The Practice of Neidan: Achieving Longevity and Immortality : หน้า 133/141

finding is a method of finding illumination by returning to the fundamental order of the cosmos65. This involves fully emptying out the contents of consciousness until a condition of union with the way is achieved. This union is referred to by distinctive phrases such as “attaining the One” (de yi 得一), “attaining the empty Way” (de xu dao 得虚道) and “the Profound Merging” (xuan tong 玄同)66 which can help the practice to attain the ultimate goal as the longevity and immortality. It is interesting that in order to overcome the difficulty in expressing the idea of an ultimate, unconditioned reality in the Chinese language, An Shigao used the Daoist term de dao 得道 “attain the Dao” and zhi wuwei 致無為 “attain non-action” to express Buddhist ideas about the experience of Nirvāṇa.67 The main meditative technique, neidan, is practiced along with classical Chinese medicine, the methods for “nourishing life” (yangsheng 养生) and the balance and inter-dependence between nature, man and the spirit world with other bodies of practices (fangshi方士)68 Mu mentions that there are four stages to practice neidan; (1) Laying the Foundations (zhuji 築基), (2) Refining Essence into Breath (lianjing huaqi 煉精化氣), (3) Refining Breath into Spirit (lianqi huashen 煉氣化神), (4) Refining Spirit and Reverting to Emptiness (lianshen huanxu 煉神化虛).69 In terms of meditation and inner alchemy there are three cinnabar fields; one of them is tan-t’ian/ dantian, also called the “elixir fields” or “Sea of Breath” (ch’i-hai/ qihai) which is located one and three inches below the navel where energy is generated and the mid-point between yin (breath in) and yang (breath out). This is the most important of the three fields. 65 Isabelle Robinet, Original Contributions of Neidan to Daoism and Chinese Thought in Livia Kohn ed. Daoist Meditation and Longevity Techniques (The University of Michigan, 1989), 299. 66 Heirman and Bumbacher, The spread of Buddhism, 218. 67 Nattier, A guide to the earliest Chinese Buddhist translations, 40. 68 Elliott Shaw, “Fang Shih,” Overview of World Religions, n.d., http://www.philitar.ac.uk/encyclopedia/Daoism/fang.html. 69 Wang Mu, Foundations of Internal Alchemy: The Daoist Practice of Neidan (Mountain View: Golden Elixir Press, 2011), 13.