Ch'an, Daoist Healing

[寒月 Hanyue]

Ch'an master Hakuin, after years of ascetic practice, healed himself and finally awakened into enlightnment while studying under the Daoist hermit Hakuyu. Hakuin has since become somewhat of a poster boy for Ch'an practice, "Hakuin is so famous and important that all Rinzai Zen masters today trace their lineage through Hakuin". This is quite interesting given the blend of the previous Ch'an with the Daoist methods.

 

In fact there are so many instances where famous figures of either Ch'an or Daoism studied the other, that historians often cannot separate when or where, or how they influenced each other. In fact, even methods such as the yijin jing ('tendon'- changing classic) ascribed to Da Mo, were in fact from a Daoist priest and author. There is also the Wu-Liu pai, TianDao qigong, even Bruce Frantzis' 'Water' tradition teacher first taught him Ch'an practices. Doc Morris practiced Zen for years before working with qigong.

 

According to Hakuin himself;

 

"This treatment was first devised by Shakamuni Buddha. In the middle ages it came down through the Tendai school, where it was used widely as a treatment for extreme exhaustion. Yet seldom in this degenerate age do we hear of this miraculous treatment. How sad that people today seldom gain knowledge of this Way. When I was in my middle years I heard of it from the hermit Hakuyu, who maintained that the speed of its efficacy lay only in the degree to which the practitioner endeavored. If one is not laggard one may obtain long life. Don’t say that Hakuin has become senile and is teaching old-woman’s Ch'an. Perhaps if you just get to know it, you will clap your hands and laugh out loud. Why? ‘Unless you have seen disorders, you do not know the virtues of an honest minister; unless you have accumulated wealth, you do not know the determination of an honest man.’"

 

I was once trying to help someone with excessive rising yangqi, they were in immense pain and struggling. I tried to help lower, sink and dissolve their qi, drawing it to their feet. But it wasn't coming down. One of my teachers helped. The person literally melted. It was like all the bones in their body disappeared. Later they described that it had felt like an egg on their head had cracked and everything sank and released downards. They did not know of Hakuin's 'butter' egg meditation, yet the description was so close it couldn't be ignored. It gave me a greater appreciation of the implications of this meditation. I never did ask my teacher exactly what they had done to help.

 

Best,

 

Below are two versions, a 'modern' and condensed version and a more 'traditional' version, which should allow greater appreciation as you see two angles.

 

Hakuin's Healing Egg (a condensed version from Hoshin Dao qigong)

 

Above your head sits a glowing white egg of pure healing energy. As you focus on it, it begins to melt and flow down through your body, cleansing your lungs and spine. It flows into your kidneys and down through your stomach, spleen, kidneys, liver and digestive tract. As you continue to focus on it, the energy flows down through the entire body cleansing the legs and pouring out the feet.

 

As the last of the cleansing energy leaves your body, the glowing egg releases its soothing, healing medicines. Fragrant elixirs pour out of it and flood the entire body, healing all of the organs and channels and soaking deep into the bones. The entire body is soothed and relieved. Excess is moderated, deficiency is made up, heat is cooled, cold is warmed. All is balanced, calmed and nourished.

 

Hakuin's Butter Pill Meditation

 

“There is a remedy especially efficacious for debili­tated people. Its properties for relieving exhaustion of the vital breath are particularly wondrous. It counteracts a rush of blood to the head, warms the legs, settles the bowels, brightens the eye, augments good wisdom, and is effective in casting aside all evil thoughts.

 

The recipe for one dose of the soft butter pill is as follows: one part of the "real aspect of all things,” one part each of “the self and all things,” and the “realization that these are false,” three parts of the “immediate realization of Nirvana,” two parts of “no desires,” two or three parts of the “non­duality of activity and quietude,” one and a half parts of sponge­gourd skin, and one part of “the discarding of all delusions.” Steep these seven ingredients in the juice of patience for one night, dry in the shade and then mash. Season with a dash of the six perfections (1) then shape everything into a ball the size of a duck's egg and set it securely on your head.

 

Practitioners who are just beginning their study should not concern themselves with the properties of the medicine nor amount used, but should merely contemplate the fact that a delicately scented soft butter-like object the size of a duck's egg is suddenly on their heads. When a sick person wishes to sue this remedy he (or she) should spread for himself a thick cushion, hold his back straight, adjust his eyes, and sit in a correct posture. He should then shift gently to position himself properly, and set about meditating.

 

Repeat three times the words: ‘Of the essentials of preserving life, nourishing the breath has no peer. When the breath is exhausted the body dies.’(2) By doing so, one can truly carry out this con­templation. Those who have this duck egg with the consistency of soft butter on their heads feel a strange sensation as the whole head becomes moist. Gradually this feeling flows downward. The shoulders, elbow, chest, diaphragm, lungs, liver, stomach, backbone, and buttocks all gradually become damp. At this time the various accumulations in the chest, and those of lower back pain, stiffness and constipation all drop down at will, like water flowing naturally to a low place. This sensation is felt throughout the body, and it circulates moving downward, warming the legs, until it reaches the soles of the feet, where it stops.

