Neidan Study Group Netherlands

11/11/2025

This Opening is not a common opening:
it is formed by the joining of Qian ☰ and Kun ☷.
It is called Cavity of Spirit and Breath,
and within there are the essences of Kan ☵ and Li ☲.

Commentary

“This Opening” means the Mysterious Opening mentioned above. It does not pertain to Being or Non-Being, and it does not fall into any category or rule; it lies outside and beyond the body and mind, and it emerges from the “vague and indistinct.” Therefore it says, “is not a common Opening.”

Spirit is the Mercury within the mind, Breath is the Lead within the body. The mind is the chamber of Spirit, the body is the seat of Breath. Therefore it says, “it is called Cavity of Spirit and Breath.”

Within the body there is a particle of Breath of True Yang; that Breath pertains to Li ☲. Within the mind there is a particle of Essence of True Yin; that Essence pertains to Kan ☵. Therefore it says, “within there are the essences of Kan ☵ and Li ☲.”

Zhang Boduan - Jindan sibai zi, (Four Hundred Words on the Golden Elixir).

Translation: Pregadio

10/11/2025

Next week I’ll give a lecture and a workshop in Zurich at the ASA- TCM Congress about Immortality. Since part of the audience is German in language , I have decided to give the lecture in German and it will be simultaneously translated in French.

The topic of the whole congress is Immortality and apparently this theme is fashionable these days in Chinese Medicine circles in the West. Whatever we might understand under this term.

I ll zoom in on some of the historical developments, how ideas about immortality were developed in ancient China and how these ideas have been changed and modified over time , for example under the influence of Buddhism towards more an idea of Enlightenment or Transcendence. In modern times , especially in Republican China and PRC there has been a shift towards emphasis on long life and good health. The birth of modern Qi Gong and other Yangsheng practices, developed out of older practices is a good example.

I will zoom in especially on how some of these ideas about cultivation of immortality and internal alchemy have influenced medical thinking. I ll focus especially on later imperial time physicians like Zhang Jiebin or Li Shizhen, who have been clearly influenced by ideas from Internal Alchemy and brought innovative ideas into medicine like the development of ideas around Ming Men and the Qi Jing Ba Mai.

In the following workshop, I ll especially will zoom in on the ideas of Li Shizhen regarding the Qi Jing Ba Mai and their clinical relevance.

My German is not so good, probably could do it even better in Turkish, but think it’s enough to give a more or less coherent talk. It will be fun.

My personal ideas about immortality don’t matter that much, but I tend to have a more secular view, and have not so much faith in a Daoist heaven and a heavenly bureaucracy with all Deities, where I could take place if I am able to shoot my Yuan Shen out of the Sky Gate.

Having said that, I believe some of the Neidan practices, can be very useful and to study the influence of Neidan on medicine is a very valuable and an under researched topic. In my own research over the last two decades, I have found more and more evidence how currents of thought like Neidan and Neo Confucianism (and they both influenced each other as well) have quite profoundly influenced Chinese medicine in the later imperial times.

And for sure life remains a mystery, who knows? I like to call myself a Skeptical Mystic, down to earth but open to the mystery of the Universe . 😄

08/11/2025

Even though covering another field of Alchemy, this might be interesting material for people interested in comparative study.

NEW!

Coming January 2026, The Elixir: A Posthumanist Approach to Alchemy in Akbarian Sufism and Islam unveils a world where metals pray, stones seek enlightenment, and alchemy becomes worship.

Rooted in the cosmology of Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240)—the great Sufi metaphysician—this book dares to ask: what if the spiritual path is not exclusive to humans? What if every element in creation strives toward divine perfection?

Leaving behind both the laboratory and the legal text, The Elixir journeys into a theology of nature where minerals perform their own form of Sharia, slowly transmuting themselves into gold as acts of devotion.

Here, alchemy is no mere metaphor —it is the cosmic ritual of transformation, in which elixirs and human sorcery echo the innate longing of matter to reunite with its Creator.

Through the lens of Akbarian Sufism and posthumanist philosophy, this work reframes Islam’s mystical sciences as a dialogue between spirit and substance, revealing a vision of the universe alive with purpose, consciousness, and yearning.

Details:
https://substack.com//note/p-178145982

31/10/2025

Ascend to the Magpie Bridge,
descend from the Magpie Bridge.
In Heaven it responds to the stars,
on Earth it responds to the tides.

Ruyao Jing - (MIRROR FOR COMPOUNDING THE MEDICINE)

27/10/2025

Some words on Silent Illumination by Chip (Charles) Chace

Chip Chace talks about silent illumination. This talk is in the context of a class about Extraordinary Vessels, internal cultivation and acupuncture.

27/10/2025

Ma Danyang was not only a great acupuncturist (orgInator of the Heavenly Star points) , he was also an important figure in Neidan. Whatever school one follows in Neidan, they all put a lot of emphasis on stillness. This rules also when you practice acupuncture, even in the Ling Shu, it’s already clearly explained that you need to be in a state of deep stillness.

25/10/2025

Some comments from Robert C***s on Shou Qiao (published originally on his substack in 2024)

守窍 Shou Qiao/Guard the Or***ce:

Guarding the Or***ce is a key practice of Internal Alchemy and it is almost impossible to begin studying without some basic knowledge about what an or***ce is and how to guard it.

In Neidan the term 窍 Qiao means an opening, or***ce or portal and can be used mainly in two contexts:

1: A body part which is either hollow or easy to focus the attention on.

2: The space between the Pre-Heaven and Post-Heaven.

When using the term 守窍 Shou Qiao it usually refers to focusing somewhere on the body in order to make the attention stable.

The idea of keeping the attention stable is predicated on two major factors:

Calming the mind and stopping the thoughts,
creating a space for the Spirit and Qi to converge.
Stopping the thoughts and calming the mind is how to gradually go from the regular Post-Heaven state into the meditative state which results in the Pre-Heaven State (in other words deep meditation with no self conception present).

The Spirit and Qi converging is a different idea which I will write about in another later article.

According to the modern Neidan master Zhen Shizi the following places on the body can be used to attain meditative focus:

The Cavity of Qi under the Umbilicus,
The Nose Tip,
The Yin Tang cavity between the eyes,
The Brain center,
The Hui Yin cavity between the ge****ls and a**s,
A state of void non-being in which no or***ce is guarded,
The space around the body,
Other Neidan masters over the generations, including up to now have also said that the upper back area around the first thoracic vertebra, the chest center Tan Zhong point, the area behind the Umbilicus etc.. can be focused on.

Shou Qiao practice usually includes one of two approaches:

1: only focusing on one area of the body during meditation,

2: focusing on one area until the desired result is achieved and then shifting the attention to another area.

Usually the former method is practiced by focusing on the Lower Abdominal region while the latter often starts from the tip of the nose or Yin Tang and then shifts to the Lower Abdomen after certain signs of successful practice are achieved.

It is uncommon to frequently move the location of the protected or***ce and it is usually frowned upon for beginners to switch or***ces since significant time practicing meditation is usually required to obtain benefit in one location.

This means that most teachers have an established system which emphasizes one or two locations on the body and they teach students according to their experience and preferences.

Some teachers with a broader understanding of the overall Neidan tradition and considerable experience may teach students relative to their relative strengths and weaknesses as well as their personalities and state of health.

For instance, it may be preferable for students who have depleted Yang Qi to begin by emphasizing practices which make them more calm and maximize their Yin energy.

This means the or***ce selected would almost definitely not be on the face and instead selected in a location in the body which diverts attention away from the head.

Younger people or people who find it easy to focus and have high stamina might be given practices which help them use those qualities to their advantage.

Individual styles of Neidan have their own approach with the Western school preferring the Cavity and Qi, Hui Yin, and the space outside the body while the Middle School prefers the Cavity of Qi, Thoracic Spine and Yin Tang etc...

These preferences are not orthodoxies of Neidan, they come from observations based on experience which were proven successful by enough people to be absorbed into traditions.

There are also specific times when the or***ce used might be something like the entire legs down to the bottom of the feet during sleeping meditation, or a counting of the steps during walking meditation.

These methods are focused on producing specific results relative to the unique situation of practice.

I can't tell you which or***ce you should guard without knowing you a little, but most people find it quite easy and safe to keep the attention in the Lower Abdomen Cavity of Qi.

The key point is not to use intention to keep your mind there but instead allow an open, gentle focus and allow the breath to draw your attention to the area without focusing strongly.

Most areas of the body conform to this general attention and not a strong focus.

