early buddhism in china: daoist reactions 217
- Meditation
In a Chinese context, meditation, if compared with the long living and
continuous Indian traditions, appears all of a sudden and at a rather
late date. The oldest extant source so far known that refers to breath-
ing meditation is the so-called “Duodecagonal Jade Tablet Inscription
on Breath Circulation”. The inscription is found on a twelve-sided
cylindrical jade object with three engraved characters on each side.^79
Although it was interpreted either as an ornamental part of a sword
sheath, which was considered “not very probable” by Wilhelm,^80 or as
a sword-handle,^81 while others believe that it was the knob of a Daoist’s
stick,^82 its precise use is unknown. Its date is also uncertain. Some con-
sidered it to be of Qi State provenance and dated not long after 400
BC.^83 Guo Moruo compared the style of its characters with those on
a bronze object found near Luoyang which was dated approximately
380 BC,^84 whereas Gilbert Mattos “suggests an origin in the San Jin
area during the last part of the fourth century BC.”^85
Also of the fourth century BC (or shortly later) are the traces of the
earliest form of meditation found in Chinese philosophical works like
the Guanzi (Master Guan), Zhuangzi (Master Zhuang) and
the Laozi (Old Master), the latter also being known under its later title
Daode jing (Scripture of the Way and the Inner Power), of the fourth/
third century BC.^86 These texts share a common vocabulary of and
a concern for a meditation practice that Roth has termed “inner
cultivation”.^87
The main characteristic of “inner cultivation” that can be deduced
from these texts is that, in Roth’s words,^88
(^79) Photograph provided in Wilhelm 1948, pl. xix. The text was translated by Wilhelm,
op. cit., p. 387, Needham 1956, p. 242 and Roth 1999, pp. 162f. Roth also reproduces
his critical version of the Chinese text. 80
Needham loc. cit., referring to Chen Mengjia, and Lo Chen-yü according to
Wilhelm 1948, p. 385. 81
Needham loc. cit.
(^82) Wilhelm loc. cit.
(^83) Needham loc. cit.
(^84) Roth 1999, p. 162.
(^85) Roth 1999, loc. cit., referring to an unpublished paper by the late Gilbert
Mattos. 86
To this list the following later texts can be added: Lüshi chunqiu of the late third
century BC and 87 Huainan zi of the second century BC, cf. Roth 1997.
Roth 1997, p. 296.
(^88) Roth 2000, p. 32.