 

The practitioner should then repeat the same contemplation. The overflow that penetrates downward sinks in and accumulates until it steeps the body in warmth, just as a good physician gathers together various aro­matic herbs, brews them, and pours the concoction into the bath. The practitioner feels that his body from the navel down is steeped in this moisture. When this contemplation is being practiced, because it is induced only by mental activity, the sense of smell becomes aware of exotic odors, the sense of touch becomes wondrously acute, and the body and mind become attuned. Suddenly the accumulations dissolve, the bowels and stomach are harmonized, the skin becomes radiant, and the energies increase greatly.

 

If this contemplation is conscientiously brought to maturation, what disease cannot be cured, what magical art cannot be performed? This is indeed the secret method for maintaining health, the wondrous art of longevity."

 

1 The six “perfections” are: charity, mainte­nance of the commandments, patience, perseverance, meditation and wisdom

2 Paraphrasing Lao Zi

 

["Golden Butter" is used as a term in some schools to represent the golden light from heaven that is used for alchemical purposes. I am unsure of this is also why Hakuin describes the pill/egg as 'Butter'. It may simply be due to the ease of seeing/feeling butter melt through the body.]

[Taomeow]

Thank you. I feel compelled to explore this.

 

What is spongegourd skin?

 

I was once taught a gourd meditation supposedly from a Native American tradition. It has many similarities. You visualize a small luminous gourd (egg-sized in its wider part) descending on your head. Then there's two ways you can use it -- one is to let it sink through your head and down your body, sliding smoothly and weightessly. Another one is to move it down and then up a number of times.

 

The butter egg is also reminiscent of the taoist Purple Rose meditation, but seems much easier. The Purple Rose method is extraordinarily difficult for visualization (you basically place the North Pole Star on your head, no less, orienting yourself in physical space first by locating it in the actual sky and aligning the top of your head with it). It is also used primarily for healing.

[寒月 Hanyue]

Thank you. This is very helpful.

 

you're welcome, glad it's helpful

[寒月 Hanyue]

Thank you. I feel compelled to explore this.

 

What is spongegourd skin?

 

I was once taught a gourd meditation supposedly from a Native American tradition. It has many similarities. You visualize a small luminous gourd (egg-sized in its wider part) descending on your head. Then there's two ways you can use it -- one is to let it sink through your head and down your body, sliding smoothly and weightessly. Another one is to move it down and then up a number of times.

 

The butter egg is also reminiscent of the taoist Purple Rose meditation, but seems much easier. The Purple Rose method is extraordinarily difficult for visualization (you basically place the North Pole Star on your head, no less, orienting yourself in physical space first by locating it in the actual sky and aligning the top of your head with it). It is also used primarily for healing.

 

Good question!

 

Sponge Gourd is;

 

 

Which always reminds me of a bath scrubber [edit, just looked it up, it IS the same thing! haha ]

 

I thought it got put in various Chinese dishes, however I was mistaken. What I've seen in the cupboards looks the same but is actually something else, my bad.

 

Given the rest of the "ingredients" I am going to assume a possible reference regarding open pores and the skin/flesh taking on a similar structure?

 

The Native American method and Purple rose sound very interesting. Can you share more?

 

Best,

Edited October 21, 2012 by snowmonki

[JohnC]

Always dig your posts monki of the snow.

[suninmyeyes]

Ch'an master Hakuin, after years of ascetic practice, healed himself and finally awakened into enlightnment while studying under the Daoist hermit Hakuyu. Hakuin has since become somewhat of a poster boy for Ch'an practice, "Hakuin is so famous and important that all Rinzai Zen masters today trace their lineage through Hakuin". This is quite interesting given the blend of the previous Ch'an with the Daoist methods.

...

Whomever is interested to read more about Hakuins life and practises 'Wild Ivy' by Hakuin - reccomended. He was very ill with what he called 'zen sickness' , some people on this board could probably be able to identify to a degree with it.

I still use this meditation of his throughout the day, its something that stayed with me - that is how I learned to to sink.

[exorcist_1699]

..................................

 

In fact there are so many instances where famous figures of either Ch'an or Daoism studied the other, that historians often cannot separate when or where, or how they influenced each other. In fact, even methods such as the yijin jing ('tendon'- changing classic) ascribed to Da Mo, were in fact from a Daoist priest and author. There is also the Wu-Liu pai, TianDao qigong, even Bruce Frantzis' 'Water' tradition teacher first taught him Ch'an practices. Doc Morris practiced Zen for years before working with qigong.

 

According to Hakuin himself;

 

"This treatment was first devised by Shakamuni Buddha. In the middle ages it came down through the Tendai school, where it was used widely as a treatment for extreme exhaustion. Yet seldom in this degenerate age do we hear of this miraculous treatment. How sad that people today seldom gain knowledge of this Way. When I was in my middle years I heard of it from the hermit Hakuyu, who maintained that the speed of its efficacy lay only in the degree to which the practitioner endeavored. If one is not laggard one may obtain long life. Don’t say that Hakuin has become senile and is teaching old-woman’s Ch'an. Perhaps if you just get to know it, you will clap your hands and laugh out loud. Why? ‘Unless you have seen disorders, you do not know the virtues of an honest minister; unless you have accumulated wealth, you do not know the determination of an honest man.’"

