GHOST See “SOUL”
GOD OF THE SOIL or Earth-Spirit (T’u-ti kung/Tudigong. Another name is Fu-te cheng-shen/Fude zhengshen, literally, “Correct Spirit of the Power of Happiness”). Not essentially a Taoist deity, but shared with the Communal religion, he is the protector of small geographic areas, such as hamlets, city districts, or even privately owned land. Most likely a “descendant” of ancient fertility gods, he is believed to ensure rich harvests (in modern iconography, he is holding a gold ingot in one hand), but is also some sort of “rural policeman” of the spirit world. Whenever a person in his constituency dies, his guards will take his/her soul and conduct it to the temple of the City God, his immediate superior, whence it will be escorted to the netherworld.
The cult of the Earth-Spirit is still very strong in such Chinese areas as Taiwan and Hong Kong. In Taiwan, his temples count in the thousands, mostly small roadside shrines, a few feet high, very soberly decorated. Other shrines are placed very auspiciously at the center of community life and preferably in the shadow of a huge, old tree (where a tree-spirit resides). In recent times, Taiwanese people have rebuilt hundreds of these modest shrines, and made them very colorful, with ceramic tiles and glazed roofs. It represents the economic prosperity of recent years.
Some older Earth-Spirit temples, especially in major cities, continue to play an important role in the life of the surrounding community. These temples, in contrast with thousands of others, have been officially registered at the city hall and are, functionally, small community temples.
In some temples, one finds images of the Earth-spirit’s wife (T’u-ti-p’o/Tudipo), because, like many other gods of the Chinese pantheon, the Earth-Spirit lives a “human” life, with consort and family.
Perhaps unexpectedly, one finds smaller clay images of the Earth-Spirit on grave sites, usually on the side, almost unnoticeable. The rationale is that the god is master of the tomb site, and his good graces must be implored and obtained so that the “soul” of the person buried there may rest undisturbed and protected from evil forces.
GOLD CINNABAR TAOISM (Chin-tan or Tan-ting P’ai). A Taoist technique that is not a school in the proper sense, but a method that can be shared by various schools; a practical synonym for alchemy, in its double meaning.
The expression chin-tan is sometimes translated as “golden elixir” or “golden pill,” but that is not accurate (what would be the meaning of a golden pill anyway?). It seems better to see chin and tan as two concrete nouns: gold and cinnabar (two goals to be achieved) that together, constitute an abstract noun, like alchemy.
The roots of alchemy go back to ancient times and had to do with striving for immortality and becoming a spirit-immortal (shen-hsien). The writings of Wei Po-yang and Ko Hung strongly influenced the movement.
At first, during the North-South dynasties until Sui and T’ang, the emphasis was on outer alchemy; from the Sung and Yuan periods on, inner alchemy.
The results of alchemical practices were the development of scientific research methods (proto-chemistry), and the creation of techniques for long life (“nourishing life,” yang-sheng) and ch’i-kung.
GOURD See PLANT SYMBOLISM
GRAND UNITY TAOISM (T’ai-yi Tao/Taiyi Dao). One of the three schools of Taoism established in Northern China during the Jurchen Chin dynasty, after the Sung court had moved south. Its founder was Hsiao Pao-chen/Xiao Baozhen, who established his school in about 1138.
The name T’ai-yi has two possible origins: It either refers to the school’s transmission of T’ai-yi (Supreme One) and San-yuan (Three Originals) registers or takes the concept of pure Oneness of the original ch’i as its basic theory.
Soon after its start, the Grand Unity School became quite popular, attracting a great number of followers. It built T’ai-yi halls in Ch’ao-chou and Chen-ting. Its fame reached the imperial court. In 1149, Chin Emperor Hsi-tsung (r. 1135–1149) invited founder Hsiao to his palace to heal the empress’s illness. He gave the title T’ai-yi wan-shou kuan to his T’ai-yi hall. Several patriarchs were patronized by the Chin and later by the Mongol court.
