The following post is collated from notes from several Internal Alchemy courses at Five Immortals Temple lectured and lead by the abbot Li Shifu [Xing De]. Any mistakes or misrepresentations are entirely my own:
辟谷
Abstention from Grains [part 2]
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The question to be raised is why humans still depend on the intake of food. Food and lust [shi se食色] are the most innate and natural instincts [bing xing 禀性] of humans. As Mencius said:
食色性也。
By nature [we] desire food and sex.
However, the human mouth was designed by the creators to be filled. Thus, babies cry, when they are hungry. Once they are fed, they immediately stop, as they inherently know that the power and energy from the diet is to prolong and continue life. When Essence is ample [jing man 精满], Qi full [qi zu 气足] and Spirit complete [shen quan 神全], there would be no need for fasting anymore, because you would have been freed from the necessity to eat and abilities would naturally build up. Atop a certain foundation of your thoughts [yi ding si wei ji chu shang 一定死为基础上] you establish other channels of powers to enter the body, for instance the ability of not eating for seven days, three months, three years or even a few decades. You would close and open your eyes and a few hundred years would have gone by. You need this power to accurately use the word Abstention from Grains [辟谷], otherwise it is just the experience of starvation and suppressing hunger, and when you watch others eat, it will be hard to endure the sight within your Heart-Mind.
The Internal Alchemy [nei dan 内丹] content is about natural fasting, which is the second level of fasting. Therefore, it could be called Natural Abstention from Grains [zi ran bi gu 自然辟谷], since it is not coerced or forceful in any shape or form:
不饿不吃,
不吃不饿。
Not hungry- not eating.
Not eating -not hungry.
[1] Congenital and Acquired Essence
