SECRETS OF THE CHINESE MONKS
Followers of ancient teachings, sages and mystics, keepers of magical practices and secret knowledge, Taoist and Buddhist monks in China have protected their secrets from the uninitiated for centuries. So what were their religious teachings?
Taoism is an original Chinese religion. It appeared in the 2nd century. n. when Emperor Shundi of the Eastern Han Dynasty ruled China. The basis of this teaching is the book "Tao Te Ching", the author of which is called Lao Tzu.
Who really was Lao Tzu? This question is still open. Some believe that Lao Tzu was a contemporary of Confucius. The fact that he met Confucius (c. 517 BC) is written by such authorities as the historian Sima Qian and the philosopher Zhuangzi. Others believe that he lived a hundred years later.
According to legend, Lao Tzu was born gray-haired, which is why they called him the Old Child. What is the essence of his teaching, which combines the wisdom of an old man and the childish enthusiasm for perceiving the world?
Tao is usually translated as "way" or "method". However, the concept of Tao is actually practically untranslatable into Russian. What is Tao from the point of view of the Chinese? The horizontal line of the hieroglyph, which denotes this word, symbolizes the whole world, two strokes above it indicate that everything in the world consists of two principles - yin and yang, “I myself” is inscribed at the bottom right. In general, the right side of the hieroglyph means “head”, and the left side means “go”, “movement”.
Tao dominates everywhere and in everything, always and without limits. No one created him, but everything comes from him. Invisible and inaudible, inaccessible to the senses, constant and inexhaustible, nameless and formless, it gives rise, name and form to everything in the world. Even the great Heaven follows the Tao. To know the Tao, to follow it, to merge with it - this is the meaning, purpose and happiness of life. It was believed that sages who comprehended the laws of Tao not only achieve bliss, but also possess magic. The most worthy of them are immortal. They can become invisible, be in several places at once, fly, pass through rocks and walls. According to legend, even outwardly they could differ from other people: they had double pupils; body covered with fish scales, wool or feathers.
There are different ways to comprehend the Tao. At first, the Taoists lived in the world, but from the VI century. under the influence of Buddhism began to organize monasteries. In addition to monks and nuns, there were also priests who lived like simple laymen and wandered around the country, rural preachers. And today in China there are one and a half thousand Taoist temples and monasteries and more than 25 thousand Taoist monks and nuns.
Buddhism entered China in the 1st century BC. BC e, and from the IV century. began his victorious march across the country. Buddhism has become the most influential religion in China. However, in China, Buddhist doctrine was modified under the influence of Taoism. As a result, the so-called Chan Buddhism appeared, which spread throughout the country.
According to legend, Chan Buddhism arose in China after it moved there from India at the beginning of the 6th century. famous twenty-eighth Buddhist patriarch Bodhidharma. Emperor U-Di, who patronized Buddhism, accepted Bodhidharma at court, but soon became disillusioned with him. The Indian sage said that all the deeds that Wu Di did to strengthen the Buddhist faith in China - the construction of temples and monasteries, generous donations, the translation of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit - dust and vanity. The patriarch left the emperor along with a group of followers. It was they who became the original core of the Chan sect.
The word 'chan' is a corruption of the Indian 'dhyana'. In Hinduism and Buddhism, "dhyana" is a concentrated contemplation, or meditation. Chan Buddhists associate dhyana with the practice of satori - unexpected enlightenment. When enlightenment comes, the consciousness is transformed, and the wisdom of the Buddha is revealed in it.
Chan is very different from traditional Mahayana Buddhism. He does not call for striving for nirvana, because truth and Buddha are always with a person, they are around him, you just need to be able to find them. Truth and Buddha are in the splendor of nature, in the joy of work, in everything that surrounds a person. Here, of course, the influence of Taoism, which, unlike Buddhism, did not deny earthly joys - the enjoyment of form, sound, smell, taste, touch. However, unlike Taoism, Chan Buddhism did not recognize sexual pleasures.
Chan called for liberation not only from duties and attachments, but also from the power of canons and authorities. “If you meet Buddha, kill Buddha” is the famous phrase of the master of Chan Buddhism Yi-hsuan (9th century).
The supporter of Chan was supposed to go to knowledge not by a rational, but by an intuitive way. There were special practices designed to stimulate the attainment of the state of enlightenment. Firstly, sharp shouts, pushes or even blows that suddenly fell upon a person immersed in a trance. Secondly, reading gongan (we are more familiar with this word in Japanese transcription - “koan”), containing paradoxes that cannot be solved by logical means, for example, “A blow with two hands is clap, but what is clap with one palm?” A dialogue was practiced between the teacher and the student, consisting of short phrases in which the meaning was unimportant, and the inner meaning of communication was important: the teacher developed the student's ability to tune in to contact with the master. Chan demanded the transmission of the teaching from heart to heart.
So in China until today, many people become monks, Taoists or Buddhists. This speaks to the level of reverence with which these clergy are surrounded. How did these monks deserve such honor and respect among the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire? It seems to us that not only because of their religiosity and high morality. Since ancient times, they were also credited with the possession of a certain secret power that made them practically omnipotent, and sometimes - as they said - immortal.
ASTROLOGY AND FORTUNE
The ancient Chinese, especially the Taoists, were well versed in astrology. At first, astrologers predicted the future of the state. They were officials at the court. But astrologers began to make individual predictions from the beginning of our era. They determined how the fate of a person could develop, what diseases he was prone to.
Astrology was not divorced from other areas of knowledge. For example, when giving a name to a newborn, an astrologer could study not only the location of the stars, but also the lines on the child's arms. Then the chances that the name would protect him from misfortune increased. In turn, Feng Shui masters, especially representatives of the so-called compass school, were interested in astrology. First, the master studied the customer’s horoscope and only then, armed with knowledge of not only astrology, but also numerology, using a special Feng Shui compass, oriented the future building relative to the cardinal points, determined its size, the location of the rooms of each of the family members, and also decided when exactly Better start building.
Of course, the Taoist monks owned many different divination techniques - after all, like every nation, the Chinese were eager to know their future. But here's the paradox: in the view of the Chinese, the future could be interesting even to the dead. So historians have learned a lot of information from fortune-telling texts placed in special bronze vessels. These vessels also contained stories about whether these predictions came true, and in what way. An analysis of some texts indicates that these messages were not intended for descendants, but for ancestors. The Chinese communicated with their ancestors using a special written language with its own strict rules.
This ritual was considered so important that the texts were compiled in all provinces, then sent to the capital of the Celestial Empire, where they were stored in the central archive. A single text was compiled from many disparate texts. The fortuneteller had no right to make an inaccuracy - the ancestors should have known the pure truth. Even the life of the fortuneteller himself was insignificant in comparison with the observance of the established rules for the presentation of events. This is how Fan Wen Lan relates the events that took place in 548 BC. e.: “A dignitary from the principality of Qi, Cui Zhu, killed the Qi ruler. The chief historiographer wrote: "Cui Zhu killed his prince." Cui Zhu got angry and killed the historiographer for such a record. Then two of his brothers repeated this entry in the chronicle, and were also killed by Cui Zhu. When the last surviving brother of the historiographer wrote the same phrase, Cui Zhu no longer dared to kill him.
What divination practices were traditionally used in China? Of course, not without palmistry. Ancient Chinese healers believed that a part always contains the whole, they considered any part of the body important for diagnosis - ears, face, eyes, nose and, of course, hands, palms and nails stored information. By the appearance of any one part of the body, doctors could determine the state of another and even the whole organism as a whole. By studying human palms, Chinese magicians learned to see hidden signs in their lines.
The mention of diagnostics by hand is already found in the legendary Emperor Huangdi, who is considered the ancestor of all Chinese. He is credited with the authorship of the most ancient medical work - "Treatise of the Yellow Emperor on the internal." One section of the treatise contains a description of human physiology and anatomy, acupuncture techniques, and also mentions various signs seen on human hands.
