wandelaar

Tian Gu

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According to Yang, Jwing-Ming in his book The Dao De Jing: A Qigong Interpretation the term "tian gu" refers to the space between the two lobes of the brain. How old is that meaning?Ā 

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I looked for where it says that in the book, and I think it says "shen gu" rather than tian gu. I tried searching forĀ ē„žč°· shen gu, but couldn't find anythingĀ in historical texts (on ctext) that had a reference related to the brain (also did a quick google search). Maybe the idea comes from somewhere in the Daoist Canon.

Edited by Aetherous

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36 minutes ago, wandelaar said:

See page 520.

Ā 

Ah okay I see that now, I found shen gu on page xlvi.

Actually, I just found "tian gu" on page 40...it's from "The Original Collection of Zi Qing Zhi" or ē“«ęø…ęŒ‡å…ƒé›†, written by Bai Yu Chan...who I think may have lived in the Song dynasty, and was the Sixth Patriarch of the southern branch ofĀ Quanzhen Dao, according to this book.

Ā 

This might be the Chinese text of it.

Ā 

This other Song-Ming era Daoist text might be a reference to tian gu.

Edited by Aetherous
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Yang also speaks ofĀ shen gu in his book. What I am wondering about is whether anatomical knowledge in the time of Lao tzu was such that talk about a valley could have referred to the space between the two lobes of the brain.

Ā 

Ā 

Edited by wandelaar
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16 minutes ago, wandelaar said:

Yang also speaks ofĀ shen gu in his book. What I am wondering about is whether anatomical knowledge in the time of Lao tzu was such that talk about a valley could have referred to the space between the two lobes of the brain.

Ā 

Ā 

Quote

the valley-like space between the two lobes of the brain is called ā€œShen Guā€ (#ā– Ā£ā– ) (Spiritual Valley) or ā€œTian Guā€ ( A^T) (Heaven Valley) where the ā€œGu Shenā€ ( -2Mt) (Valley Spirit) resides. This valley acts as an energy chamber that allows your thinking to vibrate and resonate with the surrounding energy and communicate with other natural spirits. The front end of the valley is the 221 Qigong Meditation ā€œHeaven Eyeā€ (Tian Yan, or ā€œHeaven Gateā€ (Tian Men, Ef 1 ) and is what the Western world calls ā€œThe Third Eye.ā€

Ā 

It is believed that we humans had this third eye, just as other animals do, and it was opened for us to communicate with other spirits through telepathy a long time ago. Later, when we learned how to lie, cheat, and play tricks on each other, in order to hide our secrets behind the mask, we closed it down and stopped the brain communicating directly through telepathy. According to Buddhist and Daoist societies, when this third eye is re-opened, we will be enlightened and suddenly comprehend the meaning of life and nature. Naturally, we will resume our capability of telepathy and read other peoples mindā€™s. When this happens, you must retire to the mountains and keep away from the masked human society. In order to reach this spiritual enlightenment, you must learn how to build up abundant Qi in the Real Lower Dan Tian and lead it upward through the Thrusting Vessel (Chong Mai, HrĀ®k) (spinal cord) to nourish the brain. When the brain has been energized to a higher level, The Third Eye will be re-opened.

He calls the Ming Tian Gu - the "heavenly drum" at the base of the skull.

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6 hours ago, voidisyinyang said:

He calls the Ming Tian Gu - the "heavenly drum" at the base of the skull.

yes he does but thats a different term

image.png.f011e5dd9e0b07d23b1fcb24d026f8ce.png

Ā 

heavenly valley isĀ å¤©č°· - Š° rare term for mystical anatomy locus in the head, from late Taoism. Association with lobes and whatnot is Yang's fantasy.Ā å¤©č°· is associated with shengu, a DDJ term, which is in fact a misreading.

Ā 

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"Tian Gu" ("å¤©č°·" ) literally means "Ā  valley , an emptiedĀ  mind , on top/heaven" comes from a phraseĀ Ā ofĀ  Huang Di Nei Jing,Ā  the most important classics of TCMĀ Ā :

Ā 

"å¤©č°·å…ƒē„ž, 守之č‡ŖēœŸ"

Ā 

" Focus onĀ  the Tian Gu and maintain that emptied meta-MindĀ Ā ,Ā  we can live forever. "

Ā 

WhyĀ  just focusing on the upper dantian makesĀ Ā us live foreverĀ  physically seems difficult to comprehend , not to mention thatĀ Ā most of theĀ  later-comingĀ  TCM medical qigong writings mainly ask people to focus on the lower dantian .Ā  In fact , why menĀ can't get rid ofĀ  their jing leakage isĀ  due to the uncontrolled lust from theirĀ  lower dantian , which Ā disguised as illusory desires and emotionsĀ Ā ("Ā å¦„ęƒ… "Ā  )Ā Ā , that helps nature secretlyĀ  "steal"Ā  theirĀ Ā jing and qiĀ  Ā (Ā  see YinĀ  Fu Jing)Ā  and make themĀ Ā dieĀ  ;Ā a persistent emptied Mind therefore isĀ  the mostĀ  reliable safeguardĀ against such an unnoticed loss..

Ā 

(* upper dantian is place of troublesome , be careful )

Edited by exorcist_1699
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58 minutes ago, exorcist_1699 said:

comes from a phraseĀ Ā ofĀ  Huang Di Nei Jing,Ā  the most important classics of TCMĀ Ā :

Ā 

"å¤©č°·å…ƒē„ž, 守之č‡ŖēœŸ"

Ā 

I wonder what version of the HDNJ? Or if other texts just say that the HDNJ says it? Can't find it when I search the common version of the text for the term here:Ā https://ctext.org/chinese-medicine?searchu=å¤©č°·

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53 minutes ago, Aetherous said:

Or if other texts just say that the HDNJ says it?

This misattribution probably gained currency from

https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hans/ēŽ„膚論

by a fairly famous neidanist

Lu Xixing - FYSK: Daoist Culture Centre - DatabaseAug 28, 2009 -Ā Lu Xixing( Ā Lu XixingĀ ), who lived in the Ming Dynasty, was from Xinghua, in Yangzhou (in today's Jiangsu province),

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Huang Di Nei Jing is composed of "ē“ å•" andĀ  "靈ę؞", and the phrase comes fromĀ  "靈ę؞", which specialize inĀ  acupunctureĀ  theory and skills ;Ā  note that both areĀ Ā ancient paragraphs /booksĀ  with many hand-copied versions on bamboo/cloth , so differences in content is likely.

Ā 

My claim based on the following 4 books' quotations, they are either Ming or Song's writings :

Ā 

1) ēŽ„膚論

2) ē“«ęø…ęŒ‡ēŽ„ēƇ

3) ę€§å‘½åœ­ę—Ø

4) 脈ꜛ

Ā 

It is nothing Ā strange that if you can't find it on the modern version of Ā "靈ę؞".Ā 

Ā 

Ā 

Edited by exorcist_1699
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