Phosphenes and Inner Light Experiences
in Medieval Chinese Psychophysical
Techniques: An Exploration
by Rudolf Pfister
Introduction
Technical texts, mainly medical and Daoist writings, form the very
fragmented material base for my project Psychophysical techniques
in ancient and medieval China. They discuss know-how and techniques meant to influence one’s own mental states positively, to improve health and achieve longevity. In sexual body techniques, for
example, this is thought to be possible by the use of a partner and
sexual stimulation (Pfister, forthcoming), but such ideas underlie
even more techniques like meditation and visualisation. This exploration uses the subject of phosphenes, the subjective inner light appearances, as a means to interpret one aspect of such techniques one
step further.
Why phosphenes?
Phosphenes were studied scientifically in Europe since the early th
century. The term was coined in by Henri-Auguste Serre () to mean light appearances («l’apparition d’une image lumineuse») . Earlier, in , Johannes Evangelista PurkynÍ (-)
. Serre (, p. ): «Nous avons donné le nom de Phosphène (de fôw, lumière,
et de fainomai, paraître, apparaître) au phénomène de vision subjective qui se manifeste par l’apparition d’une image lumineuse dans la région orbitaire de l’œuil méthodiquement comprimé à travers les paupières, et spécialement à l’image annulaire qui apparaît quand la compression s’effectue à l’aide de la pulpe du doigt».
PHOSPHENES AND INNER LIGHT EXPERIENCES
studied what he named Druckfiguren (pressure figures): these are
pressure phosphenes, which appear when you close the lids and apply gentle pressure to the eyeballs . Several researchers expressed
their fascination while doing this during their childhood. PurkynÍ
says, the child follows the traces of the cheerful light, and is absorbed
into the charming presence of the colours . It seems worthwhile to
keep in mind that such a positive emotional response is felt towards
the phenomenon by the grown-up scientist.
In older Arab and European theories of vision, phosphenes
played an important role, as one believed that they proved, like the
gleaming eyes of animals active during the night, that an internal light
is generated and emitted by the eye itself. This view was only given
up in the th and th centuries .
Subjective visual phenomena, both of endogenous and hallucinatory nature, were used for the interpretation of geometrical patterns and designs in prehistoric cave art, and brought into relation
with altered states of consciousness .
Phosphenes are subjective light appearances which can be seen,
when the visual system is stimulated by non-usual ways. Besides the
pressure phosphenes already mentioned, which are easy to elicit,
phosphenes may appear together with certain kinds of headaches, as
a result of anaesthesia, or as a side effect in clinical pharmacology
. Cf. PurkynÍ (), and below, FIG. .
. PurkynÍ (, pp. -): «Freudig schwelgt der muntere Sinn des Kindes in
der bunten Mannigfaltigkeit der einströmenden Aussenwelt; allenthalben formet er
das Unbestimmte, weidet sich an der Wiederholung des Geformten; jeder Augenblick zählt einen neuen Fund, offenbart neue und reichere Welten von Erscheinungen. Vor Allem aber verfolgt es gerne die Spur des heiteren Lichtes und vertieft sich
in der Farben reizende Gegenwart». Kampmeier (, p. ): «If the writer’s own
experience is any criterion, many persons in their youth discovered by chance that
slight pressure continued for a short time on the eyeballs would elicit luminous manifestations in the subjective optical foreground which resolved themselves into flickering or vibrating mosaic-like designs of great intricacy and beauty. Kaleidoscopic in
their variety, and in their symmetry, delicacy and intangibility more fascinating than
snow crystals, they have perhaps served many of us as a pastime».
. Cf. Grüsser, Hagner (). See also Grüsser et al. (, pp. -).
. This work has provoked a controversy. Cf. Lewis-Williams (, a,
b); Lewis-Williams, Dowson (); Dronfield (); Hodgson (). Vehement criticism in Helvenston, Bahn ().
RUDOLF PFISTER
(Cervetto, Demontis, Gargini, ). Certain meditative states of relaxation, and, most important to my present purposes, hypnagogic or
hypnopompic states may induce them. Hypnagogic states are presleep
or sleep onset phenomena, whereas hypnopompic states occur coming or leading out of sleep. In Italian both states could be called
dormiveglia, and some authors use the collective term hypnagogia .
Nowadays phosphenes can be generated by direct electrical stimulation of the optical nerve, on the surface or underneath the retina
(Delbeke, Oozeer, Veraart, ), or by trans-cranial magnetic stimulation of the visual cortex (Ray et al., ; Fernández et al., ).
Because even blind people see phosphenes, some research teams
hope to assemble such artificially generated visual perceptions to a
useful percept, in order to construct a visual prosthesis for the blind .
The recent work of Philip Nicholson turned my attention to the
problematic of subjective light experiences. He stimulated the current research, as he uses phosphenes seen during meditation to explain descriptions of light experiences in the Rig Veda and Daoist
texts . Under the proposition that in written sources specific light
phenomena are described consistently in regard to certain characteristics and processes, it seems possible to recover the belonging expe. Mavromatis (, pp. ff). The term «hallucinations hypnagogiques» was introduced by Maury (, p. ), to denote appearances which are «leading to sleep».
See Manford, Andermann () for a review of clinical and neurobiological insights
on complex visual hallucinations.
. Fernández et al. (). This research team describes a protocol using transcranial magnetic stimulation to systematically map the visual sensations induced by
focal and non-invasive stimulation of the human occipital cortex. From the abstract,
p. : «Our results show that TMS is able to elicit phosphenes in almost all sighted
subjects and in a proportion of blind subjects. Evoked phosphenes are topographically organized. Despite minor inter-individual variations, the mapping results are
reproducible and show good congruence among different subjects. This procedure
has potential to improve our understanding of physiologic organization and plastic
changes in the human visual system and to establish the degree of remaining functional visual cortex in blind subjects. Such a non-invasive method is critical for selection of suitable subjects for a cortical visual prosthesis».
. Cf. Nicholson (, a, b, , , ); Nicholson, Firnhaber
(). See also the older overview on the «world of inner light appearances», as induced by diverse means, and in different cultures, by Knoll (). On inner light in
general, see Eliade ().
PHOSPHENES AND INNER LIGHT EXPERIENCES
riential content and compare it to experiences in self-experimentation (as it was done by Nicholson), or in current scientific research.
The remainder of this paper discusses findings in three medieval Daoist sources and contrasts them with modern ideas about
phosphenes. This is done in a dialogic mode, which should shed light
on basic assumptions about vision, the nature of phosphenes, and
other pertinent features.
Text A:
Commentary on the Inner Canon of the Yellow Court
The Commentary to the Jade Canon of the Inner Sceneries of the Yellow Court (Huang Ting Nei Jing Yu Jing Zhu 黃庭內景玉經註) was
written by Master Liang Qiu 梁丘子, that is Bo Lüzhong 白履忠
(floruit -, Tang), in the early th century CE. The canon text,
called Canon of the Yellow Court (Huang Ting Jing 黃庭經), is by itself an early meditation manual to be recited aloud. As it uses extremely flowery language, it would remain highly obscure without the
help of such a commentary .
FIG. shows the relevant passages , as they are found in the edition of the Daoist Canon (Dao Zang 道藏).
The double pages and contain thirteen seven character verses
of the Canon of the Yellow Court, running from top to bottom .
. The French translation of Carré () does not contain Liang Qiu’s commentary. On the meditative use of the manual, see Saso (). The existing commentaries, however, vary widely in their explanations of a given passage.
. Commentary to the Jade Canon of the Inner Sceneries of the Yellow Court, in
Xiu Zhen Shi Shu , pp. a-b.