In 1274, Yuan Emperor Shih-tsu (Khubilai Khan) ordered the construction of T’ai-yi temples in the two capitals and put the fifth patriarch, Hsiao Chü-shou, in charge of sacrifices. In 1315, Emperor Jen-tsung (r. 1312–1321) ordered three patriarchs (i.e., the seventh patriarch of T’ai-yi, the Cheng-yi patriarch Chang Liu-sun and Complete Realization patriarch Sun Te-yi) to celebrate a great golden register chiao ritual in Ta-tu’s (today’s Beijing) Ch’ang-ch’un kung (Eternal Spring Temple).
The T’ai-yi School existed for about 200 years, until the end of the Yuan dynasty. After the seventh patriarch, there are no more historical documents; its continuation remains doubtful. It was possibly absorbed into Cheng-yi Taoism.
The school emphasized fu-lu (talismans and registers) and chai-chiao (fasting and sacrificial offerings), similar to Cheng-yi Taoism. They used fu-lu for healing and exorcism, and used chai-chiao to pray for rain or to stop rain. Besides serving the people, its patriarchs often performed the golden register great chiao for the benefit of the imperial court. It is the only fu-lu school among the three northern schools.
The T’ai-yi School imposed the rule of celibacy on its members, in contrast with the Cheng-yi School. During the Yuan period, it was influenced by the Neo-Confucian “School of Principle” (li-hsueh); as a result, it focused on the (Confucian) virtues of loyalty-trust; and filial piety-kindness, thus embodying a spirit of syncretism (MDC: 22).
Patriarchs of T’ai-yi Taoism (the founder ordered all his successors to change their last name to Hsiao):
1. Hsiao Pao-chen (d. 1166)
2. Hsiao Tao-hsi (d. 1182)
3. Hsiao Chih-ch’ung (1150–1216)
4. Hsiao Fu-tao (great-grandson of founder) (d. 1252)
5. Hsiao Chü-shou (1220–1280)
6. Hsiao Ch’uan-yu (patriarch in 1281; d. 1318?)
7. Hsiao T’ien-yu
GREAT PEACE (EQUALITY) SCRIPTURE (T’ai-p’ing Ching/Taipingjing) (Abbreviated TPC). It is the earliest scripture of the Taoist religious movement and became the theoretical basis of the T’ai-p’ing Tao in the second century CE. Although written by several hands over a period of time, it contains most of the elements of later Taoism, including chapters on meditation and immortality. Its central message is that heaven is sending a Heavenly Master (T’ien-shih) to restore peace in the world.
The extant Tao-tsang version is titled T’ai-p’ing ching (CT 1101, TT 746–755; in Taiwan edition, vol. 40). However, it is believed (and recorded) that earlier versions existed, each having a slightly different title:
• T’ien-kuan li pao-yuan T’ai-p’ing ching, in 12 chapters, presented to Han Emperor Ch’eng (r. 32–7 BCE) by Kan Chung-k’o from the eastern state of Ch’i.
• T’ai-p’ing ch’ing-ling shu, in 170 chapters, presented to Emperor Shun (r. 126–144 CE) by Kung Ch’ung, who said he had received it from his master, Yü Chi (or Kan Chi).
• T’ai-p’ing tung-chi ching, in 144 chapters, revealed to Chang Ling (Tao-ling) by T’ai-shang Lao-chün.
How much the extant canonical text has inherited from the earlier versions is not known, but it is accepted that it contains ancient parts that predate the healing cults of the second century CE.
It is also fairly certain that old version number two influenced Taoist leader Chang Chüeh in the east, and old version number three had a great impact on Chang Tao-ling in the West. Indeed, the scripture contains the blueprint for a renewed era of great peace, to be realized by a renewed government on the basis of sound religious beliefs and practices. It is, in a new dress, the combination of good rulership and sageliness. Perhaps its effect on the dynasty was minimal, and because the middle of the second century CE saw a deteriorating situation, the new ideology inspired men of action who attempted to inaugurate the promised era of peace without, and even against, the government.
