Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
1. The Taoist Taboo Against Deliberate Discrimination
This refers to deliberately chasing certain phenomena of “movement and sensation” during practice. As soon as one notices warmth in the elixir field (dantian), one consciously starts to discriminate it: “This warm qi isn’t very hot,” or “It’s very hot.” “This warm qi is one point three cun below the navel—or two cun, or three cun.” “This warm current has reached the Tailbone Pass (Weilü)—why won’t it go up to the Windlass Pass (the Spine Pass, Jiaji)?” “The warm current has reached the Jade Pillow Pass (Yuzhen)—why is it so slow to get through?” All such things are deliberate discrimination. They throw the mind into confusion, and one may even, with only half an understanding, use the mind to steer this warm current, going against naturalness and its laws and causing the deviation and harm of “disordered meridians.” The movement of qi is then set off beyond one’s control, so that qi rushes through the whole body, gathers in the head and will not come down, and one shakes the head and shrugs the shoulders, twists the waist and arches the back, waves the arms and stamps the feet, turns somersaults, shouts wildly and cries out in alarm, sings and hums, and so on.
2. The Taoist Taboo Against Wandering Thoughts and Clinging
This refers to the mind not being focused during sitting practice, with one’s thoughts drifting off. Although the body is sitting in practice, one’s thoughts have entirely left the practice instructions: recalling the past, fantasizing about the future, all the affairs of past, present, and future are dragged out in a jumble, one stray thought after another. Or, noticing warm qi in the dantian, one is led by this actual experience to think, “What does so-and-so say about the dantian?” “What does such-and-such a book record about the dantian?” Or one thinks, “The dantian is already warm, so it should be time to open the Three Passes.” All such things are wandering thoughts and clinging. The more one clings, the more scattered one becomes; the more scattered, the more the spirit disperses. This causes a dizzy, swollen head, with qi gathering at the “Ancestral Cavity”—also called Shangen or Ezhong, the root of the bridge of the nose—so that the qi cannot return to its origin. Far from enjoying a clear spirit and refreshed qi, one ends up mentally exhausted, and so loses confidence in qigong.
3. The Taoist Taboo Against Delighting in Phenomena
This refers to discovering various phenomena of “movement and sensation” during practice—for example, a series of phenomena such as “warmth in the dantian” or “reverse flow through the Three Passes”—and, faced with these sensations, regarding them as “good signs” of one’s practice, becoming delighted for a moment, deliberately chasing them, and unable to help oneself intensifying one’s breathing. The breathing exercises thus go against the laws of nature, causing deviations. This “delighting in phenomena” is especially likely among those who practice exclusively the “gate of clarity and stillness.” Although they will not suffer deviations like those who practice the “gate of conveyance,” once a delighted mind arises, their thought has already “split into two” and no longer has “the purport of returning to one.” That is, a thought that was highly concentrated is drawn by some outer scene and distracted onto that “phenomenon.” And in the instant when the mind alternates between concentration and distraction, the very phenomenon that the highly concentrated mind had revealed vanishes in the blink of an eye, like a flash of lightning. The result is joy in vain, and in turn thoughts of frustration and regret arise, provoking irritation and restlessness, so that one cannot go on sitting, and one’s practice makes no progress.
4. The Taoist Taboo Against Letting the Mind Follow Outer Scenes
This concerns the workings of the “six roots”—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—during sitting practice. For example: when the ears hear a child crying, people shouting and horses neighing, or the rumble of carts, one must not give rise to irritated or resentful thoughts. When the nose smells smoke and incense, or the aroma of wine and meat from next door, one must not give rise to thoughts of eating. When some part of the body itches, or some place aches or goes numb, one must not scratch it. When the tip of the tongue is raised and saliva descends into the “Flowery Pool,” one must not swallow it at every moment.
With the eyes lowered like a curtain, if one sees outer things, one must not let the mind dwell on them; or if, with eyes closed, one “inwardly sees” some “light or color,” one must not let the mind dwell on that light or color either, and above all must not give rise to thoughts of delight and pursuit.
When one becomes aware that the movement of qi has been set off, with the phenomena of the “eight kinds of movement and sensation,” one must not pay attention to them or chase them, but let them develop according to the laws of nature. All these taboos belong to letting the mind follow outer scenes. Once the mind shifts with outer scenes, consciousness cannot be highly concentrated, and one’s practice is as good as wasted.
5. The Taoist Taboo Against Casually Overhearing True Words
This refers specifically to beginners in practice. It is a piece of advice that must be followed by fellow disciples under the same teacher, or by fellow patients in the same sanatorium, and it is neither for the sake of superstition nor for the sake of secrecy. Because each person’s internal organs differ in deficiency and excess, and the illnesses people suffer from also differ, each person’s method and manner of practice must fit their own actual needs, and their personal practice instructions must be decided accordingly. Although the basic principles of breathing exercises remain the same, their effects differ greatly; unless the illnesses are truly of the same kind and type, one can never indiscriminately use a single method to treat every illness. Therefore, to prevent beginners from being ruled by curiosity, asking one another about their instructions, and trying at random practice methods that do not suit them—leading to the misfortune of deviation—there is the taboo against “casually overhearing true words”: one may not ask around and try things at random. Only after one has first laid a foundation in practice may one freely experiment with any method. Asking out of curiosity and trying things blindly does absolutely no good for one’s practice.