Tai Chi, Baguazhang and The Golden Elixir: Internal Martial Arts Before the Boxer Uprising

by Scott Park Phillips

The Daoist practice called Sitting-and-Forgetting, Zuowang, is a pre-requisite for learning the Golden Elixir because the elixir spontaneously arises out of it. Zuowang contains the conditions for beginning the elixir and for completing it. Zuowang is also the base or fundamental experience underlying a long list of Daoist practices.[319] There are many different types of meditation. They are not the same, and they are not interchangeable. Sitting and forgetting is a posture. The fruition of holding this posture is a non-conceptual experience of stillness. It is the grandparent of the Zazen practice of the Soto School of Zen Buddhism, which Suzuki Roshi called “Beginners Mind.” By putting this non-conceptual experience into words, I am limiting it, defining it, constraining it, and shaping it. That points away from the experience itself, so I will not try to explain it further. This type of non-conceptual stillness practice is highly accessible. It requires being still, and the Daodejing, with commentary, can be studied and chanted as a guide to experiencing its fruition.