As we\u2019ve discussed, Daoism is a highly complex and elaborate system of cultivation.\u00a0 In my 25 years of practicing with numerous teachers in different traditions, I\u2019ve observed that most, if not all Daoist practice methods, fall primarily into one of three broad categories: hygiene, meditation, or ritual.\u00a0 Although these distinctions may ultimately dissolve, as most methods are in fact forms of all three, I nevertheless think this breakdown is helpful as we approach the gate, particularly given our Western cultural context and the fractured nature of the transmission of Daoism to the West.<\/p>\n
Hygiene<\/u>.\u00a0 Hygiene refers to Daoist health practices, including qigong, martial arts, acupuncture\/massage, herbal medicine, and diet.\u00a0 Even arts like painting, music, gardening, and fengshui can be considered ways of supporting our health and well-being.\u00a0 One of the features that distinguishes Daoism from Buddhism is its greater emphasis on healing practices.\u00a0 So Daoists are often known for good health and long lives.\u00a0 The Daoist term for hygiene is yangsheng (\u517b\u751f), meaning \u201cnourishing life\u201d.\u00a0 The majority of Daoist arts we see in the West today are various forms of yangsheng fairly disconnected from any orthodox tradition of meditation or ritual.\u00a0 Westerners are increasingly interested in health & healing but not so commonly interested in ritual, so \u201cnon-religious\u201d Daoist hygiene practices have found broad appeal here.\u00a0 Traditionally yangsheng arts are indeed intended to help everyone live a better life, but for Daoist cultivators, yangsheng is more a matter of supporting and empowering our base of jing & qi so that our practices of meditation & ritual are effective.<\/p>\n
Meditation<\/u>.\u00a0 There are many Chinese words for meditation, the most broad being \u201cda-zuo\u201d (\u6253\u5750), which just means \u201csitting\u201d.\u00a0 There are endless methods we can undertake when sitting, from counting breaths to focusing on energy centers or pathways, reciting mantras, or visualizing deities.\u00a0 There\u2019s also the non-conceptual wuwei meditation of Laozi, which we emphasize in our school.\u00a0 Many Westerners view meditation as a remedy for some problem \u2013 from high blood pressure to original sin \u2013 but for Daoists it\u2019s either a way to enhance the power of ritual, a process of alchemical transformation, or simply a platform for appreciating our natural luminosity.\u00a0 In the West today, there\u2019s a great deal of interest in non-denominational, indeed medical meditation.\u00a0 This is viewing meditation as merely a form of hygiene, which is fine, but such approach is far removed from what meditation has been in numerous traditions for millennia, and it really misses the central point.\u00a0 Daoist meditation is about coming face to face with our nature \u2013 our true nature before birth. \u00a0So I distinguish it from hygiene & ritual as it has a distinct purpose.<\/p>\n
Ritual<\/u>.\u00a0 Ritual \u2013 daojiao (\u9053\u6559) \u2013 is what many Western observers consider the \u201creligious\u201d aspect of Daoism.\u00a0 The vast majority of Daoism throughout the ages has been a form of ritual practice.\u00a0 Maintaining altars and temples, keeping precepts and chanting scriptures, casting spells and crafting talismans, and interpreting the calendar and divining auspices are central Daoist practices.\u00a0 These methods are largely ways to benefit the lives of people or communities, to pacify the dead, and to help communities thrive with healthy harvests or peaceful relationships.\u00a0 But they also provide a means of supporting and expressing the contemplative and alchemical experience of Daoist cultivators.\u00a0 The robust traditions of Daoism have developed and maintained highly elaborate and complex ritual practices throughout the ages. \u00a0And yet there has also been a robust yet less visible hermit tradition of personalizing and distilling ritual down to its basis.\u00a0 Fundamentally, ritual is a formal expression and engagement in the Dao.<\/p>\n
From the perspective of our tradition, all human beings practice each of these categories to some extent.\u00a0 Hygiene is simply taking care of ourselves \u2013 breathing, moving, and eating to support our base of jing & qi.\u00a0 Formal yangsheng practices work with these natural systems to normalize and optimize jing & qi.\u00a0 Meditation is also a natural inclination, driving us to find various ways to get out of our head and into the \u201czone\u201d.\u00a0 Daoist meditation follows this natural inclination to open us into a stable contemplative experience.\u00a0 We\u2019re also already undertaking ritual, be it conscious or not.\u00a0 What we do repetitively each day, how we mark special occasions.\u00a0 Daoist cultivators ritualize our everyday activities as a way of observing Dao.\u00a0 Daoist ritual is an act of formally embracing the cycles of nature to acknowledge or evoke a shift in qi.\u00a0 Having a focused, formal daily ritual ceremony is such a wonderful practice, it\u2019s unfortunate how scarce it has become in our society.<\/p>\n
Our formal engagement in each of these categories is up to us.\u00a0 None of these areas is necessarily central, but certain traditions or individuals may treat one as more central than another.\u00a0 Most important is the view we take into our practice methods \u2013 why are we doing this and what do we intend to \u201cget\u201d out of it?\u00a0 There\u2019s so much to be unpacked in the sections above \u2013 this is such a shallow scratching of the surface, but I think the context it sets is important.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be unpacking these areas a bit in future posts, but much is really more the purview of in-person training.<\/p>\n
I hope this discussion helps to set some context about the array of methods out there and how they fit into the larger picture of Daoist cultivation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As we\u2019ve discussed, Daoism is a highly complex and elaborate system of cultivation.\u00a0 In my 25 years of practicing with numerous teachers in different traditions, I\u2019ve observed that most, if not all Daoist practice methods, fall primarily into one of three broad categories: hygiene, meditation, or ritual.\u00a0 Although these distinctions may ultimately dissolve, as most … Continue reading “Hygiene, Meditation, & Ritual”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions\/74"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}