The Shaolin Monastery. History, Religion and the Chinese Martial Arts

Gymnastics 159

fills the mouth, divide each mouthful into three, and

swallow. When the dragon (the saliva) moves, the tiger

(the QI) naturally flees:

The Red Dragon is the tongue. Press your palate with your tongue.

Then stir your entire mouth—up, down, and on both sides—

producing the saliva naturally. Gargle at the mouth thirty-six

times. The Divine Water is the saliva. Divide it into three and

swallow, making a gurgling sound. Quiet your mind and shut your

eyes. Guide the swallowed saliva directly to the “Lower Cinnabar

Field” below the navel. The dragon is the saliva. The Tiger is the

qi. When the saliva goes down, the qi naturally follows.^70

The shaven pates and monastic robes in the drawings that accompany Wang’s
treatise (figure 32) suggest a Buddhist affiliation. Nevertheless, even a cursory
reading reveals the exercises’ origins in a Daoist-related gymnastic tradition.
Staple daoyin routines are all included in the “Twelve-Section Brocade.” Clapping

Fig. 32. The first

exercise of the

Twelve-Section

Brocade in Wang

Zuyuan’s 1882

Illustrated Exposition.

The wrapped

thumbs—imitating a

newborn baby—

betray the exercise’s

Daoist ancestry.