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Yang-Sheng (Nurturing Life) Volume 2, Issue No. 3

In January oI 2012, I returned to the solitude and
silence oI the Sky Farm Hermitage in Sonoma
County, CaliIornia. This Catholic hermitage has be-
come the place Ior my annual Daoist solitary re-
treats. The Iollowing journal entries Iocus on my
explorations between the Daoist meditation practice
oI :uowang, or 'sitting and Iorgetting tradition, and
the Christian contemplative classic The Cloua of Un-
knowing.

Sunday, 8:30 pm

One oI my goals Ior this retreat is to write about
the common practices between the Daoist and the
Christian paths. I am speciIically interested in
the Daoist :uowang meditation method oI sitting in
IorgetIulness or oblivion, and the Christian Iour-
teenth-century mystical text, The Cloua of Unknow-
ing. Both oI these ways oI meditation or contempla-
tion Ieature an emphasis on placing the mind's activ-
ities into a state oI Iorgetting or the cloud oI Iorget-
ting. The Cloua, was written by an anonymous au-
thor, and it is speculated that the author was a Car-
thusian monk, and iI not, possibly a Catholic priest
living a hermetic liIestyle. I know this text Irom the
years I devoted to discerning whether I had a monas-
tic vocation. I even spent a short time in a Carthusi-
an monastery in Vermont. I visited this monastery
twice during my 20's, and both times, I Iound the
solitude and austerities too severe Ior me. Here are
the Iirst sentences oI the introduction to The Cloua.

"This book you now hola is a rainmaker for anyone
whose soul has ever felt as ary as a bone. It name-
less author was a giftea teacher. Page after page, he
patiently explains what contemplative prayer is ana
how it can ena any spiritual arought-shortages of
love, low levels of humility, an absence of peace."|p.
xi|

And so what are the similarities, the common
practices between :uowang meditation, and the con-
templative practices as presented in The Cloua of
Unknowing?

I'll start my explorations with the work oI Livia
Kohn on :uowang, her masterIully scholastic book,
Sitting in Oblivion. The Heart of Daoist Meaitation.
The title oI the book's introduction begins to answer
my question, what is :uowang:

"Zuowang, "sitting in oblivion," signiIies a state
oI deep meditative absorption and mystical oneness,
during which all sensory and conscious Iaculties are
overcome and which is the base point Ior attaining
Dao." |p1|

'DRLVW6LWWLQJDQG)RUJHWWLQJDQGWKH
Christian The Cloud of The Unknown

by Shifu Michael Rinaldini (Lichangdao)
Secret of Daoist Meditation
May-June 2012
11
Yang-Sheng (Nurturing Life)
"Practitioners thus strive to access what they call
pure experience or
"sitting in oblivion of everything"by letting go of all
orainary perception
while strengthening intuition, the potency of the in-
born, natural mina-a pure
reflection of original cosmos in human beings. Pos-
ture ana boay control
become essential, all analytical, aualistic thinking
as well as connection to
aeities are raaically overcome."|p6|

Livia Iurther elaborates on what is :uowang by
going to an ancient commentator on the Daode jing
and the Zhuangzi, Guo Xiang, in his
Commentary ana Subcommentary
to the Perfect Scripture of Southern Florescence.

"Sitting in oblivion-what coula one not be oblivious
of? First one abanaons outwara manifestations, then
one becomes oblivious of that which causes these
manifestations. On the insiae one is unaware that
there is a boay-self, on the outsiae one never knows
there are Heaven ana Earth. Only thus can one be-
come fully vacant ana unify with the changes, ana
there will be nothing that is not pervaaea."|p17|

In another context, Livia compares :uowang to
Zen or Chinese Chan meditation. Her comparison
also introduces the break through experience, what I
reIer to as the experience oI cracking the matrix. (see
my article, Cracking The Matrix) She says:

"Chan practice, like sitting in oblivion, reauces con-
scious activity ana sensory meaitation to :ero in or-
aer to break through to this unaerlying connectea-
ness, to the pure existence of mina-only. On the way
to this breakthrough, practitioners work hara ana sit
intensely, unaergoing a variety of aistracting experi-
ences. from heat ana cola through trembling ana
shaking to hallucinations of light, visitations by
specters, ana visions of aivine beings ... The eventu-
al breakthrough, then, is often experiencea as a sua-
aen opening of consciousness ana not as the graaual
emergence of a new state.
Thus Chan masters speak of "suaaen"enlightenment-
unlike Daoists who emphasi:e the slow, one-by-one
overcoming of inherent patterns in graaual pro-
gress."|p 114|

