The Daoist Shangqing School's Meditation from the Phenomenological Perspective: Taking the Method of "Swallowing the Qi of the Sun" from the Lingshu Ziwen Shangjing as an Example
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53469/jssh.2024.6(06).09Keywords:
Phenomenology, Temporal Haloning, MeditationAbstract
The phenomenological perspective provides us with a new outlook on ancient Chinese studies. Many traditional thoughts and practices, which have been conceptualized and empirically viewed as primitive, simple, and lacking in rational depth for over a century by Western conceptual and empirical approaches, now have the potential for new interpretation and understanding. As the most significant cultivation practice of the Daoist Shangqing School, the Meditation (cun si) serves to continuously adjust the consciousness and sensory state of individuals, enhancing and stabilizing the momentum of the formation and composition of the "body-field", thus laying a solid foundation for connecting to deeper and broader possibilities of life.
References
The full name of this scripture is Huangtian shangqing jinque dijun lingshu ziwen shangjing, which is an important early classic of the Shangqing School, dating approximately from the Eastern Jin to the Southern Dynasties period. For the sake of convenience, it is commonly referred to as the Lingshu ziwen shangjing. The Daoist Canon, Vol. 11[M]. published by Wenwu Press, Shanghai Bookstore, and Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House, 1988: pp.380-385.
Edmund Husserl. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy[M]. translated by Ni Liangkang, Beijing: People's Publishing House, 2007: p. 22.
Edmund Husserl. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy[M]. translated by Ni Liangkang, Beijing: People's Publishing House, 2007: p. 88.
American psychologist William James divided the stream of thought into the "real part" and the "transitional part", where the transitional part is what he referred to as the "stream" or "flow". He believed that thought is based on the structure of this "flow", which precedes the real part of thought. For more information, refer to William James. Chapter Nine, The Stream of Thought, in Principles of Psychology[M]. translated by Tian Ping, China City Press, 2003. Although this transitional part of the stream of thought is the reality of thought, it is difficult to grasp through reflective means, and thus has been overlooked by traditional modes of cognition. Husserl discovered the pure originality of this structure of the "stream of thought", as well as its latent feature of passive synthesis or "noema", revealing the ultimate nature of this stream of consciousness.
Ni Liangkang. A General Explanation of Husserl's Phenomenological Concepts[M]. Beijing: Sanlian Bookstore, 2007: pp. 531-532.
The contradiction and difference in objectified significance.
In the first edition of the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant, in the deductive part, posits that besides sensation and thought, which are the sensory material received through the forms of time and space, and intellect, based on the categorial relations, there is also what he calls "transcendental imagination". This kind of imagination goes deeper than its psychological sense because it deals not with objectified material but with a pre-objectified "synthesis of reproduction". This ability even allows for the possibility of a synthesis between intuitive "apprehensive synthesis" and conceptual "cognitive synthesis". However, due to the synthetic and generative nature of this ability, there is a potential conflict with the system where logical synthesis predominates as the highest point of the subject. In the second edition of the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant assigns this imaginative faculty to the subaltern of synthesis. For more details, refer to Zhang Xianglong. Heidegger's "Kantbuch", in Collected Papers on German Philosophy[M]. Beijing: Peking University Press, 1993, pp. 1-24.
This domain can be understood as the domain of Kant's sensory intuition and intellectual concepts. As finite beings, humans cannot make objects adapt to their intuitions and thought forms, nor can they simply accept objects or create them out of nothing. Therefore, they can only integrate into the field of vision of the "temporal halo" through transcendental imagination. There, the objects in the domain blend with the pure images presented by human imagination. Heidegger has already transcended the understanding of time beyond the domain of consciousness, regarding it as something original.
This can be understood as unimpeded, without the so-called subjectivity within it.
Heidegger's conception here has already transcended Husserl's level of consciousness. Through the analysis of phenomena such as language, he has softened the substantiality of the world. All existence (including the existence of the world) is constituted within the temporal halo of phenomenological time flow.
For example, "phantom limbs" and similar "illusions" are not merely psychological or purely objective phenomena; they arise from the inherent dynamics of the human bodily field. Maurice Merleau-Ponty, in Phenomenology of Perception, provides the example of patient Schneider, who, due to shrapnel hitting his parietal lobe, experienced impaired visual function. While his organs' basic functions remained intact, he could still see and move, but he could not move his limbs based solely on verbal instructions. Instead, he needed to observe his limbs and mentally prepare himself within a certain context to perform actions. This indicates that his overall bodily field was disrupted, objectified, and the intermediary link between sensibility and intellect, the part responsible for integration and occurrence, was damaged. As a result, his sense of the original time, the domain of the "halo flow", weakened. Refer to Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Phenomenology of Perception, Chapter Three[M]. translated by Jiang Zhihui, Beijing: The Commercial press, 2001.
With the domain of "halo flow" as the cognitive basis, fields of perception, visual perception, and actual situations can all be similarly understood, presented in a manner of ambiguous presence. The "sensory impressions" of empiricism and the "ideal forms" of rationalism are already expressions of some kind of pre-existing "clarity", which, compared to what can be understood within the bodily field, obscures many contents through its pre-existing clarity.
Qiang Yu, The Philosophical Themes and Logical Construction of Taoist Philosophy[J]. World Religious Studies, 2004, Issue 2: p. 80.
Chen Guofu states: "The method of the 'Shangqing Scripture' primarily relies on visualization and employs talismans". Refer to Chen Guofu. Research on the Origin of the Daozang (Revised Edition) [M]. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2014: p. 13.
Ge Zhaoguang. The World of Imagination[M]. Beijing: Modern Publishing House, 1990: p. 140.
Refer to Comprehensive Mirror of Daoist Immortals Throughout the Ages and other texts in the Orthodox Daoist Canon, Dongzhen Section, recorded under the Biographies and Transmissions category.
Yin and yang originally stem from the microscopic manifestation of sunlight. The changes in experiencing sunlight are the direct revelation of the natural seasons to humans. This is also how the ancient Chinese perceived and experienced the myriad phenomena in the world. As the foundational distinguishing state, this fundamental differentiation does not possess independent existence; rather, it always arises and is maintained within the interplay of mutual repulsion and interaction, constituting the primordial appearance of generative structure.
In the Human World chapter of the Zhuangzi, it says: "If there is one will, do not listen with the ears but listen with the heart; do not listen with the heart but listen with the Qi. Listening stops at the ears, the heart stops at the symbols. Qi is what waits vacantly for things. Only the Dao gathers vacancy. Vacancy is the fasting of the heart". Here, the senses of the ears and heart are situated at the level of receiving and conforming to objectified communication, while "Qi" represents the state where reception and conformity are realized as generative formation. Fasting of the heart requires adjusting the pre-existing sensations of the heart and ears to a state of vacancy, awaiting the emergence of generative formation.
In the Great Master chapter of the Zhuangzi, it says: "Abandon the body, reject intelligence, depart from form and forsake knowledge, and assimilate with the Great Harmony; this is what is called sitting in forgetfulness". "Body" and "intelligence" respectively represent the pre-existing "form" (sensory perception) and "knowledge" (intellectual framework). By not regarding these fixed experiences of the world as true (sitting in forgetfulness), one can allow the consciousness to flow without obstruction, thereby experiencing the continuous generation of the "temporal halo", or the domain of "Great Harmony".
The term "Qi" (气) is homophonous with "qì" or "ch'i" in Chinese, but their original meanings differ. However, in the simplified Chinese script widely used today, "Qi" is commonly employed in various contexts. In the cosmological theory of Daoism, "qì" or "yuan qì" (元炁) is considered the most pure and fundamental constitutive force, while "Qi" has to some extent become objectified, with its constitutive force being somewhat limited and appearing as varying degrees of substance and pre-existing entities. In the practice of Daoist cultivation, different contexts may utilize different terms. Here, we blur the more specific usage scenarios to describe the existential states of various constitutive domains.
The Daoist Canon, Vol. 28[M]. published by Wenwu Press, Shanghai Bookstore, and Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House, 1988: p.406.
The Daoist Canon, Vol. 28[M]. published by Wenwu Press, Shanghai Bookstore, and Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House, 1988: p.406.
Wushang Mi Yao[M]. annotated by Zhou Zuoming, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2016: p. 1271.
Wushang Mi Yao[M]. annotated by Zhou Zuoming, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2016: p. 1271.
Wushang Mi Yao[M]. annotated by Zhou Zuoming, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2016: p. 1272.
In the Huangtian shangqing jinque dijun lingshu ziwen shangjing, there is also a method known as the "Swallowing the Essence of the Moon". This method primarily focuses on attaining the hidden sense of human concealment, emphasizing the concealed state of Yin. Different methods emphasize different aspects of sensory cultivation, thereby enabling individuals to achieve dynamic balance at a deeper level. Due to space constraints, further elaboration will be provided in a separate discussion.
The Daoist Canon, Vol. 11[M]. published by Wenwu Press, Shanghai Bookstore, and Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House, 1988: pp.382-383.
Refer to the Shangqing taishang dijun jiuzhen zhongjing, where the characters representing the Five Emperors are described as follows: the Blue Emperor illuminates the Dragon's Secret, the Red Emperor is reflected in the Green Rainbow, the White Emperor returns in Golden Radiance, the Black Emperor records in Dark Mist, and the Yellow Emperor's image shines brightly. In the Lingshu ziwen shangjing, the central character is omitted, possibly for the sake of convenience in invocation. Both the Jiuzhen zhongjing and the Lingshu ziwen shangjing are important classics of the Shangqing School, and the methods of cultivation mentioned in the two classics often complement each other. Therefore, the content described in the Jiuzhen zhongjing is provided here as a supplement. The Daoist Canon, Vol. 34[M]. published by Wenwu Press, Shanghai Bookstore, and Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House, 1988: p.39.
If approached with a reflective attitude, even what is called phenomenological reflection can become a kind of de-lifing behavior, because this outward-looking reflection turns flowing experiences into objects of observation, thereby altering the "stream of experience".
The "Opening Clarity symbol "in the Yuyi jielin benriyue tu is not the same as the figure of this talisman, and from the subsequent greetings, it can be seen that the two belong to the same practice method. The Daoist Canon, Vol. 6[M]. published by Wenwu Press, Shanghai Bookstore, and Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House, 1988: p.701.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Xiaoming Wang
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
