Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
The chapter “Great Treatise on Regulating the Spirit According to the Four Qi” in the “Plain Questions” (Suwen) of the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic (Huangdi Neijing) says: “The three months of winter are called closing and storing.” That is, in winter all the qi dynamics of opening and release should be shut, and one should store.
What are the signs of heaven and earth at this time? One of them is “water freezes and the earth cracks.” All the water has frozen. Water governs dispersal, and when something as dispersive as water freezes, it too must bring its storing nature into play. “The earth cracks”: the ground itself splits open, and all the good things held underground are stored within—this is the function of storage developed to its extreme. “Do not disturb the yang” means that at this time the yang must not be stirred; if the yang qi of heaven and earth moves, people will suffer. Thunder in winter, for example, is called “disturbing the yang.” In winter, the yang qi of heaven and earth must be closed and stored.
From the standpoint of celestial phenomena, there should be no thunder in winter. Thunder in winter means heaven and earth can no longer hold their yang qi, and this will bring on a certain kind of epidemic. Take the large avian flu outbreaks of the past: before avian flu ran rampant, there was often thunder in winter, a sign that heaven and earth had stirred their yang. Chinese folk wisdom has a saying: “Thunder in winter, nine pens out of ten empty,” because when it thunders in winter the yang qi is no longer stored, and animals are bound to suffer. Why is it generally chickens rather than ducks that catch avian flu? Because chickens are fiery by nature and ducks are cold by nature. When the fire nature of heaven and earth is no longer stored, the fire nature of chickens is no longer stored either. Moreover, if we forcibly wake animals from hibernation when the land is bleak and bare, they still cannot survive without food; this too is called “disturbing the yang.”
From the standpoint of nurturing life, one should bathe less at this time, because bathing opens the skin, which goes against the nature of closing and storing. How should one sleep at this time? In the other three seasons one rises early, but winter alone calls for “going to bed early and rising late.” Going to bed early means storing as much as possible; rising late means avoiding pointless expenditure. “One must wait for the sunlight” means one must wait until the sun has risen and the yang qi of heaven and earth has come up before getting out of bed. Getting up before the yang qi of heaven and earth has risen is called “disturbing the yang.”
“Let the will be as if lying low, as if hidden.” The “will” here means the emotions and will, that is, the kidney essence. The sentence means letting the kidney essence seem as though it has risen and yet also seem as though it has withdrawn. The kidney essence should stay between rising and not rising, and when storing it one should not suddenly shut everything off at once; there should be a process. To explain “as if lying low, as if hidden,” the ancients offered a comparison: “as if one had gained something, as if one held a private intent.”
“As if one had gained something” is a bit like a woman who is pregnant: she feels she has already received a great gift. Just as in pregnancy, a baby is stored in her belly, and she is especially happy and at ease inside, yet she cannot run into the street to announce it. “As if one held a private intent” means a feeling of joy savored quietly on one's own, which nevertheless cannot be let out. That is the meaning: it must not be released. This is the wonderful storing of “as if lying low, as if hidden.”
“Leave the cold and go to the warmth” means avoiding the cold and keeping the body warm. In winter, a person's yang qi is entirely drawn inward and stored in the elixir field (dantian). So in winter we should wear thicker clothes; this is called leaving the cold and going to the warmth. In winter, the qi and blood at the body's surface all return inward, so in winter we can eat foods that are rich in flavor or somewhat tonifying, because the heat within the body can transform their richness. Both the writings of Confucius and the “Physicians” section of the “Offices of Heaven” in the Rites of Zhou (Zhouli) mention the need to transform richness, ideally by drinking a little of a decoction to dissolve heavy, rich, cloying substances.
“Do not let the skin release” means not opening one's skin excessively. The “skin” of Chinese medicine includes two layers: the skin and the hair. Chinese medicine calls human beings “naked creatures.” The human body has skin and has hair. Do we have more skin or more hair? What does the skin govern? What does the hair govern? The skin governs gathering in; the hair governs dispersing outward. And in a naked creature the skin certainly outweighs the hair, so for the human body gathering in should outweigh opening and releasing.