The concept of t’ai-p’ing had an ancient history and is found in several of the classics. The rulers of high antiquity, the only ones who ever established great peace, governed through wu-wei, and satisfied three basic needs of the people: food, union of the sexes, and clothing. The scripture reveals that the great peace will return to the earth in the near future, but some conditions must be fulfilled: a return to the essential (yuan-ch’i/yuanqi) through exercises of spiritual concentration (shou-yi, “retaining the One”) and other methods to obtain longevity, as well as the practice of morality and good government.
This basic insight makes the TPC “a religious book which teaches a doctrine of salvation” (Kaltenmark, 1979: 24). Strangely for a Western reader, this book must be transmitted to a prince of high virtue. For this purpose, heaven periodically sends sages (sheng-jen), or sage teachers (sheng-shih), to earth to transmit its teachings to the ruler. In other words, one sees here the seeds of theocratic rule.
There is a strong emphasis on moral obligations, one of the most urgent ones being the duty to share. This does not only mean the circulation of material possessions, but also of spiritual treasures and experience. For instance, those who have “accumulated the Tao and refuse to share it with others commit a heavy sin, which will harm the sinners as well as their descendants.” The same, of course, applies to the sharing of material goods. “Thus, on all levels—spiritual, material, economic, and, it must be added, physiological—things have to circulate: This is what the Tao and life consist of.” (Kaltenmark: 35).
Further, four kinds of evil conduct are denounced: to lack in filial piety, not to procreate, to eat manure and urine, to beg. This is most likely a hidden attack against Buddhism (Kaltenmark: 35).
Other moral prescriptions are: prohibition of alcohol; infanticide (especially of daughters), which causes a shortage of available women, because each man should have two wives (yang is odd, yin is even); rejection of chastity.
The ideal of long life is strongly promoted, but is only possible in a time of T’ai-p’ing. There are different allotments of life expectancy: 80, 100, 120 years. Beyond that, only exceptionally can one go beyond this limit and become an immortal. There are, of course, conditions: One must live morally; one must meditate on the One (shou-yi) and reflect upon one’s sins, which are the cause of disease; one must practice various kinds of hygiene, including diet and breathing; and one may use medicinal substances for health, and use talismans for curing disease. Also, some aspects of (Chinese) medicine are recommended: moxa, acupuncture, pulse taking. And, finally, music is seen as promoting good health: the five tones have their good effects on the five inner organs (Kaltenmark: 41–44).
The overall ideology of the TPC reflects much of classical (philosophical) Taoism, but also foreshadows important aspects of later Taoist religion. Classical ideas are the yin-yang structure of the universe and the triad of heaven, earth and man. But above all, it is Tao that controls all changes in the universe. This universe, as macrocosm, is inherent in human beings and society, the microcosm. Great Peace (and Equality) can only be achieved if these two worlds interact through the mediation of an enlightened and virtuous ruler.
GREAT PEACE TAOISM (T’ai-p’ing Tao/Taipingdao). A Taoist utopian movement that was very popular in the middle of the second century CE. It spread into eight eastern provinces of China at the end of the Han dynasty. Its founder, the eldest of Three Chang Brothers, Chang Chueh, claimed to have received the revelation that a new era of Great Peace and Equality was about to arrive. It would replace the Han government and inaugurate a paradise on earth. It was believed that this would start in the year 184 CE, the first year of a new 60-year cycle.