 

I was once trying to help someone with excessive rising yangqi, they were in immense pain and struggling. I tried to help lower, sink and dissolve their qi, drawing it to their feet. But it wasn't coming down. One of my teachers helped. The person literally melted. It was like all the bones in their body disappeared. Later they described that it had felt like an egg on their head had cracked and everything sank and released downards. They did not know of Hakuin's 'butter' egg meditation, yet the description was so close it couldn't be ignored. It gave me a greater appreciation of the implications of this meditation. I never did ask my teacher exactly what they had done to help.

 

Best,

 

Below are two versions, a 'modern' and condensed version and a more 'traditional' version, which should allow greater appreciation as you see two angles.

 

Hakuin's Healing Egg (a condensed version from Hoshin Dao qigong)

............................

...............................

 

The mentioned versions of methods, although claimed Zen's or to be related to Zen's, are unlikely to have anything doing with it . As some member here already pointed out , these are methods of visualizations , not Zen's .

 

 

Visualization , to some people , maybe somehow effective ; but by using our mind's power of imagination , we continue to use our daily mind , not trying to get rid of it as requested by Zen . On the contrary , Zen's method , to the least , is clearly a method of cutting abruptly that flow of consciousness, that flow of imaginative ideas, not conversely relying on its enhancing power ; and from it , to nourish , first , a state of condensed oneness or a state of mindlessness, which is unlikely to be anything that visualization can give us. The difference may sound trivial for some people, but it , in fact, leads us to different destinations....

Edited October 22, 2012 by exorcist_1699

[exorcist_1699]

If you claim it be Taoist-related , then I still have to say, it is not by using visualization that "melt" the body, it is the accumulation and improvement of your jing and qi , your enhanced qi now capable of connecting to the external qi , that breaking of the body boundary, gives you the feeling of body being "melted";

Edited October 22, 2012 by exorcist_1699

[Jetsun]

I heard them talk about this in one of Nan Huai Chins books, it's a method to combat Zen sickness, ie spending too much time sitting around meditating or dwelling in your mind contemplating koans, which can lead to a whole load of physical and mental problems, not as a direct replacement for Zen training or Taoist cultivation . I read some really interesting stuff about it which I will post later. But also as a conjunction to this method he also said that the other useful thing to do to get energy circulating wasn't qigong or Tai Chi or anything but rather just plain regular physical labour and housework which works up a sweat, done with a touch of mindfulness.

[寒月 Hanyue]

The mentioned versions of methods, although claimed Zen's or to be related to Zen's, are unlikely to have anything doing with it . As some member here already pointed out , these are methods of visualizations , not Zen's .

 

If you claim it be Taoist-related , then I still have to say, it is not

 

Well, quite frankly this thread is NOT about what is or is not "da real Zen or Dao method".

 

It is about a healing method passed on and taught by Hakuin, a highly respected Zen Master and teacher. To the point where pretty much all Rinzai Zen masters today like to trace their lineage through him.

 

Hakuin thought it was worth while passing on, and I'll take his word for it over yours any day, no offense. The only person stating anything about where it came from or how it relates to anything is Hakuin. Exactly where it came from or why or anything else is less relevant as far as I'm concerned. If you don't like it, then don't practice it, easy.

 

Best,

[寒月 Hanyue]

I heard them talk about this in one of Nan Huai Chins books, it's a method to combat Zen sickness, ie spending too much time sitting around meditating or dwelling in your mind contemplating koans, which can lead to a whole load of physical and mental problems, not as a direct replacement for Zen training or Taoist cultivation . I read some really interesting stuff about it which I will post later. But also as a conjunction to this method he also said that the other useful thing to do to get energy circulating wasn't qigong or Tai Chi or anything but rather just plain regular physical labour and housework which works up a sweat, done with a touch of mindfulness.

 

Hey Jetsun,

 

Bodri and Master Nan say a lot of things I agree with, and some things I do not.

 

The party line within Zen is that Hakuin learned this for "Zen sickness", ie, too much straight out sitting and not looking after himself. This is true. However, that is NOT that same thing as saying this method is ONLY for Zen sickness. It is a method of healing the body and balancing out the qimai. Hakuin needed to practice it due to his Zen sickness, true, but to mistake this as simply a "Zen sickness" prescription I think is to miss the greater picture.

 

Look at Hakuin's own description;

 

"This treatment was first devised by Shakamuni Buddha. In the middle ages it came down through the Tendai school, where it was used widely as a treatment for extreme exhaustion. Yet seldom in this degenerate age do we hear of this miraculous treatment. How sad that people today seldom gain knowledge of this Way. When I was in my middle years I heard of it from the hermit Hakuyu, who maintained that the speed of its efficacy lay only in the degree to which the practitioner endeavored. If one is not laggard one may obtain long life. Don’t say that Hakuin has become senile and is teaching old-woman’s Ch'an. Perhaps if you just get to know it, you will clap your hands and laugh out loud."

