Daoist body (daojia tu)
The Daoist body is a fundamental concept in the inner work system of Daoist yoga and alchemy. This concept is used within sacral anatomy, and it is extremely important for those who want to understand inner development.
Note that the Daoist body concept is specific and does not correspond to the modern understanding of the body. The Daoist body is a form that represents something or a form, which contains something. We need to understand not only the form itself but also the connections it builds in the body. This will help us perceive our body as a Single, united body, a body with internal support. The Daoist body requires “Kinship of the Three” (Can Tong Qi), it is a body endowed with consciousness.
Bringing the body to a state of absolute inseparability is the first step to the practical implementation of the idea of the Immortal Embryo, which symbolizes the return to the prenatal embryonic stage. This stage helps you to distinguish between embryonic, abdominal and energy breathing, and also allows you to initiate the alchemical processes with your whole body. This starts with the creation of crucibles in the body, next, Yin thickens into mercury and then Yang thickens into lead. This allows the shi seed to merge with the breath – a process, which begins with the formation of the Inmost Embryo that is nurtured within the body.
This helps resolve the issue with the body, which at the beginning of the path is considered as similar to a base metal (tin, zinc, copper – depending on the type of formation). Only with the acquisition of the Mercury body (the kind of body capable of dissolving impurities and achieving deep purification) do we reach the state of inner luminosity (gold). The next stage is to create the cinnabar so as to thicken the luminosity (get silver) and extract perfect ingredients (jade) from it, in order to then go in the opposite direction.
Therefore, the state of our body depends on our ability to understand the difference between the various states of jing in the body, or the nature of metals. In this context, “yellow” (Huang, 黃) simultaneously refers to color, light, metal, elixir and process. As long as we have a body based on a substantial form (separation, decomposition), we cannot do anything with it. We need a new formation, calcination.
A body controlled by darkness and the lower stage (the nigredo stage in alchemical work) is bound to decay. So, our first goal is to take control of the disparate parts of the body, i.e. prepare the body for a proportionate state (which is also the basis for the creation of the philosopher’s stone). However, unitedness and homogeneity can only be achieved with the help of the jing energy, therefore we need to understand qi-jing. This will provide us with the first opportunity to attain the light (albedo stage). So, the first elixir must have albedo qualities, which are related to the concept of energy reflection. Next, we attain the yellow (citrinitas stage), and after that – cinnabar (rubedo stage).
This process of matter transformation can be compared to reaching the Woman within. Note that women are by nature whole, not dual. Duality is characteristic to men; this is why men need direction. The female body has a cyclic nature, although, admittedly, its quality is much worse today as a result of the weaker vibrations of the mind (which has caused women to rely more on the temporal cycle). Whereas, to achieve wholeness, we must stop living within a temporal cycle.
To prevent the mind from relying on the temporal cycle, we must generate enough jing energy in the brain. This is why Daoist immortals are often depicted with an exaggerated skull – this is a sign that they have accumulated and stored a huge amount of jing energy in their brain, which has turned their brain into exquisite gold.
But the path begins with lead, or geometry. The life force (Yang Xing) is nurtured in the head and developed in the Earthly Court (belly). If we do not have a Unified, or Single body, we cannot separate the three substances and our body will be damaged by the vital energy. As Daoist teachings say, one should feed on energy and minerals “capable of killing the three worms.”
The brain must be strengthened very early on, so that we can obtain the Primary Substance (Yuang Zhi, 原知), which we need in order to get the subsequent ingredients. We must also understand that we cannot achieve an inner connectedness in the body corresponding to the proportion or axis (or we cannot mix the breath with the ingredients) unless our brain work is aligned properly.
Knowledge of the Daoist body is important for the preparation of the Alchemical body, as it helps us form additional channels, bodily vessels, cinnabar fields, i.e., it helps us prepare for the alchemical work. Eventually, the Daoist body becomes an Alchemical body. The Daoist body is an evolving body, meaning it can be changed and transformed, which makes it different from all other bodies.
Of course, there are numerous processes in nature that can be considered as development, but this development is based on natural characteristics, it does not involve an additional effort that needs to be formed for the creation of the Daoist body (which requires, first of all, a mental effort).
The human body is the most amazing and complex object in nature: humans can influence the natural processes of development, and thus hinder or help themselves. This stems from the human ability to develop an additional effort, which results from a type of energy that can develop only in the human body. Simply put, we are given a certain amount of energy for the period of our existence, and, as a rule, the average person quickly burns through this energy. However, if we can disrupt our development, this also means that we can improve it!
What is most striking here is that man has, in fact, created an amazing precedent in the macrocosm: he has developed the ability to change something in the natural order – we, our body has a form which can obtain an additional effort.
The Daoist body concept requires from people to try to avoid deterioration, which corresponds to the concept of ‘’naturalness’’. Note that in the Daoist body context, naturalness is not some abstract philosophical idea, it is a physiological concept.
Let us look at animals, for example: animal existence is governed by physiological processes. Therefore, with respect to this state of ‘’naturalness’’, animals surpass humans, as they do not contribute to their own destruction. Animals exist within their natural cycle of transformation because they lack this additional effort associated with the brain, that is, their body cannot be controlled intentionally, through the brain.
Initially, of course, the doctrine of the Daoist body was not created with the goal of improving human nature. Its goal was to prevent deterioration. In other words, for a rather long period of time, the only function the human brain performed was that of attunement, and not of development. Yet, in ancient times, people could tune in to things that are beyond the control of a modern person: spatial structures, the vibration of stars, etc. Therefore, man’s fundamental task was to avoid disrupting or damaging his tuning apparatus.
So, initially, people had better abilities in terms of existence, but lesser in terms of development. Today we surpass the ancient people in terms of development, but we have lower abilities in terms of existence. Nevertheless, we cannot unequivocally declare that the human brain has evolved meanwhile. Rather, it hasn’t really, it has increased in size, but it has lost its ability to focus. We can say that in ancient times man had a very imperfect gun, but with an optical sight, whereas today he has a perfect gun, but without optics.
Man, in fact, deprived himself of what we today call concentration. And although we often use this idea, we actually refer to other states: attention, observation, or focus, at best. Concentration is an effort that comes from the proper geometry of the brain. In ancient times, people’s brains could attain concentration on the physiological level and not mentally.
Today the notion of ‘naturalness’ (which is an important concept for the Daoist body), requires that we keep two tasks in mind: the need to achieve a certain synchronization of energy within the body and the importance of obtaining concentration in the mind.
Human development can start only after we have created the suitable conditions for achieving naturalness: the energy is collected, we have a Single Body, our mind is focused. The physiological (hence, energetic) understanding of naturalness requires that we create unity in the body, the so-called preservation of the one. This means that we need to organize the body in connection to the place where energy can naturally collect, i.e., the belly. The abdominal area is extremely important for gaining naturalness and unity as:
- this is the place where all human energy intersects;
- the belly can absorb the energy of the food we eat; the subtle qi of water and grains can be absorbed and further transmitted throughout the body only if it is absorbed by the stomach;
- breath energy is also absorbed by this area.
This means that the belly can process three types of nutrition sources:
- the internal energy circulation source;
- the external energy circulation source;
- the received energy source.
Consequently, the first task on the path to naturalness is to create the Correct One (stomach), and the second – to collect the Correct Other (mind), since that additional effort for development, mentioned above, can arise only when the Mind can use the One to control the process.
One of the main practices used by the ancients to this end was the purification of the bone marrow. People achieved naturalness and maintained it, which allowed the energy to enter the bone marrow, whereas the mind or consciousness only helped by directing it. Thus, the cleansing of the bone marrow was both a natural process and a mental one. At the same time, naturalness created conditions for the deepest circulation of energy associated with the bones. Today, people have lost the ability to nourish the bone marrow, because they have lost both naturalness and the necessary concentration in the brain. As a result, the brain has been deprived of the highest-frequency food it needs.
This is the reason why bodily systems that need higher-frequency energy (such as the endocrine system) are the first to get damaged. Today, development should take into account that naturalness is already inaccessible purely physiologically, and the fulfilment of the three tasks (creation of a single body, a cantered brain and connections between them) requires incredible efforts. One needs real knowledge and enough time for restoration. After all, we are talking about development in the highest measure.
Development itself has a measure, which is determined by the connectedness of the consciousness with the stomach. Our first task in relation to the body today is to create a geometry that will allow this body to exist, because today people simply do not possess a body.
The body is a specific geometric shape that must be recreated or created. We need to acquire what we call the Daoist body, and only then can we move on to process structuring.
The Daoist body is a body of a certain shape and measures. The main measure for the Daoist body is related to the knowledge of the nine types of energy circulation. These nine types of energy circulation, or Nine Dragons, are nine types of spirals that can exist within the laws of our space, and can be directly perceived by the human body. They form an inner scale linked to the conditions for the creation of ingredients.
