Zuowang () is a classic Daoist meditation technique, described as "a state of deep trance or intense absorption, during which no trace of ego-identity is felt and only the underlying cosmic current of the Dao is perceived as real." According to Louis Komjathy, this is one term for Daoist apophatic meditation, which also goes by various other names in Daoist literature, such as , , , and .
Zuowang instructions can be seen in classic Taoist texts from as early as the Chinese Warring States Period, such as the . The term also appears in the title of an influential manual from the Tang dynasty (618–907), the , and continues to inform Daoist contemplative practice today.
Terminology
Chinese compounds the words and .
In terms of Chinese character classification, this character is an ideogrammatic compound with two sitting on the ; and is a phono-semantic compound with the "heart-mind radical" semantic element and a phonetic and semantic element. and are etymologically cognate, explained as "(Mentally lost:) absent-minded, forget" (Karlgren, or "'to lose' (from memory)"
Accurately translating is problematic. Compare the remarkable similarities among dictionary translation equivalents. "be in a state of mental abstraction" - Herbert Giles "to sit in a state of mental abstraction" - Robert Henry Mathews "oblivious of oneself and one's surroundings; free from worldly concerns" - Liang Shih-chiu & Chang Fang-chieh "oblivious of one's surroundings, free from worldly concerns" - Lin Yutang "① be oblivious of oneself and one's surroundings ② be free from worldly concerns" - John DeFrancis Kohn explains translating as "oblivion". "sitting in oblivion," signifies a state of deep meditative absorption and mystical oneness, during which all sensory and conscious faculties are overcome and which is the base point for attaining Dao. I translate as "oblivion" and "oblivious" rather than "forgetting" or "forgetful" because the connotation of "forget" in English is that one should remember but doesn't do so, or—if used intentionally—that one actively and intentionally does something in the mind. None of these holds true for what ancient and medieval Daoists were about. This is borne out both by the language and the writings: the word in Chinese consists of the character for "mind-heart", usually associated with conscious and emotional reactions to reality and the word for "obliterate" or "perish". The implication is – as indeed described in the sources – that one lets go of all kinds of intentional and reactive patterns and comes to rest in oneness with spirit and is ready to merge completely with Dao. The synonyms and mean "forget; oblivion".
Daoist meditation had parallels in other Chinese religions and philosophies. The practice of was first recorded in the (third century BCE) Legalist classic . Neo-Confucian leaders like Zhu Xi (1130-1200) and Wang Yangming (1472–1529) advocated meditation. ( is the modern Chinese word for "sit-in"). The Chinese Buddhist practice of (namely, Japanese ) uses the word "meditation; abstraction; trance", and uses "think; consider; deliberate". Compare the Buddhist word , which is the ideal manner of death for eminent monks and nuns.
Classical usages
Chinese classics first used "sitting forgetting" around the third century BCE, during the late Warring States period.
Zhuangzi The Daoist had the earliest recorded reference to . One of the (c. 3rd century BCE) core "Inner Chapters" (6, ) mentions "sitting forgetting" meditation in a famous dialogue between Confucius and his favorite disciple Yan Hui, who "ironically "turns the tables" on his master by teaching him how to "sit and forget". Yan Hui describes forgetting the basic virtues of Confucianism: ("rites; ritual; morals"), ,see Classic of Music ("benevolence; human-heartedness; altruism"), and ("justice; righteousness; significance").compare the Daodejing 18 "I'm making progress," said Yen Hui. "What do you mean?" asked Confucius. "I have forgotten rites and music." "Not bad, but you still haven't got it." Yen Hui saw Confucius again on another day and said, "I'm making progress." "What do you mean?" "I have forgotten humaneness and righteousness." "Not bad, but you still haven't got it." Yen Hui saw Confucius again on another day and said, "I'm making progress." "What do you mean?" "I sit and forget." "What do you mean, 'sit and forget'?" Confucius asked with surprise. "I slough off my limbs and trunk," said Yen Hui, "dim my intelligence, depart from my form, leave knowledge behind, and become identical with the Transformational Thoroughfare. This is what I mean by 'sit and forget'." "If you are identical," said Confucius, "then you have no preferences. If you are transformed, then you have no more constants. It's you who is really the worthy one! Please permit me to follow after you." Compare the above translation by Victor H. Mair with the following. "I neglect my body and allow it to become effete; I discard my intelligence; so that, divesting myself of all corporealties and permitting all knowledge to flow away I have become as one who has attained to complete perspicuity of vision. This is what I mean by sitting in perfect abstraction." "My connexion with the