Religion 1000

BiscigliaIn

3 December 2017

The Art of Meditation in Daoism

In the religion of Daoism, meditation is a ritual practiced by many. Meditation refers to

the beliefs of Daoism, also known as Taoism. It is an ancient Chinese tradition that includes

mindfulness, contemplation and visualization. Most of these meditations are interrelated with

Buddhism and their meditation. Livia Kohn thought there to be three main types of meditation,

concentrative, insight, and visualization(“Daoist Meditation”n.d). The first forms of meditation

started from Hindu traditions, from them, there are many different interpretations of meditation.

Two ways to meditate are, “emptiness meditation” and “breathing meditation”(Foreman). Also,

the Daoist believe in Qi, a life force that involves everything in the universe. Qi plays an

important role in meditation.

The Daoist lifestyle is made up of many practices. Meditation is one of those practices.

Meditation helps you self cultivate yourself, much like Christians believe in reading the bible.

Daoists believe that mediation should be done in the morning. Daoism believes early morning is

when the earth is quiet and peaceful. It is the time right before the activities of the day kicks in.

They say it is the only time to take in the valuable, tranquil energies. Meditating outdoors is very

beneficial for it lets you take the energy of all the plants and trees around you. Daoism believes

that in meditation, a person will accumulate energy and deep rest. Meditation quiets the mind.

The mind needs to be quiet so that a person can connect with the subtle universal energy

harmoniously. Meditation allows all negativity in the body to come to the surface and dissipate.
This brings about the release of stress and disease. The release of negativity in the body makes

and creates room for intuitiveness, creativeness and insights which become inspiring.

Emptiness meditation, also known as “Daodejing”, is emptying oneself, sitting calmly,

maintaining stillness, thinking of nothing and feeling nothing(“Daoist Meditation”n.d). Every

second our life, body mind, possessions, family and friends are changing. In order to do this, you

must realize all your feelings, thoughts and emotions to a state of nothingness. In order to

perform this difficult form of meditation, you must accept yourself, your life and your

surroundings(Lywa). Once there, you can feel the true state of inner quietness. This will clean

and replenish your spirit. Also, it will help you with all the unnecessary problems you take on

during the day. This form of meditation can be compared to Confucius and his idea of

“heart-mind fasting”(“Daoist Meditation”n.d). One of the most important concepts of the Daoist

religions is the Yin and the Yang, the balance of the world. Yang being active energy and yin

being inactive energy. In order to understand why this meditation of emptiness is so important,

you must know the ideas of balance. In order to be healthy in all aspects of life, you are told to

eat a well balanced diet, you are told to balance your sleep with the time you are awake and you

are told to balance college and a social life. Too much of one makes your life out of balance,

which can cause downfalls in your mental, physical and emotional health.

Now that we understand the beliefs of balance, Everyday we are go go go, whether it is at

a job, school or at home. Most of the time we don't get a break. Since balance is vital in our life,

we must take time for absolutely nothing. We must have no thought, movement or noises.

Emptiness meditation will balance the busy daily life that many people have. This form of

meditation can be extremely hard for many followers. Thoughts may arise and problems may re
enter the mind. It is thought that if this meditation is too difficult, the student may turn to a

different forms of meditation.

Another form of meditation is breathing meditation, also known as “Zhuanqi”(“Daoist

Meditation”n.d). Zhuanqi focuses on uniting the mind with qi by using the method of breathing.

This meditation targets the vital breath until it is supremely soft. This can be done by observing

each breath, how you inhale and exhale. Each and every breath should go in smoothly than out

smoothly. We can do this by simply breathing softer. This form of meditation does more than just

increase your oxygen capacity. It makes your whole body breath. One example of doing this

breathing with your stomach, when you inhale bring in your stomach and when you exhale you

push it out(“Daoist Meditation”n.d). Try doing this yourself, it helps clear your mind of thoughts

and keeps you focused on one thing.

In the religion of Daoism, there is longevity breathing. This practices control of how

often you breath. The more control you have over your breath, the more control you’ll have in

your health. The Daoist believe that every man and women should at minimum take a breath

every 30 seconds. Once people reach a two second breath, their nervous and circulatory system

make changes to another level that most people won’t believe is possible. Also, it makes stress

less of a problem because you can shake it off so easily. Finally, there is turtle breathing. This is

an eight minute breath, which sounds nearly impossible to most people. Its name comes from the

Giant turtle who live for hundreds of years and constantly hold their breath for over five minutes.

Once this challenge has been achieved, the man or women will be able to maintain the vitality of

youth as the mind and body age(“Taoist Longevity Breathing.”n.d). The importance of the

meditation of breath is that it circulates Qi throughout the body which is essential to life. Neiye is
known to be the oldest mystical text in China. It was written in the fourth century BCE(“Qi.”n.d).

Harold Roth, the Director of the Contemplative studies Initiative, describes Neiye as, "a manual

on the theory and practice of meditation that contains the earliest references to breath control and

the earliest discussion of the physiological basis of self-cultivation in the Chinese tradition." The

Daoist thought there to be this Yin and Yang throughout the universe. A light and a dark that

balance each other out, similar to what breathing is. When you breath in, your inhale is taking in

everything good and your exhale is getting rid of everything bad. Breathing meditation is simple

and easy to do. Breathing meditation helps spread Qi throughout the body. It cleanses your body

and releases stress. Meditation helps you return to your natural state, which can be extremly

benifical to your mental health.