In one source of the middle of the III millennium BC. e. there is a phrase that looks rather funny to the modern eye: it turns out that nothing more than lines on the palm of the emperor "formed a character worthy of praise." Taoist palmistry was a whole science, taking into account both the size and shape of the hand, the length and curvature of the fingers, and the lines and signs on the palm. The Taoists distinguished three main lines: the line of Heaven (the line of the heart), the line of Man (the line of the head) and the line of the Earth (the line of life). If all these lines were well-formed, clear and unbroken, then a person would certainly expect happiness and wealth. Taoist palmists looked for signs of good luck and honors on the left hand, and signs of wealth on the right.
But the most famous palmists and physiognomists in China were the Hindus. So the famous Da Mo, aka Bodhidharma, the founder of Chan Buddhism, became famous for his ability to read the fate of people from hand to hand. There were also two other Indian monks, Ati Gupta and Punya Dasa, who lived around 500-600.
Buddhist Tantric monks in China were said to be able to determine a person's past, present and future by hand, diagnose predispositions to various diseases, and describe a person's character and individual traits. The monks were in no hurry to share secrets - they wrote their works secret signs incomprehensible to the uninitiated. By the way, even today in China you can find monks who own this esoteric knowledge. Therefore, it is not surprising that interest in palmistry in this country has not faded even today. It still remains an important element of diagnostics. The West is also not indifferent to Chinese palmistry - many works of European palmists of the 19th-20th centuries are based on the thousand-year experience of Chinese scientists and monks.
Another way of divination is provided by the famous Yijing, or the Book of Changes. For the Chinese, this priceless relic ranks first among the classic books of China. Confucius, who is considered its author, spoke of it like this: "If I could prolong my life, then I would give fifty years to study the Changes, and then I would be able to make no more mistakes."
Not everyone is able to comprehend the meaning of the mysterious and wise "Book of Changes". But the main idea behind it is quite simple - it is the idea of variability. According to the Book of Changes, the entire world process is an alternation of situations based on the interaction and struggle of the forces of light and darkness, tension and pliability, male and female principles. Each situation is symbolically expressed by one of the signs depicted by the features. The features make up a certain sign - a hexagram. The "Book of Changes" describes 64 hexagrams, each of which consists of six horizontal lines - "yao". The line can be either solid (corresponding to the masculine yang) or intermittent (corresponding to the feminine yin). It is believed that the lower trigram (three lower lines) refers to the inner life, to the advancing and being created, and the upper one to the outer world, to the receding, collapsing.
Turning to the "Book of Changes" must perform a series of rather complex random procedures, using coins or yarrow branches, and then find the corresponding hexagram in the book. The decoding of this hexagram will show whether the activity of this person brings misfortune or happiness, whether he harmoniously fits into the real world, how his environment influences him. Since ancient times, the "Book of Changes" has prompted a person how to properly dispose of internal forces - real forces that can provoke life changes.
IN SEARCH OF THE ELIXIR OF IMMORTALITY
As we remember from school history, man has always longed for immortality. This is how alchemists appeared - people who devoted their lives to searching for the elixir of immortality.
Chinese alchemy, according to many researchers, is the oldest on the planet. It is proved that alchemy in China was already practiced in the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e. Most of the alchemists were Taoists. Taoist alchemy was a fusion of philosophical ideas, religious beliefs, magical rituals, scientific achievements and practical (medical, pharmacological, nutritional, etc.) techniques.
Chinese alchemy is usually divided into external and internal, but their goal was the same - gaining immortality. For the Taoists, achieving immortality was especially important, since their teaching did not recognize reincarnation (transmigration of souls). The Taoists believed that the body is the only possible shell, without which the soul (or rather the souls, of which, as the Taoists believed, a person had ten) cannot exist. After the death of the physical body, the souls scattered into space and there was no way to bring them together. The souls were united by the body and only the body, and the personality itself would perish without it. So, the Taoists reasoned, the body must be immortalized.
External alchemy proceeded from the fact that immortality can be achieved by taking medicines (elixirs or pills) prepared in a special way. Internal alchemy believed that immortality is achieved through certain processes in the body, and these processes can be activated through special exercises and meditations.
Unlike European alchemists, Taoists were interested in artificially obtained gold only as a component of life-giving drugs - ordinary gold was considered ineffective in this case. In general, Chinese alchemists were most interested in substances with some unusual properties. Therefore, gold attracted them by the fact that this metal was not subject to corrosion and did not tarnish. Sulfur was in their view a combustible stone, and they perceived mercury quite correctly - as a liquid metal. Red cinnabar, due to its color, in accordance with the principles of sympathetic magic, was associated with blood. Therefore, rarely any recipe for an elixir of youth did without this substance.
The idea that immortality can be gained by taking a special remedy is rooted in mythology. But in mythology, it was owned (or prepared) by supernatural forces. The notion that people could somehow synthesize an elixir or special pill themselves came later.
In Taoist mythology, the goddess Sivanmu owns such a magical potion. She lives in the Kunlun Mountains, where the tree (or even a whole garden of trees) of immortality grows. The Kunlun Mountains are in the far west, and they are so high that they pierce several of the lower skies. To get to these mountains, you have to overcome many obstacles. First you need to go through the desert, where in winter reigns freezing cold, and in summer - withering heat. Then - through steep mountains, behind which salt marshes begin. And only then the exhausted traveler will come to the majestic spurs of Kunlun. High, high in these mountains is a splendid city surrounded by walls with jade towers. The powerful goddess Sivanmu, the Lady of the West, lives in it. She is the goddess of immortality and the queen of all immortals. Only one gate leads to this marvelous city - heavenly artists made them of heavenly gold and decorated it with a huge pearl that sparkles so brightly that its light is visible for many hundreds of miles.
In the wonderful city there are gardens where special peaches grow, after tasting which you can become immortal. For nine thousand years, such a fruit ripens (instead of the fruit, in other versions of the myth, a magical drink appears, which Sivanmu also owns). However, the elixir must be used with caution: immortality is not always happiness. This is evidenced by the fate of the beautiful Wu Chang'e.
Once she was immortal and lived in heaven with her husband, the shooter I. But one day a misfortune happened - ten suns rose above the earth at once. A terrible drought has begun. During the day, people were afraid to leave their homes because of the scorching heat. This continued until the prayers of the unfortunate reached the ears of the supreme lord Dijuan. He decided to send shooter Yi to the ground to clean up the mess. The supreme lord provided the shooter with a bow with surprisingly strong and sharp arrows. And he fulfilled his task - his arrows reached their goal: only one sun, bringing warmth and light to people, remained in the sky. In addition, I delivered the earth from many terrible monsters that did evil. It was time to return to heaven, but Di-juan grieved for his children-suns and did not want to take the arrow Yi and his wife back.
Wu Chang'e was angry with her husband because, having shared his fate, she became mortal. He himself burned too. So Gunslinger Yi went to Siwangmu and persuaded her to help. He received from the hands of Siwangmu a gourd filled to the brim with a magical drink. The goddess explained to Yi that by drinking the potion alone, he could become a god and ascend to heaven. And if you divide the portion between two, he and his wife will be immortal on earth.
But Wu Chang'e didn't want to stay on the ground. She decided to drink the miraculous remedy herself, stole the gourd from her husband and took the elixir. She became a goddess. But she soon regretted it. In one version of the myth, Wu Chang'e was forced to live alone in a cold palace on the moon. She was accompanied only by a white hare. He was busy pounding the ingredients for the elixir of immortality in a mortar. Wu Chang'e increasingly remembered her husband and even the human world, which she did not love so much when she was an earthly woman. But Wu Chang'e could no longer do anything - she was doomed to live in the moon palace forever. The hare knew which potion would help Wu Chang'e return to earth, but he didn't have time to make it. The hare had to prepare a magic potion to keep the huge tree growing in front of the palace entrance alive. So the elixir of immortality forever became a curse for Wu Chang.
