Confucian Qi gong

[Turner]

This is a gold mine of information. Thank you for the very thorough response!

Edited October 4, 2014 by Turner

[Zhongyongdaoist]

While researching something else, I stumbled across this interesting article from the "Journal of Chinese Philosophy":

A Qigong Interpretation of Confucianism by Peimin Ni

 

Volume 23:1 (1996.3), p. 79-97

 

This is not a good version of the paper, but the academia.edu version is no longer available for reading online and can only be downloaded by members.

 

Other interesting looking papers can be found here:

 

Peimin Ni's profile at academia.edu

[exorcist_1699]

Thank you for this wonderful thread, Exorcist and ZYD.

 

Just as a simple overview statement of Te, regardless of which discipline we're adhering to:

 

"Character is what we do when nobody is looking".

 

Thank you for reading my post .

[exorcist_1699]

In fact, in Buddhism ,Daoism and Confucianism , although not exactly in the same sense, all have their respective implicit  and explicit  aspects/schools  : In Buddhism we have exoteric Buddhism  (顯教)such as the Pure Land school and esoteric  Buddhism ; in Daoism we have medical qigong and philosophical Daoism as explicit , public aspects and its alchemy as  secret side;  in Confucianism , of course, the Confucian political theory and virtues as something  explicit ,  and what we have been discussing here,or what hidden in Yi Jing,  as its implicit aspects...

Edited July 20, 2015 by exorcist_1699

[Zhongyongdaoist]

In light of my post in Kongming's:

 

Career and Cultivation

 

thread, I decided to bump this thread in which I have a lot of posts about, well, like the title says "Confucian Qi-gong", which has a strong overlap with Daoist qigong.

 

Depending on time, I hope to post more in "Career and Cultivation", and maybe in this thread, among other things it turns out there are significant links between what is usually called Neo-Confucianism and Charles Luk's Taoist Yoga text.

 

 

[SirPalomides]

In light of all the talk about would-be gurus and their magical powers, I think it's worthwhile to resurrect this thread, considering especially ZYD's contributions and Mengzi's method of cultivating his "vast" or "floodlike" qi. The fundamental importance of ethical cultivation, of ren, de, etc. seems like it should be a given but with so much amoral egoism it's surely worthwhile to have another look here.

[SirPalomides]

Also perhaps worth comparing is verse 54 from the Dao De Jing:

 

What is well planted will not be uprooted.

What is well held will not escape.

Children and grandchildren will not cease to praise it.

Cultivate virtue in yourself,

And it will be true.

Cultivate virtue in the family,

And it will be overflowing.

Cultivate virtue in the town,

And it will be lasting.

Cultivate virtue in the country,

And it will be abundant.

Cultivate virtue in the world,

And it will be universal.

Therefore:

See others as yourself.

See families as your family.

See towns as your town.

See countries as your country.

See worlds as your world.

How do I know that the world is such?

By this.

[Zhongyongdaoist]

I don't think that I mentioned the teaching of the Daxue much in this thread because most of the material most relevant to the "Confucian Qigong" is in Mencius and the Zhongyong, but as long as SirPalomides has brought up DDJ 54, this section of the Daxue is relevant:

 

Quote

2	大學:	古之欲明明德於天下者，先治其國；欲治其國者，先齊其家；欲齊其家者，先修其身；欲修其身者，先正其心；欲正其心者，先誠其意；欲誠其意者，先致其知，致知在格物。物格而後知至，知至而後意誠，意誠而後心正，心正而後身修，身修而後家齊，家齊而後國治，國治而後天下平。自天子以至於庶人，壹是皆以修身為本。其本亂而末治者否矣，其所厚者薄，而其所薄者厚，未之有也！此謂知本，此謂知之至也。
	Da Xue:	The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things. Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their states were rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy. From the Son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything besides. It cannot be, when the root is neglected, that what should spring from it will be well ordered. It never has been the case that what was of great importance has been slightly cared for, and, at the same time, that what was of slight importance has been greatly cared for. (Daxue Chinese Text Project)

 

I wish I could say that I found this comparison myself, but I owe it to Master Ni who mentions it in his translation of the Yi Jing.  Indeed Master Ni not only mentions it, he translates both the Daxue and the Zhongyong without mentioning their Confucian connections as if they were purely Daoist texts rather than having this crossover connection.  The historical reasons for this are interesting, but too complex to examine now.

