218 stephan peter bumbacher
it involves following or guiding the breath while one is in a stable [upright]
sitting position. As one does this the normal contents of consciousness
gradually empty out and one comes to experience a tranquillity that, as
one’s practice develops, becomes quite profound. Eventually one comes to
fully empty out the contents of consciousness until a condition of union
with the Way is achieved. This union is referred to by distinctive phrases
such as “attaining the One” [de yi ], “attaining the empty Way” [ de
xu Dao ], and “the Profound Merging” [ xuan tong ]. After this
union one returns and lives again in the dualistic world of subject and
object but retains a sense or vision of its underlying unity. As a result,
one lives in this world of distinctions in a profoundly transformed fashion,
often characterised by an unselfconscious ability to spontaneously respond
to whatever situation one is facing.This resulting mode of being is usually characterised by phrases such
as “guarding the One” [shou yi ], as in the Zhuangzi saying “once
one knows how to guard the One, the myriad affairs are done” [zhi shou
yi, wan shi bi ],^89 “embracing the One” [bao yi ]
or “holding onto the One” [zhi yi ].
It has been convincingly demonstrated, that this kind of breathing
meditation involved a “process of concentration” that developed over
a series of stages.^90 According to Zhuangzi, after some preparatory
practices that serve to minimise possible disturbances of the process,
one assumes an upright position (zheng ), if properly done this leads
to the practitioner’s tranquillity (jing ) of the mind, tranquillity
leads to lucidity (ming ), lucidity to emptiness ( xu ) of all conscious
content, and “when one is empty,” and thus experiencing a complete
unity with the dao, “then one takes no action and yet nothing is left
undone”.^91 Although the number of stages may vary from one text
to the other,^92 the notion that the breathing meditation practiced by
early Daoists proceeds through various stages is well attested by quite
a series of relevant texts.
Note that in India a tradition of meditation over several stages
predates a similar Buddhist meditation technique^93 and informs the
latter. Both are considerably older than the Chinese example and one
might even speculate that the former may have in uenced the latter.^94
(^89) Zhuangzi yinde 29/12/6.
(^90) For the following, cf. Roth 1997.
(^91) Zhuangzi yinde 64/23/66–70; also cf. Roth 1997, pp. 305f.
(^92) A comparative table is conveniently provided by Roth 1997, pp. 312f.
(^93) Mukherjee 1995 and 1996.
(^94) Various scholars have dealt with the question of early Indian in uences on the