In another version, having taken the elixir, she was afraid to fly to the heavenly palace to other gods - she did not want to hear ridicule and condemnation, to which she herself gave a reason by betraying her husband. Wu Chang'e decided to live on the moon for a while. Arriving on the moon, she suddenly felt that her body had changed: her head fused with her body, her eyes bulged, her mouth enlarged, and her skin became covered with warts - Wu Chang'e turned into a toad. On the full moon, as the Chinese believed, the silhouette of this toad can be seen on the moon.
The Chinese believed that amazing longevity and immortality was not available to ordinary inhabitants of the Celestial Empire, but there are countries and islands whose inhabitants are immortal. Of course, these lands - they are inhabited by giants, dwarfs, people with fish bodies and human faces, etc. - are far from China.
Especially famous were the lands of the immortals. These are the five sacred mountains: Penglai, Duyu, Yuanjiao, Fanghu, Yingzhou. These mountains were believed to float in the East Sea. Each of them is supported by three huge black turtles. On the tops of amazing mountains rise golden palaces with stairs made of white jade. Jade and pearl trees grow on the slopes. Their fruits have a wonderful taste and bestow immortality. And on one of these islands there is a magical source. The water in it is replaced by jade-colored wine. Anyone who is lucky enough to taste this wine also becomes immortal.
In the hope of prolonging their lives, the Chinese emperors of the ancient kingdoms of Zhou and Yan even equipped expeditions to these legendary lands. Even the famous emperor Qin Shi-Huangdi demonstrated a naive belief in the existence of magical islands. This lord of the Middle Kingdom was so afraid of death that he forbade even mentioning it. Panic fear of being killed by the conspirators took possession of the emperor so much that every night he changed the bedroom. The decision to spend the night in one or another chamber was made spontaneously by Qin Shi-Huangdi. None of those close to him were told in advance exactly where the emperor would like to lay his head.
Qin Shi-Huangdi was a connoisseur of ancient manuscripts. The legends of the Isles of the Immortals were familiar to him. In those days, trust in the text was absolute, so the emperor equipped an expedition to Mount Penglai. He put a sailor named Xin Shi at the head of the expedition. The search for magical fruits ended in failure. However, the emperor did not despair. Soon, on his orders, Xu Fu went to the mysterious abode of the immortals. This man was an alchemist - his belief in magical fruits was calmly combined with the conviction that an elixir could be prepared with the help of science. According to legend, instead of Mount Penglai, Chinese ships landed on the shores of Japan. Not finding priceless fruits, Xu Fu chose not to return to his homeland, where the wrath of a disappointed emperor awaited him. He remained in Japan forever and became the sovereign of the land of Kii. The famous Chinese historian Sima Qian also speaks about the fact that Xu Fu found shelter in some fertile lands and became a local ruler.
Having not received the desired fruits, Qin Shi-Huangdi still did not lose hope. Day and night in special chambers, Taoist monks searched for ingredients for the pill of immortality.
When Qin Shi-Huangdi died, the courtiers found themselves in a difficult situation. Since their master wished to live forever, they preferred to leave the body of the deceased in the throne room behind a screen and rule the country on his behalf, pretending that he was still alive. Almost a month passed before the dignitaries finally decided to bury the emperor.
And the search for magical islands continued. A hundred years after Qin Shi-Huangdi, sailors sent by the Han emperor Xia-wu tried to reach the wonderful lands.
Immortality pills also remained popular. They were received by the Han ruler U-di (140-87 BC). Li Chun (820), the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, fell victim to the elixir of immortality. The elixir he was taking appeared to contain mercury, which causes psychic disturbances. The wise ruler Li Chun began to go mad little by little. One of the ministers tried to reason with the emperor, explaining that the alchemists revolving around his throne are just swindlers, hungry for profit. But Li Chun had already lost the remnants of common sense by that time. The minister, who dared to warn the lord of the danger, lost his post, and the emperor continued to drink poison. In the end, the completely crazy Ling Chun was killed by the palace eunuchs.
But mystics and romantics - and sometimes charlatans - the Taoists did not lose hope of making mankind happy with a divine elixir, the invention of which would be the crown of their art.
A detailed analysis of the methods of external alchemy (i.e., the manufacture of pills and elixirs) is presented in Ge Hong's treatise Baopu Zi. As this scientist writes, the difficulty in obtaining the elixir was in obtaining extremely pure substances, observing the technology of melting the pill, choosing the time for the start of alchemical processes and right methods taking the pill. Ge Hong reviews recipes for elixirs using numerous substances and minerals, and also tells instructive stories from the life of magicians.
The preparation of elixirs of immortality was popular until the 3rd-5th centuries. Internal alchemy gradually replaced the external one. So, when in the XII century. Genghis Khan tried to use the services of a Taoist monk, he did not get what he expected.
Hearing that a certain Chang Chun owns the secret of eternal youth and has lived for three hundred years himself, Genghis Khan sent a messenger to China to deliver the magician to Samarkand. The arrival of Chang Chun disappointed the “khan, great as the ocean”: instead of giving the lord the elixir of immortality to drink, the Taoist gave him a lecture on the benefits of moderation and abstinence.
Despite the fact that the Chinese alchemists did not find the elixir of immortality, it cannot be said that their activities did not leave a trace. They discovered new technologies in the production of glass and porcelain, in metallurgy and agriculture. They did not hesitate to share the secrets of such a mundane quality with artisans, who gladly used innovations that promised profit. In addition, Taoist alchemists were also skilled healers - they knew a lot about both medicine and pharmacology.
Being in constant concern for their health and longevity, the Taoists invented, as it seemed to them, the quintessence of the earthly and heavenly. In this substance, according to the Taoists, all the elements that make up the Universe were united together: the power of air, the power of the earth, the liveliness of fire and the variability of water. Of course, this substance must have miraculous properties. However, reality has shown that it is impossible to use this substance to extend life, but to reduce it - please. The created substance was later useful not to doctors, but to the military. It's about gunpowder.
SECRETS OF THE "FIRE POTION"
Apparently, the discovery of gunpowder was influenced by a chain of random events. This may be evidenced by a letter from a Chinese alchemist: “Today, Shin-Ru, one of the smartest people our time. The gruesome ingredients that caused the fire included sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal. I was shocked by this case. It was not an ordinary fire fanned by the wind, but a sudden explosion that destroyed everything. Shortly after this event, a messenger arrived to tell me that a similar explosion had killed a group of scientists in a nearby village and destroyed the house in which they lived. What evil we have released into this world!”
Similar evidence of the accidental invention of gunpowder can be found in the treatise "The Secret Tao of the True Origin of Things." The author warns the ignorant that not every attempt to make an elixir of youth is safe. He writes about alchemists who heated together sulfur, arsenic sulfide and saltpeter with honey (dried honey served as a source of carbon). As a result of this experiment, "smoke and flames appeared, so that their hands and faces were burned, and even the house where they worked was burned to the ground."
The Chinese called gunpowder "ho yao" - "fire potion". The composition of gunpowder included sulfur, saltpeter and charcoal. The volume of gases that is released during the combustion of this mixture is many times greater than the volume of the mixture itself. In this case, gases are released almost instantly and expand under the influence of heat, and this causes an explosion. However, Chinese alchemists gave a completely different explanation. According to them, the point was that saltpeter is "extremely negative and has lunar yin qualities", while sulfur is "extremely positive and has solar yang qualities". Therefore, when "these two supernatural elements, yin and yang, meet in a very tight space, the subsequent explosion will stun any being and destroy everything around."
Already in ancient times, the Chinese found a use for this invention of alchemists - they began to make fireworks. In this art, the Chinese were amazingly resourceful. So, for example, when Emperor Lijiang honored his mother in 1264, the so-called "earth rats" were used - tubes that moved along the ground. One of them even hit the steps of the throne.
But when the Chinese began to use gunpowder as a weapon, we still do not know. Some researchers even doubt that it was invented in China at all: “As often happens, with the slow development of the idea, the inventor of gunpowder was lost in a mass of conflicting evidence. For many years the credit for the invention of gunpowder was attributed to the Chinese, mainly on the basis of claims made by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries. These people had an enormous respect for the antiquity of Chinese culture, but had very little real knowledge in the area we are considering.
