心斋
Xin Zhai
The Fasting of the Heart-Mind
—The following article is based on ad verbatim notes of lectures by Li Shifu at Five Immortals Temple (fiveimmortals.com) in the Wudang mountain range, thus containing mild forms of colloquialisms—-
The Fasting of the Heart [xin zhai 心斋] encompasses two concepts; the outside nature and character [xing zhi性质] and the inside nature and character. Zhai [斋] denotes bathing your body and mind [mu yu shen xing沐浴身心]. Xin [心] stands for the Heart-Mind, thoughts and thinking.
If the principles are clear, then these concepts can be easily comprehended.
The outside or external concept is about refraining from eating foods which you are not supposed to eat in order to connect with nature, naturalness, Heaven and Earth. The goal of fasting is to get rid of the external character and nature [wai zai xing zhi外在性质] and its inherent desires. This serves the purpose of purifying and calming your Self. It could be considered the issue of the leaves and branches of a tree, and the prohibition is known by the name of the Abstention of the Mouth. The emphasis is on not eating meat, in the form of a fasting precept [chi zhai吃斋], called Fasting of the Mouth [zhai kou 斋口]. In Islam Muslims comply with a fasting month [zhai yue斋月], in Buddhism they have Da Qi Zhai [打七斋], which is some kind of a fasting period or ritual, and in Daoism there are many fasting ceremonies. It is the most problematic, if you do not eat meat, yet in your mind you wish to do so.
The inside or internal concepts points to the Heart-Mind [xin 心]. It is not the branches of a tree, but the roots, as desires spring forth from the Heart-Mind as its source. That is the reason why the Fasting of the Heart [xin zhai 心斋] truly starts on the level of thoughts. The fasting and abstention of thinking is true fasting; fittingly called the Fasting of Thoughts [si wei zhai 思维斋]. You might be sitting still in meditation on the outside, yet you are partying in your thoughts. Thus calm and purify your body and mind. You might wear Daoist robes, yet it does not make you a Daoist, since your mind, thoughts and thinking are falling short by a mile. The process of Fasting of the Heart could be exemplified in the analogy of writing characters. It takes one to two years before the lines are straight and it does not happen right from the onset. Writing needs to be refined. The Chinese words generally translated as Cultivation in English is made up of two characters; Cultivation & Refinement [xiu lian修炼], opting to condense it to Cultivation in English inaccurately reflects its deeper strata of meaning and does not do justice to its profundity.
Firstly practitioners of the past refined themselves not to be plagued by hunger pains in their belly. The precepts are thus put in place in order to instruct you to refrain from doing what you should not do; it is the starting point, such as the precept of not injuring humans or animals alike. Contemplate if you are able to do it or not. Eventually the Fasting Precept [zhai jie 斋戒] becomes a habit over time and will be adhered to naturally. It is however a process from natural to unnatural.