. At the conference in Lecce I speculated, that the interspersed drawings might
be illustrations to the text and even depict phosphenes. However, I later discovered
that many texts in the Dao Zang contain similar drawings, making this speculation
untenable. Whereas the drawings remain unexplained, the interpretation of the passage as a phosphene description still stands. The uneven, but wide distribution of
such drawings in the Dao Zang makes it unlikely that Needham’s suggestion, made
for our text only, is valid. He thought, that these «curious little signs», might be the
«[p]ossible beginnings of symbolic notation in physiological alchemy», but rightly
remarks: «The text gives no clue to the meaning of the drawings» (Needham, ,
p. , see also pp. and -, where our FIG. is presented as FIG. ).
RUDOLF PFISTER
Xiu Zhen Shi Shu : a-b (above), a-b (below)
FIGURE
They are coming together with the Liang commentary, always to their
left, and one character deeper in the line.
Verse : reads: «The spirit canopies and the pupils produce violet [or, purple] mist». Master Liang Qiu’s comment runs as follows:
«While one observes reflections, during the actualisation of thoughts
[or, visualisation] false details are taken as fact. Below we read [in
PHOSPHENES AND INNER LIGHT EXPERIENCES
verse :]: “The eyebrows are named ‘blossom canopies’, they cover
the ‘bright pearls’.” – The “spirit canopies” are [the bows of] the eyebrows. The “bright pearls” are the pupils of the eye. The “violet [or
purple] mist” is a wondrous flow event of the essence» .
The «spirit canopies» – shén gài 神蓋 – are identified by the commentary with the bows of the eyebrows, which would produce, together with the pupils of the eye, such «violet» or «purple mist». The
percept is treated as a coloured mist . The text implies a subjective
perspective, as it describes, and to some extent prescribes, what an
adept eventually sees. The location where the experiencer sees the
percept is also given as the locus of its production.
Most notably, «blossom canopies» – hua gài 華蓋 – is also the name
of a star constellation (see FIG. ) . It consists of a long stalk, called
«pole» or «cross-bar» – gang 杠 – and is branching into five singular
blossoms, thereby forming an umbel. Like the Latin umbrella the word
«canopy, umbrella» – gài 蓋 – is used to denote the clustering of a blossom. The stars of the blossom form the constellation Cassiopeia.
Combining the pictorial evidence of the star map with our commentary, we can assume, that brilliant beams of light, radiating from
a central point into different directions, were described as umbels. By
applying the same name to the glittering stars, to the flamboyant blossoms of flowers, and to the lights seen with the «inner eye» the text
most subtly alludes to and unites micro- and macrocosmic details.
During meditation it is standard to «lower the eye [lids]» – lín mù
臨目, that is, to keep the eyes half open and half closed (Wang Minhong, ). As this implies a hypnagogic state, it is of technical importance that Liang wishes to separate the normal percepts from the
. Text in FIG. , p. b.-. All translations from the Chinese stem from the present author if not otherwise stated.
. The early Tang commentary of Master Wu Cheng 務成子 says of the «purple mist» only, that it is a «radiating flow event of the eyes», or maybe this should be
translated as «the flow event of the eye-radiance» (?). This leaves us with an ambivalent statement. The animation of the eyes is adduced to the pupils, literally called
the «youngsters», which are said to be the «spirits of the eye». 神蓋謂眉也。童子,
目神也。紫煙,即目光氣也。(Yun Ji Qi Qian , p. b.)
. See Dunhuang Star Map, Manuscript S. , British Library Or. , dated
to the middle of the th century (Tang). This manuscript is discussed by Xia Nai
(), and Bonnet-Bidaud, Praderie, Whitfield ().
RUDOLF PFISTER
Cutting of Dunhuang Star Map, S. . The horizontally lying heading says hua gài
華盖, «blossom canopy». The three lower stars, appearing here as circles with grey
filling, were originally colored with red ink
FIGURE
«false details» – jiǎ mù 假目, which in such an altered state of consciousness are likely to be taken as fact.
The statement about the «wondrous flow event of the essence»
reveals some awareness on the part of the commentator that these
«false details» or hallucinations are somehow productions of the eye.
According to ancient Chinese physiological knowledge «essence» –
j¤ng 精, a mucilaginous body sap, nourishes not only the whole body,
but is also especially important for the eyes and the visual function
(Pfister, forthcoming). Therefore, «wondrous flow events» or
coloured «mists» are likewise effects of this nourishing «essence»,
flowing through the body. As such, they can be clearly and easily distinguished from the usual percepts, as well as from yet other appear
PHOSPHENES AND INNER LIGHT EXPERIENCES
ances, like spiritual beings or jade maids seen or actively thought after during specific visualisation exercises.
Please note, that the phenomenon is accompanied again by a certain fascination, as the light appearances are called «wondrous» or
«miraculous».
Text B:
Secret Advice by the Wise Lord of the Scripture on Great Peace
The Secret Advice by the Wise Lord of the Scripture on Great Peace (Tai
Ping Jing Sheng Jun Mi Zhi 太平經聖君秘旨) is part of the later layers
of the Scripture on Great Peace (Tai Ping Jing 太平經), and probably
dates to the Tang dynasty . The Secret Advice discusses at some length
a meditative practice, called «maintaining unity» – shǒu y¤ 守一 . This
procedure is full of promises for the adept, as the avoidance of wild animals, poisonous substances, harm and illness, substantial health during a long life span, and sorrowlessness combine with a penetrating
mind that can travel afar, and discerns the inside of one’s body:
If you desire to live long, you have to receive the flow events (qì) and to join
the spirits (shén) with the essence (j¤ng), do no more let them leave your
[bodily] form. Think of these three as joined and forming a unity. After a
long time, it [the unity] will be refined (b¤n-b¤n), and of itself appear (xiàn)
within the rump; the [bodily] form becomes gradually lighter; the essence
is increasingly bright; the rays are increasingly fine; within the heart is great
calm; delighted as if being joyous [euphoric] the flow events of the great
peace respond. Refining your inside, returns an answer at the outside. Inwardly it brings forth longevity; outwardly it brings forth regulatedness. It
is wrong to use sinewy force, as of itself emerges great peace!
. For the complicated textual history of the Tai Ping Jing, see Wang Ming (),
the Appendix on the composition of the Tai Ping Jing together with the bibliography
in Hendrischke (), and the detailed study on the Secret Advice by Espesset ().
. Preference is given to this translation, introduced by Bokenkamp (, p. ),
over «guarding the one» adopted by Livia Kohn () in her overview of concentrative meditation under this name in various sources. See also Robinet (b, pp. ), on «garder le Un», and Espesset (, p. f) with «préservation de l’unité».
. 欲壽者,當 / 受氣而合神精,不去其形。念此三合以為一。/ 久即彬彬,自見
身中,形漸輕,精益明,光益精, / 心中大安,欣然若喜,太平氣應矣。(Secret Advice by
RUDOLF PFISTER
The text reveals only a few details of the desired setting, but the following is said about a protected room for practice:
Procedure of maintaining unity: to begin the contemplation (s¤) stay in a
protected room; it is suitable to have double walls and thick masonry in order not to hear the sounds of noise and clamour (xuan huá) .
This is technically important, as it shows concern for the avoidance of
outside disturbances. Not only sounds, but also sunlight might disturb
the experience. In this source there is no time of the day singled out for
practising, but see text C below, which advises nocturnal activity.
Procedure of enlightening by maintaining unity: While not yet being refined, close the eyes, dimly and darkly (míng-míng); within the eyes [then]
there is no ray. Maintaining unity, repeatedly and for long, and the eye produces rays and brightness. Distinctly (zhao-rán) one sees the four quarters
[of space], and follows the brightness to travel far away. The rump’s [inner]
forms and [outer] appearances manifest themselves entirely and the flock of
the spirits is ready to assemble [within you], therefore one is capable to
change the [bodily] form and become [a] spirit .
