Overview
- The Three Treasures
- Moving Energy
- Inner and Outer
The Dàoist tradition of Internal Alchemy, Nèidān shù, 內丹術, aims to prolong life, attain immortality, and achieve enlightenment. The word dān, 丹, means “red; pellet; powder; cinnabar.” Cinnabar especially references the elixir of immortality that the External Achemists, Wàidān, 外丹 once pursued.
The Quánzhēn, 全眞, school of Dàoism (originated 1170) is a prominent example of Internal Alchemy. It combines the effort toward longevity and immortality with philosophy: harmonizing with Dào, Five Phases and yīn-yáng theory, and wúwéi. The school also integrates Buddhist and Confucian tenets into its teachings.
The practice of Tàijíquán and qìgōng are allied to the practice of internal alchemy. Both art forms emphasize the process of the Three Treasures.
The Three Treasures
The Three Treasures, Sānbǎo， 三寶, are the three levels of the body as defined by Dàoist mediators, internal alchemists, and practitioners of the internal arts. The three treasures are jīng, qì, and shén.
Jīng: Essence and Vitality
Jīng, 精, means essence and vitality. It is associated with bodily fluids, hormones, basic strength, and the essence garnered from nutrition. Some texts define it as sperm in men and hormones in women, but fully understanding jīng must include attention to one’s inherited constitution, diet, adequate rest, and calm living as well. The word combines the sign for “rice” on the left with the word for green and young on the right (the color of new grass near a well).
Qì: Breath and Energy
Qì, 氣, means breath and energy. According to one source, the ideogram shows vapor rising from a bowl of cooked rice. That becomes a metaphor for the human breath. Another interpretation is that air + food = energy. The word alludes to metabolism since one cannot be strong without good nutrition. According to other sources, the earlier form of the word, 气, shows three thin layers of clouds, either in the sky or hovering over the surface of a lake. This fits with the idea of qì in the world at large.
The entire universe is filled with qì. The word thus has other meanings—chiefly air and the weather. The air we breathe gives us energy, and we try to absorb extra energy, or qì, when we practice. This connection relates to the Dàoist idea of the body as a microcosm of the universe and our need to harmonize with nature.
To complete the definitions of qì, the word also means “gas, smell, to make angry, to become angry, to annoy.” The emotional associations indicate how qì is part of a person’s force. If a person becomes angry, their qì rises. Likewise, a person of great qì is often said to have a bad temper. Emotional force bursts up within them; their heart rate goes up and they feel hot. All this supports the idea of qì as energy.
Shén: Thought and Spirit
Shén, 神, encompasses both the mental and spiritual aspects of a person. The word shows the symbol for “revelation” on the left, coupled with a sign meaning “to report to a superior.” Since the word shén also means deity or gods, as well as mystery, liveliness, and expression, there is an implication of reverence and the sacred.
Moving Energy
Breath is the sign of life. As soon as a baby is born, we anxiously check to see if they are breathing. As we await the passing of a dying person, we solemnly look for the moment when they draw their last breath.
Our breath is partly under our conscious control and partly under our subconscious control. A practitioner works directly with this dual nature. By following our breath and directing it, we seek to increase our energy and channel it through pathways and energy centers that normally accept a slight amount of energy or that remain dormant. At the same time, we can also gain insight into ourselves: what keeps us breathing? So much seems to function on its own: our emotions, our stamina, our intellectual capacity, our drives, and our aging. If part of a spiritual practice is to understand ourselves, that work has to begin with what is controlled by autonomic processes.
The Dàoists believe that the air we breathe mixes with our essence, or jīng, to make qì. We can gradually accumulate more of it, storing it in the Lower Dāntián. When we visualize energy moving along meridians and ascending in the body, we are directing qì.
The endeavor to move the breath, called yunqì, which we train in sports, martial arts, and qìgong, is a central concern. If we can do so, then the Dàoists believe that all illnesses can be healed and that qì and can be transformed into spirit or shén.
Inner and Outer
We breathe qì into ourselves. The word qì includes the weather and the air. Our qì is in constant exchange with the outer qì. We inhale the universal qì many times a day, and we exhale our wasted gases. This is one way that the world is considered sacred: it takes our noxious exhaust and restores it to good air that supports countless living creatures.
We practice to realize our essential oneness with the world. We can root that process in our very breath, and thereby dispel the illusion of separateness. When we practice, we take advantage of this long tradition of Internal Alchemy. Then we can gain the most important benefit of practice: integration of all parts of ourselves while also being integrated with the world, with other people, and with Dào.