Gold Pavilion. Michael Saso

      The Taoist envisions the five colors, five directions, as spirits from the five Internal organs and sends out all spirit-images before meditating on the Too. Ch'ing dynasty woodblock print from Xingming Gulzhi.

      It is interesting to note that medium, shaman, and priest all practice healing. The medium, the shaman, and the popular fashi Redhat heal by visualization, while the Taoist daoshi heals by kenosis, by emptying the mind and heart of all spirits and their images. It is important that healing takes place, no matter which method is used. The purpose of this work is not to disparage those systems using visualization but to explain the process of Taoist "kenotic" healing, the emptying of worries from the mind and unfulfilled desires from the heart. My study "Mystic, Shaman, Oracle, Priest" delves further into these distinctions than I will here.¹¹

      From the above discussion it can be seen that at least two kinds of healers, and therefore two different philosophies of well-being (among many others), can be found in Asia. The first kind, which we are describing here, can be called the apophatic or kenotic tradition, which in simple language means emptying the mind of concept and image. The second is the kataphatic or "Imaging" tradition, which heals by filling the mind with thoughts of good spirits and well-being.

      The kataphatic tradition, using medium possession or shaman trance to heal, can be very dramatic and even traumatic. The possessed mediums sometimes cut themselves with knives, blow on trumpets, and act out the terrifying battle between the forces of good and evil. The medium or shaman is impervious to the attack of evil, can draw a sharp knife across the tongue, dance on sharp blades, or walk on fire without harm to the body. The symbolic drama of the medium and shaman prove the efficacy of exorcism in the healing process. Such practices differ substantially from the healing practices of the apophatic "emptying" Taoist.

      The apophatic or emptying tradition of Taoism uses images to heal. Colors, sound (music), taste, smell, touch, and physical motion are important elements in human well-being. Images are envisioned and "good" thoughts elicited in the mind of the patient. But in the end, all thoughts, images, sounds, and colors are sublimated and emptied out in the encounter with the transcendent Tao, (wuwel zhi dao), the source of life, breath, and well-being. Healing, wholeness, and oneness with nature's processes are one and the same experience. Arriving at this experience of oneness through the Tao's transcendent "nonimage" process is the goal of Taoist meditation and a vital element of Taoist healing. Color meditation and imaging are taught in chapter 3, and the prayer of apophasis is described in chapter 4. Men and women who practice these meditations and follow the other directives of the Taoist way of life for the most part live to a happy and healthy old age, climb the high mountains, and celebrate festivals for the villages of China.

      AN OUTLINE OF TAOIST HISTORY

      After one learns some of the methods of Taoist meditation and healing, the appetite Is awakened to understand something about Taoism and Its lengthy history in China. Taoism Is like a great river that flows throughout the entire concourse of Chinese history. Like the Yellow and the Yangtze Rivers, it is fed by many tributaries. Some of these tributaries contain muddy waters. Others do not flow into the mainstream of Taoism but follow their own independent course. Taoism itself blends quietly into the flow of Chinese history, often going unnoticed by official Chinese historians.

      The history of China is divided into twenty-four dynasties. Each dynasty was begun by a soldier-emperor who conquered China by the sword. Any given dynasty's history was later rewritten by literate Confucian scholars who often sought to please the reigning emperor rather than the fallen dynasty. Historians are famous for putting Buddhists, Taoists, women, and non-Han Chinese minorities last, after selectively describing the past dynasty's emperors, family, wars, intrigues at court, and other details that pleased the Confucian mind. Thus most dynastic histories do not say good things about Taoists, minorities, Buddhists, or other non-Confucian topics.

      Taoism's development within the dynastic records is as follows: