Exploring Daoist and Buddhist Visualization Techniques : หน้า 134/141

The second one is the "Golden Palace" which is located below the heart and spleen, and the last field is the "Mud Pill Court" or the Palace of Ni-wan which is located about three inches within the head from the point between the eyebrows.70 In addition, there was the visualization 思 meditation technique in the cinnabar field 丹田, which had become a common feature in the second half of the second century.71 There is one phrase sishen 思神 "visualize", "concentrate your mind on the image of divinity(ies)", "contemplate the divinity(ies)", "meditate on" which is related to visualization techniques and starts with breathing exercises, its goal is to visualize a divinity in order to secure this superior being's presence or enter into communication with it via the cinnabar field.72 The cinnabar field (dan tian 丹田) is described as the spot inside the human body, located below the navel. According to Laozi zhong jing 老子中經 the middle text of Laozi, which can be traced back to the end of the Eastern Han Period, describes the cinnabar field as the root of human being[s]. It is the place where the vital power is kept. The five energies of the five phases originated here...it is located three inches below the navel which symbolizes the trinity of Heaven, Earth and Human.73 Despite the difference in the location of the centre of the body (above the navel, or below the navel) there are many similarities between Daoist meditation techniques and the Buddhist mediation techniques introduced by An Shigao. It can be asked if the two groups influenced each other, and to what extent. It should be noted that Buddhist teachings about Visualization Meditation introduced to Eastern Han China by Zhi Loujiachen 支䖍迦 Lokakṣema (active c. 164–186 CE74) had a strong influence on Daoist visualization