 

I have emphasized "意誠而後心正", "they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts", above because of the importance of Cheng, 誠, rendered in the text as "sincere", to Confucian thinking and while "sincere" is a satisfactory meaning in a sense of mundane attitude and behavior, Cheng is such an important concept that the Zhongyong has a relatively long discussion of it which is basically the conclusion of the text.  I don't have time now to enter into the wider meaning of Cheng, but may expand upon it here or elsewhere shortly.

 

ZYD

 

[adept]

This thread has so much good information and is fascinating.

I am particularly interested in this statement from the Daxue as posted above :

Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.

 

This 'investigation of things' seems to be the starting point for cultivating illustrious virtue.

Is 'the investigation of things' a deep contemplative/meditative focus on life, society, people, nature, the way the stars move at night etc ?  

 

[SirPalomides]

15 minutes ago, adept said:

This thread has so much good information and is fascinating.

I am particularly interested in this statement from the Daxue as posted above :

Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.

 

This 'investigation of things' seems to be the starting point for cultivating illustrious virtue.

Is 'the investigation of things' a deep contemplative/meditative focus on life, society, people, nature, the way the stars move at night etc ?  

 

Yes, though there are varying views on what this entails, those of Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming being the most famous.

[adept]

4 minutes ago, SirPalomides said:

Yes, though there are varying views on what this entails, those of Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming being the most famous.

 

Thank you. 

[Zhongyongdaoist]

Reading Tu Weiming's Humanity and self-cultivation: Essays in Confucian thought was how I first learned the true depth and meaning of the Confucian tradition, and I recommend it as an excellent introduction.

 

ZYD

[adept]

23 minutes ago, Zhongyongdaoist said:

Reading Tu Weiming's Humanity and self-cultivation: Essays in Confucian thought was how I first learned the true depth and meaning of the Confucian tradition, and I recommend it as an excellent introduction.

 

ZYD

 

Thank you. 

What I find very appealing about cultivating the Confucian Dao, is the emphasis on behaviour, conduct, morality and humaneness. Traits that seem to be sadly lacking in the general populace these days. 

[SirPalomides]

1 hour ago, Zhongyongdaoist said:

Reading Tu Weiming's Humanity and self-cultivation: Essays in Confucian thought was how I first learned the true depth and meaning of the Confucian tradition, and I recommend it as an excellent introduction.

 

ZYD

It’s not entirely on Google books but at least the first two chapters are complete: https://books.google.com/books/about/Humanity_and_Self_cultivation.html?id=7nnqVSWWZnIC

 

I read the first and went ahead and ordered a copy- I can tell I’ll like it.

 

Going back to adept’s question, I think it might also be worth mentioning the role of art in Confucian cultivation. Poetry and music are seen as important in the Analects and of course painting was another revered pastime among the literati.

[adept]

Over the last few days I've been pondering and meditating on the 'investigation of things' from the Daxue.

What struck me was the sheer depth of such a short statement. As I suggested earlier, the investigation of things is the starting point for cultivating illustrious virtue. Without this investigation, self-cultivation is not possible as we read further down on the passage posted by ZYD : ''From the Son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything besides."

Investigating of things, then behaving appropriately after acquiring knowledge through this investigation, is self-cultivation. 

From my so far limited understanding, this process is repeated constantly, refining the self and eventually becoming a person of illustrious virtue.

I believe I may have found myself a worthwhile life-path of study, practice and meditation.

Thanks to everybody involved in contributing to this thread.

 

[exorcist_1699]

 

Mencius says : " 萬物皆備於我矣"  ("All things are  there well prepared for my coming.. "  ).

 

How splendid  such a saying is !  Yet  hardly can it be true for most people unless he is a guy who is born in a royal or  a very rich family ; in fact,  most things and forces around us   when  we come to this world  appeared as things hostile : Strong wind and  rain make you  uncomfortable , bacteria makes  us sick ; people  jealous of our achievements discourage us  , having no jobs for few months makes us  starve..etc. However,  the guy who says this  is no liar or  superficial guy for  Mencius , the second saint next to  Confucius , is a person who claims himself nourish qi  not  solely for  circulating around his own body , but qi  that is special  as he tells  us  : "吾善浩然之氣, 至大至剛..塞于天地之間" (  " I am good at nourishing  expansive qi, so  immense , so strong ,..that it  fills the whole universe ")

 

If all things are composed of qi , then by using our  own qi in quest for qi outside , making  them serve our purpose with ease  because of their similarity ( "同氣相求") ,we can say that  things  exist there well prepared for our coming. 

 

Edited March 24, 2020 by exorcist_1699