Chapter 8: Key Points for Chinese Original Quiet Sitting

¹ Some of the points to remember about Chinese Original Quiet Sitting technique fall under these areas:
1) Sitting postures
2) Guidelines for sitting
3) Appropriate hours for quiet sitting
4) Key points and taboos for successful quiet sitting

¹ 談到中國正宗靜坐的基本要訣，可包括：
①靜坐的姿態
②靜坐的坐訣
③靜坐的時間
④靜坐的戒與忌等重點

² Each of these areas is discussed separately below:
(1) Sitting Postures: The first posture is the innate posture. It is the “level sitting:” Rest the palms of your hands on your knees. Hold the trunk of your body straight and keep your eyes level. The rest of the body is as usual.

² 茲分述如後：
一、靜坐的姿態：第一是先天坐法－平坐：兩掌掌心蓋在膝蓋上，軀幹挺直，兩眼平視，一切動作照樣。

³ In situations where you cannot cross your legs, as when in an airplane seat, you can use the innate sitting posture. This was our position in the womb.

³ 有些環境不能盤腿時，如在飛機上就可用先天坐法。我們在母親體內時就是這種坐法。

⁴ The second posture is the acquired sitting posture, with legs crossed or in the lotus position. Both positions are used by Daoists and Buddhists. Acquired sitting positions are convenient. Over thousands of years everyone has gotten in the habit of using them.

⁴ 第二是後天坐法－盤腿：單盤、雙盤都可以。道家、佛家都用後天坐法。後天坐方便。幾千年來，大家都成了習慣。

⁵ But since we are recovering our true identity and are going back to our origins, there is nothing wrong with using the innate sitting posture.

⁵ 但是我們若要返本還原，仍舊回到我們的真面目，先天坐也未嘗不可。

⁶ I am telling you about both ways. You can use whichever you prefer. Each person can use the posture that is best suited for their situation. However, you should understand that the important thing is not to lose continuity in quiet sitting.

⁶ 我把這兩種坐法同時教你們，你們喜歡用那種方式都可以。各人可依不同環境，採取不同的坐姿。但是各位應明白，重要的是打坐不能間斷。

⁷ (2) Guidelines for Sitting: Quiet sitting is sitting quietly. There is no method outside of this. This is not Taijiquan [aka Tai Chi Chuan], in which you practice one set after another.

⁷ 二、靜坐的坐訣：靜坐就是靜坐，根本沒有第二個方法。這不是打太極拳，一套一套練下去。

⁸ You must delve into stillness, and you must feel it and experience it for yourself.

⁸ 一定要用心在靜中去求，自己體會、感覺。

⁹ However, there is a key to this: “Be natural in everything you do. Put body and mind at ease. Do not try too hard. Do not force things to take place and make sure you do not induce qi deliberately.”

⁹ 但是，秘訣是有的，就是「一切要自然，身心要放鬆。絕對不要太用力，不要勉強，絕對不能運氣導引」。

¹⁰ It is dangerous to induce qi deliberately. On many occasions, at public lectures, I have stressed over and over that fundamentally I am not against this practice.

¹⁰ 運氣導引很危險。我在許多公開演講的場合也一再強調，我基本上不是反對。

¹¹ There is nothing wrong with moving or guiding qi, as long as you are in a natural setting such as in the deep mountains where you can let your mind and body go and be away from contact with the world of dust.

¹¹ 除非在大自然、深山裡，一切與塵世隔絕沒有往來，身心統統放得下來的地方，運氣導引也未嘗不可。

¹² However, if we seek the Dao and guide the movement of qi while living in today’s city, nine out of ten of us will run into problems.

¹² 不過，今天我們住在城市的人，要修道、要運氣，十個有九個會出毛病的。

¹³ At times our bodies can undergo physical or physiological changes, have impulsive moods, or become susceptible to environmental conditions.