The adept sits in an unspecified posture, and closes the eyes to shut off
retinal stimulation from daylight. Seeing «brightness» – míng 明 – or
«rays» – guang 光 – of light is thought to be impossible at the beginning
of the exercise. Apart from (a) this «procedure of enlightening» – míng
the Wise Lord of the Scripture on Great Peace (Tai Ping Jing Sheng Jun Mi Zhi 太平
經聖君秘旨, shortened below to MZ), pp. a.-b.; the slash / indicates the end of a
line in the Dao Zang-edition.) The Secret Advice was translated partially by Kohn
(, pp. -), covering only MZ a-b.), and fully by Espesset (, pp. -).
However, all quoted passages were newly translated in this paper. Differences to earlier translation are not highlighted. Nicholson (, p. ) quotes Kohn (, pp.
-), and points out this passage as describing an «example of a light vision».
. 守一之法,始思居閑處,宜重墻厚壁,不聞喧 / 譁之音。(MZ a.-; Wang
Ming, , p. .) On «quiet rooms» – jìng shì 凈室 – and «entering the room [for
meditation]» – rù shì 入室, see Engelhardt (, pp. , , n. , n. , );
see also the entry on jìng shì 靜室 in Pregadio (, pp. -). Text C below calls
the mediation chamber a «calm room» – jìng shì 靜室.
. 守一明之法,未精之時,瞑目冥冥,目中無有 / 光。/ 守一復久,目生光明。
昭然見四方,隨明而遠 / 行。盡見身形容,群神將集,故能形化為神。(MZ b.-;
Wang Ming, , p. .)
PHOSPHENES AND INNER LIGHT EXPERIENCES
fǎ 明法, which most probably can be interpreted as phosphene experience, one wants (b) to develop a kind of inward directed view, to (c) reorganise and influence the inner world of bodily «spirits» – shén 神 –
and finally (d) to leave behind the bodily form altogether .
These general aims are further accompanied by a statement on
the movement of the light:
Procedure of enlightening by maintaining unity: Being the root of a prolonged life span, ten thousand spirits can be ridden [guided], and you step
out of the door of radiant brightness. On the occasion of viscid brightness
by maintaining unity, as if fire begins to quicken, timely and carefully keep
to it, do not let it escape! Beginning red, for long it will be a pure white; for
long it will again be a bluegreen. A piercing brightness cuts into the distance,
but it returns with regulated unity [maintained]. Inwardly nothing will not
be enlightened, and hundred ailments are eliminated. Maintain it, never
slacken, and you transcend your generation (duò shì) in exceeding gallop
(chao téng)!
Of course, the fast moving phosphenes are most likely to escape very
quickly. They «pierce» – dòng 洞 – into the darkness of the closed
eyes, into the remoteness of the experienced space. Continued practice can bring them back. All this inner light is mapped onto and into one’s own body, the indistinct darkness thereby given a form to fill
with light.
More specific forms of light experiences are described in a series
of separate entries:
Procedure of enlightening by maintaining unity: It is like the sun coming
out, and of the brightness of the bright midday.
Procedure of enlightening by maintaining unity: The brightness has a
pure bluegreen; if it is bluegreen and lucid [distinct], it is the brightness of
the lesser yáng.
. On bodily spirits, see Bumbacher ().
. 守一明法,長壽之根,萬神可御,出光明之門。/ 守一精明之時,若火始生,時
謹守勿失。始赤, / 久久正白,久久復青。洞明絕遠,還以理一。內 / 無不明,百疾
除。守之不懈,度世超騰矣。(MZ b.-a.; Wang Ming, , p. with variants.)
On duò shì 度世, see Bokenkamp (, p. ), who writes: «To “transcend one’s
generation” means to live beyond one’s allotted lifespan and implies that one will ascend to heaven without having to pass through death».
RUDOLF PFISTER
Procedure of enlightening by maintaining unity: Is the brightness a pure
red, like the rays of fire, you transcend your generation.
Procedure of enlightening by maintaining unity: Is the brightness a pure
yellow and bluegreen, these are the rays of median admixture, an excellent
remedy of the dào.
Procedure of enlightening by maintaining unity: If it is a pure white like
clear water, it is the brightness of the lesser y¤n.
Procedure of enlightening by maintaining unity: Does the brightness
possess a pure black [or, very dark violet], clear like peeking (ku¤) into
[dark] water, is the ray of greater y¤n.
Procedure of enlightening by maintaining unity: Are the four quarters
all dark and in the midst of the belly penetrates a shine (zhào), this is the
brightness of the greater admixture, the course of a great flowing with the
current [i.e. prosperity] .
Very bright white phosphenes, followed by blue, yellow and red ones
make up for the most part of elicited phosphenes. In a staccato style,
characteristic for the text, these seven manifestations are brought into community-specific categories, as tabulated below:
Category
–
Colour
Sunlight/bright
Specifics
Very bright
Postulated effect
–
Lesser yáng
(east)
Pure bluegreen/blue Distinct
–
(south)
Pure red
Median admixture
(center)
Pure yellow &
bluegreen/blue
Lesser y¤n
(west)
Pure white
Like clear water
–
Greater y¤n
(north)
Pure black
Like peeking into
[dark] water
–
Greater admixture
A shine/bright
In midst of belly
–
Rays of fire
–
Transcend one’s
generation
Remedy of the dào
. 守一明法,若日出之,明日中之明。/ 守一明法,明有正青,青而清明者,少陽
之明/也。/ 守一明法,明正赤,若火光者,度世。/ 守一明法,明正黃而青者,中和之
光,其道良 / 藥。/ 守一明法,正白如清水,此少陰之明也。/ 守一明法,明有正黑,
清若闚水者,太陰之光。/ 守一明法,四方皆闇,腹中洞照。此太和之明 / 也,大順之
道。/ (MZ a.-b.; Wang Ming, , pp. -.)
PHOSPHENES AND INNER LIGHT EXPERIENCES
Unlike text C, as we will see below, our Secret Advice does not specify
any forms the inner light takes, it is satisfied to give colour names, and
to speak about rays and shines. Five descriptions out of seven name pure
colours; only one description lists a combination of contrast colours .
One gets the impression that this meditation induces merely areolar or ray-like phosphenes, but no geometric form constants, which
associate to figurative percepts and may lead to figural hallucinations.
Even so we find this general statement about a possible training effect during prolonged practice:
Procedure of maintaining unity: Doing it skillfully, the intended effect can
be observed. If you now daily practise skillfully, still and calmly, the spirits
enlighten gradually to a ray: in the beginning like a glow-worm’s light (yíng
hum), after a while similar to flashes of lightning (diàn guang) .
Obviously, the change from glow-worm’s light to lightning is one of
intensity and movement pattern. Such training extended over hundreds of days, whereby hundred, two hundred and three hundred
. These inner light colour categories would align more or less with the traditional
correspondences for natural colours: Lesser yáng (bluegreen, east), lesser y¤n (white,
west), greater y¤n (black, north) follow the traditional pattern (compared after Porkert, , ). But median admixture (yellow, center) is here reserved to a phosphene
combination of yellow and bluegreen, rather than to yellow alone. «Pure red» would
be greater yáng (red, south), but is not mentioned as such in our text. In addition, two
different bright lights are given, which apparently could not be accommodated to the
traditional correspondence scheme. Sunlight is sometimes described as «yellow», sun
beams as «yellow fluid». These several bright, gleaming, pale, sunny-coloured
phosphenes may well form the main part of the meditative experience, and perhaps
therefore were enumerated in more detail than the five «pure» colours (See also Espesset, , p. , n. -, whose emendation 青→清 is rejected as hypercorrection;
the contrast «pure yellow and bluegreen» provides the more difficult reading.) Ray et
al. () induced the following colours with transcranial magnetic stimulation that
may be quoted here for comparison: «Eight of fourteen described the phosphenes as
spots of light in shades of grey, white, or green that varied among the subjects in their
position in the visual field. The ninth subject experienced a spot of light having a faint
purple center with a yellow halo. Bars of light in gray, white, or yellow were described
by subjects, and were oriented in different positions in the visual field of each subject. A grey triangle was consistently reported by one subject. All subjects reported that
the visual images tended to persist only for the duration of the stimulation».
