Xing & Ming in Daoist Cultivation

[Shifu Li]

 

Xing & Ming in the Daoist Tradition

The first paragraph of a recent article I and another member of the American Dragon Lineage recently wrote.

 

In the Daoist worldview, the end goal of attaining the Source or Origins is by cultivating our ultimate nature (xing), and our life-destiny (ming). These concepts are two of the many complex concepts informing Daoist cultivation. 

In the early phases of the Daoist tradition, these concepts were thought of as a single unity. As the Daoist view evolved, innate nature and life-destiny became differentiated into two distinct entities. Innate nature became recognized as our original and inherent nature which is connected to the Dao (The Way). Innate nature is also perceived as our heart-mind (xin) with which we were born, thus innate nature is associated with the heart and spirit (shen). Life-destiny became known as our fate as decreed from the intelligence of Heaven. Life-destiny is associated with the kidneys and vital essence (jing-one of the three treasures). Both states are cultivated through stillness practices and movement practices like qigong, daoyin, and other yangsheng methods. In the process, we undertake these states as a dual cultivation of innate nature and life-destiny, which culminates in an ultimate state of Stillness, the same as the ultimate reality, the Dao.  

 

The rest of this article is available for members of the American Dragon Gate Lineage. A new membership level was recently created. Contact shifu Michael for details: qigongdragon.com

[exorcist_1699]

Simply Ming refers to  jing ( essence ) and qi ,  and  xing refers to  shen , some kind of spiritual nature  hidden in the back of our mind that will only  emerge after our having accumulated certain amount of jing and qi in our body . It looks simple but in fact intricate .  It implies that  qi,  as some kind of energy ,  can simultaneously appear to us  in  three states :  inside qi there is jing embedded as low-level  basic stuff  , liquid-like , which makes people feel of  the heat and sex pleasure ; and  there is another higher level spiritual stuff over qi  , built on it , that at certain stage , enables  people feel of some kind of  spiritual  clarity and oneness ;   if compared it to  water , it means water  appears to us as steam, ice and water simultaneously  , which is bizarre and  unlikely ;   I think this is  why by scientific  method and criteria , people cannot directly find qi and therefore deny its existence . 

 

It can also  mean  for a physical body ,  human body and the brain , we can have two systems of abstraction and both work .  It is similar to a physical computing system , we can build on  it  two different virtual machines and they can take control at some time  .  We can have a abstraction of the human body that is based on our understanding of atom , its structure ; molecules and their combination via their outerest orbit's electrons , then those big molecules , a long chain of C, H, N, O ..etc . We can also have another abstraction of the human body  based on jing ,qi and shen . Both systems of abstractions can work , can cure the malfunctions of the body and  even give their respective solutions for  the immortality of it  .

Edited August 7, 2023 by exorcist_1699