Chinese lesson: jing
This chapter refers directly to the Daoist concept of quiet meditative stillness – emptying the mind and stilling the body – which is often referred to simply as tranquil sitting – jing zuo 靜 坐.
The character for stillness or tranquillity is jing 靜. It is made with qing 青 on the left-hand side, which refers to the blue green of the clear sky and also the green of new vegetation. Qing long 青 龍 is the blue-green dragon related to the energetic qi of the spring and the renewal of life.
Qing 青 is seen in several characters pertaining to the essence of life: with the addition of the bursting rice grain it is jing – 精 essence; with the radical for the heart/mind it is qing – 情 the feeling nature or sentience; with the water radical it is qing – 清 clarity and purity.
The rhyming of these characters suggests the clarity of a bell, and they are frequently used together in later Daoist meditation texts, which are often recited. The Qing Jing Jing – 清 靜 經 Pure and Tranquil Classic – constantly refers to these terms as well as ding – 定 stability, xing – 性 the innate nature, and ming – 命 inherited life essence.
Tranquil sitting – jing zuo 靜 坐 – allows the qi to become stable – ding 定. Qi naturally settles – ding 定 – in the lower abdomen and nourishes the kidneys. The verse of Laozi chapter 16 continues:
The ten thousand things stir together, I just contemplate their return.
Things come and go but each returns to its root.
Returning to the root is called stillness.
Stillness is called the natural order of things – 命 ming.
This is the ming of ming men – 命 門 gate of life – or of what is often referred to as ‘destiny’, which is our root. Ming is the natural order of things as they pertain to our own individual lives. The stillness – jing 靜 – and stability – ding 定 – of the body allows us to return to our root and to our true nature – xing 性.
Chapter 2 of the Neijing Suwen advises on the behaviour suited to each of the four seasons, and in winter suggests a turning inward to protect and store the qi. There is a natural closing in as the body responds to the lack of light from the sun.
Stillness of both the body and the mind allows the qi to conserve energy, replenish and re-establish its connection to the root.
