Hello, I hope this piece from the Nüwa finds you well. Here you’ll find an introduction to the idea of Daoist inner cultivation, as well as the central principle of release. I hope I haven’t tried to cover too much information here! I see each piece of writing as an opportunity to refine my way of speaking about these things, and I am always so grateful for any feedback you have.
Daoist inner cultivation offers a path to the heart of all mysteries and the resolution of all things. As with all traditions of this kind, it reaches down from a place of profound being to offer a ladder that can be climbed by those with sufficient purity of intention. This degree of orientation towards the essential is rarely seen and thus Daoism, along with all other true paths of inner cultivation, remains esoteric. The purpose of inner cultivation is the complete transformation of one’s being. Daoism, like Buddhism and Christianity, describes a person prior to this transformation as being asleep, even in a state of walking death. We occupy one room of a vast house, with a superficial mind that flits between meaningless identities, thoughts, emotions and daydreams. This lack of coherence and substance manifests as dissipated bodies, working at a fraction of their potential.
Inner cultivation transforms a practitioner away from this state and towards one of freedom, vision and understanding. It does so through a process of release. Now, release is a complex term that requires a lot of explanation. Here I will just say that it refers to the letting go of tension and intention in order to allow an open kind of awareness to arise. Within Daoism, specific forms of meditation are used to enable release to permeate increasingly deep layers of one’s mind and body. It becomes difficult to use words to convey what happens as the release process moves deeper; mystics throughout the history of world religions have tried to explain it. From a Daoist perspective we can say that, eventually, release reaches the centre of our being, which is known as innate-nature (xing). Innate-nature is one and the same as the Dao; at the centre of our being is the Dao. By touching innate-nature, we are able to realise the Dao, and achieve mysterious states of transcendence such as enlightenment and immortality.
The release process that unfolds through Daoist meditation requires a vast amount of energy. For this reason, Daoism also developed forms of alchemical practice that restructure the physical body and increase the amount of energy it produces. Alchemical practice alone does not really cause the release process to unfold, but it is a very useful tool for going deeper into forms of meditation that do.
It is becoming increasingly clear to me that this process of release lies completely at the heart of the Daoist tradition, and is the lens through which many other aspects of Daoism make sense. For example, the Daoist terms of non-action (wuwei), such-ness (ziran) and un-hewn simplicity (pu) describe a similar set of qualities that arise within a practitioner as a result of release. Alternatively, look at the Daoist term for virtue (de) — it describes the quality of a person moving through the world from a place of deep release, and thus one closer to the Dao. And lastly, look at two of the most well-known names for Daoist meditation — sitting and forgetting (zuowang) and fasting of the heart-mind (xinzhai). When it is remembered that both names describe a practice intended to develop release, they make perfect sense.
I hope you have a lovely rest of the week,
道炁長存
Oscar
Thank you Oscar. Strong resonance with my actual own state of cultivation and reflexion on the daoist path after 4 decades of wandering. I would add what do me need to release? The small self is a good start...that opens the gate to the highest purity in the long term. it requires commitment and full faith but once the process as started you just need to let go of the stale to take the fresh wind of Life. So close, so far away! 慈悲
Oscar I have another question about the different types of Taoist cultivation. I have read that some schools of Taoism consider internal alchemy and the pursuit of immortality to be the ultimate goal in Taoism. But your post says that it does not cause release and just supports practices that do. I read that to say that practices that cause release are the ultimate goal. My revered 92 year old qigong master, Yong Zhou, doesn’t practice internal alchemy and I’ve been puzzled by all this. One method of meditation he has taught is the “Fire/ Water methods. Do you think they cause release?
I’m very grateful for your help and kindness!
Tim Kay