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= Daoist Practices: Examples of Rituals and Physical Cultivation = In this section of Daoism, we will be discussing Daoist Practices with a focus on rituals and physical cultivation as they are vital to the practice of Daoism itself. To better understand Daoist practices, we must closely explore the ritual practices that take place in modern times, as well as study the forms of physical cultivation that involve Daoist principles. Rituals often seek to understand the future and make it possible for living beings to be in contact with the supernatural world. Physical cultivation simply involves Daoist beliefs of immortality and longevity of life by improving one’s physical inner strength through the practice of Qi and alchemy. Although Daoism is labelled a religion, it is rather obvious that it may also be perceived as a philosophy that is meant to guide a believer to attain a greater version of themselves. If we look closely at modern Chinese culture, whether it be China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan, there are large influences of Daoist principles found deep beneath modern Chinese traditions, beliefs, and practices.

Ritual practices in Daoism range from sacrifices, Chinese New Year, festivals, and fortune-telling. Rituals involving sacrifices have changed since the earlier times in Ancient China, rather than sacrifice animals, another form of sacrifice is the offering to the dead which involves fake money and any item that can be made out of paper. Fortune-telling is another form of Daoist divination, where it can be found in practice within a majority of Daoist temples in Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan. Just like fortune-telling in the west, Daoist fortune-telling usually involves astrology, in which it plays an important aspect of the practice dating back to Ancient China. Another Daoist practice is physical cultivation, it discusses exercises and substances aiming at generating or maintaining Qi energy, a cosmic force that can be used to protect and improve one’s health. Some of the practices involving Daoist principles is from martial arts, sexual practices, and alchemy. Daoist practices involving the human body always has goals of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, assuring the longevity of life, and even aiming to be immortal. There are many forms of Daoist rituals that exist as a form of practice for Daoist followers to communicate with the spiritual and supernatural world.

Rituals
Early Daoist rituals usually involved food or animals presented as a sacrifice to the gods and the dead, offering their respects and prayers. This form of Daoist ritual is one that can still be found in modern Chinese cultures as it has become a common practice among traditional Chinese families. In the Daoist religion itself, the sacrifice of food and animals has changed due to a Celestial Master, Zhang Daoling, where he “rejected all food and animal sacrifices to the gods.” (Bannon 1996, 29) Rather than sacrifice animals and food, Daoist rituals would change with the creation of ‘joss paper’; which includes money, items, houses, cars, anything that can be used as an offering to the dead. ‘Joss paper’ is Chinese is translated to ‘gold money’ as it was made into burnt offering commonly found in Chinese ancestral worship. This form of sacrifice is not only a religious ritual but one of superstitious background as this practice was usually performed to ensure that the spirit of the dead has all that it needs in the afterlife. This practice assumes that the burnt paper; whether it is stacks of money, replicas of houses, cars, animals, and whatever can be made into paper, is transformed into an actual item in the spirit world.

In Chinese tradition, Qing Ming is a celebrated holiday that commemorates the dead or better known as Tomb Sweeping Day. Qing Ming Festival is an important day of the Lunar Year which sees the most practice of such a ritual involving Daoist values and beliefs, and the most common offerings usually combine both the burning of joss paper and sacrifice of food for the dead to consume in the spiritual world. As we mentioned earlier, Daoist principles have been embedded in modern Chinese culture, thus it is common to find Chinese festivals and celebrations that involve Daoist principles. We briefly mentioned the Qing Ming Festival, which was a day where people visit the dead and perform a common ritual of cleaning the tomb, offering food and joss paper as to ensuring the dead’s spirit is in peace. Chinese New Year is another example of a ritual which is influenced by Daoist principles as it involves traditional celebrations such as firecrackers, lion and dragon dances, martial arts demonstrations, and plaques containing images of Gods. The Daoist influence on Chinese New Year can be seen through the lion and dragon dances which are “human-occupied puppets often of the Seventh and Eighth Lord”. (Schipper 1993, 28-29) The dances are performances seen in the Chinese New Year is meant to recreate the images of Daoist Gods and stories, hence why there is a close connection between Chinese culture and Daoism. “The various participants are not considered performers, but rather possessed by the gods and spirits in question” (Schipper 1993, 28-29)

Lastly, another common practice found in Daoism is fortune-telling, which can be found in Daoist temples when performing Kau Chim, and other spiritual practices. ‘Kau Chim’ involves the person requesting answers from a sacred oracle lot, where they shake a cup with numbered wooden sticks until one falls out onto the floor. Each numbered sticks are related to one of the hundred written oracles with an answer on it, thus leaving various interpretations to better fit the person’s fortune. Mediumship and Spirit Writing are other forms of Daoist practices that seek to communicate or mediate communications between the dead and living human beings. Mediumship is a Daoist practice found in some sects, where practitioners are known as the “medium” between the spiritual world and the real world. These spirit mediums act as a mediator in communications between the dead and living human beings, thus the practitioner channels their spirit to connect with the dead. “There is an academic and social distinction between martial forms of mediumship (tongji) and spirit-writing.” (Silvers 2005, 129-132) Mediumship involves a spirit medium to be present for communication between the dead and living human beings to work. Spirit writing involves more direct communication with the dead, where practitioners write on ashes or sand in Daoist temples.