¹³ 有時生理發生變化，有時心理產生變化，情緒衝動，或是生理受環境的引誘有了變化。

¹⁴ When such change happens while we are guiding our qi to a certain area or joint, it will cause the qi-and-blood to become blocked at that point or joint. Such stoppage of qi-and-blood at that joint is quiet problematic. Neither Western nor Chinese medicine have a cure for it.

¹⁴ 剛剛運氣運到某一部門，某一關節，氣血就阻在那一個部門、關節。氣血都停留在這一關節，是相當麻煩的。中醫、西醫都沒辦法看好。

¹⁵ The consequences of consciously guiding one’s qi can also be very serious.

¹⁵ 用意識導引流弊也很大。

¹⁶ Why would anyone “guide the movement of qi?” It is an attempt to get “fast results,” with the intention of moving qi more quickly through the meridian points, in order to open up the Conception and Governing Channels along with the remaining Eight Extraordinary Channels.

¹⁶ 為什麼要用「導引」？原因是求其「速效」。希望早點過關，任脈、督脈、奇經八脈統統打通。

¹⁷ However, in this world, haste makes waste. The faster you try to go, the more likely the qi-and-blood could become blocked somewhere in the body. Once that happens, you ‘wish you were dead.’

¹⁷ 天下事欲速則不達。你越要快，氣血越停在某一部門，將來求生不得，求死不能。

¹⁸ Please do not get me wrong. I am not fundamentally against this practice. It can be done. But it can be done only if you seclude yourself in the mountains or perhaps together with some like-minded people and cut off contact with the outside world.

¹⁸ 各位一定要注意。基本上我是不反對，是可以的。除非你一人或約三、兩同好，放下一切，到深山裡隱居，與人世間不相往來。

¹⁹ Devote your mind to cultivation. Control your breathing at the same time as you guide the movement of qi. Your body and mind will benefit from it. Otherwise, you must let things happen as they will, fitting in with the natural laws that move the heavenly body.

¹⁹ 專心修煉，一面吐納，一面運氣導引，這對身心都有幫助；否則，一定要順其自然，以合天體運行的自然規律。

²⁰ It is like the movement of the sun and the moon. No power is propelling them along. This is why I say: “Being natural” is the key to quiet sitting.

²⁰ 有如日月的運轉，根本沒有任何推動的力量。所以，「自然」就是靜坐的祕訣。

²¹ Actually, quiet sitting is “the Dao.” As it was said [by Confucius]: “The Dao [path] may not be left for an instant. If it could be left, it would not be the Dao.”^[34] Thus “the Dao” lies in what cannot be verbally explained.

²¹ 老實講，靜坐就是「道」。所謂「道也者，不可須臾離也，可離者非道也。」故「道」是盡在不言中。

²² I have lectured many times on Chinese Original Quiet Sitting. Some people have asked me to speak in- depth on what actually happens. But it is hard for me to speak further.

²² 我講了多次中國正宗靜坐。有人要我再講內容細節，我也很難講。

²³ Each person’s kongfu [meanings include practice, skill, accomplishment, and effort] is known only to him (or her). My own kongfu cannot be applied to any of you.

²³ 各人功夫，各人自己領會。我的功夫不能適應到你們每位身上。

²⁴ You can think of it like a glass of water. Is it warm or cool or cold? Only the person drinking it is experiencing it. “The drinker of the water knows if it is warm or cold.”

²⁴ 譬如我喝這杯水，溫的？涼的？冷的？只有喝下去的人才能體會「如人飲水，冷暖自知」。

²⁵ There are no words to describe how warm or cold it is, and you would not grasp what I meant. This is why I say that kongfu is built up over time.

²⁵ 無法用言語來形容它溫、涼的程度，你們也無法領會。所以說功夫是時間的累積。

²⁶ My fifty-year kongfu has been building up all this time. It was not achieved at in one morning or at one night. No one could “leap to heaven at a single bound.”