These meditations should be done seated cross legged with a straight back. Your eyes

should be kept half open and should be focused on the tip of your nose. If possible it is suggested

that you try to incorporate both the Emptiness and breathing meditation into one single

meditation. This may be difficult, so it is suggested to do what you can handle(“Daoist

Meditation.”n.d).

During meditation it can become easy to lose focus on what you're doing. There are

several ways to stay focused or get back to focusing. The first one would be to get your attention

back to the flow of air going in and out of your body. This will get you to have an empty mind

and be concentrating on one specific thing. When you take a deep breath, try closing your eyes

and just feel the air going through your body. Your mind is busy so it can not think of anything

else. Another tactic is to focus on your abdomen when you are breathing. You can watch and

feel your abdomen rise up and then go back down. You can feel the sensation of your clothing on
you skin and the way your body moves. Although nothingness meditation may be difficult, these

ways to get back to focusing may help you complete your meditation.

During the Han Dynasty, 206 BCE- 220 CE, the religion of Daoism started to flourish, as

the practices of meditation flourished, new techniques and skills were being developed(“History

of Meditation.”n.d). To understand meditation in the context of Daoism, we must know about Qi.

Qi directly translates to the english word “breath”, “air” or “gas”, figuratively it translates as

“material energy”, “life force” or “energy flow”(“Qi.”n.d). Qi is not something that can be

scientifically proven. It is believed to be in everything and to flow throughout the world. Qi has

no tangible qualities, so it is unable to be touched, seen and smelled. It weaves itself throughout

the universe. Many religions throughout the world have Qi involved in their religion. For

example, most traditional Chinese cultures believed in this life force.

Qi is the the vital energy of the universe. Daoism believes everything in the universe is

made up and comes from this vital energy. This vital energy is made up of Yin and Yang, which

is masculine and feminine energy of the universe. This vital energy, Qi, or life force is very

subtle. Qi is all around us but we don't see it. It is like fish that don't know they are in water, yet

water is all around them. Physics says matter makes up mass and that for mass to move it needs

energy. Physics says you cannot have one without the other. Yin and Yang cannot exist without

the other(“Qi”n.d). Yin and Yang are two opposing forces that support each other and contain a

small part of each other. In harmony, these two forces bring about health and well being for the

individual and the universe. This means that Daoism is a guiding principle that seeks what all

religions seek. All religions provide universal protocol for ethics and for handling what life
throws at you. Daoism is not a ruling force like western religions are. Daoism is more of an art

of your psychological life and spiritual growth and attainment(“Daoist Meditation.”n.d).

Qi is a key factor to the Daoist religion. It focuses on the balance of the universe and

everything in it. Also, it is a reason why meditation is a ritual of their tradition. Without the belief

in Qi, meditation would have less importance to the Daoists.

Throughout my whole childhood my family has always been different when it comes to

the things we believe in and the medicine we take. Although I may not have a set in stone

religion, the eastern beliefs are what I have been taught to believe in. Ideas and practices such as

acupuncture, herbal remedies, and the balance in and out of one's body. I believe in a more

natural way than all the medicine that are created in factories. There are some drugs which we

don’t actually know what the real ingredients are or what side effects they may carry. Chinese

medicine has helped me get through many rough times when I was sick early on in my life when

other western medicines could not alleviate what was wrong with me. In Traditional Chinese

Medicine, I learned things about myself from inside myself. I had always before that, learned

things about myself from things outside of myself.

I never really thought of what religions I could associate my beliefs in, until we learned

about the religion of Daoism. Then things started to click in my mind and I could relate to the

belief that I was reading about. Religion is something I could never really wrap my mind around.

I was not raised going to church, so I have little knowledge on what is it is like to believe in

something that may not even be true. This class has expanded my horizon on religion and its

purpose. When this paper was assigned I was lost on which ritual to pick. Then I looked back at

what I had knowledge of and the choice soon became easy.

 From my research I learned that meditation is something that relieves more than

just stress, it improves your entire health. Also I found out that there is more to meditation than

just sitting and and saying “ohm”. My knowledge and curiosity of meditation has continued to

grow from doing my research. I hope to someday have the time and the mental concentration to

practice meditation!
 Work Cited

“Daoist Meditation.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Oct. 2017,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daoist_meditation.

Foreman, Chad. “The Full Power Of Taoist Meditation And How To Do It.” The Way of “Harold

Meditation, 29 May 2017, www.thewayofmeditation.com.au/blog/taoist-meditation/.

“Harold.D. Roth.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Sept. 2017,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_D._Roth.

“History of Meditation.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Oct. 2017,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_meditation.

Lywa. “Chapter Four: Meditation on Emptiness.” Lywa, 23 Oct. 2015,

www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/chapter-four-meditation-emptiness.

“Qi.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Nov. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi.

“Taoist Longevity Breathing.” Energy Arts, 14 Apr. 2010,

www.energyarts.com/taoist-longevity-breathing.