Human Development
Tao-chiao
Description:
Unlike [Tao-chia], (philosophical Taoism), religious Taoism has as its goal the attainment of immortality. Means for achieving this goal have, in the past, included the search for physical immortality through an elixir or pill produced by alchemical means - [wai-tan] - "outer cinnabar" or "outer alchemy". Repeated reductions and recyclings produce purified mercuric sulphide from the cinnabar ore which was ingested as a powerful means of attaining immortality. The practice of outer alchemy was superseded by [nei-tan] (inner alchemy), a process of which the alchemical process is a metaphor for a combination of meditative breathing and sexual techniques which echo the reduction and recycling process through circulation of essence through the body, strengthening and replenishing of [ch'i] (vital energy) and resulting in the formation of the sacred and immortal embryo or soul which separates from the physical body on physical death. Particular techniques include: "embryonic breathing" - [t'ai-hsi] - when the primordial breath preserved in the body circulates throughout the whole body; use of talismans - [fu-lu]; dietary practices including abstaining from eating grain - [pi-ku]; group fasting - [chai], also group feasts and confession.Broader:
Human development