It is also important not to try Shou Qiao without some instruction since you need to understand the correct way to center your mind so it can go from action to non-action.

Neidan happens in the space between Non-Action and Action Without Action, so the intentionality part of practice must be tempered with profound calm, stillness and tranquility.

20/10/2025

This is a very nice discussion on the Zhuangzi and its relation to internal cultivation, especially zooming in on the discussion on listening with your Qi.

Though one can use the Laozi as inspiration for internal cultivation, and some chapters might actually touch on it, and later commentaries would use the Laozi as a guide for Internal Cultivation, (the most explicit example is maybe Huang Yuanji’s Daodejing Chanwei), The Zhuangzi has definitely more obvious hints to internal cultivation practices.

In Engaging Vitality we often tell this parable, a suggested conversation between Yan Hui and Master Kong , in relation to the differences between intention, attention and awareness.

Chapter 4 From "Merging the Body with the Mind" to "Wandering in Unitary Qi氣": A Discussion of Zhuangzi s Realm of the True Man and Its Corporeal Basis
Rur-Bin Yang 楊儒賓

Although it looks like this site is blocked, it’s working. You can also purchase the whole book , Hiding the World in the World, edited by Scott Cook.

Your access to the De Gruyter site has been temporarily blocked. Please try again later. If you think you are seeing this message in error, please contact Customer Services.

20/10/2025

Although this post is not directly related to Neidan, it touches upon earlier Internal Cultivation texts, and the relation of fluids between medicine and internal cultivation is obvious.

By now it’s clear that the Laozi is a layers text, different layers from different times, some parts seem to have disappeared from the received texts, but are traceable in older excavated texts that contain probably earlier parts or versions of the Laozi. Interesting detail is that the majority of the texts in the Guodian are Confucian.

太一生水

“TAIYI SHENG SHUI” 。”The Great Unity Gives Birth to Water” from the Laozi Guodian (a.k.a. “Laozi C,” Guodian ) is a supposedly older version of the Laozi, at least we know by now that there have been different versions of the Laozi, since received and excavated texts give different wordings , though have clear overlaps.

For those who already have read the Fluids chapter in the new Enaging Vitality Book, this quote and the relation to how we approach fluids in EV will sound already familiar.

Since Fluids in our East Asian Medicine are so important (though often underestimated and not well understood), we should pay attention to all aspects of fluids. From the philosophical literature, to the medical literature and inner cultivation literature and we can take also in account ideas about fluids in other Traditional medicines like Greek/Arabic/Persian, Tibetan and Indian medicines. As well as our modern biomedical understanding of fluids in the broadest sense.

The Tayi Sheng Shui text is very interesting since it shows that water is the source of everything, The Great Unity gives birth to Water and water ultimately gives birth to the ten thousand things. This is a very ancient concept, maybe even predating Daoism.

For those who like to dive deeper in this material there is an excellent translation by Scott Cook in the whole Guodian collection. This book is not cheap, but is a treasure house of early Chinese Confucian and Daoist material. There is also a nice article by Sarah Allan, which is freely available as PDF on the Brill website.

For those who want to have a better understanding of fluids in the Chinese Medical context, we can recommend Steve Clavey ‘s book, Fluid Physiology and Pathology by Eastland Press which we have shared before.

For those who like to have an integral look and how different traditional medicines considered fluids , we recommend Fluid matters, from Kurayama and Köhle.,Yi-Li Wu , Brill . There is also a very nice online version of Fluids Matters on Australian National University Press website, also shared before.

We will again bring them in the limelight in the near future.

Source - Engaging Vitality Netherlands

18/10/2025

Although Roth covers only the very early forms of Daoist inner cultivation, this is a very interesting work for all those interested in Internal Cultivation.

11/10/2025

Some thoughts on Yuan Qi according the Ruyao Jingzhu (translation Pregadio)

10/10/2025

Mao You Zhou Tian is another orbit which is less well known as the Zi Wu orbit. Though it’s an important intermediate step in the Neidan Process.
Neidan texts like the Xingming Guizhi clearly explain this practice.
Nice basic explanation about the background and practice by Master Hai Yang.
Although one can initially can do this with intention, this orbit will become more spontaneously during Neidan practice.

This video introduces a critical concept of Xiu Dao practice: Mao You Orbit Circulation. Topics covered in today’s video include:00:00 Introduction04:23 Revi...