. 守一之法,為善,効驗可覩。今日為善清靜,神 / 明漸光。始如螢火,久似電
光。(MZ a.-b.; Wang Ming, , p. .)
RUDOLF PFISTER
days counted as a small, middle or great «calming» – jìng 靜 – respectively. This implies a relaxed, hypnagogic state. As a result, one
expected to improve health, and the faculty to observe spirits .
Contrarily, to see nothing is considered a kind of disorder and
needs treatment:
Procedure of enlightening by maintaining unity: Is there an outwardly darkness and an inwardly darkness, where nothing can be classified and discerned; this is human malady and muddle; quickly remedy it with recipes
and cures. Lookout for the seven above-mentioned heads [of lights], and inwardly seek them yourself .
To bring oneself into a hypnagogic state in order to experience a specific colour or at least one of seven is maybe not overzealous. But
«maintaining unity» means more: because of it, humans may live long,
transcend their generation, reduce disaster, cure illnesses, etc. But if
the sky would no more «maintain unity», it would loose its clarity,
earth would loose its serenity, the sun its brightness, the moon its
(white) essence, the stars their movement, and so on. More importantly, if spirits do not «maintain unity», they no more live and develop, if humans do not «maintain unity», they also do not subsist and
procreate: «Unity forms the base, and ten thousand affairs are all in
movement; if you know unity, ten thousand affairs are completed!» .
The meditative concentration is naturalised by such analogy with
continuous entities, which are apparently treated as eternal units.
Thus generalised, practice empowers one to control worldly and otherworldly affairs. Phosphenes signalise progressive stages on this way.
Text C:
Mister Chen’s Instructions on the Inner Cinnabar
Mister Chen’s Instructions on the Inner Cinnabar (or Elixir) (Chen
Xiansheng Nei Dan Jue 陳先生內丹訣), probably written after ,
. MZ b.-; Wang Ming (, p. ).
. 守一明法,有外闇內闇,無所屬,無所覩。此人 / 邪亂,急以方藥助之。尋上
七首,內自求之。(MZ b.-; Wang Ming, , p. .)
. MZ a.-; Wang Ming (, p. ). Quote: 一之為/本,萬事皆行。子知一,
萬事畢矣。
PHOSPHENES AND INNER LIGHT EXPERIENCES
preserve an elaborated teaching on a meditative practice with nine
stages of transformation . For reasons of shortness, this paper will
only discuss its first stage, which is, however, unusually rich in details
and inner light experiences. The setting for the meditative undertaking is detailed in the Oral Instruction (kmu jué 口訣) to the First Cycle: Lowering of the Cinnabar (y¤ zhuqn xià dan 一轉下丹), which is
translated here in full:
At the beginning of the undertaking and putting one’s hand on, you must
first nourish and harmonise the five storehouses [viscera]; you cannot neglect hunger or over-eat. If the heart [cinnabar] field [in the breast region]
is calm and quiet, without sorrow and grief, you can enter the dào [begin the
method]. Usually, towards the end of the second night-watch or at the beginning of the third [i.e. towards midnight] , you must first clean yourself
and gargle; in the calm room light an incense plate (xiang pán) . Kneel and
squat; close the eyes; actualise the spirits (cún shén); delay breathing, let its
out and in be equal and adjusted. With the [tip of the] tongue rolled in stop
up the pair of openings at the root of the tongue [i.e. the salivary glands].
. For a content summary and discussion of the text, as well as for details on
its author, see Eskildsen ().
. The nine main sections of the text are divided into (a) two explications in different verse form, each accompanied by commentary, and (b) into the Oral Instruction (except for the ninth section). An alternative version of Mister Chen’s Instructions
on the Inner Cinnabar (hereafter abbreviated as NDJ) is found under the title Secret Instructions on the Nine Cycles of the Metal [Phase] Cinnabar (Jiu Zhuan Jin Dan Mi Jue
九轉金丹祕訣, shortened below to JZ). Again, the slash / indicates the end of a line
in both Dao Zang-editions. The JZ-edition is only quoted in footnotes, when larger differences or additions have to be noted. The sign T stands for one or more additional
characters as compared to NDJ, ° for an omission. Superscript numbers indicate the
number of additional or omitted characters as compared to NDJ.
. The night was divided into five «night-watches» – g‰ng 更 – therefore the
indicated time would be before midnight. However, «there is considerable difficulty in obtaining detailed definitions of these watches in the various schemes which appear to have been current from time to time», as Needham, Wang Ling and de Solla Price (, p. ) say in the Appendix on Chinese Horary Systems.
. JZ a.: 定神 T入室,燒香盤. «Concentrate the spirit(s) and enter the room,
light an incense plate». Various utensils for burning incense are described in Bedini
(, ). Incense trays, plates, or spirals allow one to measure time, but unfortunately our text does not specify the time needed for the exercise. The partitioning of
the method, however, indicates awareness of measured parts of time following each
other, and not an attitude to loose oneself in the experience.
RUDOLF PFISTER
Block up the breathing gradually to a halt, and you sense left and right the
greater yáng channel, which has a double course. Flow events from the great
molar are linked downwards with the greater yáng, enter the vertex gate
(dı̌ng mén), and arrive at the palace of the mud ball (ní-wán gúng). That
means doing one sequel . Now open the eye for quite a long time. Close the
eyes again and actualise the spirits. Roll in the tongue as before, wait till the
flow events arrive at the palace of the mud ball, then stop. Practise every
night three times like this. Practise several nights, or a decade, or half a
month. Gradually you sense the flow events arrive at the palace of the mud
ball, afterwards flowing into the brain [marrow] (nǎo), descending to the
twelve rings of the multi-storied pagoda (chóng lóu), passing the clamp of
the backbone (jia jı̌), and run to the gate at the tailbone (wěi lǘ) . Above,
it enters the heart and is linked to the gallbladder. You sense it lukewarm in
the midst of the breast, and subtly sense imagination and thought to be
agreeable and mild. Thus is the lowering of the true flow events. If practising like this for several nights, one afterwards feels the flow events gradually moving towards the heart. Afterwards you subtly sense it lukewarm, or
the flow events of the heart’s tip are subtly moved [aroused], but there is a
lukewarm flow event, which leaves the heart behind and ascends, passes the
multi-storied pagoda, and enters below the tongue. Gradually you sense
some bitterness in the mouth. This is then the flow event of the central yel. JZ a.-: 閉息漸°覺左右太陽經,有兩道, / 氣°大牙根上貫T二太陽, T次
入頂門。覺二氣/交 T合,即為一次。却閉眼良久,亦閉目 。(«Block up the breathing, gradually you sense left and right the greater yáng channel, which has a double
course. Flow events [from] the great molar are linked upwards with the two greater
yáng [courses], enter thereupon the vertex gate. If you sense the two flow events uniting, this means doing one sequel. Now close the eye for quite a long time, also close
the eyes»). Italics added to highlight differences. «Upwards» is inserted at the place
of «downwards» in NDJ. The last sentence seems to be corrupt, with its repetition of
the verb «to close».
. These current medieval Chinese names for locations in the body (see Despeux, ) can be identified as follows: the «vertex gate» – dı̌ng mén 頂門 – names
the vertex point of the skull, considered to be a gate for flow events; the «palace of
the mud ball» – ní-wán gúng 泥丸宮, i.e. the brain; ní-wán 泥丸, here literally rendered as «mud ball», and possibly alluding to the brain’s consistence, means also nirvana, «extinction»; the «[twelve rings of the] multi-storied pagoda» – chóng lóu
shí’èr huán 重樓十二環 – stand for the trachea, which is formed by - cartilaginous rings (Cartilago cricoidea); «clamp of the backbone» – jia jı̌ 脊 – refers to the
region of the hips, below the kidneys, treated as a pass, forming a clamp on both
sides of the spine; the «gate at the tailbone» – wěi lǘ 尾閭 – is the coccyx, again considered as a gate for flow events.
PHOSPHENES AND INNER LIGHT EXPERIENCES
low. Going out from the gallbladder, y¤n and yáng being greatly mixed, soon
you have the representation of the lowering of the cinnabar. After it was like
this, at the beginning of the nightly practice, have a person standing outside
the gate [of the house], who keeps off entering persons, as well as cats, dogs,
and the like. The reason is that one fears to startle each other all of a sudden. If you come to practise every night three sequels, you need at times in
front of your seat, placed crosswise, one [small] table, when you suddenly,
during the moving of the flow events, feel that rump and limbs gradually enlarge. The refined spirits (j¤ng shén) gush up and sparkle (téng-téng), gradually you see living quarters (zhù zhái) and walled cities (chéng shì) . Sky
and earth are within your body. On one body you sense ascending the filling up of the sky, and descending the blocking up of the earth . If you know
no more the whereabouts of hands and feet, then quickly press the table
with your hands. With closed eyes you merely sense at the heart’s tip a lump
of radiant brightness, ball-shaped like the sun, which suddenly tumbles and
falls; this then is the lowering of the cinnabar. After the lowering of the
cinnabar you cannot casually open the eyes. Little by little bring back the refined spirits. Return the four limbs, hands and feet. Then you’re again the
old; sometimes one senses in hands and feet some light tingling (má). Fix
some time on the sobering (dìng xı̌ng), afterwards open your eyes. Eat some
ginseng soup. Then sleep until the coming of the day [morning]. Eat porridge meals. Relax for one or two days. This is the effect of the lowering of
the cinnabar: after the lowering of the cinnabar the hundred ailments are
abolished, and you remain without the bitterness of malady and adversity.
. JZ b.-a.: 至 / 每夜行三T兩次,時°於坐前橫一几,忽然氣衝 / 覺身體漸
大。精神騰騰,漸見屋舍人物山河 /°皆在T我身T之內。° («If you come to practise
every night three double sequels, you [need] at times in front of your seat, placed
crosswise, one [small] table, when suddenly the flow events push you forward, you
feel that rump and limbs gradually enlarge. The refined spirits gush up and sparkle,
gradually you see rooms and buildings, human beings, mountains and streams, which
reside all in one’s own body»). Italics added to highlight differences.
. JZ omits ten characters.
. 口訣: / 行持下手之初,先須以飲食養和五藏。不可 / 失飢過飽,心田安靜,
無憂無愁,乃可入道也。/ 凡於二更盡三更初,先須洗漱,於靜室燒香 / 盤。膝坐,閉
目,存神,候息,出入勻調。以舌倒卷 / 塞定舌根兩竅。閉息漸次,覺左右太陽經,有 /
兩道,氣從大牙根下貫太陽,入頂門至泥丸 / 宮,即為一次。却開眼良久,再閉目,存
神。依前 / 卷舌,候氣至泥丸宮,即止。如此每夜行三次。/ 行數夜或旬日或半月,
漸覺氣到泥丸宮,後 / 流入腦,下重樓十二環,過夾脊,串尾閭到。上 / 入心貫膽。覺
胸中溫溫,微覺意思和暢。乃是 / 真氣降也。如此又行數夜,後漸覺氣到心。後 /
微覺溫溫,或心頭氣微動,却有溫氣,後心而 / 上,過重樓,入舌下。漸覺口中微苦,
乃是中黃 / 之氣。自膽而出,陰陽大和,將有降丹之象也。/ 如此之後,每夜行持之
初,令一人在門外,以 / 絕入來之人及猫狗等,恐忽然相驚故也。至 / 每夜行三次,
RUDOLF PFISTER
TIME: Towards midnight.
If someone’s usual sleep rhythm is to go to bed before midnight,
the late hour to begin the exercise might imply a hypnagogic state;
the adept would probably be sleepy, or in a pre-sleep mood, and
therefore more susceptible to phosphene experiences, etc. And even
without closing the eyes outside light will be minimal.
LOCATION: A special chamber, secured by another person.
The intention is to reduce as far as possible outside disturbances,
after some progress has been made. This is of technical importance,
as it is well known that a person without or with reduced external
stimuli is likely to be easily scared, or at least more easily irritated by
outside happenings or intruders .
PRE-CONDITIONS: Normally filled belly; calm, unoccupied mind;
body cleaning and gargling.
This helps to reduce potentially disturbing sensations arising from
within one’s own body, like belly sounds, feeling of fullness, etc.
Thought contents should be kept minimal, in order to concentrate.
Preparatory gargling is necessary, because the anticipated taste changes
can be discriminated better with a fresh feeling in the mouth. Body
odour or food remains in the mouth might distract concentration .
時須於坐前橫一几,忽行氣間 / 覺身體漸大。精神騰騰,漸見住宅與諸城市 / 天
地皆在身內。一身上覺充天,下覺塞地。手 / 足皆不知所在,乃急以手按几。閉目
只覺心 / 頭一塊光明團團如日,忽然墜落乃是丹降 / 也。丹降之後,不可便開眼,
漸漸收拾精神。却 / 歸四體手足。却復舊,或覺手足微麻。定省多 / 時,然後開
眼。喫人參湯。乃睡至來日。喫粥食。/ 將息一二日。乃丹降畢功也。丹降之後,百
病 / 消除,更無疾厄之苦也。(NDJ b.-b., see JZ a.-a.. See Eskildsen, ,
pp. - for a paraphrasis.)
. See Knoll (, p. ); Eichmeier, Höfer (, p. ) say sensory deprivation can be accompanied with anxiousness, somatic afflictions, temporal or spatial
disorientation, and visual hallucinations. Mavromatis (, p. ) states: «On the
cognitive-affective level, hypnagogia is characterized by receptivity and susceptibility to suggestions (paralleled on the physiological level by a sensitivity to external and
internal stimuli)». Compare Eskildsen (, pp. -), for a Quanzhen text which
warns from frightening experiences.
. Already Maury (, p. ) noted: «L’attention ne devant être provoquée par
rien, afin de ne point arrêter la manifestation du phénomène, il est nécessaire qu’aucun objet ne frappe les yeux, qu’aucun son trop bruyant ne tienne l’oreille occupée,
qu’aucune odeur trop forte n’agisse sur l’odorat. De là, la nécessité absolue de l’occlusion des yeux pour que les hallucinations aient lieu». See above, text B for similar precautions against disturbances.
PHOSPHENES AND INNER LIGHT EXPERIENCES
POSITION: Kneeling; closed eyes.
The eyes are kept closed in order to minimise stimulation of the
retina by light. The kneeling position prevents falling asleep during
the exercise. Maintenance of the upright posture allows similar blood
flow as in a standing position, which in comparison to lying on the
back might well influence the experience .
TONGUE POSITIONING: Tip of tongue rolled towards the sublingual
fold (Plica sublingualis) in order to cover the ducts of the sublingual gland.
In the commentary to the third verse, «on the red lotus leaf’s underside the cinnabar cavities are storing», we find a community-specific theory on the link between inner flux and psychic events:
The left of the paired openings below the tongue connects to the heart, the
right connects to the gallbladder. If true flow events (zh‰n qì) flow and gush,
spiritual brightness will permeate. If therefore the human body is agitated,
the saps below the tongue dry up, and their true flow events are used up. At
the beginning of the first cycle, the blocking of the paired openings with the
tongue causes the true flow events not to leak to the outside, whereby the
spiritual waters permeate .
By closing off the ducts of the sublingual gland one expects to induce
inner flows, called «true flow events» – zh‰n qì 真氣, leading eventually to «spiritual brightness» – shén míng 神明 – here probably a
state of being flooded with inner light. As in many other psychophysical techniques, leakage is considered to be detrimental to
life-giving flows, and a dry mouth, the stopping of saliva production
is seen as a result of «being not calm», or «agitated» – bù an 不安 .
. Nielsen () proposes an upright position, where the head is unsupported
to induce hypnagogic imagery.
. {紅蓮葉下藏丹穴。} / 舌下兩竅左通心,右通膽。真氣流注,以通 / 神明。故
人身不安,則舌下液乾以其真氣 / 耗也。一轉之首,以舌閉其兩竅,使真氣不 / 泄於
外,以通其神水也。(NDJ b.-; see JZ a.-). JZ a.- varies the commentary: °自兩
竅°通心,兩竅通液。°
人有病 / 者,則舌下T津液乾而其真氣耗°。(«From the
paired openings [below the red lotus, that is the tongue] there is a connection to the
heart; the paired openings let the [body] saps permeate. If a person has an illness, the
salivary saps below the tongue dry up, and their true flow events are used up».)
. For a tentative interpretation of some implications of the term shén míng 神
明, see the short study Pfister (). Medieval knowledge on the salivary glands and
considerations about leakage are discussed in Pfister (forthcoming).
RUDOLF PFISTER
BREATH REGULATION: Gradually blocking up respiration.
Slowing down the expiration, sometimes accompanied by counting heart beats and other counting measures for the period of breath
retention, is a common Daoist method. It is used to concentrate on inner events, and therapeutically . In our text it is related to a sensation
of the flows of the «greater yáng channel» – tài yáng j¤ng 太陽經 (see
FIG. ). The pressure change in the head, caused by the breath retention, probably together with sensations felt at the tip of the tongue, is
interpreted as the pulsation coming from both sides of the mouth, from
the direction of the molars, and furthermore reaching out to the crown
The hand greater yáng channel of the small intestine
FIGURE
Illustration taken from Classified Medical Classics: Illustrated Wing (Lei Jing Tu Yi 類經圖翼, , p. )
of by Zhang Jiebin 張介賓 (-).
. See Needham (, pp. -) and Engelhardt (, p. ), on techniques
to «block up the flow events [or flow of respiration]» – bì qì 閉氣.
PHOSPHENES AND INNER LIGHT EXPERIENCES
of the head and brain. As can be seen in FIG. , a downward linking (as
it is mentioned in NDJ) would go from the cheek towards the back of
the shoulder and run along the outer parts of the arm, whereas an upward linking (as proposed in JZ) connects the cheek with the ear.
POSTULATED EVENTS DURING HYPNAGOGIC STATE.
(a) Sensations of flow events.
A detailed description of the inner circulation can probably also be
taken as prescriptive: the adept is oriented at the outset on what kind
of sensations to expect, and can visualise the inner streams accordingly. Flowing from the trachea downwards along the spine to the tailbone, upwards into the brain marrow, and also connecting to the heart
and gallbladder inner streaming makes itself felt during the exercise.
A lukewarm feeling in the breast region comes together with mild
thought content. Such signs are taken as feedback, and help the
adept through the continuing process. When the flow events arrive
at certain locations, this is a clear indication that one has made some
progress in the process of «lowering the cinnabar».
Bits of a very general topographic knowledge of certain bodily regions and postulated interrelationships between them display an intention of the text-producing collective to explain the experienced
phenomena in relation to human physiology. The commentary attempts to give a precise description of the circulating flux:
At the beginning of putting one’s hand on, block the paired openings below
the tongue; do not let the flow events leak to the outside. The flow events to
the left and right of the paired openings enter by itself and is moving upwards.
At the left it is connected to the left greater yáng [channel], and it enters into
the brain [marrow]. Left and right pass together the brain [marrow] and arrive at the centre of the vertex; at the place of the commissure of the palace of
the mud ball [either the Pons and/or the Medulla oblongata] they descend to
the twelve rings of the multi-storied pagoda [trachea] and enter the heart ;
. JZ b.- alters to: 其左邊°之氣°
貫T於左太陽而入腦。T 右 / 邊之氣貫於
右太陰而入腦,左右俱過腦 / 而入頂,泥丸宮合成一處下重樓十二環 / 入心 («The
flow events to their left side are connected with the left greater yáng [channel] and enter the brain [marrow]. The flow events to their right side are connected to the right
greater yáng and enter the brain [marrow]. Left and right pass together the brain [marrow] and enter the vertex; at the place of the commissure of the palace of the mud ball
they descend to the twelve rings of the multi-storied pagoda and enter the heart».) Ap-
RUDOLF PFISTER
they are transmitted to the gallbladder and push open the gall’s openings
(dǎn qiào). This causes that the quickening flow events (sh‰ng qì) from the
midst of the gallbladder are moving upwards, following the heart’s and gall’s
veins (mài), which are connected to the tongue’s openings. This causes the
tongue to sense a bitter taste. As soon as the quickening flow events pour
and gush, the lowering of the cinnabar takes place .
(b) Bitter taste in the mouth.
As the flux of the «quickening flow events» – sh‰ng qì 生氣 – is
gushing upwards, a bitter taste is caused in the mouth; again the commentary elaborates the point:
The name of the quickening flow events of the heavenly unity is central yellow. Its flow events are stored in the gallbladder, and are considered to be
root and origin of dispositions and life mandate. Its taste is bitter, as the
roots and stalks of I don’t know which flowers and trees are bitter as well .
Recognize from that, the ten thousand beings without quickening flow
events are not capable to live. The remedy of the inner cinnabar: first of all
block the paired openings below the tongue, which are inwardly connected
with the quickening flow events in the gallbladder. Coming between throat
and tongue, they have a subtly bitter taste; these are quickening flow events
passing freely. Afterwards beg the spirits to build the cinnabar .
parently JZ tries to correct the somehow garbled text of NDJ in these sentences. It seems
however clear, that both texts wanted to neatly describe the symmetrical courses of the
greater yáng channel on both sides of the head. If NDJ intended to make a point about
a different and specific left course (on the heart side), remains undecidable.
. 下手之初,先閉舌下兩竅,不令氣泄於外。/ 左右兩竅之氣,自內而上行,左
貫左太陽 / 而入腦。右(→左*)右俱過腦至頂心,泥丸宮合成 / 一處下重樓十二環
入心,經傳入膽,衝開 / 膽竅。使膽中生氣上行,隨心膽之脉,貫於 / 舌竅。使舌覺有
苦味。乃是生氣流注,欲降/丹也。(NDJ b.-a.; see JZ a.-b.; * emendation after JZ.)
. JZ b.- augments: 其味苦, T故人之膽氣味亦 / 苦。如草木之根華其°
味亦苦。(«Its taste is bitter, because the flow events of the gallbladder of a person are
also bitter. Similar to the roots and flowers of herbs and trees, is its taste bitter, too».)
. 天一生氣名曰中黃。其氣藏於膽,以為性 / 命之根元。其味苦,至如無知花
木根蔕之 / 味亦苦。乃知萬物非生氣,不能生也。內丹 / 之藥,先閉舌下兩竅,內通
膽中生氣,至喉 / 舌之間,有微微苦味,是生氣通流。然後求 / 神為丹也。/ (NDJ a.; see JZ b.-a..) JZ a.- alters the final sentences: 至喉舌之間,微覺°味苦,是 / 丹
氣流通。然後汞水T凝結而成丹也。(«Coming between throat and tongue, you subtly sense the taste bitter; these are the cinnabar’s flow events passing freely. Afterwards
the quicksilver fluid (hóng shuǐ) coagulates and builds the cinnabar (elixir)».)
PHOSPHENES AND INNER LIGHT EXPERIENCES
It is not clear to me what might cause this bitter taste, but it could
well be an effect of the hypnagogic state. There are reports of olfactory and gustatory phenomena accompanying visual percepts during
such states . However that may be, our text gives much importance
to the bitter taste by interpreting it repeatedly as a crucial sign, which
marks the achievement of a free-flowing life force in one’s body .
(c) Changed body image, enlarging limbs.
Changes of the body image are discussed in the comment to the
second verse of the introductory poem: Mountains and Streams, Space
and Time (yǔ zhòu) Trickle through the Nifty Body Hull . It says:
During the lowering of the cinnabar, the spirit(s) (shén) wander(s) to the
outside of the [earthly] quadrants (fang wài). Are y¤n and yáng greatly
mixed, one forgets one’s bodily form. Sky and earth, mountains and streams,
the six conjunctions [space directions] (liù hé) and the ten thousand beings
are within my body. My body resides outside of sky and earth .
Add to this the remarks quoted above from the Oral Instruction, that
«sky and earth are within your body». Such wanderings of the spirit(s) are state typical outcomes of hypnagogic relaxation. Andreas
Mavromatis (, pp. , -) notes what fits well with the above
indications of text C:
. Mavromatis (, p. ): «Hypnagogic smells vary from a “horrible stench”
to the smell of a rose that “smelt much nicer than ever a real rose could smell”, and
they are often, but not always, accompanied by an appropriate visual image. Some
hypnagogic smells are so realistic that, for instance, people may get out of bed to
make sure that they have not left the oven on [...]. Maury and Leaning also reported gustatory images». Klüver (, p. ): «As regards taste, it happens for example
that all food taken during the mescal states tastes “like water” or that saliva has the
taste of good wine. But in general, changes in the olfactory and gustatory fields seem
to be rather infrequent».
. Compare Eskildsen (, pp. -), on «sights, sounds, tastes, and sensations» as «signs of proof» – zhèng yàn 證驗 – in Quanzhen Daoism. As such they
where often interpreted as «resulting from the aid of kind immortals». Interestingly, only sweet and no bitter taste (of the saliva) is reported as confirming experience
in Eskildsen’s textual selection.
. {山河宇宙透靈軀。} (NDJ a.; see JZ a..)
. 丹降之時, / 神遊方外,陰陽太和,至忘其形。天地山可(→河*) / 六合萬物
在我身之內。我身在天地之外。(NDJ a.-b.; see JZ a.-; * emendation after JZ a..)
RUDOLF PFISTER
«In the light-to-middle hypnagogia, when physical relaxation is considerable but mentally there is an awareness of external reality, body schema distortions and floating or drifting are reported». And: «[...] not infrequently
the hypnagogist may lose his body schema altogether or that events outside
himself are experienced “as something happening to and around his
body”». «[T]wo processes [are] characteristic of sleep onset: a disintegration of the various parts and functions of the ego, and a diminution of the
ego’s differentiation». «[...], in the progression of hypnagogia the boundaries of the “body ego” (body schematization and identification) “begin to
be blurred and to become fused with the external world [...] perceptions are
localized as sensations in a particular bodily region and at the same time as
processes in the external world. [...]”».
(d) The small table used for reality checking when bodily outlines blur.
Our text advises to put a «small table» – j¤ 几 – in front of one’s
seating mat in order to reach out to it, when – because of the raising
flow events – one is pushed forward, or when one has the feeling of
gradual enlargement of rump and limbs . One should quickly press
this table while loosing awareness of the whereabouts of hands and
feet in order to regain immediately a sense of distinct bodily outlines.
Alterations of bodily dimensions or disturbances of the body image likewise are frequently seen and characteristic features of hypnagogic states .
(e) Phosphene experiences, auto-symbolic phenomena.
The opening verse defines the effect of the «lowering of the
cinnabar [elixir]», and is followed by a comment:
. Archeologically found Sui dynasty models of «small tables», and especially
small tablelike furniture to lean on while sitting on a mat, are discussed in Yang Ailing (). Such a reclining device might well be intended in our text as well.
. Mavromatis () discusses body schema/image alterations and/or disturbances on pp. , , -, , , . He notes on p. : «Feelings of bodily distortion or “body image disturbances” include the enlargement or shrinkage of parts
of the body, the blurring of bodily outlines or parts of it, “mouth distortions”,
weightlessness. Sartre notes that “one’s body is but vaguely felt, and even more
vaguely, the contact with the bed sheets and mattress. The spatial position of the
body is but poorly localized. Orientation is confused. The perception of time is uncertain”». Klüver (, p. ) says of the mescaline experience, that limbs feel either
abnormally heavy or light. A similar alteration of the body image is frequently mentioned as q¤ng sh‰n 輕身, «[sensation of a] light body, a lightened body» in old and
medieval Chinese texts, see Pfister (forthcoming).
PHOSPHENES AND INNER LIGHT EXPERIENCES
[Verse :] The first cycle’s effect resembles a precious pearl.
[Comment:] The true waters of the heavenly unity are collecting in the
gallbladder. Y¤n and yáng blend and unite, lower and build the cinnabar
[elixir]. Its form is like the drop of a dew pearl .
In this physiological alchemy some special inner fluids are accompanied by flashes of light, which are here compared to dewdrops, and
a bit further on to a radiant lightball: «However, if you feel in the
midst of this a dot of radiant brightness like the sun, it is the lowering of the cinnabar» .
From the passage of Oral Instructions quoted above, we repeat
the sentence: «With closed eyes you merely sense at the heart’s tip a
lump of radiant brightness, ball-shaped like the sun, which suddenly tumbles and falls; this then is the lowering of the cinnabar».
In the inner observational space of the breast region phosphene
flashes are apparently felt at the «heart’s tip» – x¤n tóu 心頭 – which
is about pointing to the pit of the stomach . All four quotes take
phosphenes as indicators of a successful first cycle . Moreover, the
light mental relaxation, which lets one see «flashes of light» and
«clouds of colours» (found in texts A and B as well) is complemented now not only by «drifting», «swelling», «floating» (see the points
a, c and d above), which indicate a middle stage of relaxation , but
. {一轉之功似寶珠。}天一真水藏之於膽。陰陽和合降而為丹。/ 狀如露珠
一顆。(NDJ a.-; see JZ a., b.-.) JZ b. slightly reformulates the last sentence:
T
初降之狀如露°
一顆T明珠。(«Its form at the beginning of the lowering is like the
bright pearl of a drop of dew».)
. 只覺此中一點光明如日,乃丹降也。(NDJ b.). JZ a.- writes instead: 只
覺心中一點光 / 明乃T是丹降也。(«However, if you feel in the midst of the heart
a dot of radiant brightness, this then is the lowering of the cinnabar».) Let us note
in passing, that Robinet (a, p. ) cites a text of Zhang Boduan, which similarly
phrases the light experience as «une parcelle de lumière divine» – y¤ diǎn líng guang
一點靈光, and where the circulation of the inner light is emphasized.
. Nielsen () proposes that attention should be directed to an observational space in the head or chest region.
. Eichmeier, Höfer (, pp. , ) report that such light patterns are taken
by Asian insight schools as a sign for deep meditative states, or as guiding to a deepening of meditation.
. See the three-stage model of the hypnagogic syndrome, as presented in
Mavromatis (, p. ). He writes: «Flashes of light and colour spots and clouds
seem to belong to the light stage and appear as the subject begins to relax and with-
RUDOLF PFISTER
also by hypnagogic hallucinations. The following specification repeats once again the Oral Instructions: «The refined spirits (j¤ng shén)
gush up and sparkle (téng-téng), gradually you see living quarters
(zhù zhái) and walled cities (chéng shì)».
Heinrich Klüver stated in an article of that there exist four
different «form constants» in mescaline or hypnagogic hallucinations, namely:
(I) checkerboard, lattice, fretwork, honeycomb,
(II) cobwebs,
(III) tunnel, funnel, alley, cone, and
(IV) spiral .
FIG. shows some of Purkyně’s illustrations of pressure phosphenes,
and some of the form constants .
draw at sleep onset or as he [sic] begins to awake at the hypnopompic end. Vividness, luminosity and intensity of colour are also dimensions that increase in accordance with the depth of the state». Manford and Andermann (, pp. -) follow up on the same line: «The content of the hallucinations is dramatic; they are usually in vivid colours and may evolve from simple spots of light through geometric
patterns to complex images, or they may be complex from the outset. Sufferers [sic]
often see human figures or faces (sometimes torsos without heads or vice versa); animals (real or bizarre), sometimes in miniature (Lilliputian hallucinations) or scenery
of outstanding beauty. [...] The emotional reaction to the images may be neutral,
pleasant fascination or extreme fear».
. Now in Klüver (, pp. -). Checkerboard and lattice are also called tessellopsia «to reflect the repeated geometry of the descriptions (from the Greek-derived Latin word tessera, a small tile used in mosaics)», see ffytche, Howard (,
pp. quote, - discussion of tessellopsia).
. For more drawings of electrically induced phosphenes, see Eichmeier, Höfer
(). See also the frontispice with croquis of hypnagogic hallucinations by Marie
Jean Léon Le Coq D’Hervey de Saint-Denys (, p. ), to which he explains: «A
peine certaines personnes ont-elles fermé les yeux pour s’endormir, qu’elles aperçoivent comme un fourmillement d’images capricieuses qui sont l’avant-garde des
visions mieux formées, et qui annoncent ainsi l’approche du sommeil. Tantôt, ces
hallucinations représentent des objets déterminés, quelque fantasques et défigurés
qu’ils puissent être; tantôt, ce ne sont que de petites roues lumineuses, de petits soleils qui tournent rapidement sur eux-mêmes, de petites bulles de couleurs variées
qui montent et descendent, ou bien de légers fils d’or, d’argent, de pourpre, de vertémeraude, qui semblent se croiser ou s’enrouler symétriquement de mille manières
avec un frémissement continuel, formant une infinité de petits cercles, de petits losanges et d’autres petites figures régulières, assez semblables à ces fines arabesques
qui ornent les fonds des tableaux byzantins».
PHOSPHENES AND INNER LIGHT EXPERIENCES
PurkynÍ’s pressure phosphenes, : FIGS. - (above), , a-b, (below)
FIGURE
Self-repeating form constants, or tessellopsia, like checkerboard and
lattice can easily be visually re-interpreted as brickwork, and associated with walls of houses, forming now all kinds of figurative hallucinations, natural scenes, faces and figures .
. Knoll (, pp. -) speaks of the associative process of the visionary which
forms figurative visions out of geometrical light patterns. Eichmeier and Höfer (,
p. ) state that houses, animals and people are typical features of the concrete third
phase of the hypnagogic process, which are not seen in the preceding phases which
have subspecific or geometric light patterns. They quote p. Swami Sivananda from
Rishikesh with the words: «You can see beautiful gardens, palatial buildings, rivers,
mountains, golden temples, sceneries so lovely and picturesque as cannot be adequately described». Mavromatis (, p. ), says that visual phenomena like «circles,
diamonds, and other small regular shapes [are] often developing into complicated
structures, faces, scenes or landscapes». He quotes experiences, where somebody sees
«the brilliant sunlit street of some Eastern city» (p. ), «[s]trange and beautiful buildings of coming ages» (p. ), and comments: «More urbane landscapes are also reported in the form of outstanding buildings of unusual construction as well as of common streets and buildings» (p. ). See also his FIGS. ., ., ., pp. -. The wall
paintings of the Lukhang in Lhasa, dating to the late th century, whose rooms were
used exclusively for rDzogs chen meditation by the respective Dalai Lama, show the
RUDOLF PFISTER
And this is precisely what happens in our text C, which speaks of
«living quarters and walled cities» (NDJ), or «rooms and buildings,
human beings, mountains and streams» (JZ), which would correspond to a even deeper mental relaxation than the «radiant brightness», «ball-shaped like the sun», which displays the typical quick
movement of phosphenes, as it «suddenly tumbles and falls».
As this deeper stage of mental relaxation is considered the culmination and achievement of the first cycle in Mister Chen’s Instructions
on the Inner Cinnabar, we can now appreciate the care Chen Pu took
to guide his disciples through the meditative process systematically.
He managed in the th century CE () to give many practical indications
on breathing, the posture, time and necessary furniture; () to sort out
the main features of the hypnagogic state, like the phosphenes, hypnagogic hallucinations, the distortions of the body image; () to point
out valuable signs of success, like the bitter taste in the mouth, the light
flashes, the emerging figures and forms; and last but not least, () to
make an attempt at theoretical explanation of processes with the
means of psychophysiological knowledge of his time and place. The
main features of the hypnagogic state were considered to be only of
preparatory character, and not taken as an end in itself.
Outlook
Consciousness studies focused in recent years more and more on «the
view from within», that is, on subjective states, first-person accounts, introspection, and the like (Varela, Shear, ). Thereby it is of considerable interest to see how cognitive abilities may be constituted by proprioceptive sensibility, certain actions, and environmental manipulation.
Subjective light appearances, with their characteristic form constants, are probably generated by the primary visual cortex, and seem
basic form constants – lattice, spiral, and conic rainbow-coloured ray patterns. Cf.
Baker (, pp. -, -, - with ills., and - text), who states p. : «The
display of Dharmata, the ultimate nature, appears as shapes of bright and brilliant,
five-coloured horizontal and vertical streamers of light, in the forms of checkered
and crisscrossed designs, domes, stupas and thousand-petalled lotus flowers...
wheels, vajras, jewels, and countless other shapes».
PHOSPHENES AND INNER LIGHT EXPERIENCES
to have universal character . Their descriptions can be assessed in
written documents of many periods and peoples.
We have seen in medieval Chinese examples, that subjective
light appearances were clearly differentiated from usual percepts,
and even taken to be «false details». According to ancient culturespecific physiological opinions, one assumed them to be productions of a body sap, called «essence». With elaborated theoretical
considerations one thought to explain processes of the body, together with the emerging light patterns, mainly through the analysis
of inner flux and streaming, which links up localities in the rump.
Postulated events in the body seemed to have specific outcomes if
one followed such outlines of one’s thought community, as seen in
our textual examples. The inner light with its quickening force, an
overflowing élan vital, which at times leads to overwhelming experiences, running through the whole body, could not but give one the
impression to be invigorated. Life is a sparkling and gushing flow
event! The techniques require deliberate avoidance of outside disturbances and rigorous effort over extended periods of time. The
beliefs were practically and individually oriented, and thought to be
techniques of the self and its survival.
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