The literal translation of the testimonies speaks of man-made thunder and lightning, but these exaggerated descriptions are best matched by the use of "Greek fire" and similar incendiary mixtures. If gunpowder was known in China in 85 A.D. e., as Muller, the author of the Treatise on Artillery published in 1780, argues, it is not clear why the sources of that era lack more definite evidence of this fact. William Carman, in his book The History of Firearms from Ancient Times to the 20th Century, notes that a certain Giovanni de Plan Karin, sent on an embassy to the Great Khan, described in detail the weapons used in 1246 during the long wars between the Chinese and the Mongols. He talked about mechanical "artillery" like ballistas and giant slings, about "Greek fire" and the like, but said absolutely nothing about anything resembling gunpowder. Other travelers, such as Marco Polo, also do not mention him.
There are several hypotheses about who and when actually made this most important discovery:
Gunpowder was invented before 1500 BC. e. in India. In the 1st century BC e. the secret of its manufacture came to China and Arabia, and in the VI century. n. e. to Byzantium;
Gunpowder was invented in 300 BC. e. in China, and in the 1st c. BC e. the secret of its manufacture came to India and Arabia, and in the VI century. n. e. to Byzantium;
Gunpowder was invented in the 1st-3rd century. n. e. in India and China. In the VI-VIII centuries. the secret of its manufacture came to Byzantium, and after the start of the Mongolian (more correctly Chinese) expansion in the XII-XIII centuries. to Arabia and Europe. The most rational is the point of view of Jack Kelly, which he sets out in the book “Gunpowder. From Alchemy to Artillery: The Story of the Substance that Changed the World. He is still inclined to give the palm in the invention of gunpowder to the Chinese. He explains the existing contradictions by terminological confusion: “The idea of the peaceful nature of the relationship of the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire with gunpowder is partly explained by Western prejudices about the character of the Chinese. Someone considered them amateurs who accidentally stumbled upon the secret of gunpowder, but could not appreciate its capabilities, someone imagined that these wise men deliberately rejected its destructive capabilities.
Confusion was also introduced by the well-established notion that the invention of gunpowder in China dates back to 100 BC. e. However, it is not. New inventions are often named after known technologies. Noise effects - "mini-explosions" have been practiced by the Chinese since ancient times. To do this, bamboo stalks were thrown into the fire, which burst with a deafening crack. The roar, according to the Chinese, was supposed to scare away evil spirits. The Chinese word for exploding bamboo came to be used for gunpowder pyrotechnics, from incendiary arrows to rockets. Therefore, it was erroneously decided that they are of very ancient origin. Incorrect dating - a thousand years earlier than the actual date - gave the impression that it took the Chinese centuries to go from the discovery of gunpowder to the development of firearms.
J. Kelly cites many facts about the use of firearms in China. So, for example, in 1044, during the reign of the Song Dynasty, during the wars with the barbarians, Emperor Renzong received a report “On the basics of military affairs”. It dealt with the use of gunpowder in incendiary and smoke bombs. Such bombs were proposed to be used for arson and poisoning.
By 1083, the Chinese knew how to make gunpowder fire arrows: a lump of gunpowder wrapped in paper was tied to the shaft. Before shooting the arrow, the archer set fire to the cork protruding from the bag.
Catapults were also used, throwing powder incendiary projectiles. Another type of incendiary projectile clung to buildings with hooks.
Emperor Renzong, realizing the strategic importance of gunpowder, banned the export of sulfur and saltpeter from China and the private trade in these substances.
In 1162, during the siege of the capital of the Song Empire by the Jurchens, explosive bombs were already used to intimidate the enemy.
In 1231, the Jurchens, who had already conquered Northern China, were in turn defending themselves in Kaifeng against the Mongol Udegei. The technique improved - the shells they used were iron.
Both the production and use of shells in those days was a dangerous business: after all, a bomb could explode before it reached the enemy. Terrible bombs had terrifying names: "a bomb falling from heaven"; "a bomb with a force of ten thousand enemies"; "magical ball lightning that burns enemies and obscures the gaze"; "bone-burning crushing oil bomb."
In the XIII century. prototypes of guns and cannons appeared - tubes "spitting" with arrows, fragments of broken porcelain and metal, and even lead cannonballs. And in the middle of the same century, the Chinese learned how to make rockets with incendiary charges. So in the centuries after the discovery of gunpowder, Chinese weapons evolved from incendiary projectiles to explosive bombs, firearms, and rockets.
BODY: DUNGEON OR HOUSE?
Internal alchemy was especially prevalent during the Tang and Song eras. Many researchers believe that since the peak of its popularity fell on this period, it appeared much later than external alchemy. However, individual elements of internal alchemy were known even before the Han period. Therefore, a number of scientists believe that internal alchemy has been practiced since ancient times and existed in parallel with the external one.
Gradually, internal alchemy begins to use the experience of the external. The writings on external alchemy are being rethought. Minerals and substances - gold, silver, cinnabar, mercury - and melting processes are now interpreted as symbols pointing to the human body. It was believed that external alchemy failed, because in the ancient writings, not real minerals and substances were meant, but certain substances or energies that move in the human body.
But the goal of alchemy remained the same - the achievement of immortality.
But what about the pill of immortality? It turns out that you can grow it in yourself.
In the human body, as the Taoists believed, there are three so-called "dantian" - areas where the most important processes take place. In the upper dan tian - it is located in the head - there is work with the spirit (shen). Shen is considered the ruler of man. He controls his good and evil deeds. In the middle dan tian, which is located in the heart, there is work with qi energy. Qi can most accurately be defined as "life force", it is one of the key concepts of Chinese mysticism and philosophy. The lower dan tian is located in the abdomen, below the navel. This is where the Essence (Jing) is being worked on. Jing is the seed. And, paradoxically, both male and female - the Taoists believed that the female seed also exists.
In the lower dan tian, in fact, the "pill" is grown - the embryo, which is nourished and develops over a certain (in different treatises of different) time. When the fetus grows, the adept moves himself into the fetus and flies out through the top of the head. Now the adept has an immortal "body" into which he has transferred all his ten souls. Since he is not in danger of death, the souls will always remain together, and the personality of the adept will not be destroyed. The Taoists assumed that this is what Lao Tzu did. As we already wrote, according to legend, he was born gray-haired, and his name is translated as “old child”. In addition, it was believed that his mother Li bore him for eighty-one years. Mother Li, the Taoists decided, is Lao Tzu himself.
What prevents any person from growing the germ of immortality?
The problem is that so-called "worms" live in all three dantians. The old blue worm lives in the top. White lady - in the middle, Bloody corpse - in the bottom. "Worms" cause harm and shorten the life of the person in whose body they live. "Worms" benefit from the death of the owner, since the sooner he dies, the sooner they will be freed, become ghosts and go free.
In addition, the human body in the view of the Taoists was inhabited by useful spirits: thirty-six thousand such spirits were associated with specific organs and certain parts of the body. Man continued to live as long as these spirits lived in his body. It is clear that the three "worms" had to be depleted, and then get rid of them. At the same time, thirty-six thousand spirits had to be won over. Taoist texts prescribed for this to do good deeds, to lead a righteous, pure life. It was also necessary to "nourish" the body in a special way, so that the spirits would not leave it. It was strongly recommended not to give way to emotions.
Among the physical means that Taoists recommended to achieve immortality were diet, gymnastics, which was sometimes accompanied by medication, and massage. Breathing exercises were considered very important. It was they that made it possible to regulate internal processes in the body, since they make it possible to control the flow of qi energy, which, like blood, circulates through the body. Chinese breathing exercises This is what is called Qigong. (Gong is an abbreviation for the word "gongfu". Gongfu is study or training that requires a lot of effort and time.) The term "qigong" appeared in the Qin era (265-420). For the first time, it is found in Xu Xun's treatise "Jing-ming Zong-jiao lu" ("Notes on the Most Luminous Teaching of the Patriarchs"). But this does not mean that the qigong system was not known before. Similar practices existed, but simply had different names.
Why, then, in order to control qi, it is necessary to do breathing exercises? Of course, it's not just about oxygen uptake. Qi is often translated as "air" or "breath", but this is not entirely correct. Qi is energy, the "life force" that permeates the entire universe. In order to scoop it up and help circulate in the body, one must not only breathe correctly, but also, which is very important, move correctly while doing this.
It is also necessary to think correctly, since mental effort helps to manage qi.
In order for the "growing of the embryo" to become possible, the Taoists recommended not to spend the essence of jing - the seed. However, this does not mean at all that the Taoists viewed sex as something dirty and sinful. Intimate relationships were considered natural, and chastity was considered contrary to nature, since everything in the world is either masculine, yang, or feminine, yin.
In Chinese society, where Confucian morality dominated, family relationships and procreation were generally considered an obligation. Taoism, in turn, did not forbid its lay followers to have a family and children. Chinese culture generally considers sex life to be very important for a person, wisely believing that without it, neither personal happiness, nor health, nor peace in the family is possible. A person whose sexual life is dysfunctional is spiritually unhealthy - his mind is obsessed with only one desire. In a society where there are many such people, there is no peace. Moreover, the state and society need population growth - you need to constantly replenish the ranks of warriors, farmers, officials, merchants.
On the other hand, scientists believe that the concept of the seed as a substance, the waste of which is deadly, is characteristic of most cultures. And each culture develops its own mechanisms to combat its waste. Usually this is celibacy, but in China this problem was approached differently. Taoists were looking for a way that would make it possible to make the sex life as intense as possible and at the same time "preserve" the seed.
The waste of other "essences", such as saliva, was also considered harmful. There were different kind practices that allow the return of substances excreted by a person back into the body. Some mystics engaged in the distillation of urine, others practiced the absorption of the placenta. However, the most common technique was the return of the seed. The Book of the Immortals describes this technique in detail: “There is a method of returning the semen for the sake of nourishing the brain: during intercourse, when the semen is in motion and is about to erupt, one should quickly pinch the penis with the index and middle fingers of the left hand between the scrotum and anus. Strongly squeeze it, while exhaling deeply and grinding your teeth; repeat a few dozen times (to better focus). Don't hold your breath. As a result, the sperm cannot come out, but returns along the jade stem back and up the spine to the brain. At the same time, masturbation with the subsequent return of the seed was not considered complete. The fact is that no less important than the actual preservation of the seed was, as the Taoists believed, the union of yin and yang, and for this it was necessary to copulate with a woman.
The choice of partner should be treated with caution. Age was significant - young girls were considered the most "useful". Women "over thirty" - unsuitable. Women who already had children did not fit either. Some authors of Taoist writings considered it important that the partner was beautiful.
At the same time, the satisfaction of the woman was also an important condition. Chinese erotology knew the most sophisticated caresses, and the Taoist technique of delaying ejaculation itself made it possible to prolong sexual intercourse. The 7th-century physician Li Tong Xian wrote in the treatise Tong Xian Tzu: “A man must develop the ability to delay ejaculation until his partner is completely satisfied ... A man must discover and develop his own ideal frequency of ejaculation, and it should not exceed 2-3 times per 10 relationships." However, the woman was not considered as an equal partner. First of all, a man does not care about her pleasure, but about getting the precious female yin substance, while not sharing yang.
Nevertheless, the Taoists did not deny that Taoist sexual practices could help a woman achieve immortality as well. In “Le Xian Zhuan” (“Biographies of Eminent Immortals”), there is a story about a certain Niu Ji who sold wine: “It happened to one immortal, passing by her house, to drink her wine; as a pledge of payment, he left her the “Book of the Pure Virgin” in five scrolls. Upon opening and reading his book, Ji found in it advice on nourishing the life principle and intimacy. Ji secretly copied the main ones, and then, settling in a separate house, began to lure young guys there with good wine and leave them to spend the night in order to test the book prescriptions in practice. This went on for 30 years, her face grew younger, as if she were only 20. After many years, the same immortal appeared. He jokingly remarked to Ji: “Without a teacher, the kidnapping dao, even with wings, will not fly away.” Then she left her family and followed the immortal. No one can tell where they have gone." It goes without saying that partners who themselves practice techniques aimed at achieving immortality were recommended to be avoided by men.
The day on which the intercourse takes place was considered important. So, for example, it was impossible to practice the Tao of love in the last days of the lunar month or in the fifteen days that preceded the winter and summer equinoxes. Taoists attached importance even to the weather: intercourse was forbidden during heavy rains, strong winds, and thunderstorms. In the treatises there are also curious modern man advice. So, for example, the patriarch Peng-zu forbade having sex during earthquakes. The terrain also played a role. There was a ban on intercourse near rivers and mountains. Sex near the altar of the earth god was considered unacceptable. The place where the hearth was was not suitable either. Sex should not be practiced in order to rejuvenate and achieve immortality in a state of intoxication or after a heavy meal. Strong emotions - anger, fear, joy, sadness - were also considered a hindrance.
During the Tang Dynasty (618–907), Taoism was strongly influenced by Buddhism. The tradition of nurturing vitality was alien to Buddhism. Unlike the Taoists, Buddhist monks were not only forbidden to touch a woman, but even to look at her. This is due to the fact that earthly attachments, including to a woman, according to Buddhists, prevent one from reaching nirvana. There is a parable that shows well how dangerous contact with a woman is for a Buddhist monk. Once, going about their business, two Buddhist monks saw a beautiful girl on the bank of a small river. She was afraid to ford the river and really needed help. The heart of one of the monks trembled. Violating the ban, he took the girl in his arms and carried her to the other side. Saying goodbye to the stranger, the monks continued on their way. The second monk was dissatisfied, he wondered if his friend had made a mistake by taking pity on the charmer. In the end, he could not stand it: “Why did you endure it? After all, we are not allowed to touch a woman!” he exclaimed. The first monk was absolutely calm. “Yes, I carried her and left her on the shore, and you still carry her with you,” he answered. For a Buddhist, what happens in his head is more important than in his body, but the temptation of the body tempts the spirit as well.
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Taoism is one of the most ancient religions on earth. Its origins are rooted in archaic shamanic practices. According to legend, the foundations of Taoism were laid by the Yellow Emperor, Huang Shi.
The Chinese scientist was able to systematize and describe the dogmas and rituals of this teaching in his book Treatise on the Path and Its Manifestations in the Universe.
Analyzing the scientific heritage of Confucius, one can see the connection life path philosopher and his ideas. But it is impossible to draw similar parallels between the work and life of Lao Tzu, because his biography is absolutely unknown to historians. An ancient legend says that he was born from the rays of the sun and moon that touched his mother. At the same time, he was born already an elderly man, since his mother carried him in her womb for several decades. Therefore, his name is translated as "Old Child". According to legend, as soon as he was born, the philosopher began to preach the teachings of Tao.
What is Dao?
Tao is an eternal path, an endless road without end and edge, which passes everywhere and nowhere, no one knows where it leads and where it ends. Tao is the eternal Absolute, everything is subject only to it, even Heaven acts according to the laws of Tao. The eternal path is also perpetual motion, since in nature nothing is at rest, everything is constantly flowing and changing. Man lives according to the same laws.
The greatest happiness, according to Lao Tzu and his followers, lies in the knowledge of Tao and eternal merging with it. A person who comprehends the Tao and obeys its laws acquires immortality. In order to understand the Tao, one must follow a series of rules regarding the nourishment of the body and the nourishment of the spirit, as well as the concept of non-action. .
Man is a collection of divine spirits and demons who are constantly fighting for possession of his soul. If he feeds the spirits with his good deeds, the soul strengthens and approaches the Absolute, and if a person increases the number of demons with evil deeds, the soul weakens and moves away from Tao.
Nutrition of the body is the observance of a special diet, which consists in the almost complete rejection of physical food. By constant physical training, a person must bring his body to complete submission to the mind and learn to feed on his own saliva and the dew of herbs and flowers.
The third postulate of Tao - the concept of doing nothing - consists in the rejection of purposeful activity, since nature itself arranges everything, as Heaven and Tao need it, and human intervention only destroys everything created by nature. Based on this idea, Lao Tzu derives the following formula applicable to the political life of society: the best ruler is the one who tries not to do anything and not change in the state, his subjects live by the will of Heaven and solve their own problems.
Forms of manifestation of Taoism
Taoism existed in several forms, each of which satisfied the interests of a particular segment of society:
Philosophical and ethical - helped the educated aristocracy to express themselves, allowed to understand and explain the feelings and the essence of the worldview, the price of human existence and the purpose of every person on earth.
Mystical - brought up poorly educated sections of the population, who went to the monks for advice and help in solving everyday problems. domestic problems. This form instilled moral values and certain norms of behavior.
Scientific - In search of the mythical elixir of immortality, Taoist monks invented many useful items and substances. Gunpowder, glass, a compass, battering rams and much more appeared thanks to the research of these people who had retired from the world. Also within the framework of Taoism, the first theories of the origin of the earth and sky, people and all living beings appeared.
Nowadays, the doctrine that originated in ancient times is extremely popular - Feng Shui, which binds together the elements and the fate of people, as well as military doctrine - wu-shu and breathing exercises qigong. All these practices grew out of Taoism.
Briefly about the main ideas of Taoism
Taoism was born much earlier than Confucianism at a time of even more violent internecine strife and struggle for power. The main idea of Taoism is the universal equality of people, equal rights to life and freedom. These ideas immediately attracted many supporters from the lower strata of the population to the new religion.
The poor who professed Taoism hoped that a new society based on the principles of justice and harmony would soon emerge. Under the slogans of Taoism, even peasant unrest took place. One of the most famous uprisings in ancient China was the so-called "Yellow Turban Rebellion" led by a Taoist monk. The purpose of this uprising was the overthrow of the existing political system and the formation of a new state - universal equality and social justice.
The main task of Taoism is to open people's eyes to the purpose of their birth, to teach them to distinguish between good and evil, to discover the secrets of the universe, to teach them to live in harmony with nature and the universe.
Back in the Middle Ages, a whole network of Taoist monasteries was created in China, where people lived who completely departed from the world and devoted their lives to serving Heaven and the eternal Tao.
The monks lived in isolation and did not allow the uninitiated to contemplate their rituals. Their rites have always interested ordinary mortals, but the monks sacredly kept their secrets and passed on their secrets only to dedicated students.
The monasteries consisted of many isolated small semi-dark cells in which the monks indulged in meditation in an attempt to know the eternal Tao. They looked at social transformations differently. Since Taoism preaches the principle of non-doing, any attempts to change the world were considered as an encroachment on the foundations of the faith, and contemplation and solitude, on the contrary, help to merge with the Absolute and live a thousand years in harmony with Heaven.
Therefore, especially zealous followers of the teaching went to the mountains and cut down stone cells for themselves in order to achieve immortality in complete solitude. Moreover, Taoism is probably the only religion that does not use the concept of Heaven and Hell. Paradise is the immortal life bestowed by the great Absolute, spent in reflection and contemplation of the wonders of the universe.
Masculine and feminine in Taoism
Nowadays, almost everyone knows about the feminine and masculine principles in Chinese philosophy - Yin and Yang. Back in the fourth century BC, Taoist monks managed to depict a circle consisting of two principles: dark - feminine and light - masculine.
The monks believed that these two concepts are inseparable and cannot exist without each other, so the life of each person cannot be either only light or only dark. The feminine is characterized by calmness and balance, while the masculine is characterized by activity, power and an active lifestyle.
The monks believed that these two principles completely complement each other, and if any one prevails in a person, then his life cannot be considered correct and he will not be able to achieve Tao.
Rites in Taoism
Unlike all other religions, Taoism did not have magnificent and solemn rituals; Taoists preached an appeal to wildlife and the principle of contemplation. The uninitiated could not attend the rites. For this reason, there are no Taoist temples. The only religious buildings of the Taoists were only monasteries.
At present, there are quite a lot of followers of this teaching in China, new monasteries are constantly being opened, and sometimes monks demonstrate their achievements in mastering martial arts in front of the audience.
Jia Daozhang is a monk who lives in a cave. He is 80 years old, but he is in amazing shape. At what both morally-spiritual, and physical. At an age when most old people begin to grumble and mischief, he is smiling and easy to communicate with.
If you ask a monk how old he is, Jia will grin and say in all seriousness - "I'm still just a child." For thirty years now, the monk has been living in his cave high in the mountains. His day passes as usual in reading mantras, prayers, studying ancient manuscripts and communicating with students. At first glance, it seems that his life is simple and unpretentious, but the monk thinks differently: every day, Jia enters into a battle between hell and heaven, which, according to him, are not in the afterlife, but "here and now" in reality during life.
“We create both hell and heaven ourselves,” Jia Daozhang believes. “It is believed that torture awaits you in hell, but I’ll ask you: lying under a scalpel is not torture? Is illness not torture? Diseases are a punishment for our wrong deeds. And the hospital is a court. When the insides are cut out, then a person goes to real hell."
In order not to go to hell during his lifetime, the Taoist monk believes that three main rules must be observed:
1. Eat right
2. Live right
3. Communicate properly with the world
Jia himself was an ordinary peasant in the past, but thirty years ago he revised his views on life and became a monk. Now he trains every day, getting up at 4 am for the first charge. In addition, in order to fight hell, one must not do evil to people, smile as often as possible and not strive to have more than a person needs.
“There is nothing wrong with a simple life,” Jia Daozhang says with a smile, pointing to the modest decoration of her song. “Happiness is definitely not in money. On the contrary, the more money, the less happiness. If I had money, then I would constantly shaking over them, afraid to lose them. And when you have nothing, then there are no problems either ... The main thing is to eat well. "
How can one not recall Feuerbach's famous aphorism: "Man is what he eats." Moreover, this applies not only to edible products, but also to a large extent mental, informational "food". The more different muck and surrogate we consume, the more we poison our lives. Looking at this cheerful old man of eighty years old, it's hard to believe that you can be happy from living in a cave, without basic amenities. But this is true. It seems that this not only does not oppress the Taoist monk, but, on the contrary, gives unlimited freedom and ease of being. He has an amazingly lively facial expression, this is how he looks when he talks and explains his philosophy of the right life. Slowly you start listening...
He speaks in a singsong voice, drawling in an amusing old Henan dialect. He has an amazing smile and radiant eyes. He is nobody. Not the abbot of the monastery, not the "great initiate." No articles have been written about him, no films have been made, and there is no stream of pilgrims to visit him. He is very far from any fuss and social activities. And he really wants to learn.
This is the Taoist monk Yin Zhongshan, who is often called Lao Yin - “old Yin”, who came to Moscow to visit the Shaolin Martial Arts Federation. He had never been abroad before and spent most of his life in Taoist hermitages and monasteries. For the past twenty years, he has been living in the Zhongyuemiao Monastery, one of the most famous, but at the same time sparsely populated Taoist monasteries in Henan Province, Dengfeng County, not far from the Shaolinsi Monastery.
He is absolutely bright in his appearance, consciousness, outlook on the world. That is why he is a great Taoist. To many questions, where any other "master" would emphasize his skill, he answers "no, and in this I have not achieved skill." This is not an interview, it is hardly possible to conduct an interview with him at all. This is his free talk and answers to students' questions.
Taoists and Buddhists
Before the Taoists, the Buddhists, they were all one. No one argued with each other, no one shouted. Nobody said he was a great monk. What's the difference?! After all, in Dengfeng, where there used to be many monks, everyone was friends, both Taoists and Buddhists got together, learned from each other. This is now some kind of controversy has begun, many “monks” have appeared that no one has heard of before.
Yes, of course, the old monk Susi (former abbot and now honorary abbot of Shaolinsi Monastery - ed.) is a well-known mentor. Good man, wise. It's a pity he can hardly walk now. People say his kung fu is very high. We were always friends, visited each other when we were younger. These were people with a very high gongfu: Xingzheng, Dechan, Susi (abbots of the Shaolinsi monastery - ed.). I was very close to all of them, we spent long hours talking. Xingzheng was completely blind, he could not see anything, not even light. But his consciousness, his inner kung fu, was amazingly high.
Monk Deqian? Yes, of course I knew him and saw him many times, he is a well-known healer with high gongfu in martial arts. After all, he was Susi's personal student. He teaches his personal students according to tradition. He still belongs to the old generation, there are not many of them now, they are already leaving. I rarely leave the monastery now, but before that I met with all the famous Shaolin monks.
Do I know Yongxin (the current abbot of Shaolinsa - ed.)? Hmm... You know, we somehow don't talk about him. But you are from the Shaolin Brotherhood, you yourself know and see everything. He is the outer man. He is from the Shaolin Monastery, but not from the Shaolin tradition. He is interested in other things. In general, is it worth talking about it?
All those Shaolin schools around the monastery... Probably some of them teach good wushu. But is this the essence of Shaolin teachings? Is it only in receptions? And is it worth it to go so far, probably, in every big city there is a wushu group, you can learn to jump and beat with your fists there too.
Real Shaolin monks are very, very few. Almost everyone who shaves their heads and wears yellow robes next to Shaolin are not monks, they just came here to make money. The youth that walks in yellow clothes around Shaolin - so they generally have very little to do with Buddhism and Shaolin teachings in general. Mostly athletes, and many just make money. It is a pity for the old monks, bearers of the true teaching. After all, they don’t sell anything, and they can’t sell anything, their knowledge cannot be learned in a couple of months or even a couple of years. They are not doing very well now.
I almost don't know the young students from Shaolin anymore. This is a new generation, I feel from their talk and behavior that they are not interested in kung fu. They just make money, sometimes they compete, the old generation would never allow themselves this. If the path is sold, then there will be nothing more to go.
Yes, there are a lot of people who look like Taoists roaming around Zhongyuemiao (Taoist monastery - ed.). Yes, and in the monastery itself today there are shops where women work most often, they sell souvenirs. Most of these Taoists are fake. Imagine, he put on a Taoist dress, put his hair in a bun, as is customary among the Taoists, and went to wander around the monastery - after all, no one will distinguish him in appearance from a real Taoist. No, of course, they don’t have any inner mastery, but few people know what it should be - probably only the one who possesses it himself. There are very few real Taoists, they are elderly, they communicate little with newcomers.
Previously, Taoism was a secret teaching, it was not passed on to non-monks. It was called that - "not transmitted outside." And even now, Taoist techniques and Taoist teachings are not known outside of monastic schools. Yes, I know and I was told that in many countries there are societies for the study of Taoism, and many study various types of Taoist neigong. This is very good and it satisfies people's curiosity. But I don't think you can "teach Taoism" or "learn Taoism". I do not think that those people who really know this will tell many people about the teaching at once, in some societies or organizations. This is the outer path. How to know Taoism? Probably only for many, many years of conversations with his teacher.
I belong to the Taoist school of Quanzhendao - "Whole Truth". We do not marry, we do not eat meat, in general we eat only lean food. We strive for a simple, natural way of life. Usually we do a lot of meditation, the inner art of sitting. There are other Taoist schools, for example, Zhengyidao (“True One”), in some schools you can get married, have children, live outside the monasteries. In general, there is no big difference in teaching, because it is not the school that is important, but the teacher.
Taijiquan is probably good for health. But Taoists practice other exercises. And taijiquan is the outer line. I was told here that taijiquan is very popular and everyone is told that it is related to Taoism. This is strange, because the words about yin-yang, about changes in qi are not yet a Taoist teaching.
What art can be learned in twenty days
You know, a man came to me to study, he is very good, kind, eager. It burns too much and wants to get everything too quickly. You see, Tao is a path that you have to take small steps. And he wanted to take and jump over everything at once. He came specially from afar, every day he came to me. I even spent three nights in the monastery - I left it in the big hall. He really wanted to learn some technique, meditation or some inner art. He believed that our teaching is contained in technology, in some methods. Twenty days later, he was probably already tired of his desires and asked me: “I have been here for a long time. But you showed me nothing: no meditation, no Taoist inner art. You and I here only eat regularly simple and healthy food.” And twenty days - is that a long time? Oh, it's very important to eat right. So I taught him this - eat little and right. This is gongfu - gongfu nutrition ( chifan gongfu). Is it possible, when you see a sweet cake, to bite it off at one time? You need to eat for a long time and in small pieces. This is what it is - chifan gongfu.
Too bad I can't explain it to him. The path is very long. Step by step. And these steps are very small. Coming to the teacher, for several years they are only going to embark on the Path.
When I was about twelve years old, my father found out that a great Taoist lived in the mountains and sent me to him. I came and settled with him, he did not drive me away, but he did not teach me anything either. He lived in a small hut with thatched roof not in a monastery. And sometimes he came to the monastery to instruct the monks. So I lived with him for several months - and I also did all the "kung fu of nutrition", he rarely even spoke to me. One day I come to the hut - he is not there, everything is empty. I decided that he had left completely, ran along the path, thought to catch up with him. And he, it turns out, went a parallel path, and we missed each other. I ran to the monastery, I think maybe he is there, but he was not there either. I was terribly upset and decided to leave the mountains down, I could not imagine any other teacher. But the mentor from the monastery told me: “You first try to go through this gate” and showed me to the gates of the monastery, which were wide open. I thought, well, what's so difficult about it, I take a step outside and suddenly I feel that something is holding me, as if they grabbed my arms and legs (Lao Yin spreads his arms wide to the sides - ed.). I'm rushing forward and I can't cross the goal line! And then the abbot of the monastery says: “You see, the monastery does not let you out. So it's too early for you to leave your teacher. And he will find you." And indeed, a couple of days later my teacher came, did not say anything, but took me back.
Was it a sign? How should I know!
My teacher began explaining the inner art to me in the fifth or sixth year. Before that, I was just next to him, helping him, doing all the "kungfu of nutrition". O! In this I am now a great master. In the inner art, I did not reach the height, but in "chifan gongfu" - it's a different matter. If you want to master it, I'm ready to show you. Come to Zhongyuemiao, find Lao Yin and let's study. But the study will be long (laughs contagiously - ed.).
I heard that people here come to China once a year for a week and say that they are students of Chinese mentors. It's true? I wonder if their teachers know about this? I don't even know what you can learn in a week...
What can a great Taoist do?
My teacher knew astrology well and remembered all the maps of the starry sky by heart. He looked at the stars, could predict the fate of many people. They usually came to him when it was necessary to name the child. He first looked at the location of the stars, on the line, on the hands of the child and gave a name that protected him from misfortunes and evil spirits. By facial features, he could tell everything about a person’s illnesses and even tell him how to be treated, which organ should be protected. Never wrong.
No, he didn't teach me this on purpose, I don't have kung fu here. I have not heard about other people who have preserved this art.
Learn feng shui from a book? (laughs - ed.). Is that really how you do it? (laughs even more infectiously - ed.). No, sometimes you can't learn this even from a good teacher, let alone a book. Here one must have a special feeling, a special purity of heart, the ability to see what is invisible. You have to study for many years, probably ten years. Yes, I know a little, but, alas, even here my skill is not great.
Not all Taoists are engaged in inner art. Some are engaged in "outer art" ( vaygun), that is, they perform different movements and focus their consciousness on the qi current. And many just do calligraphy - oh, you need a very strong kung fu here, otherwise everyone will see what an impure heart you have, because you demonstrate it in hieroglyphs. Many Taoists are engaged in healing, skillful in pulse diagnostics. I myself practice neigong, or rather jingong - "the art of peace." I sit in peace every day, forcing qi to flow through the body. I have been practicing it for forty years. No, no, my skill in this matter is still not enough!
Striving for immortality
No, there is no immortality. And why does it need a physical body? We Taoists don't believe in that. Even Peng-zu, the great old man, is said to have lived to be five hundred years old. And Lao Tzu lived a long time, but he eventually died. And the words "to live long without dying" ( changshou boo si) are not about the body, but about something completely different.
And what about the health of the body? The Path of man, like the Path of Heaven, passes naturally, and the body is ill and dies naturally. We can prolong its existence, but this is only if we really need it for inner education, for purity of heart. The Taoist path is not measured by the number of years lived.
Student and teacher
Yes, and in China, sometimes students leave teachers. This does not mean that they are bad people. They simply cannot get on the Path, follow it. Because at the beginning it seems difficult, although the Tao is a very easy way, because it is natural. Yes, in general, in the beginning, you don’t need strength of mind, but just patience, it seems to someone that two or three years for conversations with a teacher is a lot, but I regret that in three decades with my mentor I was able to understand so little. Of course, in China, neither a Taoist nor a Buddhist will ever take on students until the teacher allows him to do so, does not make him a "teaching teacher." And he will never immediately change the teaching that the teacher gave him. After all, he gave him not just knowledge, not technology, but his heart. Technique, of course, can change, like, for example, in wushu, but how can the purity of the heart change? It is either pure or it is not.
Teachers, of course, cannot be left. You can leave, move to another city or even a country. But your teacher will remain a teacher. Without spiritual contact with him, you will simply lose your roots. When you come to your future teacher, you must clearly understand that you will stay with him for a long time. If you just want to learn something quickly and leave, then don't call him a teacher, but yourself a student. And there are also foreigners who study for a lot of money in some Shaolin schools in our county. Here, too, there is no teacher and student, there is a buyer and a seller.
Usually neither Taoists nor Buddhists participate in any demonstrations or competitions.
Yes, of course, but they are not monks, they are just athletes who advertise the monastery and earn some money. This is probably not bad, but it has nothing to do with teaching, self-education, or traditional wushu. They don't have spiritual teachers, they didn't receive the Way either, they are just people from the world of desires and passions. If they had teachers, they would hardly participate in competitions, or demonstrations, or even sell kung fu for money.
Traditional wushu competition? But is it possible? After all, if there are competitions, this is no longer traditional wushu, this is already a sport. After all, tradition is, first of all, education, education of the heart, not the body.
October 2002, Moscow
… He conceals in himself purity-goodness and preserves Primordial simplicity, knows neither passions nor sorrows, and is an empty vessel of perfect truth. His life is smooth and simple, his habits are pure and insipid. It embraces everything in the vastness of its spirit and is identical to the primary Chaos in its naturalness.
Ge Hong treatise "Baopu-tzu"
Before talking about "Taoist thinking", it is also worth mentioning the Taoists themselves, who use its principles in their life-practice. Of course, Taoists are, first of all, people striving for spiritual development. That is, they constantly remember the Tao, empty their heart-consciousness, clearing it of obscurations and delusions, take care of their health, develop not only the spirit but also the body, and try to comprehend their Primordial nature with the help of Taoist methods.
At the same time, many Taoists at certain periods of their lives were in society, but still retained a constant intention to follow the Path of Tao and cultivated an inner desire to know their Primordial nature. Daily orientation to the Primordial allows a person to move away from worldly fuss to some extent, while being among people and their affairs, to become less dependent on their Ego. You seem to soar over your life and all the events that take place in it. If in any situation we remember that we came into this world to develop and that any difficulties on our way are an opportunity to become better and show our new qualities, life becomes more joyful and bright.
In order to constantly keep the focus of consciousness and heart on the comprehension of one's Primordial nature, a steady intention and everyday awareness are necessary. The higher the level of awareness, the more attention you pay to what is happening around you, you see the interconnections of events, and the primordial wisdom begins to manifest in you. And this leads to a better life: your actions are efficient, the number of worries decreases and harmony is established by itself.
One of the main methods of transformation is emptying yourself. Emptying oneself means cleansing one's body, qi (life force) and heart-consciousness from muddy, harmful, superfluous and unnecessary. Taoists have mastered these methods to perfection.
Modern man is most often accustomed to acquiring and filling himself and his life. We come into this world without clothes, without thought patterns, without words, without thoughts… and then throughout our lives we accumulate material things, delusions, resentments, behavior patterns. Every day there is less and less freedom in the life of an ordinary person. It is hard to be conscious if most of your actions are done according to the rules that you have accumulated over the years.
That is why the Taoists are constantly purifying, emptying themselves. This allows you to remain flexible, young, growing and, at the same time, not overwhelmed, not taken to extremes. After all, bringing something to the limit, you will certainly begin to move in the opposite direction.
Ridding oneself of everything superficial (what is imposed by upbringing, society, all sorts of unwritten rules and one's own Ego) allows the Taoists to return to naturalness and non-action. When you do not have other people's thoughts imposed by society, then many problems simply disappear, there is no need to constantly do something. The Taoist begins to live a simpler life, to act with minimal effort, and the result comes easily, as if by itself. The Taoist master has no attachment to the fruits of his actions and no desire to prove anything to anyone - this frees him from many unnecessary emotional reactions and actions that people often do.
But such devastation of oneself does not at all lead to anarchy and a disregarding way of life. The Taoist takes life lightly, but not flippantly! He has certain obligations to the society in which he lives, but does not become attached to them. He spends energy and time on social affairs, but does not exhaust himself. He is freed from passions and desires, but this does not mean that he ceases to feel and live fully!
Naturalness brings harmony and a deeper awareness of oneself and one's place in the world to a person's life. The Taoist responds to current events and refuses to worry about the past and the future, but in the present he acts without being attached to what he is doing, surrendering to the will of the Tao. He, as it were, entrusts his life to Eternity, concentrating on the dance that dances on the stage of Genesis. It is similar to how a person swims on a turbulent river: he tries to feel all the turns of its course, rowing carefully, saving his strength, using the momentum of the river to get where he needs to. But he is submissive to fate and acts without acting, accepting the force of the current, makes movements, but does not fight the river and is internally ready for the fact that the water will throw him ashore in a completely different place.
Purification of oneself and naturalness lead to the fact that the virtuous qualities of the soul become easier to cultivate and manifest. A more benevolent attitude towards life, towards all living beings and the world as a whole, gradually leads to the fact that the practitioner manifests the Heart of Tao.
The heart of Tao is an internal state of consciousness and heart, which helps to keep striving to comprehend the Primordial nature. This state is characterized by a high level of awareness, inner and outer serenity, a kind, positive attitude to everything that happens around, increased sensitivity to the “flow of life”. The heart of the Tao brings primordial wisdom into a person's life; he becomes as if led by some Higher forces. Such a person begins to more effectively go through all the turns and obstacles on his Path, gaining rich experience and living every day more fully and deeply. All this allows you to quickly change yourself, becoming light, flexible and open to the world.
Along with the process of self-purification, the Taoist also constantly cultivates Te. Te is, at the most primitive level, all the virtuous qualities of a person, and at a deeper level, the Primordial heart nature of a person. True Te does not look like Te. That is, truly virtuous deeds can be completely unremarkable or even seem rude. The fact is that a Taoist master who has reached a high level in his practice thinks in completely different categories. His actions reflect the flow of the river of Life more than his own desires. And Life, as you know, is not always kind to us. Many good things only happen after big upheavals.
Therefore, a Taoist who has almost completely purified himself, cultivated true Te, and possesses the Heart of Tao is almost a pure manifestation of Tao. He is so natural that he practically does not bring into his manifestations (actions in this world) any particles of his Ego. It can be said about him that he fulfills the will of Heaven.
And at the moment of reaching the "body of light", the Taoist master becomes a pure manifestation of Tao and merges with it. Thus, through the life of a Taoist, the highest non-action of Tao is manifested.