Monday, 3:17 pm

Here is a last reIerence to :uowang in Livia's
book. It is by Shi Jing, a western Daoist priest and
leader oI the British Taoist Association. Livia quotes
him:

"Zuowang is to sit ana forget. What we forget is the
thing we hola most aearly. self, with all its opinions,
beliefs, ana iaeals. We can be so caught up in the
concept of self that we see the worla as a place to
fulfill personal ambition ana aesire."|p 14|

So now, let's see how the practices or advice giv-
en by the anonymous author oI The Cloua of Un-
knowing are so similar to the :uowang deIinitions
we've encountered so Iar.

The Iirst thing to understand about this Christian
classic is that there is a cloud oI unknowing and a
cloud oI Iorgetting. The author oI The Cloua ex-
plains what he means by calling it a cloud oI un-
knowing:

"The first time you practice contemplation, youll only
experience a aarkness, like a cloua of unknowing.
You wont know what this is. Youll only know that in
your will you feel a simple reaching out to Goa. You
must also know that this aarkness ana this cloua will
always be between you ana your Goa, whatever you
ao."|pXII|

As Ior the cloud oI Iorgetting, the author says:

"If the cloua of unknowing makes you feel alienatea
from Goa, thats only because youve not yet put a
cloua of forgetting between you ana everything in
creation. When I say " everything in creation,"I mean
not only the creatures themselves but also everything
they ao ana are, as well as the circumstances in
which they fina themselves. There are no exceptions.
You must forget everything. Hiae all createa things,
material ana spiritual, gooa ana baa, unaer the
cloua of forgetting."|p XIII| sakhorn38 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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Yang-Sheng (Nurturing Life) Volume 2, Issue No. 3
Whats requirea of the practitioner to put themselves
in these clouas of unknowing ana forgetting? The
anonymous author says. "You only neea a nakea in-
tent for Goa. When you long for him, thats
enough."|pXIII|

Now that I have presented an introduction to
both practices oI Iorgetting, it's time to go deeper
into the heart oI :uowang and The Cloua of Unknow-
ing.

Tuesday, 12:30 pm
The Clouas author says:
"Forget what you know. Forget everything Goa maae
ana everyboay who exists ana everything thats go-
ing on in the worla, until your thoughts ana emo-
tions arent focusea on or reaching towara anything,
not in a general way ana not in any particular way.
Let them be. For the moment, aont care about any-
thing." |p11|

The anonymous author says this is the work that is
most pleasing to Goa. [p11{ This author says the
cloua of forgetting is to accompany the cloua of un-
knowing. The author thinks of the cloua of unknow-
ing as a kina of separation from Goa, like a
aarkness. Further, the author says the cloua of for-
getting is "beneath you, between you ana crea-
tion."|p19| "Hiae all createa things, material ana
spiritual, gooa ana baa, unaer the cloua of forget-
ting."|p19|

This practice is identical to the teachings oI Dao-
ism in its non-dual approach to seeing things with
the eyes oI equanimity, not making distinctions, be-
tween this and that, making no choices.

"Even these thoughts are superfluous. You only neea
a nakea intent for Goa."[p24{ The author raises the
question of what is the problem with thoughts, espe-
cially gooa, aevout thoughts. He responas. "... be-
come infectea with priae ana when the eaucatea ego
starts believing in its own scholarly expertise, stu-
aents ... become arrogant scholars insteaa, masters
of vanity ana lies ..."|p27|

"As long as you are a soul living in a mortal boay,
your intellect, no matter how sharp ana spiritually
aiscerning, never sees Goa perfectly. The mina is
always aistortea in some way, warping our work,
ana at its worst, our intellect can leaa us to great
error."|p29|

The Cloud's author is as direct as any Buddhist
or Daoist sage, admonishing Iollowers to let go oI
everything not the Buddha, not the Dao. We are re-
minded oI the classic Buddhist saying: II you see the
Buddha on the road, kill him:

"So then, you must suppress the sharp intrusions of
your thoughts that inevitably come when you sit
aown to ao the blina work of contemplation. You
must aefeat them, or theyll aefeat you. So, no matter
how sacrea or pleasant these lucia images are, let
go of them."|p30|.
And now, it's time to explore the direct sources
on the zuowang teachings. Previously, I mentioned
things said about zuowang Irom Livia Kohn's book
Sitting in Oblivion. Let's go deeper into her book to
the sections on the diIIerent Daoist scriptures per-
taining to the practices oI sitting in Iorgetting or
oblivion.

For the sake oI simplicity, I am going to group
together all my reIerences as iI they were Irom the
same Daoist scripture. In truth, however, there is a
collection oI scriptures written during
the Tang Dynasty by a handIul oI Daoists. All the
writings are loosely organized around one pivotal
text, called the Zuwanglun.

photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
May-June 2012
13
Yang-Sheng (Nurturing Life)
"Therefore, when one first begins to stuay Dao one
must sit calmly ana tame the mina, let go of profect-
ea reality ana abiae in nonexistence. As one abiaes
in nonexistence, without being attachea to even one
being, one naturally enters emptiness ana nonbeing.
Thus one foins Dao."|p142|

And now, I say, doesn't this sound exactly like
the author oI The Cloua talking. And Iollows is an-
other text sounding like the stuII we are to put into
the cloud oI Iorgetting:

"When all mental arising is annihilatea ana no more
aifference is maae between " right ana wrong", one can
forever aiscara awareness ana knowleage ana enter
the state of blina stability." |p143|

"As long as you are a soul living in a mortal boay,"
quoted earlier comes up again in a Daoist scripture
but in a diIIerent choice oI words:

"Rather, when sitting in oblivion, what woula there
remain unforgotten? Only then can one say. Sitting
in oblivion is the gate to long life. Lao:i says. " If I aia
not have a boay-self, what vexations woula I have?
If the sage therefore urges us to refine spirit ana
merge with Dao ... then this is exactly the meaning
of "casting off boay-form, aoing away with unaer-
stanaing, ana smashing up ones limbs ana
boay."|p160|

"Just focus on cultivating the qi of emptiness ana nev-
er get involvea in worlaly aiscussions ana analyses.
Follow your self in spontaneity ana never let way-
wara views obstruct your path. Thus you reach suc-
cess."|p189|

"What aoes sitting in oblivion mean? It means letting
go of the form-boay ana completely forgetting the
"I."|p190|

"Acting in Dao ana not seeing oneself act-isnt that
the meaning of sitting? Seeing something ana not
acting on it-isnt that the meaning of oblivion?
|p193|
"Wisaom unfolas only after all knowleage is forgot-
ten."|p201|

And Iinally, why even bother to think?
"I forget the vastness even of Heaven ana Earth,
Never mina the minuteness of the hair in autumn.
Resting in serenity ana silence,
I listen to Pure Harmony.
Still, I am free, away from it all'
Movement stillea, language silencea-
Why ever think?"|p212|


Tuesday, 4:30 pm
Inspired Irom yesterday's research, and last Iull day
oI retreat.

Forget everything,
put nothing,
between myself ana the
Great Emptiness of Ultimate Stillness.
Thats the nameless Dao'

All oI the quotations, with the page numbers come
Irom the Iollowing two books discussed above.

Butcher, Carmen Acevedo. The Cloua of Unknow-
ing, with the Book of Privy Counsel. Boston & Lon-
don: Shambhala, 2009.

Kohn, Livia. Sitting in Oblivion, The Heart of Daoist
Meaitation. Dunedin, FL: Three Pines Press, 2010.


Michael Rinaldini (Li Chang Dao) is
the Director oI Qigong & Daoist Train-
ing Center, and a 22nd generation
Longmen (Dragon Gate) Daoist
priest. ShiIu Michael Iounded the
American Dragon Gate Lineage
(ADGL) with the support oI Master
Wan Su Jian Irom Beijing, China. He is
a (Level IV) CertiIied Qigong Teacher
by the National Qigong Association,
and a certiIied senior Bagua Xundao
Gong Qigong Teacher by Master Wan Su Jian (Beijing, Chi-
na). He oIIers Qigong CertiIication Program Ior Advanced
Trainings, and trains serious students oI Daoism leading to
priest ordination in the ADGL. www.dragongateqigong.com ,
lichangdaogmail.com