Title : Longevity and immortality in classical chinese qigong
Abstract:
New scientific findings give us hope that we may come closer to an old dream of humanity: that of longevity to the utmost extreme, eternal life. In the West, we are familiar with this concept from the Christian religions. Those who had freed themselves from their transgressions could hope to rise again after their physical death on Judgment Day and live forever in heaven. Similar beliefs can be found in China, especially in Daoism. The main similarity with regard to extreme longevity is found in the prerequisite for it, namely ethical and moral perfection. Without this, the lasting physical transformation on which longevity is based is not possible. It requires both: refinement and a restructuring of body and mind in equal measure, known as “cultivation”. Some took special herbs and substances for this purpose, from which the “outer Dan” – the immortality pill – was to be crystallized. Possibly it was mainly higher-ranking individuals who wanted to believe that this pill alone would lead to eternal life. They took it and died, as the legend goes. Others emphasized special training practices that could develop different modalities of the mind. Here, too, the most important prerequisite is the moral perfection of the adept, the inner cleansing of the physical and mental self. This allows the various aspects of the mind to develop, all the way to the dissolution of the conscious mind of “doing” (You Wei), to the development of the original spirit (Yuan Shen) together with the transformation of the entire body into a state dominated by “nondoing” (Wu Wei), of the body acting out of its own nature – one could visualize it as follows: as if all functions and expressions were now following the autonomic nervous system. Certain problems that confront modern longevity theories, such as the threat of overpopulation and the danger of social exclusion, do not arise with these ancient Chinese methods: body and mind are transformed through self-cultivation in such a way that it is possible to switch from the visible to the invisible state and vice versa, according to this theory. Those who do not achieve this will still lead a very modest life that is not a burden to anyone. In my lecture, I present these thoughts in more detail, and at the request of the participants, there will be a discussion session afterwards.
