Why modern Qigong science is important to the future of Daoism
Why Modern Qigong is so important to the future development of Daoism
One of the things I’ve said again and again here and in other places is that academics in the sinology and Daoism field should not dismiss Qigong and Internal Martial Arts as not Daoist in character.
That is, those styles are so heavily imbued with Daoist concepts that they have effectively become studies within the broader ecology of Daoism that also deeply influence how Daoists, even in religious contexts think. For evidence of this, look no farther than Wudang, a mountain range in which Internal Martial Arts and Qigong play a prominent role in the broader message of what it means to be a Daoist religious practitioner.
Beyond this, both martial arts and Qigong have engaged in certain types of research that Daoist traditions have not, and this research will be increasingly important to the development of Daoism as it grows in popularity at home and abroad and continues to compete with other religions such as Buddhism and Christianity.
Of special importance is how Qigong practitioners have maintained a Chinese philosophical worldview influenced by Daoism while incorporating modern scienctific materialism as a base theory of practice.
I’ll keep today’s article short and just cover the key points:
I want to be the best practitioner possible, but I don’t practice every style, not do I have time to. My practice is essentially Middle School Neidan, Bagua/Xingyi, and Zhineng Qigong.
I spent well over a decade researching Neidan documents and trying to master meditation, and to that end, I have done a reasonable job, although certainly not perfect. For the past couple years I’ve been working harder to understand the background of Qigong and Yangsheng practices, having spent 2024 investigating medieval Yang Sheng documents from Daoism, Buddhism and Chinese Medicine, and 2025 especially focusing on Pang Ming’s writings about Zhineng Gong.
All of these things have been very useful to me and now I have a better foundation on which to speak about practice and ideas of practice.
Of particular interest to me is the post 1910s inclusion of modernist scientific concepts into these various practices.
In 1914 Jiang Weiqiao published Yin Shi Zhi Jing Zuo Lun, the first meditation guide to actively look into physiology as an important aspect of meditation practice.
Zhao Bichen’s Xing Ming Yao Jue also included detailed information about the hypothesized location of the spirit relative to the brain and nervous system.
After the 1950s, Qigong practitioners began to look into potential scientific explanations of practice from a number of directions, some more plausible than others.
To my mind, Pang Ming made the greatest attempt to integrate science and Qigong with his Primoridial Holism Theory, an idea which attempts to look at living matter as a form of primordial energy which originates at the subatomic level and persists even to the most complex forms of life.
Pang’s essential assertion is a philosophical statement, rather than an evidence backed idea based on research. What he is saying is that Qi, especially primordial Hun Yuan Qi (the one we use in Daoist meditation) is present at the most foundational level of the universe and exists as the key driver of the transformation of all physical matter, including our own bodies.
He explains this through dissertations on the nature of matter from the subatomic level to the level of cellular life, and the life systems of living organisms, effectively stating that all of these things operate on a principle of movement and activity which is supported by the innate structure of the universe.
This theory causes his Qigong to have a unique movement based approach which seeks to reverse engineer internal alchemy in order to allow students to more easily build up Qi outside their bodies and exchange it with the Qi within. This is usually considered the end stage of Neidan, but Pang puts it first in his practice, although the outcome of such practice is certainly different in nature from that of high level Neidan.
By now you may be asking what any of this has to do with the future of Daoism, so let me explain...
Theories like the Hun Yuan Holistic Theory are many, it is not just Pang who has good ideas, but if we take his theory as an example we can further observe that he does one very important thing, he attempts to create a bridge between the philosophy of materialism and Daoism by suggesting that the fundamental Daoist belief that the universe is entirely constructed from primordial/ancestral Qi is not in conflict with the modern idea that the universe is constructed of atoms.
Of course there are no classical Daoist texts which say anything about atoms, but there is a inkling of understanding in the use of such terms as “subtle,” “hidden,” “minute,” and so on in texts like Dao De Jing. Furthermore it is incontrovertable that the practice of meditation and Qigong affect people on the cellular and atomic levels, but of course everything we do affects us on the cellular and atomic levels since these are the basic building blocks of our physiology.
In a sense, Pang is building a large theory to state the obvious, but if we don’t state it, then Daoism will always be relegated to a medieval belief and only be taken seriously by a small subset of the population.
Even though I may seem outwardly critical of elements of Daoist scholarship and clergy, I want Daoism to succeed, I’ve spent half my life doing this stuff and I understand the great benefit it can bring to humanity, so to my mind, a multi decade, or perhaps multi century conversation about the role of materialism in the study of the Dao is a good thing and can help us to tie up loose ends and maybe even improve elements of the practice.
Since Daoism seems to follow a historical cycle of only experiencing opening up for a few decades at a time before receding back into obscure traditionalism (by the way, we are in a stage of obscure traditionalism right now as a result of the recession of the Qigong fever period and increase in religiosity) the early ideas of a science based alchemy proposed by Jiang Weiqiao, Chen Yingning and Zhao Bichen did not develop as completely as might have been needed to bring Daoism fully into modernity. Qigong on the other hand did experience a full modernization and today, although experiencing big problems as a result of pseudo-science and superstition, still provides the best possible example of an attempt to bridge ancient knowledge with modern evidence based science.
Not only that, but significant research has been done into the mechanisms of Qigong since the late 70s and we have convincing evidence of its benefits on physical health as well as some posited reasons for why this occurs which do not rely on traditional knowledge, while not conflicting with a traditional understanding of practice.
Considering this, as Daoism moves forward in its many forms, it may be useful to use Qigong as a case study, identify the points where it made progress and where it came up lacking, and consider how this may apply to the practice of cultivating the Dao in an ever changing international world.
Included behind the paywall today is a long article by Pang Ming from his Jian Ming Zhineng Qigong manual published in the 1990s about the role of perception from the perspective of modern science, Daoism, Buddhism, and Medicine. It is a great introduction to Pang’s thoughts on the matter and if you want me to keep posting about the intersection of these topics please let me know as I have significant translated resources and am happy to discuss them.
意 识的含义
The hidden meaning of perception: