On Saturday 3 March I attended “Touching Simplicity – a day of dao yin and meditation” with Shi Jing at Centre for Reflection, Aston Tirrold United Reformed Church, Spring Lane, Didcot, OX11 9EJ.
Dao Yin
Here are some notes on dao yin that I took and hope to add to
Water is not defined by a colour, though it can hold a colour.
The Tao cannot be coloured.
Water can take any shape and is not defined by a vessel.
The Dao can take any shape.
Water always takes the path of least resistance.
The Dao flows down the hill to the lowest point.
The Tao cannot be left behind. We cannot lose the Dao.
Lao Tzu would say, “we are the Tao”
“We have picked all up compulsions to be identified in a certain way.”
The doer likes to be defined as doer.
The doer likes to be fixed and defined.
The doer doesn’t like things to change.
The doer gathers information and rationalises.
Dao yin – cultivating movements for the Chi (life energy)
Each gesture of Dao Yin is encouraging the Chi to gather.
“sitting-forgetting” (tso-wang) meditation, humility, and spiritual liberation via return to the mysterious source, the Tao.
Use a zafu filled with kapok.
- First thing in the morning massage knees vigorously
- With a straight back massage the legs along outside towards the feet and inside towards the waist. Releasing the chi in base of back
- Sitting with straight back hold legs forward (breathe in) and then leaning back (breathe out)
- Sitting, hands out and up, then head look to heaven with hands high and joined, then out and down.
- Rub hands till hot and warm the lower back
- Breathe in drop one shoulder and rotate the other shoulder.
- “Single pull”. Right hand under navel. Left hand behind back. Shake shoulders away from right hand. Both sides. Look away from shoulder that turns.
- “Double pull”. Same and both hands together
- Rub hands hands on back. Breathe in
- Rub hands and place first on back and then on front
- “Waking the spirit”. Hands out and upon ears, tap teeth 36 times
- “Red dragon” take the tongue around the inside of mouth. 36 times each way. Gather saliva. Breathe out. Three small swallows of saliva. Then breathe in. Swallow and hold. “Sealing”. The wine of immortality.
Dao Yin
“Sitting in non doing, the spring comes and the grass grows by itself”
The first use of the word Tai Chi (or Tai Qi) comes from the I Ching and a reference to the balance of yin and yang. However the hidden meaning reveals Tai Chi as “One Centered Person, Between Heaven and Earth, Standing like a Pine Tree, Using the Mouth and the Hands in a Balanced Fashion.”
The goal for all true Taoists is ming, Illumination or Enlightenment, or wu-wei chih-Tao, “the non-striving Way of Transcendence,” and a life of healing and blessing sentient beings with the power (te) of Tao.
Yu Tao Ho-i—“Let us join as one with the Tao.”
Shi Jing our teacher
Shi Jing has been following the path of Daoism since mid-1970s. In 1995 he was ordained as 31st generation Daoist priest (daoshi) in the Longmen (Dragon Gate) branch of Quanzhen (Complete Reality) School. In 1996 he co-founded the British Taoist Association and became its chairman shortly after its inception. As the BTA’s main teacher, he leads retreats and teaches Daoist cultivation in UK, Europe and USA.
Shi Jing (left) with his shi fu Feng Xingzhao
In 1978 he was introduced to Daoist cultivation by Gia Fu Feng, well known for his translations of Dao de jing and Zhuang zi. At that time Gia Fu Feng was one of the very few teachers whose cultivation was rooted in sitting meditation, which is the integral practice of the Quanzhen tradition. He also taught Shi Jing the practices of dao yin and tai chi as a way to become sensitive to the circulation of qi (chi – life energy). Shi Jing remained a student of Gia Fu Feng’s until his death in 1985. Gia Fu Feng instilled in Shi Jing a deep trust in his own intuitive expression of the Dao. He has remained a major influence on Shi Jing’s life.
4 March 2018