On the south bank of Luoshui River, the autumn rain hits the reeds, making a lonely rustling sound. The withered yellow reeds that have been watered by the autumn rain all day have become thinner, revealing the clearer outline of the low thatched hut.
.
Snorings were heard one after another in the hut, but two Taoist priests were intertwined and lying on the old wooden couch. Occasionally, when they adjusted their posture, a snoring sound stopped and they called "Xiaoyu" indistinctly. It was not known whether they were living in the hut.
In which city, in which flower street or willow alley, I have a good relationship.
Under the dilapidated wooden couch, there is a wooden raft woven with wattle branches. The wooden raft covers a manhole. The manhole is about one foot high. It was originally used for temporary storage of fish and shrimp. Because it faces the Luo River, there is leakage at the bottom.
The river water, which was more than a foot deep, was mixed with mud and mud, making it extremely turbid. Chong Lingzi Yang Chaoxi, who was nowhere to be found, had his hands and feet tied and was imprisoned in a manhole filled with sewage.
The listless Yang Zhaoxi was awakened by the sound of snoring. After struggling intermittently for a day, the wet rope became tighter and tighter. At this time, he simply stopped wasting his efforts and bent his legs to lean on the wall of the well, feeling
The body is getting colder and colder in the darkness. The few stab wounds on the body are already numb at this moment, and they don't feel any pain. But in this darkness without a trace of light, people's helplessness, fear and despair will slowly amplify,
This is the most difficult thing for a Taoist boy to fight against.
The intentions of those masked Taoists were clear. As long as he agreed to demonstrate "Gongsun Swordsmanship" for them, they could leave this dark and cold manhole and have hot porridge and hot dishes to eat. Although Yang Chaoxi was only a young man of eleven or twelve years old,
If you understand the principle of "the rabbit dies and the dog cooks", if you listen to the inducement and finish the swordsmanship demonstration, the end may not be as they say. It is better to pretend to be a hero in this manhole, maybe these shameless Taoist priests will throw a rat weapon, and will not immediately
Then he killed him. So with the support of this consciousness, he fell asleep in the dark and cold manhole. He didn't wake up until this moment.
The body is still very cold, teeth and cheeks, elbows and armpits, chest and abdomen, lower body... Every part that may store heat is filled with a bone-chilling chill! The heartbeat is non-existent, and the breathing is minimal. The feeling of the hands and feet has actually been dulled.
If I cut off some now, I'm afraid there won't be any pain. "Is this what it feels like before you freeze to death?" Yang Zhaoxi thought like this, but she refused to admit it deep in her consciousness. She felt a little bit unwilling.
Spawned from the cold and dull feeling, like an imperceptible spore, it quickly expanded into a colorful mushroom.
Cold, very cold, very cold! What to do... His mother, Guan Shibo, and Guan Lin'er are waiting for him at the villa. Guan Hu'er, Niu Pang'er, and Sun Hunian are waiting for him at Mangshan, and Gongsun Zhenren is also there.
Hongdao Temple was waiting for him, and Master Changyuan was waiting for him in Chang'an... And Liu Xiaomu was waiting for him in the night sky somewhere... All kinds of distracting thoughts turned into chaos in the darkness, and he could no longer feel his breathing... Yes
Now, take a breath... Exhale like a thread, slowly and completely, inhale like a thread, slowly and fully... Silently chant... Sutra... The Tao can be Tao, but it is not Tao... existence and non-existence are interdependent, difficulty and ease complement each other...
…If you keep it forever, you won’t use it diligently…
Will we be able to recover from a desperate situation?
Yang Chaoxi's mind seemed to be filled with chaos, meaningless life and death, unknown coming and going, and difficult to tell the end. It was in this trance that he unexpectedly came across the first opportunity since he started practicing Taoism.
!
The Taoist practice practiced by most Taoists in Shangqing Temple is called "sitting in a circle and keeping quiet", which is divided into four levels of "focusing the mind, keeping oneness, contemplating, and sitting and forgetting". The Taoist method practiced by many Taoist temples in the Sheng Dynasty is also It is similar to it, but there are some gains and losses due to different understandings of concepts such as "focusing, keeping one, thinking, sitting and forgetting". This kind of exercise method, with long practice, will improve memory, energy, understanding, and will. etc. will obviously improve, so it gives people the illusion that those who practice Taoism seem to have become much more powerful in all walks of life.
But if you really want to aspire to the Tao and practice diligently, the method of cultivating the Tao must go against heaven! For example, what Li Changyuan taught Yang Zhaoxi is the method of cultivating the "acquired Qi". There are five steps to success. Method: Breathing in and out, breathing, moving Qi, gathering Qi, and subduing Qi. At this time, Yang Zhaoxi was in the cold and trapped, and the method of breathing in and out and silently reciting scriptures was the first step to the method: breathing in and out.
However, whether it is the four-level realm of "sitting in a circle and keeping quiet" or the five-step method of cultivating "acquired Qi", the boundaries between each level and each step of the method are not completely disconnected or distinct. , but overlap front and back, connecting up and down. Just like the Tai Chi yin and yang fish, there is Kun in the Qian, and Kun in the Qian. So in the process of trickling together, maybe at a certain moment, you have stepped into the next level and entered The next step is to achieve the Dharma. And the body used to perform the exercises will also move along with the current and enter a new state.