 

So, I'm going to disagree that it is "a method to combat Zen sickness." It is a healing method that was used by Hakuin to treat HIS Zen sickness, thats a different thing, IMHO.

 

Most spiritual practices in monastaries, especially Buddhist, don't involve any kind of taiji or moving qigong. Moving practices were daily activities done in a given state of presence and awareness. Often any form of 'stretching', was just that, a rudimentary form of stretching out the body after sitting for hours on end

 

Best,

[Jetsun]

Yes I agree snowmonki, I meant my post more in rebuttal to the other posts above how it was not proper Zen or Taoism, explaining that it was used more as a conjunction to other methods not as replacement.

 

I also agree its precise original origins don't really matter, Hakuin supposedly left up to 90 enlightened disciples and is widely regarded as one of the most important Zen masters in history, so if he recommends a technique wherever it came from it is probably worth investigating. Also as he wrote his own autobiography at the end of his life we can be confident it really did come recommend by him and isn't some story concocted by others, like many of the other techniques around.

[寒月 Hanyue]

Yes I agree snowmonki, I meant my post more in rebuttal to the other posts above how it was not proper Zen or Taoism, explaining that it was used more as a conjunction to other methods not as replacement.

 

I also agree its precise original origins don't really matter, Hakuin supposedly left up to 90 enlightened disciples and is widely regarded as one of the most important Zen masters in history, so if he recommends a technique wherever it came from it is probably worth investigating. Also as he wrote his own autobiography at the end of his life we can be confident it really did come recommend by him and isn't some story concocted by others, like many of the other techniques around.

 

Sorry, mate. Take my post as using yours to simply clarify even further . For years I knew of this method as Hakuin's cure for zen sickness. And it always seemed to be discussed that way. Then I read and realised what HE said about it and I realised something more.

 

Yes, exactly. I certainly wouldn't know what 'real' Zen, or 'Daojia' practice is, the more I learn the less I know. It's not intended to replace Ch'an practice, just enable you to do it more easily.

 

And 100% agree, I respect Hakuini a lot, so if he points something out I feel it's worth paying attention to. Please do post the other information you have when you have time.

 

Best,

Edited October 22, 2012 by snowmonki

[Dainin]

Here's a Rinzai monastery in Wisconsin where they include some of Hakuin's exercises, as well as other internal practices, in their curriculum:

 

http://www.korinji.org/InternalTraining.html

[寒月 Hanyue]

Whomever is interested to read more about Hakuins life and practises 'Wild Ivy' by Hakuin - reccomended. He was very ill with what he called 'zen sickness' , some people on this board could probably be able to identify to a degree with it.

I still use this meditation of his throughout the day, its something that stayed with me - that is how I learned to to sink.

 

Thank you, do you recommend any particular translation?

 

Here's a Rinzai monastery in Wisconsin where they include some of Hakuin's exercises, as well as other internal practices, in their curriculum:

 

http://www.korinji.o...alTraining.html

 

Interesting stuff thanks

 

Best,

[Jetsun]

The other thing I was looking at was the article 'Zen and the Art of Nourishing Life' http://nirc.nanzan-u...jrs/pdf/794.pdf from the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, which says that most of what we know Hakuin's views on the issue of nourishing life comes from his work Yasenkanna 夜 船閑話 (Idle Talk on a Night Boat) which apparently was written as a criticism of Taoists, but I think what he was criticising was the external Taoists who practice external alchemy not internal, as much of what he writes sounds very much like a lot of Taoist texts stressing the importance of storing your vital energy at the Dan Tien, but he was also very much concerned the issues of stagnation this can cause saying things like “if I control the mind and [fix] it to a single place, would there not be stagnation of vital energy and blood?” but the Taoist Hermit Hakuyu's response is here which I thought was quite interesting and explains the whole fire and water paths (spoilered as it's quite long)

 

 

If we examine what the hermit Hakuyū had purportedly imparted to Hakuin

during their encounter in the outskirts of Kyoto, we see that Hakuin had good

reason to be concerned about the risk of stagnation. As a remedy for Hakuin’s

malady of meditation, Hakuyū had instructed the ailing Hakuin to store what

in the Mengzi 孟子 is referred to as the “flood-like vital energy” (kōzen no ki 活

然の氣) in his cinnabar field, the ocean of vital energy located below the navel

(sairin kikai tanden 臍輪氣海丹田).

26

The old hermit had also reassured Hakuin

that guarding this vital energy single-mindedly and nourishing it unwaveringly

for months and years will eventually allow him to turn everything into a single, great cyclically-transformed elixir (gentan 還丹) (Yoshizawa 2000a, 123; cf.