²⁶ 我五十年功夫是五十年時間的累積，不是一朝一夕馬上可以達成的。更不是一步能登天的。

²⁷ (3) Appropriate Hours for Quiet Sitting: In the past when I did one hundred days of quiet sitting under [the supervision of] my teacher, I sat during the four [lunar] hours of zi, wu, mao, and you.

²⁷ 三、靜坐的時間：過去我跟我的老師打坐一百天，按子、午、卯、酉四時入坐。

²⁸ These four hours of zi, wu, mao, and you are referred to in the Central Plain of China as the “four appropriate times.” For thousands of years Daoists have done meditation at these hours.

²⁸ 子、午、卯、酉是「四正」，指中原時間。幾千年來，道家都按照這時間打坐。

²⁹ But as a member of the society, you are surrounded with bothersome affairs. I can surely understand all the inconveniences and difficulties all of you have.

²⁹ 今天，各位是社會大眾，人事紛擾，我能體諒諸位的不便與困難。

³⁰ In the schedule for this Class, only the 11:30 am-12:30 pm period fits with the “four appropriate times.”

³⁰ 在我定的時間，只有上午十一點半到十二點半合於「四正」。

³¹ And when daylight savings time is in effect, even that will be wrong, so aside from the times I have specified for sitting, you can meditate at home whenever conditions allow. No need to force things.

³¹ 可是，如果實行夏令時間，又不對了。所以，你們各位除了規定的時間可以打坐外，在家只要環境許可，隨時可以打坐，不要太勉強。

³² The “four appropriate times” are as follows:

Zi hour: 11:00 pm – 1:00 am. This is when yin reaches the down peak and yang emerges. In the midst of perfect yin, there is perfect yang.

Wu hour: 11:00 am – 1:00 pm. This is when yang reaches the up peak and yin emerges. In the midst of perfect yang, there is perfect yin.

Mao hour: 5:00 – 7:00 am.

You hour: 5:00 – 7:00 pm.

³² 所謂「四正」時間如下：

子時：下午十一點至上午一點。陰極而陽生，真陰中有真陽。

午時：上午十一點至下午一點。陽極而陰生，真陽中有真陰。

卯時：上午五時至七時。

酉時：下午五時至七時。

³³ Quiet sitting is seeking the Dao. Yin and yang together make the Dao.

³³ 打坐，就是要求道。一陰一陽之謂道。

³⁴ You have to be regular in your sitting. You should sit according to the four appropriate times, but your schedules do not allow this.

³⁴ 靜坐要有規律的坐。應該按照這「四正」，可是你們時間不許可。

³⁵ During my eight years on Mount Hua, I sat at the four appropriate times. These past thirty years since coming to Taiwan, I have plunged into the world of “red dust.” The power to decide is out of my hands.

³⁵ 我在華山八年是坐「四正」。到台灣來三十年，一掉到這紅塵，一切不由自主。

³⁶ Real dust is not red. Why do we speak of this world as “red dust”? This phrase indicates that the world sucks our qi-and-blood.

³⁶ 塵土不紅，為何要稱「紅塵」？就表示塵土吸入我們的氣血。

³⁷ When you talk of red dust, you cannot get away from the seven emotions and six desires, or from drinking, sex, insatiable thirst for wealth, and anger. Among these, “anger” is the most injurious. In particular, people who practice quiet sitting must be aware of this.

³⁷ 紅塵中離不了七情六慾，酒、色、財、氣。其中以「氣」最嚴重。特別是做功夫的人才能體會。

³⁸ I have this type of experience: when I got angry, I experienced blockage of qi-and-blood in my back. Each time I had to meditate for two hours before I could recover.

³⁸ 我就曾有這種經驗：一生氣，氣血就壅阻在背後。須要坐兩小時才能正常。

³⁹ So, a person practicing quiet sitting must never agitate his qi, which means not losing his temper. Otherwise, the results are unbearable.

³⁹ 所以，學靜坐功夫的人，絕對不能動氣。生氣就是動氣。否則，你自己會受不了。

⁴⁰ Here, in the red dust, we cannot avoid the four bedevilments of drinking, sex, insatiable thirst for wealth, and anger. Any of these four is enough to drain our lifeblood and squander our jing, qi and shen.

