Taoism or Daoism is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China. Taoism emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao—generally understood as being the impersonal, enigmatic process of transformation ultimately underlying reality. The concept originates in the Chinese word 道, whose numerous meanings include 'way', 'road', and 'technique'. Taoist thought has informed the development of practices within the Taoist tradition and beyond, including forms of meditation, astrology, qigong, feng shui, and internal alchemy. Common goals of Taoist practice include self-cultivation, a deeper appreciation of the Tao, and a more harmonious existence. Although diverse, Taoist ethics generally emphasize virtues such as effortless action, naturalness or spontaneity, simplicity, and the three treasures of compassion, frugality, and humility. Many Taoist terms lack simple definitions and have been translated in several different ways.
Dantian is a concept in traditional Chinese medicine loosely translated as "elixir field", "sea of qi", or simply "energy center". Dantian are the "qi focus flow centers", important focal points for meditative and exercise techniques such as qigong, martial arts such as tai chi, and in traditional Chinese medicine.
The Three Treasures or Three Jewels are basic virtues in Taoism. Although the Tao Te Ching originally used sanbao to mean "compassion", "frugality", and "humility", the term was later used to translate the Three Jewels in Chinese Buddhism, and to mean the Three Treasures in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Chinese alchemy is a historical Chinese approach to alchemy, a pseudoscience. According to original texts such as the Cantong qi, the body is understood as the focus of cosmological processes summarized in the five agents of change, or Wuxing, the observation and cultivation of which leads the practitioner into alignment and harmony with the Tao. Therefore, the traditional view in China is that alchemy focuses mainly on longevity and the purification of one's spirit, mind and body, providing, health, longevity and wisdom, through the practice of Qigong and wuxingheqidao. The consumption and use of various concoctions known as alchemical medicines or elixirs, each of which having different purposes but largely were concerned with immortality.
Neidan, or internal alchemy, is an array of esoteric doctrines and physical, mental, and spiritual practices that Taoist initiates use to prolong life and create an immortal spiritual body that would survive after death. Also known as Jindan, inner alchemy combines theories derived from external alchemy, correlative cosmology, the emblems of the Yijing, and medical theory, with techniques of Taoist meditation, daoyin gymnastics, and sexual hygiene.
The Huangdi Yinfujing, or Yinfujing, is a circa 8th century CE Daoist scripture associated with Chinese astrology and Neidan-style Internal alchemy. In addition, Huangdi Yinfujing is also the name of a Chinese Fengshui text on military strategy.
The Wuzhen pian is a 1075 Taoist classic on Neidan-style internal alchemy. Its author Zhang Boduan was a Song dynasty scholar of the Three teachings.
The Xiuzhen tu is a Daoist diagram of the human body illustrating the preventative Chinese medical principles called Neidan'internal alchemy', incorporating Chinese astrology, and cosmology.
The Neijing Tu is a Daoist "inner landscape" diagram of the human body illustrating Neidan'internal alchemy', Wu Xing, Yin and Yang, and Chinese mythology.
The Qingjing Jing is an anonymous Tang dynasty Taoist classic that combines philosophical themes from the Tao Te Ching with the logical presentation of Buddhist texts and a literary form reminiscent of the Heart Sutra. It instructs students of the Tao to practice the elimination of desire in order to cultivate spiritual purity and stillness.
Taoist meditation, also spelled Daoist, refers to the traditional meditative practices associated with the Chinese philosophy and religion of Taoism, including concentration, mindfulness, contemplation, and visualization. The earliest Chinese references to meditation date from the Warring States period.
Liu Yiming (1734–1821) (刘一明) was a Chinese Taoist master, thinker, and writer. He was one of the main representatives of Taoist Internal Alchemy, or Neidan. He was an 11th-generation master of one of the northern branches of the Longmen 龍門 lineage, and the author of a large number of works that illustrate his views on both Taoism and Neidan.