Yang Chaoxi's hands and feet were bound at this time and he could not sit down. Therefore, the posture that made him enter the state of performing exercises was the same as when he was in his mother's womb. He leaned against the side of the manhole, with his eyes closed, curled up in a ball. It seemed like hibernation. The tortoise and snake, with extremely weak breathing and consumption, maintain a ray of vitality without cutting it off. And this state of performance has directly stepped from the realm of "keeping one" to the realm of "preserving thought", faintly We've hit the threshold of "sitting and forgetting"!
The cultivation method of "breathing in and out" has long been practiced and perfected, and it has begun to enter into the practice of "fetal breath". With each exhalation and inhalation, the breath is light, thin, continuous, and long, with less coming out and more coming in. , blowing the hair without moving. If a wisp of smoke is attracted at this time and is close to Yang Chaoxi's mouth and nose, you can see that the smoke slowly enters from the nose, and gradually overflows from the mouth, in and out, connecting continuously, forming a continuous stream. The ever-flowing smoke ring!
For the two Taoist priests snoring above the manhole, Yang Chaoxi might have just fallen into a deep coma. This illusion was not confirmed until the next morning.
The autumn rain continued continuously the next day, and the dim skylight illuminated the day bit by bit in the dark rain curtain. Two Taoist priests, A and B, hugged each other and slept in darkness. It was not until the Taoist priest who came to rotate knocked on the door that they reluctantly They opened their eyes. Then they pushed each other away in disgust and wandered over to open the door.
The Taoist priest B who entered the door was the first to say hello: "Xie Niang——! She sleeps like two pigs! Are you even hungry?" After saying that, he took off his coir raincoat and bamboo hat and put them aside.
Taoist priest A also complained: "You two are too slow! I... let alone me, even Zhuangzi is so hungry that his heart is in front of his back."
Taoist priest Ding took off his raincoat and took out a few biscuits and chickens from his arms: "Eat first and talk while eating. Did this little Taoist boy ask for mercy yesterday? Is he still alive now?"
Taoist B saw Taoist A wolfing down his food and glared sideways before replying: "Yesterday I took off the sealing cloth and made a fuss for a long time, shouting and screaming. The two of us didn't like the noise, so we found a wooden raft. The manhole was covered. When it got dark, I was still tossing down there, and I could hear the sound of water. Then I must have gotten tired of tossing, so there was no movement, and we both fell asleep."
Taoist Ding was a little worried, so he and Taoist B hurriedly ran to the dilapidated wooden couch, lifted up the couch, removed the wooden rafts, and exposed the dark mouth of the manhole. At this time, Taoist Ding looked around and said: "Those two who are eating,
Put the black cloth over it first!"
After saying that, the two men untied the rope from the wooden couch and pulled Yang Chaoxi out of the ten-foot-deep manhole. Only then did they see that Yang Chaoxi, who was breathing weakly, had passed out. He patted his face a few times,
He was like a dead person, unresponsive. If the Taoist priest Ding hadn't felt that he was still alive with his fingers, the four of them would have decided to bury him on the spot.
Taoist Bing asked Taoist Ding to hold Yang Chaoxi steady, and he groped around on him, but he pulled out a half-wet letter with the words "xx Zi Suqi" written on it (the word "xx" was soaked by the rain).
The most serious thing, which has been impossible to verify). Taoist A and Taoist B felt strange when they found such a thing, so they came over and opened it together, shouting and taking a look. Taoist C and D then lowered Yang Chaoxi into the manhole again.
Inside, when he heard the sound of water, he thought he had bottomed out, so he loosened the rope and threw Yang Zhaoxi directly into a pool of muddy water.
The four wretched heads were huddled together at this time. With the faint light in the hut, they opened their eyes and looked: Chong Lingzi Yang Chaoxi! You xxxx, shameless whore... ("xxxx" was also soaked in the rain,
difficult to identify)
The four Taoist priests all found it interesting after reading it. Taoist priest B even teased: "At a young age, I have been interacting with the junior sister from Linji Guan. It is true that I am not a romantic person and my youth is in vain!"
Taoist Priest Ding packed up the letter and put it into Taoist Priest B's hand. He then smiled and said: "This is the main thing for the temple. We have already had our eyesore. You must pack it up! Return to the temple and give it to the temple owner immediately.
Send it!"
Taoist A and Taoist B had already finished their morning meal, so they said goodbye to Taoist priests C and D, who had come over, put on their coir raincoats and bamboo hats, and left the hut.
The rain curtain fell on the Luoshui River without any hesitation. The water vapor on the river surface steamed up and was carried across the river bank by the flowing wind, dyeing the reeds into a blur.
The cat was not far away, and the figure among the reeds suddenly saw a strange scene. He quickly squatted down and secretly observed the two Taoist priests who walked in from the low hut. It wasn't until he watched the two Taoist priests walking farther away that he
Carefully attach it to the back, firmly grasping this sudden clue...
However, at this time, Yang Zhaoxi, who was still clinging to the state of "preserving thoughts" in the manhole and using the method of "fetal breath", began to experience a transformation that was dependent on blessings and misfortunes.
After several years of practicing according to the law, Yang Chaoxi has already accumulated a pure acquired Qi in his body. After a short period of nurturing with the "fetal breath" method overnight, it has actually begun to take shape!
When the sky was dim, the newly acquired Qi began to move along the blood and tendons, unconsciously wandering among the acupoints and apertures of the body. However, after some troubles and disturbances by Taoist priests C and Ding, this newly formed Qi began to move unconsciously through the blood and tendons.
The acquired Qi, however, surged up in Yang Chaoxi's body without any structure, attacking acupuncture points all over his body wantonly.
Yang Zhaoxi felt that her body was getting warmer, and some pain came from her body. She couldn't help but say "um, ah" in her mouth, which seemed to be gibbering. But her mind always stayed in the state of "thinking" and refused to come out to dominate this surge.
The acquired spirit of joy.
If the performance of this skill is not guided, over time, the acquired Qi will destroy the acupoints and cause paralysis of the whole body. But if it can be guided, it can promote the small circulation of the heavens, and from then on, the acquired Qi will be
It will be like the water of Luo and Yi, rolling along according to the established flow direction, entering the Yang fire, retreating the Yin talisman, warming and nourishing the whole body, and gradually giving birth to Tao seeds.
The state of "Cunsi" is strange and inexplicable. Since Yang Chaoxi can remember, the rising sun, mountains and rivers, stars and moon, clouds, neon and other things that he has seen all turn into the stars in the sky and appear in the Milky Way. Sometimes they are colorful,
Sometimes it becomes pitch black, and I am left with only a trace of my thoughts, wandering in the vast river of stars that are cold to my bones. There is nothing to stop at, and nothing to grasp. There is no sky, no land, no Liuhe, no eight wastes. Gradually, in succession, there is nothing to stop.
This kind of perception was about to be lost. The confusion that lasted for an unknown period of time finally began to turn into boundless fear. And then that strand of erratic thoughts began to look back in the sea of fear and swim desperately in one direction.
It seemed like a thousand years, but it seemed like just a moment, the mind finally retreated from the state of "thinking" to the state of "keeping one". The acupuncture points on the body that were hit by the acquired energy began to feel burning pain, and the initial bone-piercing pain
The feeling of coldness has long gone. At this time, the manhole is still dark. If there is a little firelight, you can see Yang Zhaoxi's soaked monk's robe sticking to his body, and steaming water vapor begins to spread. The water vapor is covered by the mouth
The slight breath in the nose gradually converged from a thin wisp into a thick strand, rushing endlessly to form a solid ring of water vapor.
Yang Zhaoxi still closed his eyes tightly. The acquired Qi was rushing through his body. The heat generated made his whole body extremely warm, and he gradually regained consciousness in his hands and feet. The burning pain first spread from his upper Dantian, making him think
He condensed and began to consciously stabilize the breath between his mouth and nose. Then he felt that the middle and lower Dantians were emitting burning pain almost at the same time, and the source of this pain was from the whole body to the three Dantians.
I feel like my head is dry and hot, my heart is depressed, my lower abdomen is distended, and there is no place in my body that is not in dire straits.
However, her hands and feet were bound, her movements were hindered, and her fingers and toes were twisted unconsciously. Yang Zhaoxi couldn't help but make strange noises such as "heh, hush, huh, huh, hee". There was still water vapor between her mouth and nose.
The ring is still circulating steadily. In the three Dantians located in the brain, heart, and lower abdomen, the three acquired Qi gradually connect into lines and hook together to form a column of acquired Qi across the middle of the torso.
As soon as the air column took shape, it suddenly hit the perineum, then turned to the tail, and began to go up against the Mingmen, Jiaji, Dazhui, and Yuzhen points all the way up to Baihui. When the air column reached the extreme, it fell.
Then it goes straight down along the Yintang, the face door, the tip of the tongue, and the larynx, along the Tiantu, Tanzhong, Qihai, and Guanyuan points, and then bounces on the perineum and returns to the lower Dantian.
This Qi column wandered away for a small circle, returned to the lower Dantian, and blended with the middle Dantian and the upper Dantian. At this time, the Tianxin point located at the eyebrow trembled slightly, sealing the innate Qi in it.
, a trace of it leaked out, hidden in the upper Dantian, intertwined with the innate Qi for a while, and then disappeared like a mud cow entering the sea. Then the Qi column sank downwards again, hitting the perineum, and the second small Zhoutian
The cycle begins again...
From the perspective of martial arts theory in later generations, after the first small Zhoutian cycle, the two meridians of Ren and Du have been opened. It is like riding a horse for many days, climbing over high mountains and ridges, and finally seeing the endless plains, and then being able to cross them.
How long it takes to gallop depends on your pace.
It was on this stormy autumn day, in a dark and boundless manhole, that Yang Zhaoxi was in a trance, a blessing in disguise, and overcame the first difficulty since he began to practice Taoism.