Physical Cultivation
Another form of Daoist Practice is physical cultivation which seeks to better improve a human’s health through the practice of various rituals, exercises, and substances aiming at improving the physical and mental capacity, to the point of immortality. (Kohn 2000, 113) Two forms of physical cultivation that exist in Daoist practices; Daoist Alchemy and neijia. Daoist Alchemy involves the ancient Chinese methods of creating substances that allow a person to attain immortality or further elongate their life. In ancient Daoist scriptures, texts such as the Scripture of Great Peace or ‘Taiping Jing’ contain descriptions of special diets, breathing techniques, moral behaviour and so forth. (Robinet 1997, 73) These were ancient methods that were once believed to be the proper process of reaching longevity, ideally to achieve immortality.

The second form of physical cultivation is martial arts, which has Daoist influences in arts such as; Tai Chi, Xing Yi Quan, and Bagua Zhang. The practice of Daoist methods such as the exercise of one’s inner energy, or better known as Qi. Qi in Chinese translates to air, or in the Daoist context, the energy within the body as a result of one’s connection with cosmic forces. Martial arts that incorporate Daoist principles in their exercises fall under the category of Neijia, which are the groups of martial arts that practice neijing, translated as inner control of Qi. “Some consider their art as a means of practicing Daoism.” (Silvers 2005, 137) For example, Tai Chi practitioners incorporate much of Daoist principles in the movements and patterns of the martial art itself, but also the philosophy of practicing a martial art which involves slow but precise movements to improve one’s Qi. Neijia can better be translated as internal martial arts, as it is occupied with spiritual or qi-related aspects, as opposed to an external approach focused on external, physiological aspects. Neijing is thus referred to the conscious control of the practitioner’s qi, or inner life energy, to gain advantages in combat. Bagua Zhang, for example, translates to Eight Trigram Palms, referring to the trigrams of the Yi Jing, one of the principles of Daoism. This form of physical cultivation is unique to Daoism, as many schools of martial arts have shared Daoist principles despite different forms and techniques in which we may find them.

Conclusion
Daoist practices share many principles with Chinese culture through its traditions, values, and festivals which continue to share the beliefs and values of Daoism itself. Rituals are the primary practice of Daoism, as we saw through sacrifices, offerings, festivals, fortune-telling and other forms of divination. Rituals aim to commemorate or remember Daoist principles, as seen especially in the sacrifices of food and ‘joss paper’ for the dead. Offering and prayers were also common practices that are not only found in Daoist practitioners but also modern Chinese traditions and culture.

We also saw that festivals such as Qing Ming and Chinese New Year are major celebrations for Chinese people in Asia, sharing common traditions through firecrackers, dragon and lion dances. The depiction of the Daoist Seventh and Eight Lord through the lion and dragon dances are examples of how Daoist principles are practiced through the religion and its incorporation in Chinese culture. Various forms of fortune-telling were examples of Daoist practices that date back to early Daoism before Daoism was a considered an organized religion. The relationship between the spiritual world of the dead and living human beings can be seen through Daoist practices such as mediumship and spirit-writing. Daoist principles of the spiritual and supernatural world have remained due to Chinese culture’s worship of Daoism, which has transformed from a religion to a philosophy, just as Confucianism served as a philosophy for Chinese culture.

The second form of Daoist practice discussed is physical cultivation, where Daoist alchemy and martial arts have carried on Daoist principles. Early Daoist Texts such as the Scripture of Great Peace, have mentioned alchemy as a way to achieve longevity and ideally, immortality. Alchemical formulas for achieving immortality were outlined in the text Taiping Jing (Scripture of Great Peace), making this practice one of the oldest known in Daoism. Martial arts are the second form of physical cultivation which shared Daoist principles in its pursuit of mastering one’s Qi. The combination of physical and mental exercises in Tai Chi, Xing Yi Quan, and Bagua Zhang, was meant to help develop the ability to have conscious control of one’s qi, to gain an advantage in combat. Bagua Zhang was one of the arts which directly incorporated the trigrams of Yi Jing, one of the principles of Daoism. Martial arts allowed Daoist practitioners to practice their religion through a style of exercise that improves one’s health, thus achieving longevity and immortality.