As far as my teacher advised, the mind must be ‘stilled’ stabilised and expanded before any Daoist self-cultivation is attempted. This is the Qianfeng Lineage as I have experienced it. One’s physical life must be purified through discipline and vegetarianism. One’s mind must have greed, hatred and delusion uprooted. As the Qianfeng Lineage is intimately integrated with Chinese Ch’an Buddhism, it is the Hua Tou method which is used to work directly on the structure of the mind. The jing and qi travel up the Governing Vessel, which travels from an inch in-front of the anus but behind the scrotum, up the spine and around the top of the head, culminating in the upper palate of the mouth. The tongue touches the palate and connects the rising Governing Vessel to the descending Conception Vessel which starts in the tongue and travels down the front of the body. This travels through the genital area and links with the Governing Vessel near the anus. This is one complete cycle of inner energy cultivation. As the inner energy travels up the Governing Vessel (to the top of the head) the question ‘Who?’ is asked. As the inner energy travels down the Conception Vessel, the question ‘is hearing?’ is used. The full Hua Tou is ‘Who is hearing?’ and the body is split into two even halves – even though the Governing Vessel travels further than the top of the head. All sensation is returned to its non-perceptual essence until the non-perceptual essence is fully comprehended, understood and realised.
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From early 1989 until mid 2000 – Richard Hunn (1946-2006) would only emphasis the Ch’an training. The bulk of this training was completed between 1989-1991 – after which Richard Hunn relocated to Kyoto, Japan. After realizing ‘stillness’ of mind, followed by the apparent expansion of this emptiness from being limited to just the head, to including the enter environment (and everything within it), Richard Hunn emphasized the ‘integration’ of the ‘form’ and ‘void’ - stating ‘do not be attached to the void – nor hindered by phenomena.’ However, from 2000-2004 Richard Hunn focused upon Qianfeng Daoism through visits to our family home in South London, regular letters and long-distance telephone calls. As his health began to decline (due to lung and pancreatic cancer), 2005 was reduced to telephone calls and the occasional card (his Xmas card for 2005 read ‘Anything is possible’). As the cancer was progressing, I received a long telephone call in July of 2006, where Richard Hunn reiterated his transmission(s) to myself, and stressed that I must pursue these issues no matter what, to the best of my ability. We were hoping he would recover, but when he gave-up Western medicine and instead embraced only qigong and Daoist methods, we were quietly beginning to think the end might be near. As we were preparing to fly out to Japan, I received a telephone call from Taiko – Richard Hunn’s wife – and his son – Charles – both of whom informed me that Richard Hunn had passed away sat upright in a Kyoto hospital bed (on October 1st, 2006). His last words being ‘Let’s go to the bookshop and buy some Wordsworth.’
There are two ways of practicing Daoist nei dan – the superficial and the profound. Most are quite happy with the superficial which involves general keep fit (such as walking, martial arts and other routines), together with a good diet and responsible lifestyle. The superficial can be quite sophisticated and achieve considerable results. Since a child I have been practicing Chinese (Hakka) martial arts – although I ceased all martial movement during a period of intense hua tou (Ch’an) practice (1989-1992). Indeed, I stopped ALL worldly interaction at this point so as to ‘freeze’ the mind. This effort came to fruition and when I finally picked up a book and read it much later – it was like the words were tumbling out of my eyes and onto the page (a sign that the mind had ‘turned’ at its deepest levels as stated in the Lankavatara Sutra). When I re-started martial movement, it was ‘new’ and yet ‘familiar’. Still, Richard Hunn remained ‘silent’ about Qianfeng Daoism and wasn’t keen on me reading Charles Luk’s ‘Taoist Yoga’. We had spent the last three years ‘putting down’ or ‘ignoring’ every mind or body sensation and manifestation and the next stage was understanding the removal of the false barrier between the subjective and the objective. Although Charles Luk (1898-1978) had met with Zhao Bichen (1860-1942) in 1936 – and had promised to translate Zhao Bichen’s manual into English (receiving a nei dan transmission) - he did not accomplish this task until 1970, after he had fully ‘stilled’ and ‘expanded’ his mind, and fully understood the Qianfeng methodology. Without ‘stilling’ and ‘expanding’ the mind’s awareness through the mind, body and environment, there can be no profound grasping of the Qianfeng method. This is not a problem as many people never advance beyond this stage and are perfectly happy with their practice. This is as true in China as it is in the West – but the ‘superficial’ must not be presented as the ‘profound’ - as one or two claim in the world of international Daoism. My view is that if you do not discipline your mind and body over many years, and have not ‘stilled’ or ‘expanded’ the mind, you cannot practice ‘profound’ Qianfeng Daoism, although you can most certainly benefit from ‘superficial’ Qianfeng – you will not learn this from me unless in special circumstances. All living creatures possess a genetic clock which determines life expectancy. It is also true that lifestyle and life choices can improve life expectancy or diminish longevity. Living to an old age is usually thought of in Daoist literature to mean surviving to around 100 years old. Of course, within religious Daoism (道教 - Dao Jiao) there is the notion of physical and/or spiritual immortality, whilst within philosophical Daoism (道家 - Dao Jia), at least within the tradition of the Qianfeng School, there is a practical emphasis upon prolonging physical life to a greater degree than would have been expected if no training was undertaken. Vegetarianism features highly as a main dietary requirement, as meat is viewed as containing toxins of various kinds, and although alcohol is generally avoided as a habit, there are some traditional Chinese medicines that involve various herbs, fruits and spices distilled within rice-wine. (Western medical research agrees about the toxins in modern meat production – particularly with regard to the overloading of anti-biotics in farm animals and the use of dies to colour the meat – as well as confirms that a small amount of good quality alcohol [usually spirits] can be beneficial for cleansing the liver and other organs). Regular exercise of various kinds is beneficial to the structures and functionality of the mind and body. This can include stretching, bone-strengthening, muscle-building, muscle-relaxing, cardiovascular development (of the heart and lungs), and the development of a calm and an expansively ‘aware’ mind (all of which is accepted without question in the West). Within the Qianfeng tradition, seated meditation is practiced to calm and still the mind. This is an important first step that bears similarities to Ch’an Buddhist meditation, and reflects the fact that Master Zhao Bichen (1860-1942) inherited the Longmen-Wu-Liu lineage from two (Linji lineage) Ch’an Buddhist teachers – namely Masters Liao Ran (了然) and Liao Kong (了空). Liao Ran’s Daoist name was ‘Pure Meditation’ (清禅 - Qing Ch’an) and Master Liao Kong’s Daoist name was ‘Pure Stillness’ (清静 – Qing Jing). Before actively circulating the ‘jing’ (精) and ‘qi’ (氣) energies, the mind must be gathered and stilled through use of the hua tou (話頭) method. The breath and the hua tou are intrinsically linked so that a practitioner can breathe deeply and fully whilst simultaneously ‘returning’ the perception related to breathing back to its empty essence (mind ground). Eventually this practice extends into circulating jing and qi – and by ‘returning this dynamic activity to its immaterial essence - ‘shen’ [神] (or ‘emptiness’) is cultivated in the mind. This is why ‘jing’, ‘qi’ and ‘shen’ appear to be different entities in practice but are understood to emerge from the same united and empty mind ground in reality. Western science (which cannot be ignored even in modern China), does not recognize ‘jing’ (essential nature), ‘qi’ (breath or vital force), or ‘shen’ (expansive and aware ‘empty’ consciousness) as existing independently, such as an observable process, organ or limb, etc. I certainly do not advocate ‘faith’ over ’fact’ and neither does Master Zhao Ming Wang of Beijing (he views ‘jing‘, ‘qi’ and ‘shen’ as being scientifically ‘real’ from Chinese historical position). My view is that ancient Chinese science clearly identified a number of psychological and biological processes which were thought to be ‘integrative’ rather than ‘distinct’ (with Chinese science focusing upon ‘collective’ processes, and Western science upon ‘isolated’ functionality). China’s scientific trajectory favoured collective operation rather than separate functionality. Jing is that part of the reproductive chemicals (hormones) that combine in within sexual union between a man and a woman that produce the conception of child. Jing is also the basis (essential nature) of the physical life of the body once conceived and is considered crucial for a long and healthy existence. Withholding sexual emission preserves ‘jing’ (which when circulated) rejuvenates the bodily processes and structures. As far as I am aware, there is no Western scientific equivalent to this teaching. Qi quite literally equates to ‘breathing’, but also to the energy an individual receives from food and drink, as well as ‘Yuan Qi’ (元气) - or ‘Original Vital Force’ - which denotes the energy received from two parents at the point of conception. Qi can also be used to describe the attitude of mind of an individual, which can be vibrant and full of virtue (healthy qi), or deceptive, low and full of greed and anger (deficient in qi and virtue). For martial arts practice and bone-building, qi also equates to ‘bodyweight’ and ‘body mass’. Western science acknowledges breathing and the importance of oxygen intake, the circulation of oxygen around the body, the nutrition received from food and drink, and the strength of an individual’s immune system, etc. Gravity and its operation upon the human body is well-known and hundreds of years old in the West. Shen equates to various states of mind and would equate with the observations relating to Western psychology and psychiatry. Chinese Daoism is an ancient science which has studied the human condition very closely and has developed a number of very interesting ideas and concepts, etc. It is important to bear in mind that no matter how many scientists in the West reject the machinations of the Judeo-Christian faith, it is exactly from the milieu of this religion that modern, Western science has emerged (in the guise of secular knowledge). With this in mind, there is no reason to demand that a purely ‘Chinese’ (indigenous) take upon the measuring and recording of the processes and objects that comprise material reality should in any way conform to the cultural norms of the Judeo-Christian belief system.
ACW - 釋大道 (5.9.2019) UK Qianfeng Sub-Branch of the 千峰先天派 (Qian Feng Xian Tian Pai) - Thousand Peaks Prenatal School (Beijing) |
AuthorAdrian Chan-Wyles (內丹 - Shi Da Dao) - Qianfeng Lineage: Zhao Bichen (1860-1942), Charles Luk (1898-1978) and Richard Hunn (1949-2006). Acknowledges Master Zhao Ming Wang (赵明旺) of Beijing as the ONLY Lineage Head of the Zhao Family Lineage of Qianfeng Daoism in China and the world. Archives
February 2024
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