body and its parts is dissolved; my perceptive organs are discarded. Thus leaving my material form, and bidding farewell to my knowledge, I am become one with the Great Pervader. This I call sitting and forgetting all things." "I have discarded my reasoning powers. And by thus getting rid of body and mind, I have become ONE with the Infinite. This is what I mean by getting rid of everything." "I smash up my limbs and body, drive out perception and intellect, cast off form, do away with understanding, and make myself identical with the Great Thoroughfare. This is what I mean by sitting down and forgetting everything." "I let organs and members drop away, dismiss eyesight and hearing, part from the body and expel knowledge, and go along with the universal thoroughfare. This is what I mean by 'just sit and forget'." "I cast off my limb and trunk, give up my hearing and sight, leave my physical form and deprive myself of my mind. In this way, I can identify myself with Tao. This is the so-called 'sitting and forgetting'." Another passage which discusses the recovery or attainment of oblivion is one which describes the progress of Buliang Yi under the guidance of Nüyu (Female Hunchback): After three days, he was able to put the world outside himself Once he could do this, I continued my support and after seven days, he was able to put beings outside himself. Once he could do this, I continued my support, and after nine days, he was able to put life outside himself. Once he could do this, he achieved the brightness of dawn, and after this, he could see his own aloneness. After he had managed to see his own aloneness, he could do away with past and present, and after that, he was able to enter [a state of] no life and no death.Apophatic meditation practice can also be seen in the following Zhuangzhi passages which speak of "fasting the heartmind":"You must fast! I will tell you what that means. Do you think that it is easy to do anything while you have a heart-mind? If you do, the luminous cosmos will not support you...Make your aspirations one! Don't listen with your ears; listen with your heart-mind. No, don't listen with your heart-mind; listen with qi. 8 Listening stops with the ears, the heart-mind stops with joining, but qi is empty and waits on all things. The Dao gathers in emptiness alone. Emptiness is the fasting of the heart-mind."I always fast in order to quiet my mind. When I have fasted for three days, I no longer have any thought of congratulations or rewards, of titles or stipends. When I have fasted for five days, I no longer have any thought of praise or blame, of skill or clumsiness. When I have fasted for seven days, I am so still that I forget I have four limbs and a body-form or structure. By that time, the ruler and his court no longer exist for me. My skill is concentrated and all outside distractions fade away.
Interpretation Roth refers to the apophatic practice of Daoist breath meditation as "inner cultivation", evident in Yan Hui meaning: "to lose visceral awareness of the emotions and desires, which, for the early Daoists, have "physiological" bases in the various organs", "to deliberately cut off sense perception", and "to lose bodily awareness and remove all thoughts from consciousness." Kohn says, "This passage presents a mental state of complete unknowing, of loss of personal identity and self, and a kind of total immersion in the Non-being of the universe."
The has other allusions to meditation. Yan Hui asks Confucius about (4), and two chapters discuss the question "Can you really make your body become like a withered carcass and your mind like dead ashes?" (2, 24). Harold Oshima clarifies that for Zhuangzi, "forgetting" means to empty the "heart; mind", "just as one empties one's stomach by fasting. This idea of "forgetting" is essential, frequently cited as the most important hurdle in the quest for sagehood. It does not refer, however, to the simple displacing of facts from the mind."
The Xuanxue (lit. "Arcane Learning") "Neo-Daoist" philosopher Guo Xiang (d. 312 CE) redacted the text, and wrote a commentary, which explains . In a state of sitting in oblivion, what could there be unforgotten? First one forgets all outer manifestations ( ), then one also forgets that which causes the manifestations. On the inside, one is unaware that there is a self ( ), on the outside one never knows that there is heaven and earth. Thus one becomes utterly empty and can unite with the changes, leaving nothing unpervaded.Tr. , cf. . Guo refers to the Xuanxue philosophical distinction between (Daoist underlying ground of Being) and "traces" (apparent Confucian virtues), "as everything is a trace of the Ultimate Truth, neither real because is not the Truth, nor false because it is its manifestation". In addition, "Guo Xiang interprets the attained state of oneness as one of going along with the changes, adding an ecstatic element of transformation to the basically enstatic notion of oblivion".
The translators render as "Great Pervader", "the Infinite", "Great/ universal/Transformational Thoroughfare", and "Tao". Mair explains that "Transformational Thoroughfare" follows the graphic variant (or copyist's error) of for .