Chang Chueh and his brothers Chang Liang and Chang Pao started to preach their vision and attracted numberless followers. They sent out preachers to the eight provinces of eastern China, and within just over ten years, their converts numbered in the tens of thousands. They had
. . . something like 360,000 adherents. Such figures imply massive conversions. This rapid burgeoning can only be explained through an unleashing of religious enthusiasm. (Maspero, 1971/1981: 379)
The Chang brothers divided their territory into 36 districts, each of which was headed by a fang (a regional authority): ta-fang or great fang, who had more than 10,000 subjects; and hsiao-fang or lesser fang, with 6,000 to 8,000 subjects. The title fang is obviously reminiscent of fang-shih, and Maspero thinks it might have been a reference to “magician” (Maspero: 375). Under the fang’s authority was a rank of lower officials, named “great chiefs” (ch’ü-shuai), assisting them in the organization of the communities.
The Chang brothers themselves were the top leaders: they chose high-ranking titles for themselves, claiming to be representatives of the Three Powers: heaven, earth, mankind. Chang Chueh, as supreme leader, took the title of General Lord-Heaven (T’ien-kung chiang-chün), whereas the younger brothers were General Lord-Earth (Ti-kung chiang-chün) and General Lord-Mankind (Jen-kung chiang-chün).
These titles clearly indicate the basic religious nature of their organization. But their rituals give a clearer picture of what their religious goals were. In order to prepare for the New Era of Great Peace, people had to convert truly and to purify themselves through confession of their faults:
In their doctrine sudden death or illness was the consequence of sin: protection could be had by public confession of faults and by washing them away through the “charmed water” [fu-shui] which the chief of the community gave penitents to drink. At equinoctial festivals, warrior amulets were distributed to defend against maleficent demons. (Maspero: 291)
By the year 184, religious enthusiasm and revolutionary spirit reached a climax. The movement turned rebellious and hoped to overthrow the Han empire (see also Yellow Turban Rebellion). But Chang Chueh apparently had no talent as a military commander and his uprising failed. What happened to his communities after 184 is not clear.
But while they were flourishing, the Chang brothers instituted a great number of rituals, both for the living and for the dead. Some disappeared soon after the Yellow Turbans’ defeat, others were later reformed by K’ou Ch’ien-chih and T’ao Hung-ching. (For comparison and contrast, see also Heavenly Masters Taoism, a similar movement flourishing in western China.)
GREAT PROFUNDITY SCRIPTURE (Ta-tung ching/Dadongjing). One of the basic scriptures of Shang-ch’ing or Mao Shan Taoism. Although originally it was the very first text of the first tung (tung-chen section) of the Taoist Canon, in the Ming edition of today it is number six (CT 6, TT 16–17). The reason for this change is the extreme importance attached to a Ling-pao scripture, Salvation Scripture (Tu-jen ching), by the Sung court. They placed this text in the Sung edition of the Canon before all other scriptures, taking precedence over the Great Profundity scripture.
Sacred myth tells that this text was originally transmitted to the Queen Mother of the West before the world existed. The book “. . . was eventually revealed to Lady Wei, who transmitted it to her disciple, Yang Hsi. It constitutes the core of the Great Purity revelation” (Robinet, 1979/1993: 98).
The book deals with recitation taking place while the gods dwelling in the body are being visualized. The body is indeed seen as a sacred realm, animated and divinized by the inhabiting deities. Important among them are 39 guardian spirits, all individually named, who protect the “gates of death”: They
. . . close up the bodily orifices to make the body into a hermetically closed world which will then function as the receptacle and dwelling place of the gods . . .” (Robinet: 103)
The essence of the visualization recommended in the text is the joining together of the body and the indwelling spirits. Next, union must be established between these inner spirits and the corresponding deities of heaven. Then, “the body is spiritualized and unites with what we would call the Spirit” (Robinet: 104).
(For a more complete discussion of the Great Profundity Scripture, see Robinet, 1979/1993: 97–117.)
GREAT PURITY SCHOOL See SHANG-CH’ING TAOISM
GREAT WAY TAOISM (Ta-tao chiao/Dadaojiao), later called “True” Great Way Taoism (Chen/zhen Ta-tao chiao). One of the three new schools founded in northern China during the Jurchen Chin rule, after the Sung court had reestablished itself in the south.