Waddell 2002, 106). Once the refinement of this elixir in the cinnabar field is

complete, the body will be replete with vital energy and, as the Suwen claims,

there will be no place from which illness can arise. This, Hakuyū reveals to

Hakuin, is the secret technique of inner contemplation (naikan). But why must

one “store” and “guard” one’s vital energy in the cinnabar field and risk stagnation

to create such an elixir? According to Hakuyū, one must do so because fire tends

to rise upwards and deprive the body of its vital energy. And fire tends to rise,

Hakuyū explains, because the mind, the yang organ of fire, is by nature light and

the kidney, the yin organ of water, is by nature heavy . In order for one to replenish the body with vital energy,

one must therefore strive to bring the fire back down into the lower body where

it can intermingle with the tranquil water of the kidneys. Hakuin, however, had

yet to be convinced: “Is this not what Li Shicai called the partiality for cooling

and descending?” (Yoshizawa 2000a, 126–7; trans. Waddell 2002, 107).

With a gentle smile Hakuyū is said to have replied, “not so.” As he rightly

points out, when Li Zhongzi 李中梓 (1588–1655), otherwise known as Shicai 士

才, speaks of “the partiality for cooling and descending” (seigō no hen 清降の

偏) he is actually referring to the lopsided understanding of the followers of

the famed Chinese physician and scholar Zhu Zhenheng 朱震亨 (1281–1358),

otherwise known as Danxi 丹溪 (Yoshizawa 2000a, 128; cf. Waddell 2002,

108). The fault, Shicai states unequivocally in this Yizong bidu 醫宗必讀, does not

necessarily lie in Danxi himself, whose theories are meant to supplement those

of a renowned physician by the name of Li Dongyuan 李東垣 (1180–1251), but in

the unscrupulous way in which students tend to misappropriate Danxi’s clinical

strategies (Li 1957, 4). With regards to the issue of fire and water Shicai seems

to be largely in agreement with Danxi that “the nature of fire is to burn upward

and must therefore be made to descend; the nature of water is to descend and must

therefore be made to ascend” (Li 1957, 8). Fire and water, he claims, must intermingle (jiao 交) to create life. Otherwise, one must be prepared to face death.

27

What Hakuyū offered in response to Hakuin’s concerns about the dangers

of cooling and descending was a faithful reproduction of the above explanation from the Yizong bidu. This seems to have done the trick, as we find no further concerns raised by Hakuin regarding the issue of cooling and descending.

What is curiously missing from the hermit’s response, however, is an answer for

Hakuin’s other major concern, namely stagnation. What we have, instead, is this

simple observation:

Fire has the two aspects of princely and ministerial. Princely fire dwells above

and governs quietude and ministerial fire is located below and governs activity.

Princely fire is the lord of this [actually] non-dualistic mind and ministerial

fire lends ministerial support. There are two types of ministerial fire and they

are said to be [located, respectively, in] the kidneys and the liver. The liver can

be compared to thunder and the kidneys to a dragon. For this reason it is said,

“if the dragon is returned to the depths of the ocean there will never be crashing thunder. If thunder is hidden in the marshes there will never be a soaring

dragon. Are the ocean and marshes not water?” Does this not speak of controlling the tendency of the ministerial fire to rise?

(Yoshizawa 2000a, 129; cf. Waddell 2002, 108)

 

 

The article also explains what was meant by the term exhaustion which the healing egg meditation is meant to help heal:

 

"What, in turn, causes exhaustion? The Byōmei ikai mentions two possible causes: one can either become exhausted by injuring vital energy and blood through their excessive use (rō) or by going beyond measure in consuming alcohol and sex.The consequences of exhaustion were dire."

but also

"I heard of the cause of this illness. It does not come

from wind attack and cold chills. It is an illness that arises from the mind. For

this reason, this illness is called a mind disturbance [shinki 心氣]. It is an illness

that pains the mind.... This illness is difficult to cure with medicine"

 

So it seems that exhaustion they are talking about can come from either excessive living or from excessive emotions or mind anxiety and the meditation is meant to help with both.

 

"What, then, would constitute a viable treatment? Hakuin’s response to

exhaustion was twofold. First, he advised those around him to bring the mind

below as would a sagely lord while governing his people. Or, as Hakuin himself

puts it, “when you focus your mind below you will never forget the people’s

exhaustion (rōhi 勞疲)” (Yoshizawa 2001a, 228–29; cf. Yampolsky 1971, 44).

According to the Yasenkanna, there are two excellent ways of bringing the mind

down into the lower body, namely the aforementioned inner contemplation

technique and what Hakuin calls the soft butter pill (nansogan 輭酥丸) method"

 

Hakuin's claims the source of this butter method is from the Buddha but apparently he also mentions it is found in the work of the monk Tiantai Zhiyi 天台智顗 who wrote the magnum opus Mohe zhiguan 摩訶止觀. which includes a 'Ghee' meditation to help cure mental issues and anxieties, so that might be one source.

[adept]

I thought I'd seen this on the forum before :

http://thetaobums.com/topic/22555-energy-pressure-in-head/#entry322184

[Taomeow]

Good question!

 

Sponge Gourd is;

 

 

Which always reminds me of a bath scrubber [edit, just looked it up, it IS the same thing! haha ]

 

I thought it got put in various Chinese dishes, however I was mistaken. What I've seen in the cupboards looks the same but is actually something else, my bad.

