Phoenix Taoist Center
Orientation Booklet with Meditation & Taoist Chant CD

Price: $9.95 + S/H FREE to members of the Phoenix Taoist Center

This Booklet and CD contains the meditation methods taught at the Phoenix Taoist Center. Includes instructions on proper bowing, sitting, standing, and walking methods, as well as Immortal Chang Sanfeng's Quarter-Hour meditation practice and the Taoist Kuan Shih Yin chant.

Chang Sanfeng's Quarter-Hour Method

Chang Sanfeng was a Sung dynasty Taoist Priest who is attributed with the creation of T’ai Chi Ch’uan. He is also credited with an internal alchemy meditation technique called “The Quarter-Hour Method.” He believed that a person needed at least 15 minutes of stillness to develop qi and that toiling the body, or forcing it, to sit for long periods was counter productive. His idea was that the body and mind should be naturally eased into longer periods of meditation so that both the pain in the body and anxiety of the mind would be gradually eradicated.

This method consists of an hour-long meditation session divided into three 15-minute sitting periods, separated by 5-minute periods of standing meditation (after the first two sitting sessions) and walking meditation (after the final sitting period). This regime is used for the daily meditation practices and meditation retreats at the Phoenix Taoist Center. It allows beginning students to ease into longer periods of sitting. Within a few weeks students can normally sit comfortably for the full hour.

The purpose of this method is to help students focus on their Tan-T’ien (Field of Elixir), a qi cavity located three inches below the navel, which develops heat (qi) within their abdomen and to gain a sense of tranquility during meditation.

Kuan Shih Yin Chant Method (The Compassion Practice)

This is a Taoist and Buddhist method alike. The melodic chanting of the name Kuan Shih Yin quiets the mind and stills the thoughts very quickly and is recited during the first 15-minute sitting period. The chant is included on the CD and runs through the first sitting session only.

In Buddhism, Kuan Shih Yin (pronounced Gwan Sure Yin) is considered to be the embodiment of compassion, and in Taoism she is thought to be a transformation of Miao Shan (Goddess of mercy) and/or Tou Mu (Mother of the Bushel Stars). The chanting of her name is thought to invoke both compassion and protection into the person reciting it.

Chang San-Feng’s Tranquility Methods

Chang believed that anyone seeking to attain tranquility must first keep in mind these three simple ideas.

1) It does no good to toil the body with long periods of meditation. Students should first begin with what Chang called the “Quarter-Hour Method.” Meaning, learn how to sit quietly for just 15 minutes, then if you enter a state of tranquility you will naturally sit for hours unaware of the time. There is no point, however, in forcing yourself to sit for long periods, rather it is a matter of the mind and body naturally entering tranquility and allowing this to happen.

2) Follow the three stages of practice, but the first concern is actually the breath and posture.

3) Sincerity of maintaining mindfulness and repetition of the methods are the only secrets of success. Life brings about many changes, but a student should always be mindful that success depends on his or her ability to be changeless within change. This means that you do not allow conditions to distract you, rather you remain changeless within those distractions. Always find time to practice, keep repeating the practices, and then you can experience the pearl dropping into your Lower Tan-Tien. This is what the ancient Taoists meant by “forming the pill of immortality” and “creating a spiritual embryo.”

First Stage: Preparing the Cauldron

A student should begin with an 18-day period of just sitting, standing, and walking. Their only concern should be ridding the mind of emotional distractions and wandering thoughts.

Second Stage: Forming the Pearl

The student then begins a 99-day period of just concentrating on their Tan-T’ien (in the lower abdomen) until they see a bright pearl being formed there. Chang did not believe a student should simply imagine or visualize this pearl, rather they really see it.

Third Stage: The Waterwheel

After the 99-day period, the student enters a 9-month stage of just observing the pearl begin its ascent up the spine into the Pai Hui cavity on top of the head and then down through the Upper Tan-T’ien (Third Eye), through the nasal passage, down the esophagus and into the Bright Palace (Middle Tan-T’ien), where the student then waits for it to drop into the Lower Tan-T’ien.

Even if you feel you have not been successful with any of these three stages—18 days, 99-days, or 9 months—you still go through the entire practice. Most students will continue these three cycles of practice many times in their live, and this certainly doesn’t mean progress isn’t being made. Within this method a student will begin to experience sensations of qi and their spirit will constantly be made brighter and stronger. Chang taught that the destination is not as fruitful as the treasures we find along the Way, and that the destination is easier reached if we remain mindful of each moment along the path. So being mindful during each stage is crucial.

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