Understanding Medieval Qigong

Part 1: Tang Dynasty, Sun Simiao.

Pictured: Sun Simiao envisioned as an old man. Sun was a Tang Dynasty Chinese Medicine expert who was also a Daoist and wrote on many subjects from herbal medicine, acupuncture, time and space, and energy practices. His Meditation practices are part of a category of Chinese Yang Sheng prevention practices which have not been completely researched as an independent element of historical spiritual practice, but I think they should. Most modern Qigong scholars in China I’ve read view his work as well as that of Tao Hongjing as either Daoist or Chinese Medicine, but the reality is they crossed over into both territories and belong to a Yang Sheng worldview which transcends individual categories. Today I begin writing on this old topic I’ve been reading about for a long time, I hope you find it useful.

With the imminent launch of the Peng Lai Fellowship, an organization dedicated to the research and dissemination of Daoist Energy practices I've decided to begin once again digging into the history of Qigong to present a comprehensive overview of where the art originated, how traditional Qigong practices were understood and how the theory worked in each of the major generations of its history.

Because I'm a wild and crazy guy I just dive into research feet first and try to overturn as many stones as I can, so this blog is not going to be linear, it will be based on whatever I'm researching at the moment, but I can guarantee that it will show things which have previously been unknown in the West about the development of Qigong history and throw many contemporary assumptions about Qigong, Chinese Medicine and Daoism into question.

Today we are going to begin our first look into the Medical Daoist Qigong of the Tang Dynasty with a review of one of the greats of Qigong culture, Sun Simiao.

This first article will discuss a major Qi Meditation technique used by Sun Simiao in the Thousand Golden Formulas in the 600s.

We will discuss the text under question over three or four articles.

The free section will share knowledge about Sun, and the translation of his entire method, while the subscriber's only section will be a detailed analysis of the text in relation to Qigong, Daoist and Medical history showing how early iterations of Chinese Medicine Yang Sheng did not fit perfectly into the Chinese Medicine category and often had overt Daoist overtones.

I will defer from calling this Daoist Medicine since those practices have a specific modern meaning, but instead suggest that the distinctions we use to discuss these practices should not be viewed rigidly since they often cross over into different categories and clearly were not fixed into the precise categorical definitions popular today.

Maybe we can called it Chinese Medicine Daoist Yang Sheng Qigong or something, I don't know, I'm a student not a marketer so I'll leave the creation of new false categories to the smart people and just point out that there is something worth looking into here.

Sun Simiao was a doctor possibly born in 618 AD who wrote about every part of Chinese Medicine from acupuncture, herbs, Yang Sheng, time space analysis, and of course energetic meditation practices.

Sun was also a Daoist who specialized in a type of meditative practice called 存想 Cun Xiang/Containing the Imagination, a type of visualization which can have many varieties including deity meditation, visualization of energetic phenomena, celestial visualization, and is roughly split into visualization of external objects entering the body and objects internal to the body.

Cun Xiang is commonly attributed to Lady Wei Huacun, a Daoist Priestess and founder of the Shang Qing Sect of Daoism.

The first reference to Cun Xiang was actually from the materialist philosopher Wang Chong around 80 AD in which he used the term to refer to how people ghosts are a figment of the imagination.

In this context Cun Xiang literally means that people contain the image of a ghost in their imagination rather than actually seeing it in real life.

After Visualization became a popular genre of Daoist Meditation it began to eventually leak out to other areas of the Chinese literati and eventually became a tool in 养生方 Yang Sheng Fang/Life Nourishing Prescriptions, a genre of preventative medicine which contains dietary medicine, Qigong, and other lifestyle practices meant to keep the body healthy and fend of illness.

Sun used visualization in his book 千金药方 Medical Prescriptions Worth One Thousand Gold Pieces where he wrote:

闭起双目，想象头顶上空有一片太和元气，如紫云呈伞盖状，五色绚丽清亮，徐徐而下，当触及头发顶盖，出现雨过天晴，祥云退入山中的景象和感受。

“Close both of your eyes, imagine there is a singular mass of the Empty Great Original Harmonious Qi above the peak of your head. It seems like a purple cloud covering it like a vast umbrella. The Five Colours are all magnificent in their shining beauty, gradually bring it down, allow it to mix with the hair on the crown of the head, as if it sprinkles like rain past the heavenly eye, the lucky cloud enters the mountain centre, and it makes everything feel in harmony.

于是太和元气穿透皮肉，过骨入脑，再下至小腹。

The Great Harmony Original Qi passes through the skin and bone, entering the brain, then it continues to travel down until it enters the lower abdomen,

四肢百骸、五脏六腑，皆有受其润泽之感，就像流水渗透入地下。

The four limbs and hundred bones, five organs and six viscera, all of them should feel lubricated, imagine it feels like running water passing through all of them.

同时好像听到腹中气过，汩汩有声。

At the same time, imagine you hear the Qi passing in the abdomen centre, making the sound of flowing water.

很快即觉元气抵至脐下气海，又达脚底涌泉，以致身体振颤，两足卷曲，扯动床坐，拉拉作响。

Very quickly you will feel the original Qi in the Sea of Qi under the Umbilicus, and it will arrive at the bottom of the feet at the Yong Quan point, then the whole body will shiver, then curl the two feet together and move your body around as you sit on the bed, gradually pulling from side to side,

此为一通。

This is one connection.

如此多次反复，及至每日三通五通，则身体舒展，面带光泽，鬓发滋润，耳目聪明，精神饱满，气力强健。

Repeat the same process many times, every day at least three or five times, then the body will become relaxed and stretch naturally, the face will have shining luster, the hair will become richer and smooth, the ears and eyes will be keen and bright, the spiritual essence will be full, and the power of the Qi will become strong and robust.”

This practice is immediately applicable to anyone who has a rudimentary understanding of Qi and can be used daily after waking up in the morning to open the channels, improve blood flow, soften the muscles, and promote energy circulation throughout the day.

How this practice contributed to Qigong theory:

Whether we discuss Chinese Medicine, early Daoism, Internal Alchemy, or Modern Qigong, this article contains many important theoretical elements we can use to delve more deeply into the meaning of Chinese Energy Work.

Let's approach this in a structured way and look at each category on its own merit:

1: 闭起双目 Bi Qi Shuang Mu: Close the two eyes:

in the Dao De Jing Laozi said “五色令人目盲 The five colors make people's eyes blind.”

the practice of closing the eyes during meditation is meant to stop energy from being lost through the head.

2: 想象头顶上空有一片太和元气: Xiang Xiang Tou Ding Shang Kong You Yi Pian Tai He Yuan Qi:

“Imagine that there is one piece of great harmonious original Qi suspended in emptiness above the top of the head.”

In ancient Daoist thought it was believed that the area directly above the head was the Hun Dun Deity, a great original void emptiness from which the Qi of the Dao emerged.

This vast original empty Qi is nameless and formless but is considered the most important point at which the energy of nature merges with the body.

One of the oral transmissions of Internal Alchemy says 先天炁自虚无中来 Xian Tian Qi Zi Xu Wu Zhong Lai: “Pre Heaven Qi comes from the center of void non being.”