Dantian is a concept in

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...

loosely translated as "elixir field", "sea of '' qi''", or simply "energy center." Dantian are the "''qi'' focus flow centers," important focal points for meditative and exercise techniques such as

qigong Qigong ()) is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation said to be useful for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training. With roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese medicine, Chin ...

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

such as

tai chi is a Chinese martial art. Initially developed for combat and self-defense, for most practitioners it has evolved into a sport and form of exercise. As an exercise, tai chi is performed as gentle, low-impact movement in which practitioners ...

, and in

. Dantian is also now commonly understood to refer to the

diaphragm Diaphragm may refer to: Anatomy * Thoracic diaphragm, a thin sheet of muscle between the thorax and the abdomen * Pelvic diaphragm or pelvic floor, a pelvic structure * Urogenital diaphragm or triangular ligament, a pelvic structure Other * Diap ...

in various Qigong practices and breath control techniques, such as

diaphragmatic breathing Diaphragmatic breathing, abdominal breathing, belly breathing, or deep breathing, is a breathing technique that is done by contracting the Thoracic diaphragm, diaphragm, a muscle located horizontally between the thoracic cavity and abdominal cav ...

for singing and speaking. Along with '' jing'' and '' shen'', it is considered one of the Three Treasures of

Overview

Historically the first detailed description of the lower Dantian is in the '' Laozi zhongjing'' from the 3rd century CE, which refers to the elixir-of-life field where "essence" and "spirit" are stored; it is related to regeneration and sexual energy, menstruation and semen.Laozi zhongjing (Central Scripture of Laozi), sec. 17. Translation published in Fabrizio Pregadio, "Early Daoist Meditation and the Origins of Inner Alchemy," in

Benjamin Penny Benjamin David Penny (born 27 October 1959) is an Australian academic specialising in religious and spiritual movements in modern and contemporary China. He is a Harold White Fellow at the National Library of Australia.

, ed., Daoism in History: Essays in Honour of Liu Ts'un-yan, 139–40 (London: Routledge, 2006). http://www.goldenelixir.com/taoism/texts_laozi_zhongjing.html Traditionally, a dantian is considered to be a center of qi or life force energy. The dantian are important points of reference in

neidan Neidan, or internal alchemy (), is an array of esoteric doctrines and physical, mental, and spiritual practices that Taoist initiates use to prolong life and create an immortal spiritual body that would survive after death. Also known as Jindan ...

neigong ''Neigong'' (internal strength or internal skill), also spelled ''nei kung'', ''neigung'', or ''nae gong'', refers to a series of internal changes that a practitioner goes through when following the path to '' Dao'', and these changes may be ac ...

daoyin ''Daoyin'' is a series of cognitive body and mind unity exercises practiced as a form of Daoist ''neigong'', meditation and mindfulness to cultivate '' jing'' (essence) and direct and refine '' qi'', the internal energy of the body according t ...

Taoist sexual practices Taoist sexual practices ( zh, s=房中术, t=房中術, p=fángzhōngshù, l=arts of the bedchamber, first=t) are the ways Taoists may practice sexual activity. These practices are also known as "joining energy" or "the joining of the essences". ...

reiki Reiki is a pseudoscientific form of energy healing, a type of alternative medicine originating in Japan. Reiki practitioners use a technique called ''palm healing'' or ''hands-on healing'' through which, according to practitioners, a " unive ...

and other self-cultivation practices of exercise, breathing, and meditation, as well as in

and in

Traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...

. The lower dantian is particularly important as the focal point of breathing technique as well as the centre of balance and gravity. Dantian are focal points for transmutation of the three treasures '' jing'', ''qi'' and '' shen''. ''Qi'' can be seen as a substance when it is stored in the form of ''jing'', this can be refined by heating in these cauldrons into more rarefied states such as ''qi'' which is insubstantial and further still into ''shen'' which is more like the Western concept of

mind The mind is that which thinks, feels, perceives, imagines, remembers, and wills. It covers the totality of mental phenomena, including both conscious processes, through which an individual is aware of external and internal circumstances ...

although it is more often translated as "spirit".T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Meditation by Da Liu, page 92 – Routledge and Keegan Paul 1987

Taoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...

and

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

teachers often instruct their students to centre the mind in the navel or lower dantian. This is believed to aid control of

thought In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, and de ...

s and

emotion Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...

s. Acting from the dantian is considered to be related to higher states of awareness including sanmei () or

ding Ding may refer to: Bronze and ceramics * Ding (vessel), a bronze or ceramic cauldron used in ancient and early imperial China * Ding ware, ceramics produced in Dingzhou in medieval China People * Ding (surname) (丁), a Chinese surname and lis ...

().

Three dantians

Different schools of thought categorize dantian in various manners. Three main dantian are typically emphasized: * Lower dantian (, Xià Dāntián): at the crossing of the horizontal line behind the Ren-6

acupoint Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientifi ...

and vertical line above the

perineum The perineum (: perineums or perinea) in placentalia, placental mammals is the space between the anus and the genitals. The human perineum is between the anus and scrotum in the male or between the anus and vulva in the female. The perineum is ...