Its founder was Liu Te-jen/Liu Deren, a native of Loling in Ts’ang-chou, born in 1122. One winter day in 1142, while waiting for the breaking of dawn, he met an old man as if in a dream. This old man, with a white beard and white eyebrows, was riding an oxcart. He stopped and transmitted to Liu the mysteries of the dark and wonderful Tao. Then he left again. That was the beginning of the Ta-tao order.
The new school was characterized by its monastic (celibate) life-style, emphasizing a simple way of living, a combination of manual labor (one should till the soil for one’s food) with spiritual practices. Liu Te-jen expressed this ideal in nine rules of discipline:
• Look at all beings as at yourself; do not harbor feelings of hatred nor the intention of hurting others.
• Be loyal to your ruler, filial to your parents, sincere toward your fellow men; in speech avoid flowery and evil language.
• Rid yourself of lustful conduct and preserve purity.
• Stay away from power, be satisfied with a humble position and poverty; cultivate the fields to grow your own food; keep only as much income as necessary for your needs.
• Do not gamble or take risks; do not steal.
• Do not drink alcohol, do not eat meat; be happy with simple food and simple clothing.
• Empty your mind and soften your will: “darken your light and become one with the dust” (TTC, Chapter 4).
• Do not be overbearing; be modest and respect others.
• Know that contentment is not a disgrace; if you know when to stop, you will not come to grief.
(Translated from Chen Yuan. Nan-Sung ch’u ho-pei hsin Tao-chiao k’ao.)
It is interesting to note that this lifestyle, combining meditative life, ascetic practices, and manual labor, resembles both the Chinese way of Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism and, at the opposite pole of the prism, the monastic institution of Christian monks, such as the Benedictines.
When the Ta-tao school started to acquire a reputation and spread far and wide, it attracted the attention of the ruling house, both of the Chin and of the Mongol court. After his death, founder Liu received the honorary title of “perfected” (chen-jen). His leadership was entrusted to the second, third, and fourth patriarch, until 1229. In that year, for reasons not clearly documented, Chin Emperor Ai-tsung (r. 1224–34) suspended the Ta-tao order so that, for several decennia, it went into hiding and spread its teaching secretly. Of this episode, there are no historical documents.
During the reign of Yuan (Mongol) Emperor Hsien-tsung (r. 1251–60), when the fifth patriarch was in charge, the Ta-tao order once again obtained the ruler’s trust and received official support. That is when its name was changed to True Ta-tao. The patriarch received imperial honors, such as the title of chen-jen, and honorary garments for himself and 30 of its members. The sixth patriarch was appointed in 1268 by Khubilai Khan as official superintendent of the whole order. Since this imperial patronage continued, the order started flourishing in the whole country, from north to south, from east to west.
After the Mongol period, the Ta-tao order declined and left the “stage of history.” Perhaps it was absorbed into Complete Realization Taoism.
What this school of Taoism focused on was not the arts of inner alchemy to become a “flying immortal,” but tranquillity and prayer. It did not worship spiritual beings, and to cure people’s illnesses, it did not rely on talismans. Their way was “silent prayer and [cultivation of] emptiness,” a life of celibacy and asceticism.
At first, their temples were called “an” and their tombs “t’a,” following the Buddhist custom. This shows that Buddhism was one of their sources of inspiration.
Most of the information on the Ta-tao order of Taoism is found in various writings from the Yuan and Ming periods, as well as in certain stone inscriptions, recorded by Chen Yuan (CMTT: 22–23).