 

Given the rest of the "ingredients" I am going to assume a possible reference regarding open pores and the skin/flesh taking on a similar structure?

 

The Native American method and Purple rose sound very interesting. Can you share more?

 

Best,

 

Thank you, this makes total sense. A loofah-like texture to the body is actually reality, not just a metaphor, everything is permeable to everything and connected throughout, mind to matter, brain to brawn. A while ago I read a solid book on cognitive neuroscience titled Wet Brain, nothing there about taoism but the human mind emerges from the cutting-edge studies as exactly what our old taoist pals have always said it was! -- a liquid in assorted states of aggregation, from hard ice to the finest mist and beyond... On a more humorous note, when I was in China, I accumulated a small collection of bizarre English writings on assorted Chinese products -- god only knows what they meant, but I used to buy toilet paper there trademarked Mind Connects to Mind. Go figure.

 

The Purple Rose can be found in "The Complete System of Self-Healing: Internal Exercises," by Dr. Stephen T. Chang. If you don't have or don't intend to check it out, I'll write it up if you like. It's a neat book, actually.

 

The gourd meditation is a standing one. You perform it by visualizing a luminous small gourd hovering over the top of your head. Slowly the top of your head opens to its rays, melting away, and the gourd starts descending into your head and down the center of your body, illuminating everything as it goes, penetrating with its light into all the deepest darkest corners and dissolving all obstacles in its way. You not so much bring it down as feel it slide down, very slowly. It leaves clean luminous emptiness in its wake. You release it into the ground, end of story. Another version (which is very peculiar in its effects and a tad strong) is to bring the gourd down to the genitals and then slide, guide, or even shoot it back up through the top of your head, and do it a number of times, in a pumping piston-like fashion, speeding up as you go -- all the way to lightning-fast flashes. Not recommended except for seasoned folks who know how to handle an overwhelming surge of eventful energy.

[寒月 Hanyue]

The other thing I was looking at was the article 'Zen and the Art of Nourishing Life'

 

Thanks for all that, very interesting indeed

 

I look forward to reading through that, now just to find the time

 

Best,

[寒月 Hanyue]

Thank you, this makes total sense. A loofah-like texture to the body is actually reality, not just a metaphor, everything is permeable to everything and connected throughout, mind to matter, brain to brawn. A while ago I read a solid book on cognitive neuroscience titled Wet Brain, nothing there about taoism but the human mind emerges from the cutting-edge studies as exactly what our old taoist pals have always said it was! -- a liquid in assorted states of aggregation, from hard ice to the finest mist and beyond... On a more humorous note, when I was in China, I accumulated a small collection of bizarre English writings on assorted Chinese products -- god only knows what they meant, but I used to buy toilet paper there trademarked Mind Connects to Mind. Go figure.

 

The Purple Rose can be found in "The Complete System of Self-Healing: Internal Exercises," by Dr. Stephen T. Chang. If you don't have or don't intend to check it out, I'll write it up if you like. It's a neat book, actually.

 

The gourd meditation is a standing one. You perform it by visualizing a luminous small gourd hovering over the top of your head. Slowly the top of your head opens to its rays, melting away, and the gourd starts descending into your head and down the center of your body, illuminating everything as it goes, penetrating with its light into all the deepest darkest corners and dissolving all obstacles in its way. You not so much bring it down as feel it slide down, very slowly. It leaves clean luminous emptiness in its wake. You release it into the ground, end of story. Another version (which is very peculiar in its effects and a tad strong) is to bring the gourd down to the genitals and then slide, guide, or even shoot it back up through the top of your head, and do it a number of times, in a pumping piston-like fashion, speeding up as you go -- all the way to lightning-fast flashes. Not recommended except for seasoned folks who know how to handle an overwhelming surge of eventful energy.

 

You're welcome,

 

Wet brain? sounds great I have a few books on neurophysiology on the go (I read about 10 books simultaneously but slowly ) will look it up.

 

I don't actually have any books by S. Chang, not sure why? Thanks for the gourd meditation. I see what you mean.

 

Bruce teaches the outer dissolving to start at the crown (baihui), and then later to begin from the gate above the head within the etheric body. I can't help but see a parrallel, though described purely energetically and without ideas of eggs, elixirs, frangrant medicines etc. He also teaches 'old' Ch'an methods he says never made it to Japan, shrugs ?

 

Thanks to everyone for their contributions,

 

Best,

[joeblast]

You're welcome,

 

Wet brain? sounds great I have a few books on neurophysiology on the go (I read about 10 books simultaneously but slowly ) will look it up.

 

I don't actually have any books by S. Chang, not sure why? Thanks for the gourd meditation. I see what you mean.

 

Bruce teaches the outer dissolving to start at the crown (baihui), and then later to begin from the gate above the head within the etheric body. I can't help but see a parrallel, though described purely energetically and without ideas of eggs, elixirs, frangrant medicines etc. He also teaches 'old' Ch'an methods he says never made it to Japan, shrugs ?

