Chapter 48 Changing Temperament and Chi Cycles

At the same time, the Confucian concept of "changing temperament" can also be mentioned here incidentally.For people who only talk about reading and learning, those who can truly read and understand, from the daily speech and behavior of life and dealing with others, can accurately appreciate the practical application of learning and knowledge for self-cultivation, and achieve peace of mind. It is the most obvious attainment of the knowledge of "changing temperament".This is to start with the mind and change the route of xinxing cultivation. It is indeed reasonable and there is nothing wrong with it.But strictly speaking, this is only the work of "nourishing Qi" and "nourishing heart".The atmosphere has changed but the quality has not changed.The so-called qualitative change must be associated with a change in physiological function.If you only cultivate your mind and do not cooperate with physical cultivation to reach the above-mentioned state of "living the breath and relaxing the mind", then the so-called "changing temperament" is only a famous saying in the concept, not a Kaiqie effort that is actually practiced. .

As mentioned above, we usually study the "breathing", "counting" and "observing breath" of Tiantai School of Buddhism and the "dependence of heart and breath" of Taoism, as well as various cultivation methods of general internal qigong, which are very important for achieving "practicing refinement". What is the relationship between the functions of "refining Qi" and "refining Qi to transform God"?Regarding this issue, it will be involved in the general "Dan Jing" book-making theory about human breathing.In many books dedicated to cultivating the Tao, practicing inner alchemy, or meditation, the theories about the Qi channels of the human body are generally based on the abstract concepts of the "Nei Jing" and "Nan Jing" of primitive medical principles, explaining the movement of Qi machines or Qi channels inside the human body. degree and effect.Throughout the ages, many people who have learned the Tao or practiced meditation have stuck to this kind of narration, believing it to be true, wasting a lot of precious energy and time, engaging in unrealistic and too abstract work.Now make a special statement here for reference.

Our primitive and superficial natural science concepts in the past often incorporated many things into ancient astronomical numbers or abstract image numbers.Therefore, many "Dan Jing" Taoist books, like the "Nei" and "Difficult" classics, divide the functions of the human body's qi channels into five seasons, six qi, and three hundred and sixty weeks of degrees, or eighty-eighty-sixty The concept of four hexagrams.Therefore, future generations have entered into specious and confusing talk of influence to discuss life.For example, the earliest theory of astronomy in ancient times believed that "the sky is one quarter of three hundred and sixty-five degrees. The sun goes around the earth once a day, and every year is three hundred and sixty-five degrees and twenty-five quarters. The sun travels One week of days is one year. A total of one hundred quarters of four-year-olds constitutes one period." Yun Yun.The human body is a small world, and the number of Qi channels is also the same as this rule.For example, it is said: "When a person exhales, the pulse travels three inches, when inhaling, the pulse travels three inches, when breathing is fixed, the pulse travels six inches. One day and one night; every 13,500 breaths (separate one breath and one breath, double the number) , is only equal to 27,000 breaths), and the pulse travels at fifty degrees around the body." This is equivalent to saying: "Breathe two hundred and seventy breaths, and the pulse travels thirty-six feet and two feet for one week. Fifty degrees around the body, It counts 13,500 breaths, and the pulse travels 811 zhangs. It starts at Yin time and ends at Mao every day." Therefore, people who practice Taoism and meditate all follow this theory to adjust their breath.In fact, the fundamental problem with this number is due to the lack of standards in the ancient test methods. This kind of theory and numbers are very problematic and cannot be trusted.According to scientific facts and accurate medical experience, the average human breath is eighteen times per minute.24 hours a day, an average of 25,920 times.The pulse beats an average of seventy-two beats per minute, which is equal to four times the respiration.The rotation of the solar system also takes 25,920 years as a cycle.This total is the time required for the planets to return to the same relative position, so it is called the Great Sidereal Year of the sun.