Patriarchs of (True) Great Way Taoism
1. Liu Te-jen (1122–1180)
2. Ch’en Shih-cheng (d. 1194)
3. Chang Hsin-chen (1163–1218)
4. Mao Hsi-tsung (1185–1223)
5. Li Hsi-ch’eng (name of order changed to Chen Ta-tao) (1181–1259)
6. Sun Te-fu (1217–1273)
7. Li Te-ho (d. 1284)
8. Yueh Te-wen (1234–1299)
9. Chang Chih-ch’ing (or Ch’ing-chih)
10. (unknown)
11. Cheng Chin-yuan (1267–1307)
GROTTO-HEAVENS and BLESSED SPOTS (Tung-t’ien/Tongtian and Fu-ti/Fudi). According to Taoism, there is a sacred geography inherent in the physical contours of the landscape. Mountain peaks and great rivers especially are seen as invisible centers of energy, vitalizing all living beings. Besides these, there are particular spots of energy, believed to be inhabited by spirits and gods. This lore is ancient and predates Taoism and Buddhism. But during the Six Dynasties period, this “sacred geography” was described in the Chen-kao. It was further elaborated by Tu Kuang-t’ing during T’ang times. He recorded and named first ten (great) “grotto-heavens” (tung-t’ien), then a further 36 (smaller) tung-t’ien, and finally 72 “blessed spots.” Together with mountains, these are like a network of power stations all through the imperial realm.
That mountains are endowed with supernatural power is a universal phenomenon and has great psychological relevance (see also Mountains). The reason mountain caves (grottoes, caverns) are also considered sacred is not so obvious. There are a number of hypotheses: Caves are often occupied by wild carnivores and inspire fear; or they are dens of bandit gangs, who hide their treasure in them; they are also believed to be dwelling places of gods and especially mountain gods. Another reason is that caves attracted religious practitioners who wished to live in isolation and solitude; they were an ideal base for meditators and ascetics. In Buddhism, there has been a long tradition of cave-dwellers, often living in community. In Afghanistan there are the Bamiyan grottoes. In China’s province of Sinkiang, fifth century Buddhist caves have been discovered recently in Kizil, north of the Taklimakan Desert, within the T’ien-shan range (National Geographic 189, April 1996: 52–63). On the crossroads to Central Asia, there are the still existing Tun-huang caves, for centuries a deposit of an unknown Buddhist library, only discovered around 1900, a rich treasure house of Buddhist art (frescoes and sculpture). Other famous Buddhist caves are located near Ta-t’ung in North China (Yün-kang caves) and near Lo-yang (Lung-men caves). There are more examples, all of which have their antecedents in the older and famous cave-monasteries of India.
This extraordinary phenomenon in religious geography shows that mountain caves have fascinated spiritual practitioners over the centuries: Not only did they find shelter and isolation there, the presence of spiritual energy was very real for them. No wonder the Taoists were also attracted to them, although no Taoist monastic community is known to ever have lived in a cave complex as the Buddhists did.
Why and based on what criteria did the Taoists create their 10 and 36 and 72 special places of sacred energy? The rationale of selection is not known and must be examined for each case in the written documents of local history. But we can still analyze the meaning of tung-t’ien and fu-ti within the Taoist worldview.
Tung-t’ien is a strange compound. Tung can mean “cave, grotto,” but also means “profound, mysterious”; t’ien means “heaven.” One would normally expect an adjective before a noun, so that tung should be considered an adjective. If that assumption is correct, tung-t’ien would mean “mysterious, profound heaven,” but the use of tung and the fact that these heavens were located in mountains gives tung an extra nuance of “grotto,” or “mysterious heaven linked with a grotto” (see also Dragon Throw).
Behind the term there hides a Taoist view that special mountain caves not only house spirits and transcendents (hsien), they are mysteriously linked to heavenly residences:
Many of these and other sacred places were believed to be interconnected by a system of mysterious underground passages. The grotto-heavens were in part offices of the celestial bureaucracy, in part self-contained worlds with sun, moon, and stars, rivers, parks and palaces . . . (R. Birnbaum, 1989–90: 124–125)
Because of the spirits and gods dwelling in those grottoes, their entrance is believed to issue vital energy and thus assist cave-dwellers in their spiritual quest. They are controlled by transcendents appointed by Shang-ti.
