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Dantian, Dan Tien or Tan t'ien (Chinese: 丹田 Dāntián ; Japanese: 丹田 Tanden; Korean: 단전 DanJeon; Thai: ตันเถียน Dantian) literally means "cinnabar or red field" and is loosely translated as "elixir field". It is described as an important focal point for internal meditative techniques and refers specifically to the physical center of gravity located in the abdomen (about three finger widths below and two finger widths behind the navel).
The dantian is important in Neidan, qigong, neigong, tao yin and other breathing techniques, as well as in traditional Chinese medicine. It is also widely used throughout East Asian meditation and martial art theories, especially the neijia school of Chinese martial arts and Tai Chi Chuan.[1]
Taoist and Buddhist teachers often instruct their students to center their mind in the dantian. This is believed to aid control of thoughts and emotions. Acting from the dantian is considered to be related to the state of samadhi.
The dantian also roughly corresponds to the Indian concept of the manipura, or navel chakra. In yoga philosophy, it is thought to be the seat of prana that radiates outwards to the entire body. [2]
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Three Dantian
According to principles of Chinese alchemy, there are three dantians in the body:
- The upper dantian is in the brain just behind a point directly between the eyebrows and corresponds to the Third eye. In Western anatomy, this point corresponds to the pituitary gland.[1][3].
- The middle dantian is in the heart and in Western anatomy is associated with the thymus gland.
- The lower dantian is located 1.3 inches, or 3 finger widths, below the navel and is also called the golden stove.[4]
Lower dantian: the hara
In speaking of the lower of the three points, the term dantian is often used interchangeably with the Japanese word hara (腹; Chinese: fù) which means simply "belly". In Chinese and Japanese tradition, it is considered the physical center of gravity of the human body and is the seat of one's internal energy (qi). A master of calligraphy, swordsmanship, tea ceremony, martial arts, etc. is held in the Japanese tradition to be "acting from the hara". (Note that the dantian is not fixed anatomical location in the body but the center of gravity and the location where the body's chi or vital energy distributed throughout the organism.)
References
- ^ a b T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Meditation by Da Liu, page 92 - Routledge and Keegan Paul 1987 ISBN 0140192174
- ^ T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Meditation by Da Liu, pages 91-92 - Routledge and Keegan Paul 1987 ISBN 0140192174
- ^ The doctrine of the elixir by R. B. Jefferson Coombe Springs Press 1982 chapter 4. The Archaic Anatomy of Individual Organs
- ^ Taoist Yoga by Lu K'uan Yu page 10. (Rider , 1970)
- Taoist Yoga by Lu K'uan Yu, Rider 1970 ISBN 0712617256
- Doctrine of the Elixir by R.B.Jefferson, Coombe Springs Press 1982, ISBN 0900306157 Full text here
- Spiritual Disciplines, Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks the Paper entitled ‘Spiritual Guidance in Contemporary Taoism’ by Irwin Rouselle, published by Princeton University Press, 1960 ISBN 0691018634
- Chia, Mantak. Cosmic Orbit: Connect to the Universe from Within. Universal Tao Publications (2005). ISBN 974-85401-4-6
- Porkert, Manfred. The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine. MIT Press (1974). ISBN 0262160587
External links
- Doctrine of the Elixir by R.B.Jefferson
- Secret of the Golden Flower
- Seiki tanden
- The Three Dantian, Hara and Seika Tanden
- Tai Chi Chuan Tao, The Dan Tian
See also
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