Yang Xing Yan Ming Lu

how to be a chill 5th century Daoist

I asked the AI to make an image of Daoist Master Tao Hongjing relaxing in a lawn chair at the lake and this is what it produced. Not perfect, but I’m not going to quibble… Subscribe to IS to get a metaphorical lawn chair at the beach twice every week to your inbox with all the awesome Daoist life nurturing content I publish here!! :)

《庄子》曰 ： 达 生之情者， 不 务 生 之所无以 为 〈向秀曰：生之所无以 为 者，性表之事也。 张湛曰：生理自全， 为分外所 为，此是以有涯随无涯也〉 ； 达 命之 情者，不 务智之所无奈何〈向秀曰：命尽而死者是。 张 湛曰： 秉 生 顺 之理， 穷所禀之分， 岂智所奈何〉。

Zhuangzi said: “arriving at the feeling of generation, do not attend to that which is not associated with generation.”

Xiang Xiu said: “what is not associated with generation is exterior to nature.”

Zhang Zhen said: “the principle of generation is spontaneously complete, the action referred to is one which separates to its outside, this is why that which has limits follows that without limits.”

Zhuangzi: “those who attain the feeling of intrinsic life energy do not attend to knowledge which is of no avail.”

Xiang Xiu Said: “intrinsic life energy when exhausted results in destruction.”

Zhang Zhen said: “holding generation and complying with its principle, investigating portions of its inheritance, is this not what is meant by having no avail?”

Explanation:

The key to Tao Hongjing's Life Nourishing Abstentions is in the ideal of not going beyond the normal bounds of one's own intrinsic nature and intrinsic life energy.

Tao uses the ideas of Xing (nature) and Ming (life energy) in this text to refer to mental activities and inborn nature (Xing) and the Qi of the body (Ming).

This may be confusing for Neidan students since Xing and Ming in Neidan are used to refer to the origin of consciousness (Xing) and the generation of Pre Heaven Qi (Ming), so we should recognize that there is a profound generational difference in how Daoist ideas were interpreted between the years before and after the Tang Dynasty when Neidan became popular.

Old writings such as Tao's and those of Sun Simiao use the concepts of Xing and Ming to refer to broad generalities of inborn mental characteristics and energy, rather than the narrow interpretation of Neidan.

Again in modern religious schools of Daoism the concepts take on different connotations again since they are used to refer to ideas surrounding nature and destiny on a cosmic level.

These three groups of definitions of Xing and Ming are all correct in Daoist thought but it is important to recognize where they fit in the puzzle so that we can read old texts without misinterpreting them.

When Tao and Sun Simiao discuss nurturing nature and protecting life it usually involves the use of a Post Heaven approach that involves breath work, visualization, and Dao Yin before going on to deep meditation.

This makes the old system of Daoist self cultivation more similar in a certain sense to modern Qigong with its graduated system of training that goes from movement to stillness.

Neidan is the opposite since it goes from the stillness of deep meditation to the spontaneous movement of Spiritual Energy.

Yin and Yang are opposites but they exist in a mutually complementary continuum in which they constantly interact and mutually transform.

Neidan and Daoist Qigong exist in a similar continuum and as long as we know the principles of both and how they differ, there is no conflict in studying both approaches.

The basic idea of the comments on the Zhuangzi text provided by Xiang Xiu and Zhang Zhen (famous Chinese thinkers) is that nature and life are complete in and of themselves so any actions which are taken to separate from their already perfect function is a perversion which invites injury and death.

In other words, the message here is to conserve your energy, don't engage in excessive external actions which do not help you cultivation, and maintain a peaceful and balanced state of mind in order to be healthy.

I've heard some criticism that this only works for people who have plenty of free time and live in low stress environments, but doesn't it actually apply even more to people who have busy lives and are frequently under stress?

If you master your own center you will doubtless learn to manage the craziness that other people pile upon you better than if you give yourself high blood pressure and a peptic ulcer by worrying and getting angry all the time.

This is the social aspect of Daoist self cultivation and it is every bit as important as what you do when you sit down to meditate.

Remember, it was Zhang Boduan who said “the great hermit lives in the town, the lesser hermit lives in the forest.”

Think of yourself as an aspiring great hermit and do not let your nature be parted by the circumstances of your life and do not let your life energy be drawn to things that do not pertain to it.

Maybe easier said than done, but just like any skill if you work on it you will improve incrementally until one day you are a real master.

Keep going!!