Break on through to the other side

the spiritual part of Neidan

note: today we look at the second half of Neidan practice, the part where we transform the spirit into emptiness, a major section which can’t be overlooked. The subscriber’s only article is a translation of the collected sayings of Tan Chudan, one of the major Quanzhen disciples who was famous for his high achievement in Neidan.

Neidan is composed of two ideas:

1: cultivating the innate life energy of the body,

2: cultivating innate consciousness.

Neidan texts hold various conflicting views about exactly where we place life energy and consciousness in terms of whether we view them as cosmic or physical principles, but let's just say that one mode is related to a form of Qi and the other mode is related to a form of shen and leave it there for the moment.

When you practice Neidan, practically speaking the first several years are mainly energetic practice until all the meridians are open, the Dantians are full, and the middle channel can connect.

That is the innate life energy section of practice.

When this part is complete, the next section is innate nature/consciousness cultivation.

Here is the difference:

during the innate life energy section you will typically experience energetic movement within the meridian system and sometimes achieve small glimpses of the face you had before you were born, but those are brief and the energetic phenomenon is strong.

After the completion of the middle channel, one day your life energy cultivation is over for all intents and purposes (you still sense energy, you can still cause it to move and collect, but you are also capable of going beyond to the next level). At this level of practice the primary experience is a kind of breakthrough that happens after entering Wu-Wei (I'm going to use more terms from the Dao De Jing without explaining them as most of you know what they mean) when the barrier caused by the senses and perception breaks open to the true emptiness of the original spirit.

This stage of practice is when you begin to cultivate something that exists beyond energy and at the same time doesn't exist at all.

Today I want to describe what the experience is like to the best of my ability.

During this phase of practice, when you meditate you will easily enter a deep state of non action where there is no self. During that state you will completely forget you exist and there will be no trace at all.

After a certain period of time you may sense your mind returns in a slight dreamstate, or even as a sexual impulse. You should ignore that and return to deep silence, then after a certain period of time the self forgetting mysterious meditation state will break open and the spirit will flash a sudden light which results in complete clarity and illumination.

This can happen in any of the Dantians, the whole body, or in no space (that last one is a bit hard to explain, just trust me on it).

The clarity experience will last for a while, then your mind will notice you have experienced an enlightenment and you will begin to return to the regular sensory environment. The key is to subdue your thoughts for as long as possible and try to become silent again.

What happened in the breaking of the six roots of perception which include:

• the eyes/sight,

• the ears/hearing,

• the nose/smell,

• the tongue/taste/speech,

• the body/sensation,

• the mind/thought,

Identifying with these roots is what traps you in samsara, so when they completely dissolve in meditation the result is liberation from suffering, even if just for a short time.

This is a Buddhist concept, but we also use it in Neidan and even as far back as Wu Zhen Pian (the first Neidan classic) there is already a discussion of similar ideas (Neidan also has its own patron Buddha by the way).

The stage where you begin to have frequent breakthroughs is a sign that you are moving toward a more advanced level of practice and that the Yang Shen is beginning to develop and will eventually be able to travel beyond the body.

I write these things down because I know most people think of Neidan as an art of cultivating Qi, which in some regards it is, but it is also an art of enlightenment and liberation, not to mention it is one of the best arts of enlightenment and liberation. This information needs to be recorded and we need to have more people who have experienced these things to speak in public to help Neidan grow as a genre. I kind of take myself to be a cheerleader of Neidan, I think it is really effective and can help many people. It is also easier to trace your progress than many other systems of meditation, but only if you understand the structure of the art, its goals and how to judge personal progress.

Today's subscriber only article is a translation of the collected notes of Tan Chudan, one of Wang Chongyang's seven disciples who spread the Quanzhen religion in China. It is about topics like enlightenment, overcoming the wheel of reincarnation, and how to practice. I recently taught it in a course about Northern School Neidan I'm teaching which you can find here:

https://immortalitystudy.gumroad.com/l/northernschool

It is a great program and teaches documents from Wang Chongyang and several of his disciples. It is a cool course for religious Daoists who want to learn Neidan from the Quanzhen approach, or people interested in learning a more Zen approach to Neidan.

谭长真祖师语录

Tang Chang Zhen Ancestor Teacher Recorded sayings: