Chinese Healing Exercises: The Tradition of Daoyin

Chapter Five Modern Precursors

Modern Precursors 163 were written and collections of Daoist materials undertaken, setting the stage for the modern development of the religion. Spreading to wider segments of the population while at the same time continuing to play a key role in Daoist cultivation, healing exercises played a key role both in popular efforts to extend life and in the inner alchemical ways of reaching beyond the world. Beginning in the Song and continuing in the following dynasties of the Yuan (1260–1368), Ming (1368–1644), and Qing (1644–1911), several major trends emerged. First, undergoing greater popularization, healing exercises for medical purposes and longevity became standardized in stretch-and-bend sequences such as the Five Animals’ Frolic and were expanded in various new patterns, including seasonal systems, immortal practices, and formalized techniques of guiding the qi. Second, in their Daoist application, the exercises came to form part of inner alchemy, a new way of feeling interior energies for the purpose of transforming to subtler levels and the experience of new powers. One exercise sequence that integrates the inner alchemical approach to healing and spiritual attainment is the famous Eight Brocades in their seated version, a systematic meditative refinement combined with body movements. In addition, having reached a very high level of attainment, adepts learned to release the spirit from their body, engaging in a new practice known as sleep exercises, during which they lay motionless on their side while their internal energies mixed and combined to create a more subtle level of being that would eventually create the immortal embryo. Beyond these two tendencies, in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, healing exercises also became part of the martial arts as practiced by monks of the famous Shaolin monastery and followers of the newly arising technique of taiji quan. Entering a realm quite separate from either medicine or Daoism, the practices were then used to support workout regimens that required superior strength, powerful coordination, and high-level endurance. It was from here—more so even than from their medical or religious applications—that they eventually reached the imagination of the masses and gained the popularity they have today. What are some of the major forms of healing exercises that become popular in this period? How do they relate to practices still undertaken today? What are the key medical concerns in this new phase? How similar or different are the methods involved? How does inner alchemy shape the tradition? And how does it work with the various martial arts? The Five Animals’ Frolic One of the most popular forms that spreads in this period and still plays an active part in qigong today is a sequence known as the Five Animals’ Frolic (wuqin xi 164 Chinese Healing Exercises 五禽戲).1 Developed in its contemporary form in the early 1980s by Jiao Guorui 焦國瑞 and Liang Shifeng 梁士豐 (see Miura 1989), it now has over twenty variations , which the Chinese government hopes to standardize into one officially recognized version. The sequence consists of a mixture of standing and moving exercises associated with the crane, bear, monkey, deer, and tiger. In its modern understanding, each animal is linked with a cosmological entity, an organ and a section of the body, specific qualities, and certain healing effects: Animal Cosmos Organ Body area Effect Quality crane Heaven heart muscles breathing lightness bear Earth kidneys lower back inner focus rootedness monkey Humanity spleen joints, wrists openness agility deer Spirit liver calm mind subtlety patience tiger Body lungs whole body awareness strength The pattern is quite complex, each animal form involving between five and ten different exercises so that, for example, the bear has eight standing practices, such as Bear Pushes Paws, Bear Pushes Back, Bear Extends Paws, and Bear Double Push, followed by four variations of the Bear Amble that range from a basic form through Bear Ambles with Fists to Pointing to the Sun and Holding the Moon. None of these specific patterns or movements can be traced back to before the 1980s. Animal practices, on the other hand, go back very far (Lo 2001a, 71). As noted earlier, the ancient medical manuscripts have exercises associated with all five animals. Thus, the Daoyin tu contains an illustration of the Bear Amble (#41) that shows a figure walking in a stately fashion with arms swinging. The Yinshu already notes that the practice is good for the lower back. Then there is a Bird Stretch (#32), depicted as...