Here is the list of the ten great grotto-heavens:
1. Wang-wu cave (Shansi)
2. Wei-yü (Chekiang)
3. Hsi-ch’eng (Szechuan?)
4. Hsi-hsuan (Shensi?)
5. Ch’ing-ch’eng (Szechuan)
6. Ch’ih-ch’eng (Chekiang)
7. Lou-fu (Kuangtung)
8. Chü-ch’ü (Mount Mao) (Kiangsu)
9. Lin-wu (Kiangsu)
10. K’uo-ts’ang (Chekiang)
The small grotto-heavens, 36 in number, are also considered to be governed by transcendents appointed by heaven. Some of them are located on the famous sacred mountains: Mount T’ai, Mount Heng, Mount Hua, Mount Sung, Mount Omei, etc.
The 72 Blessed Spots (Fu-ti, literally “places of happiness”), located on famous mountains as well, are also administered by realized transcendents (chen-jen) upon orders from Shang-ti. Their names, as well as those of the grotto-heavens, are all listed in the Sung mini encyclopedia Yün-chi ch’i-ch’ien.
GYMNASTICS (Tao-yin). Among the various practices that Taoism recommends to promote good health and, ultimately, long life and immortality, some are more spiritual, others more physical. The two, however, cannot be completely separated.
Since ancient times, gymnastics was practiced to promote good health. But the term “gymnastics” does not coincide with the modern word for it, such as it is performed during the Olympic games. In the Chinese context, gymnastics is an exercise of the body similar to yoga, without putting the body to great strain. A useful definition says that:
“Gymnastics” means physical exercises for the purpose of expelling all evil breath from the limbs, the joints, and the bones of the body. In its stead, healthy, good energy or breath is to be preserved . . . Grinding the teeth and massaging oneself are also part of the practice of gymnastics. (Y. Sakade in L. Kohn, 1989: 8)
Its ancient origin has been demonstrated by the discovery of a manuscript found in the Ma-wang-tui tomb, dating from the middle of the second century BCE. This manuscript consists of a text, illustrated with a chart of drawings of various body exercises. Even older than this manuscript is a text in the Chuang-tzu, where the author somehow ridicules those gentlemen keen on longevity who practice tao-yin. For Chuang-tzu, this is inferior to inner meditation.
Although gymnastics developed before Taoism, it was eventually integrated into the Taoist system by the Shang-ch’ing School as a complementary technique to promote health. Since it was recommended to combine gymnastics with circulation of energy (ch’i) this was seen as very beneficial to the health of body and mind. Not only was it preventative medicine, but because it could help stimulate the circulation of ch’i inside the body, it was considered an effective way to promote health and longevity.
An example of the healing power of gymnastics is found in the biography of Hua T’o, a medical doctor in the service of Ts’ao Ts’ao of the kingdom of Wei (Three Kingdoms period).
The body needs a certain amount of movement . . . This is why Taoists practice gymnastics . . . I myself have developed a series of exercises which I name the Five Animals Pattern. The five animals are the tiger, the deer, the bear, the monkey, and the bird. The practice of the Pattern aids the elimination of diseases and increases the functioning of the lesser members. (Quoted by C. Despeux, in L. Kohn, 1989: 242)
Indeed, if the value of tao-yin is assessed as compared to ch’i circulation, one may consider the following quote:
Those who are able to circulate the [ch’i] can perfect the inside of their bodies, those who are good at doing gymnastic exercises can cure all ailments of the limbs. (Despeux: 258)
Without describing the actual exercises, one can still be struck by the similarity between tao-yin and t’ai-ch’i ch’uan: The physical-emotional effects are very similar. Another related practice is ch’i-kung, which has developed tremendously in China in recent times.
(For more information about gymnastics, see C. Despeux, in L. Kohn, 1989: 225–261.)