Qigong Teachings of a Taoist Immortal

A translation of Li Ching-yun’s introduction to the Eight Brocades follows, interspersed with my comments and translation of the original text of the Eight Brocades.

I call these methods active kung. My teacher handed down these exercises to me as the Methods of the Eight Diagram Active Kung.

Active kung (hsing kung) is a fairly common term found in qigong, meditation, and martial arts Chinese texts. Normally it is translated simply as “exercises.” The term hsing can mean “activity” or “practice”; kung translates as “skill,” “work,” or “effort.” This kung is the same as in kung fu. However, the Taoist meaning of hsing kung is closer to the idea of “practicing yoga.” The reason that the term Eight Diagram (pa kua) is used here can be assumed to have been in order to establish a correlation with the I Ching Eight Diagram theory. However, the problem is that Li Ching-yun does not attempt any effort at explaining these correlations. Maybe his teacher related them to him, but Li did not share them in his lectures.

The first emperor of China, Fu Hsi, supposedly invented the Eight Diagrams during the legendary period of the Age of the Five Rulers, approximately 3000 B.C. The Eight Diagrams are composed of eight sets of three straight- or broken-lined images that represent our phenomenal world. These eight three-lined images are the very basis on which yin yang theory is founded, with the yang forces represented by solid lines and the yin forces by broken ones. In a vision, Fu Hsi saw the Eight Diagrams on the back of a tortoise shell. From these eight images, he divined and perceived the natural changes occurring in the world. Later, other emperors, for purposes of divination, would drill holes into tortoise shells, burn them, and then, by the cracks produced, determine the images pertinent to their questions. Dried bones of dead animals were also used for these purposes.

Over the course of China’s history, these eight images developed into an entire system of divination and philosophy. Other than the Five Activities (wu hsing) theories, nothing has been more important to the early Chinese mind than the Eight Diagrams. If a philosophy, health practice, martial art, or medical theory cannot be equated with or validated by the Eight Diagrams or Five Activities, it really has little worth in the Chinese mind.¹

During the Chou dynasty (1122 B.C. to 255 B.C.), King Wen stacked the Eight Diagrams on top of each other to create the sixty-four six-lined images, or hexagrams, that we see in the Book of Changes today. His son, the Duke of Chou, formulated many of the meanings of the sixty-four images. Subsequently, Confucius and some of his later disciples added their commentaries, ending with what is now called the “Ten Wings” of the I Ching.

The Eight Diagrams predate the creation of the Eight Brocades. However, no one is sure whether or not the exercises were originally called Eight Brocades or Eight Diagrams. The assumption is that Li Ching-yun’s teacher (and maybe his whole lineage succession before and after him) chose to call the exercises “Methods of the Eight Diagram Active Kung.” It may have also been that Li’s teacher was able to study the original silks (brocades) of Ma-wang-tui, and so made the connection between the eight exercises presented on them and the eight diagrams of the I Ching. It also may have been that the exercises were originally associated with the eight diagrams and later put on the silks without reference to the eight diagrams. The point, though, is that they do correlate and Li Ching-yun, interestingly enough, was the first person to reveal the correlation and claim that the Eight Brocades can in fact be equally called the Eight Diagram exercises.²

In the Fu Hsi arrangement of these eight images, we find the following correlations to the Eight Brocades practice:

Heaven (Ch’ien), south, the Hundred Gatherings cavity (pai hui, top of the head), corresponds to the First Brocade, the Heavenly Drum.

Thunder (chen), northeast, the Ocean of Qi cavity (qi hai, lower abdomen), corresponds to the Second Brocade, Shake the Heavenly Pillar.

Valley (tui), southeast, the Mysterious Pass cavity (hsuan kuan, between the eyes), corresponds to the Third Brocade, the Red Dragon Stirs the Sea.

Water (k’an), west, the Double Pass cavity (shuang kuan, middle of the back), corresponds to the Fourth Brocade, Rub the Court of the Kidneys.

Secrets of the Eight Brocades

Seated cross-legged, close the eyes to darken the heart.

Grasp the hands firmly and meditate on the spirit.

Tap the teeth thirty-six times.

The two hands embrace K’un-lun Shan.

Left and right, beat the Heavenly Drum,

Sounding it twenty-four times.

Gently shake the Heavenly Pillar.

The Red Dragon stirs up the saliva;

Rouse and rinse the saliva thirty-six times.

Evenly fill the mouth with Divine Water;

Each mouthful is divided into three parts and swallowed.

When the dragon moves, the tiger flees.

Stop the breath and rub the hands until hot;

On the back massage the Gates of Life.

Entirely exhaust one breath;

Imagine the heat aflame at the Navel Wheel.

Left and right, turn the Windlass.

Stretch out both feet loosely;

Afterward both hands support the Void.

Repeatedly bend the head over and seize the feet.

Wait for the saliva to be produced;

Rinse and swallow, dividing it into three parts;

Altogether swallow the Divine Water nine times.

Swallow it down with the sound of ku ku;

Then the hundred pulses will be naturally harmonized.

Complete the motion of the River Cart.

Direct the fire to circulate and heat the entire body.

The purpose of these exercises is to prevent harmful influences from approaching, to provide clearness during sleep and in dreams, to prevent cold and heat from entering, and to keep pestilence from encroaching.

These exercises are best practiced between the hours of Tzu and Wu, as doing so will create harmony between Ch’ien and K’un and will establish their proper connection with each other within the cyclic arrangement [of the Eight diagrams]. Hence, everything connected to [the procedures of] restoring one’s original nature and returning to the Tao has excellent reasoning.

Tortoise breathing is the process of what is sometimes called ingesting qi or saliva. This is applied in the Red Dragon Stirs the Sea brocade and in the Lesser Heavenly Circuit regime described in Part 3. Tortoise breathing should be combined with the Four Activities. With the fists raised above the head (see the instructions for the Third Brocade), and after holding the breath and imagining the qi moving up to the Hundred Gatherings cavity, swallow the air or saliva, and exhale, sensing the the qi or saliva dropping down into the lower abdomen (tan t’ien).

The reader should note that reverse breathing is not applied in the Eight Brocades, nor is it used in most Taoist practices (or “soft” styles of martial arts). Found predominately in the kung fu or “hard” styles of martial arts, reverse breathing is the opposite of natural breathing. In reverse breathing, the abdomen is contracted on inhalation and expanded on exhalation. Reverse breathing accentuates the external expression or aspects of qi but does little in the way of actual internal accumulation of qi. And, unless you have accumulated sufficient qi, reverse breathing has little function and can cause negative side effects internally. Because the inhalation works in conjunction with contracting the abdomen, the breath is sent high into the upper back and shoulders, and into the head—which can cause many problems. Do not perform reverse breathing with these exercises. All of my teachers have unanimously advised not to bother with reverse breathing. Master Liang referred to it as “big-head breathing” because more often than not that is the end result.

The sixth therapy is that of swallowing, which begins with the saliva and later includes the breath itself.

And the eighth therapy is the circulation of qi through the Function and Control meridians (the Lesser Heavenly Circuit).