 

Thanks to everyone for their contributions,

 

Best,

its on page 182 of that book, north star meditation. that's a great book, its what I've been giving to family members that inquire about the stuff I do, since the copies were selling cheap on amazon, like 7 bucks. Its also where I found teh schematic I remember doing a similar meditation with lin but with a purple lotus on the head.

[Taomeow]

its on page 182 of that book, north star meditation. that's a great book, its what I've been giving to family members that inquire about the stuff I do, since the copies were selling cheap on amazon, like 7 bucks. Its also where I found teh schematic I remember doing a similar meditation with lin but with a purple lotus on the head.

 

Buddhists... stick their lotus everywhere. A rose by any other name is still a rose.

 

The Greeks thought of the lotus as the source of forgetting, oblivion, and either had or asserted the gods had (don't remember which) a drink made of it, nepenthe, the elixir that erased memory. Definitely not a taoist thing.

[joeblast]

funny I had been stretching on the floor this morning and contemplating this or that, and said the same thing of the rose to myself.

[Isimsiz Biri]

Hakuin's Healing Egg (a condensed version from Hoshin Dao qigong)

 

Above your head sits a glowing white egg of pure healing energy. As you focus on it, it begins to melt and flow down through your body, cleansing your lungs and spine. It flows into your kidneys and down through your stomach, spleen, kidneys, liver and digestive tract. As you continue to focus on it, the energy flows down through the entire body cleansing the legs and pouring out the feet.

 

As the last of the cleansing energy leaves your body, the glowing egg releases its soothing, healing medicines. Fragrant elixirs pour out of it and flood the entire body, healing all of the organs and channels and soaking deep into the bones. The entire body is soothed and relieved. Excess is moderated, deficiency is made up, heat is cooled, cold is warmed. All is balanced, calmed and nourished.

 

Dear Snowmonki,

 

Thank you for the post. I would like to give the following link describing the same "soft butter" method:

 

http://underthemoons...ter-method.html

 

 

When Hakuin enquired about the Soft Butter Meditation practice he had previously mentionned, Master Hakuyū replied :

 

"When a student engaged in meditation finds that he is exhausted in body and mind because the four constituent elements of his body are in a state of disharmony, he should gird up his spirit and perform the following visualization:

"Imagine that a lump of soft butter, pure in color and fragrance and the size and shape of a duck egg, is suddenly placed on the top of your head. As it begins to slowly melt, it imparts an exquisite sensation, moistening and saturating your head within and without. It continues to ooze down, moistening your shoulders, elbows, and chest; permeating lungs, diaphragm, liver, stomach, and bowels; moving down the spine through the hips, pelvis, and buttocks.

 

"At that point, all the congestions that have accumulated within the five organs and six viscera, all the aches and pains in the abdomen and other affected parts, will follow the heart as it sinks downward into the lower body. As it does, you will distinctly hear a sound like that of water trickling from a higher to a lower place. It will move lower down through the lower body, suffusing the legs with beneficial warmth, until it reaches the soles of the feet, where it stops.

"The student should then repeat the contemplation. As his vital energy flows downward, it gradually fills the lower region of the body, suffusing it with penetrating warmth, making him feel as if he were sitting up to his navel in a hot bath filled with a decoction of rare and fragrant medicinal herbs that have been gathered and infused by a skilled physician."

 

The kidneys are not mentioned in this text although they were mentioned in your text. I wonder the reason of difference between the two texts.

Edited November 7, 2012 by Recep Ivedik

[寒月 Hanyue]

The other thing I was looking at was the article 'Zen and the Art of Nourishing Life' http://nirc.nanzan-u...jrs/pdf/794.pdf from the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, which says that most of what we know Hakuin's views on the issue of nourishing life comes from his work Yasenkanna 夜 船閑話 (Idle Talk on a Night Boat) which apparently was written as a criticism of Taoists, but I think what he was criticising was the external Taoists who practice external alchemy not internal, as much of what he writes sounds very much like a lot of Taoist texts stressing the importance of storing your vital energy at the Dan Tien, but he was also very much concerned the issues of stagnation this can cause saying things like “if I control the mind and [fix] it to a single place, would there not be stagnation of vital energy and blood?” but the Taoist Hermit Hakuyu's response is here which I thought was quite interesting and explains the whole fire and water paths (spoilered as it's quite long)

 

 

If we examine what the hermit Hakuyū had purportedly imparted to Hakuin

during their encounter in the outskirts of Kyoto, we see that Hakuin had good

reason to be concerned about the risk of stagnation. As a remedy for Hakuin’s

malady of meditation, Hakuyū had instructed the ailing Hakuin to store what

in the Mengzi 孟子 is referred to as the “flood-like vital energy” (kōzen no ki 活

然の氣) in his cinnabar field, the ocean of vital energy located below the navel

(sairin kikai tanden 臍輪氣海丹田).

26

The old hermit had also reassured Hakuin

that guarding this vital energy single-mindedly and nourishing it unwaveringly

for months and years will eventually allow him to turn everything into a single, great cyclically-transformed elixir (gentan 還丹) (Yoshizawa 2000a, 123; cf.