The c. 350 BCE Neiye 內業 or Inward Training is the oldest Chinese received text describing Daoist breath meditation techniques and qi circulation. After the Guanzi, a political and philosophical compendium, included the Neiye around the 2nd century BCE, it was seldom mentioned by Chinese scholars until the 20th century, when it was reevaluated as a "proto-Daoist" text that clearly influenced the Daode jing, Zhuangzi, and other classics. Neiye traditions also influenced Chinese thought and culture. For instance, it had the first references to cultivating the life forces jing "essence", qi "vital energy", and shen "spirit", which later became a fundamental concept in Daoist Neidan "internal alchemy", as well as the Three Treasures in traditional Chinese medicine.
The roles of women in Taoism have differed from the traditional patriarchy over women in ancient and imperial China. Chinese women had special importance in some Taoist schools that recognized their transcendental abilities to communicate with deities, who frequently granted women with revealed texts and scriptures. Women first came to prominence in the Highest Clarity School, which was founded in the 4th century by a woman, Wei Huacun. The Tang dynasty (618–907) was a highpoint for the importance of Daoist women, when one-third of the Shangqing clergy were women, including many aristocratic Taoist nuns. The number of Taoist women decreased until the 12th century when the Complete Perfection School, which ordained Sun Bu'er as the only woman among its original disciples, put women in positions of power. In the 18th and 19th centuries, women Taoists practiced and discussed nüdan, involving gender-specific practices of breath meditation and visualization. Furthermore, Taoist divinities and cults have long traditions in China, for example, the Queen Mother of the West, the patron of xian immortality, He Xiangu, one of the Eight Immortals, and Mazu, the protectress of sailors and fishermen.
In religious Daoism and traditional Chinese medicine, yangsheng, refers to various self-cultivation practices aimed at enhancing health and longevity. Yangsheng techniques include calisthenics, self-massage, breath exercises, meditation, internal and external Daoist alchemy, sexual activities, and dietetics.
Shengtai is a Chinese syncretic metaphor for achieving Buddhist liberation or Daoist transcendence. The circa fifth century CE Chinese Buddhist Humane King Sutra first recorded shengtai describing the bodhisattva path towards attaining Buddhahood; shengtai was related with the more familiar Indian Mahayana concept of tathāgatagarbha ("embryo/womb of the Buddha", Chinese rulaizang that all sentient beings are born with the Buddha-nature potential to become enlightened. The Chan Buddhist teaching master Mazu Daoyi first mentioned post-enlightenment zhangyang shengtai, and by the tenth century Chan monks were regularly described as recluses nurturing their sacred embryo in isolated locations. The renowned Daoist Zhang Boduan was first to use the expression shengtai in a context of physiological neidan Internal Alchemy, and neidan adepts developed prolonged meditation techniques through which one can supposedly become pregnant, gestate, and give birth to a spiritually perfected doppelganger.
Taixi refers to Daoist meditation and neidan Inner Alchemy methods, the principle of which is to breathe like an embryo or fetus in the womb, without using nose or mouth. Techniques developed for embryonic breathing include xingqi, biqi, fuqi, and taishi.
Chinese xingqi is a group of breath-control techniques that have been developed and practiced from the Warring States period to the present. Examples include Traditional Chinese medicine, Daoist meditation, daoyin breathing calisthenics, taixi embryonic breathing, neidan internal alchemy, neigong internal exercises, qigong deep-breathing exercises, and taijiquan slow-motion martial art. Since the polysemous keyword qi can mean natural "breath; air" and/or alleged supernatural "vital breath; life force", xingqi signifies "circulating breath" in meditational contexts or "activating vital breath" in medical contexts.
The Xingming guizhi is a comprehensive Ming dynasty (1368-1644) text on neidan self-cultivation techniques, which syncretistically quotes sources from the Three teachings of Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, and is richly illustrated with over fifty illustrations that later texts widely copied. The classic Xingming guizhi has been republished for over four centuries, from its first woodblock edition in 1615 to digital versions in the present.
Huanjing bunao is a Daoist sexual practice and yangsheng method aimed at maintaining arousal for an extended plateau phase while avoiding orgasm. According to this practice, retaining unejaculated jing supposedly allows it to rise through the spine to nourish the brain and enhance overall well-being. Daoist adepts have been exploring various methods to avoid ejaculation for more than two thousand years. These range from meditative approaches involving breath-control or visualization to manual techniques such as pressing the perineum or squeezing the urethra.