⁴⁰ 我們在紅塵裡，避免不了酒、色、財、氣四怪。任何一怪都要吸我們的精血，耗傷我們的精、氣、神。

⁴¹ Everyone in this world knows the importance of nurturing life. The purpose of quiet sitting is to nurture life, although nurturing life does not always mean that you can preserve your life.

⁴¹ 世上每人都知養生重要。打坐就是要養生，但是，養生不一定能保命。

⁴² (4) What to Give Up and Avoid in Quiet Sitting: When those interested in learning quiet sitting came for an interview, I sent a number of them home to reconsider coming at some later opportunity.

⁴² 四、靜坐的戒與忌：在各位想要學習靜坐，約談時，有好幾位我都要他們回去考慮，將來有機會再參加。

⁴³ “Eating, drinking, and finding a mate are basic and top among human desires.” I cannot tell people that “sex is prohibited,” but at least they need to control their desires during our hundred-day quiet sitting session. If I do not make this known, and a participant in the Class runs into problems, I would be responsible. I offer you my advice. I hope everyone can succeed during these hundred days.

⁴³ 「飲食男女，人之大欲」。我不能講「要戒色」，但最少在這一百天靜坐傳習時要節慾。如若不講，參加學習的人，出了毛病，我有責任。我要輔導各位，希望大家能百日功成。

⁴⁴ If you violate the rule during the hundred-day training class, in mild cases, you will waste your time and fail to gain any reward. Going a bit further, you may physically harm yourself.

⁴⁴ 百日之內犯了規，最起碼只是浪費時間，沒有一點收獲；但進一步，對身體還會有損害。

⁴⁵ I listen carefully to what people say and observe people’s countenances. What I say depends on the person. If someone seems unlikely to “toe the line,” I ask him (her) to come back at a later time.

⁴⁵ 我察言觀色，因人而講。看來不能就範的，只有請他以後再來。

⁴⁶ (I). Things to give up during quiet sitting:

1) Sex: If you cannot do without, at least exercise restraint.
2) Drinking: Do not drink to excess. Overindulgence muddles your nature and injures your qi.
3) Profaning heavenly peace: This is not related to other prohibitions, and I cannot find any appropriate words to describe it right now. It is “begrudging or resenting heaven and blaming others” in modern terms. Most people slip into this quite easily.

⁴⁶ (一)靜坐的「戒」包括：

①色：做不到戒，一定要有節制。
②酒：不要喝太多；多則亂性、傷氣。
③傷天和：和普通的戒沒關係，一時難找適當之詞形容。即現代所謂「怨天尤人」，一般人最容易犯。

⁴⁷ (II). What to avoid during quiet sitting:

1) Wind: While sitting, avoid strong air currents, drafts, winds from behind the head and winds around the waist or belly.
2) Sitting with a full stomach.
3) Forcing oneself to sit when feeling exhausted or fatigued physically or mentally.
4) Being startled: It refers to experiencing sudden frights or impacts while sitting. Do not end your sitting abruptly. First compose yourself and move your shoulders back loosely; silently recite the “Code of Life” [the Twenty Watchwords] and the “Call for Union.” ^[35] Compose yourself before resuming your quiet sitting.
5) Quiet sitting after intercourse: It is best to wait twenty-four hours and then cleanse body and mind before sitting again.

⁴⁷ (二)靜坐的「忌」包括：

①風：坐時忌大風、冷風、腦後風與攔腰風。
②飽食。
③身體勞累、心力疲憊時勉強而坐。
④受驚：就是在靜坐時，突然受驚嚇、震動。不要馬上下坐。要先鎮定，兩膀往後擺，心中默念人生守則及天人親和呼號，使之安神，然後再坐。
⑤夫婦同房後：宜過二十四小時，潔淨身心而後靜坐。