the eight extraordinary vessels are open, and then the remaining six—the Yang Linking, Yin Linking, Yang Heel, Yin Heel, Penetrating, and Belt Vessels—continue to be burst open. These eight vessels are closed and do not open, and only immortals open them with yang qi. After that, a still deeper system must be opened, namely the “central yellow” channel. At this point the inside of the body has taken on the image of Qian and is purely prior-heaven. Then with one's own Qian yang one responds to the Qian yang in the void outside; the prior-heaven within the body and the prior-heaven outside the body condense together. This unites the two true yangs of inner and outer to accomplish the Great Return, and only then can it be called the “Macrocosmic Orbit.”
Generally speaking, when the Microcosmic Orbit is opened, all illnesses disappear; when the Macrocosmic Orbit is opened, one attains the unity of heaven and humanity. In the Microcosmic Orbit only the breath ceases but not the pulse; in the Macrocosmic Orbit both breath and pulse cease. Moreover, after the Macrocosmic Orbit opens, the alchemical classics commonly record “the proof of the six penetrating powers” and “the mind being able to transform things.” The practitioner's body and mind are completely renewed, the state of their life is greatly elevated, and their wisdom and insight make a qualitative leap. That is why people of the world call them “immortals.”
Therefore, the circulation spoken of in the alchemical path and the circulation of qigong are as far apart as clouds and mud. The “circulation” qigong popular in society all uses intention to push through the “Microcosmic and Macrocosmic Orbits,” or goes further to move the qi of the meridians (that is, later-heaven qi) down into the legs so that the sensation of qi spreads through the whole body. This is merely later-heaven consciousness guiding the shallow qi beneath the skin, and it is all later-heaven. Although it may have some small effect, it still belongs to later-heaven qigong at the stage of laying the foundation, and has nothing whatever to do with the level of the “Microcosmic and Macrocosmic Orbits” spoken of in the alchemical path.