The early cultivation techniques mainly include: intentional fasting, sitting and forgetting, edge supervision, guidance, breathing, listening and breathing, heel breathing, meditation, mindfulness, keeping one's mind, breaking the valley, eating, walking in the room, fetal interest, external Dan, internal Dan and so on. Here is a brief introduction:
Xinzhai
Heart fasting, "fasting" means clearing the heart, and heart fasting refers to inner emptiness and tranquility. It was first published in "Zhuangzi's Human Life": "Only the Tao gathers emptiness, and the emptiness is also fasting." It means: the avenue is empty and quiet, and people's hearts must be empty and quiet to combine the avenue. Therefore, the true fasting method mentioned by Taoism in China is not external vegetarianism, but internal purity, which is the lofty meaning of Taoism in China.
Heel rest refers to deep internal breathing and reaching the heel. According to "The Great Master Zhuangzi": "The real people in ancient times slept without dreams, felt carefree, ate without wanting, and breathed deeply. The breath of real people is in the heel, and everyone's breath is in the throat. " Ancient monks didn't dream when they slept, didn't feel sad when they woke up, and didn't ask for strong flavor when they ate, so they took a deep breath. The breath of a Taoist can reach the heel from the inside; The breath of ordinary people can only reach the throat from the outside. This is the internal breathing used by monks, which is absolutely different from the lung breathing used by ordinary people. Most people take a deep breath, and the plane can only reach Tian Dan at most; However, the breath of real people can reach the heel directly, which shows that the real people who practiced in ancient times have already had deep cultivation skills.
Inner elixir refers to taking the essence, essence and spirit of the human body as medicine and cultivating it into elixir in the body. The author thinks that the cultivation method of inner Dan should be earlier than that of outer Dan. Try to read Zhuangzi's extensive words about Huangdi Xuanyuan, which is an advanced internal alchemy. However, its name is relative to Neidan. In the Sui Dynasty, Su Yuanlang of Shi Lian, Luo Fu demonstrated this point. See "The Story of Luofu Mountain": (Yuen Long) is shown in the straight passage, from which the Taoist knows the Inner Dan. Presumably, Neidan began to circulate in secret, and it was not until Su Yuanlang wrote a book that it was made public. By the end of the Tang Dynasty, the "Golden Ludan Road" advocated by Zhong Liquan and Lv Dongbin appeared, and the theory of Inner alchemy gradually formed a complete system, which was handed down for a long time and became the mainstream of Taoist practice in China.
On the basis of the above practice, through the continuous development and perfection of practitioners in past dynasties, China's Taoist practice has finally formed a profound and complete system, which has become a bright pearl in the treasure house of traditional culture in China. It has shone in ancient times and will shine in the future!
(Note: "Qi" refers to the innate qi or internal Yang Qi in Taoist practice, which is different from air, breathing qi or internal Yin Qi. )