Waddell 2002, 106). Once the refinement of this elixir in the cinnabar field is

complete, the body will be replete with vital energy and, as the Suwen claims,

there will be no place from which illness can arise. This, Hakuyū reveals to

Hakuin, is the secret technique of inner contemplation (naikan). But why must

one “store” and “guard” one’s vital energy in the cinnabar field and risk stagnation

to create such an elixir? According to Hakuyū, one must do so because fire tends

to rise upwards and deprive the body of its vital energy. And fire tends to rise,

Hakuyū explains, because the mind, the yang organ of fire, is by nature light and

the kidney, the yin organ of water, is by nature heavy . In order for one to replenish the body with vital energy,

one must therefore strive to bring the fire back down into the lower body where

it can intermingle with the tranquil water of the kidneys. Hakuin, however, had

yet to be convinced: “Is this not what Li Shicai called the partiality for cooling

and descending?” (Yoshizawa 2000a, 126–7; trans. Waddell 2002, 107).

With a gentle smile Hakuyū is said to have replied, “not so.” As he rightly

points out, when Li Zhongzi 李中梓 (1588–1655), otherwise known as Shicai 士

才, speaks of “the partiality for cooling and descending” (seigō no hen 清降の

偏) he is actually referring to the lopsided understanding of the followers of

the famed Chinese physician and scholar Zhu Zhenheng 朱震亨 (1281–1358),

otherwise known as Danxi 丹溪 (Yoshizawa 2000a, 128; cf. Waddell 2002,

108). The fault, Shicai states unequivocally in this Yizong bidu 醫宗必讀, does not

necessarily lie in Danxi himself, whose theories are meant to supplement those

of a renowned physician by the name of Li Dongyuan 李東垣 (1180–1251), but in

the unscrupulous way in which students tend to misappropriate Danxi’s clinical

strategies (Li 1957, 4). With regards to the issue of fire and water Shicai seems

to be largely in agreement with Danxi that “the nature of fire is to burn upward

and must therefore be made to descend; the nature of water is to descend and must

therefore be made to ascend” (Li 1957, 8). Fire and water, he claims, must intermingle (jiao 交) to create life. Otherwise, one must be prepared to face death.

27

What Hakuyū offered in response to Hakuin’s concerns about the dangers

of cooling and descending was a faithful reproduction of the above explanation from the Yizong bidu. This seems to have done the trick, as we find no further concerns raised by Hakuin regarding the issue of cooling and descending.

What is curiously missing from the hermit’s response, however, is an answer for

Hakuin’s other major concern, namely stagnation. What we have, instead, is this

simple observation:

Fire has the two aspects of princely and ministerial. Princely fire dwells above

and governs quietude and ministerial fire is located below and governs activity.

Princely fire is the lord of this [actually] non-dualistic mind and ministerial

fire lends ministerial support. There are two types of ministerial fire and they

are said to be [located, respectively, in] the kidneys and the liver. The liver can

be compared to thunder and the kidneys to a dragon. For this reason it is said,

“if the dragon is returned to the depths of the ocean there will never be crashing thunder. If thunder is hidden in the marshes there will never be a soaring

dragon. Are the ocean and marshes not water?” Does this not speak of controlling the tendency of the ministerial fire to rise?

(Yoshizawa 2000a, 129; cf. Waddell 2002, 108)

 

 

The article also explains what was meant by the term exhaustion which the healing egg meditation is meant to help heal:

 

"What, in turn, causes exhaustion? The Byōmei ikai mentions two possible causes: one can either become exhausted by injuring vital energy and blood through their excessive use (rō) or by going beyond measure in consuming alcohol and sex.The consequences of exhaustion were dire."

but also

"I heard of the cause of this illness. It does not come

from wind attack and cold chills. It is an illness that arises from the mind. For

this reason, this illness is called a mind disturbance [shinki 心氣]. It is an illness

that pains the mind.... This illness is difficult to cure with medicine"

 

So it seems that exhaustion they are talking about can come from either excessive living or from excessive emotions or mind anxiety and the meditation is meant to help with both.

 

"What, then, would constitute a viable treatment? Hakuin’s response to

exhaustion was twofold. First, he advised those around him to bring the mind

below as would a sagely lord while governing his people. Or, as Hakuin himself

puts it, “when you focus your mind below you will never forget the people’s

exhaustion (rōhi 勞疲)” (Yoshizawa 2001a, 228–29; cf. Yampolsky 1971, 44).

According to the Yasenkanna, there are two excellent ways of bringing the mind

down into the lower body, namely the aforementioned inner contemplation

technique and what Hakuin calls the soft butter pill (nansogan 輭酥丸) method"

 

Hakuin's claims the source of this butter method is from the Buddha but apparently he also mentions it is found in the work of the monk Tiantai Zhiyi 天台智顗 who wrote the magnum opus Mohe zhiguan 摩訶止觀. which includes a 'Ghee' meditation to help cure mental issues and anxieties, so that might be one source.

 

Better late than never I suppose. I completely forgot I hadn't repsonded with a suitable thank you for passing on the article.

 

Thank you I found it very helpful and a most elucidating read.

 

Best,