Page 618 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM A-L

and with a specific technical meaning in the twentieth century, used mainly
by Jiang Weiqiao #f fo.:fF. jffi (1872-I955) in his particular mixture of modern bio-
medical thinking and *neidan, which has been widely regarded a forerunner
of the contemporary *qigong movement (Kohn I993a; Kohn 1993b, I35-4I).
Jiang, also known as Yinshi zi I-SI hl ~( (Master of Following the Right [Path]),
was from Jiangsu, where he spent most of his life and served as a provincial
Minister of Education in the 1920S. A sickly childhood that culminated in tu-
berculosis and a stomach ulcer in his twenties led him to try many different
healing methods, all of which proved ineffectual until he stumbled across an
old neidan manuscript, whose instructions he followed with some success.
This laid the foundations for his own healing regimen, which he described in
the .Jingzuo fa jiyao fj'~ ~ it ~.~ (Essentials of the Method of Quiet Sitting),
first published in I914 and included in the *Daozangjinghua. His key technique
is jingzuo, which consists of sitting or kneeling quietly, preferably in a special
meditation hut or chamber, and focusing attention on one's breathing. As the
practitioner regulates the breath and follows it deep into the abdomen to gain
control over the diaphragm, the Ocean of Pneuma (qihai *C 1~) is activated
in the lower abdomen, an area that corresponds to the Cinnabar Field. Once
the diaphragm is fully controlled, breathing is reversed (the diaphragm rises
on the inhalation), and breaths become deeper and less frequent. Eventually a
hot energy is felt to fill the abdomen. Without conscious help, it rises up into
the spine and begins to move around the body in a circle linked to the pulse
and blood circulation. This practice has been used as the basis for many qigong
exercises and clinical therapies since the 1930S.

LiviaKOHN
m Chan Wing-tsit I989, 255-70; Despeux I990, 227-30; Gernet I98I; Kohn
1993a; Kohn I993b, I35-4I; Taylor R. L. 1988

* qigong; MEDITATION AND VISUALIZATION

jinji

proscriptions and prohibitions; taboos

Discussing taboos in Taoism involves defining the range of Taoism itself. The
present entry does not attempt to cover the subject in its entirety, but limits
its scope to some examples of the role of taboos in ritual and in *waidan
(external alchemy).