, which is also called "the golden stove" (金炉 pinyin: Jīn lú) or the namesake "elixir-of-life field" proper, where the process of developing the elixir by refining and purifying essence ( jing) into vitality ( qi) begins. * Middle dantian (, Zhōng Dāntián): at the level of the heart, which is also called "the crimson palace", associated with storing spirit ( shen) and with respiration and health of the internal organs, in particular the

thymus gland The thymus (: thymuses or thymi) is a specialized primary lymphoid organ of the immune system. Within the thymus, T cells mature. T cells are critical to the adaptive immune system, where the body adapts to specific foreign invaders. The thymu ...

. This cauldron is where vitality or qi is refined into shen or spirit. * Upper dantian (, Shàng Dāntián): at the forehead between the eyebrows or

third eye The third eye (also called the mind's eye or inner eye) is an invisible eye, usually depicted as located on the forehead, supposed to provide perception beyond ordinary sight. In Hinduism, the third eye refers to the ajna (or brow) chakra. In bot ...

, which is also called "the muddy pellet", associated with the

pineal gland The pineal gland (also known as the pineal body or epiphysis cerebri) is a small endocrine gland in the brain of most vertebrates. It produces melatonin, a serotonin-derived hormone, which modulates sleep, sleep patterns following the diurnal c ...

. This cauldron is where shen or spirit is transmuted into

wu wei ''Wu wei'' () is a polysemous, ancient Chinese concept expressing an ideal dao, practice of "inaction", "inexertion" or "effortless action", as a state of personal harmony and free-flowing, spontaneous Improvisation, creative manifestation. In a ...

or emptiness.

Importance of the lower dantian

The term dantian used by itself usually refers to the lower dantian, which is considered to be the foundation of rooted standing, grounding, breathing, and body awareness in

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

and other martial arts including

. The lower dantian has been described to be "like the root of the tree of life." In speaking of the lower of the three energy centers, the term dantian is often used interchangeably with the Japanese word '' hara'' (; Chinese: ''fù'') which means simply "belly." In

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

n, and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese traditions, it is considered the physical

center of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the barycenter or balance point) is the unique point at any given time where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. For ...

of the human body and is the seat of one's internal energy ( qi). A master of Japanese acupuncture,

calligraphy Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an e ...

swordsmanship Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to an ...

tea ceremony Tea ceremony is a ritualized practice of making and serving tea (茶 ''cha'') in East Asia practiced in the Sinosphere. The original term from China (), literally translated as either "''way of tea''", "''etiquette for tea or tea rite''",Heiss, M ...

, among other arts, is held in the Japanese tradition to be "acting from the hara." The lower dantian in traditional Chinese Medicine is where the primordial essence, Jing (), is stored. At the same time, the lower dantian is the place for

Yuan qi In traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese culture, ''yuán qì'' (元氣) or vital qi, innate or prenatal qi. Inborn qi (Jing 精) is differentiated from acquired qi that a person may develop or replenished over their lifetime. Further more trad ...

(), the Qi that has not yet been divided into Yin Qi or Yang Qi. This Qi is much less physical and could be seen as the elemental existence of atoms and electrons before there are molecules. In the Ancient Texts of the Book of the Yellow Emperor (

Huangdi Neijing ' (), literally the ''Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor'' or ''Esoteric Scripture of the Yellow Emperor'', is an ancient Chinese medical text or group of texts that has been treated as a fundamental doctrinal source for Chinese medicine for mo ...

), the lower Dan Tian is referred to as both the seat of Jing () and the source of

(). Both can also be used side by side as an apparent contradiction. In this viewpoint, the lower dantian becomes the basis of all life—of the body (Jing ), of the mind (shen, ), of the energy of life (qi, ), of self-preservation, of self-healing capacity, of emotions with the basic fear / fear of life as a foundation. In qigong practice, the lower dantian, as the source of qi, is also used for storing qi, for transforming qi, for emitting qi, for returning qi, for releasing blockages of qi in the periphery. The area is associated with the tantric swadhisthana chakra. In yoga philosophy, it is thought to be the seat of prana (compare with yuan qi) that radiates outwards to the entire body. This chakra can be blocked by the fear of death, the bases for all emotions. Also this has the same similarity with the lower dantian

References

Sources

* Chia, Mantak. ''Cosmic Orbit: Connect to the Universe from Within''. Universal Tao Publications, 2005. . * Porkert, Manfred. ''The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine''. MIT Press, 1974. . * Rouselle, Irwin. ‘Spiritual Guidance in Contemporary Taoism’. In ''Spiritual Disciplines: Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks''. Princeton University Press, 1960. . * Wang, Mu
''Foundations of Internal Alchemy: The Taoist Practice of Neidan''
Golden Elixir Press, 2011. .

External links