Editing Meditation (section)

=== Taoism ===
{{Main|Taoist meditation}}

[[File:性命圭旨 中心圖.png|thumb|Centering the Mind 中心圖, 1615 ''[[Xingming guizhi]]'']]
[[File:Stage1.gif|thumb|upright| "Gathering the Light", Taoist meditation from ''[[The Secret of the Golden Flower]]'']]
Taoist meditation has developed techniques including concentration, visualization, ''[[qi]]'' cultivation, [[contemplation]], and [[mindfulness]] meditations in its long history. Traditional Daoist meditative practices influenced Buddhism creating the unique meditative practices of [[Chinese Buddhism]]  that then spread through the rest of east Asia from around the 5th century.Traditional [[Traditional Chinese medicine|Chinese medicine]] and the [[Chinese martial arts]] were influenced and influences of Taoist meditation.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

[[Livia Kohn]] distinguishes three basic types of Taoist meditation: "concentrative", "insight", and "visualization".<ref>Kohn, Livia (2008), "Meditation and visualization," in ''The Encyclopedia of Taoism'', ed. by Fabrizio Pregadio, p. 118.</ref> ''Ding'' [[wikt:定|定]] (literally means "decide; settle; stabilize") refers to "deep concentration", "intent contemplation", or "perfect absorption". ''Guan'' [[wikt:觀|觀]] ({{lit|watch; observe; view}}) meditation seeks to merge and attain unity with the Dao. It was developed by [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907) Taoist masters based upon the ''[[Tiantai]]'' Buddhist practice of ''[[Vipassanā]]'' "insight" or "wisdom" meditation. ''Cun'' [[wikt:存|存]] ({{lit|exist; be present; survive}}) has a sense of "to cause to exist; to make present" in the meditation techniques popularized by the Taoist [[Shangqing School|Shangqing]] and [[Lingbao School]]s. A meditator visualizes or actualizes solar and lunar essences, lights, and deities within their body, which supposedly results in health and longevity, even ''[[Xian (Taoism)|xian]]'' 仙/仚/僊, "immortality".{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

The ''[[Guanzi (text)|Guanzi]]'' essay (late 4th century BCE) ''[[Neiye]]'' "Inward training" is the oldest received writing on the subject of ''[[qi]]'' cultivation and breath-control meditation techniques.<ref name='Cambridge'>{{Cite book | last1=Harper | first1=Donald | first2=Michael | last2=Loewe | first3=Edward L. | last3=Shaughnessy | title=The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC | publisher=Cambridge University Press | date=2007 | orig-date=First published in 1999 | location=Cambridge | page=880 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cHA7Ey0-pbEC&q=cambridge++history+of+ancient+china | isbn=978-0-521-47030-8 | access-date=2020-10-27 | archive-date=2023-03-17 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317095145/https://books.google.com/books?id=cHA7Ey0-pbEC&q=cambridge++history+of+ancient+china | url-status=live }}</ref> For instance, "When you enlarge your mind and let go of it, when you relax your vital breath and expand it, when your body is calm and unmoving: And you can maintain the One and discard the myriad disturbances. ... This is called "revolving the vital breath": Your thoughts and deeds seem heavenly."<ref>Roth, Harold D. (1999), ''Original Tao: Inward Training (''Nei-yeh'') and the Foundations of Taoist Mysticism'', Columbia University Press, p. 92.</ref>

The Taoist ''[[Zhuangzi (book)|Zhuangzi]]'' (c. 3rd century BCE) records ''[[zuowang]]'' or "sitting forgetting" meditation. [[Confucius]] asked his disciple [[Yan Hui (disciple of Confucius)|Yan Hui]] to explain what "sit and forget" means: "I slough off my limbs and trunk, dim my intelligence, depart from my form, leave knowledge behind, and become identical with the Transformational Thoroughfare."<ref>Mair, Victor H., tr. (1994), ''Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu'', Bantam Books, p. 64.</ref>

Taoist meditation practices are central to [[Chinese martial arts]] (and some [[Japanese martial arts]]), especially the ''qi''-related ''[[neijia]]'' "internal martial arts". Some well-known examples are ''[[daoyin]]'' ("guiding and pulling"), [[qigong]] ("life-energy exercises"), ''[[neigong]]'' ("internal exercises"), ''[[neidan]]'' ("internal alchemy"), and [[tai chi]] ("great ultimate boxing"), which is thought of as moving meditation. One common explanation contrasts "movement in stillness" referring to energetic visualization of ''qi'' circulation in qigong and ''[[zuochan]]'' ("seated meditation"),{{sfn|Perez-De-Albeniz|Holmes|2000|p=}} versus "stillness in movement" referring to a state of meditative calm in [[tai chi]] forms. Also the unification or middle road forms such as ''Wuxingheqidao'' that seeks the unification of internal alchemical forms with more external forms.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}`