The meaning of True Contemplation in Taoism? 什么是真观

The meaning of True Contemplation in Taoism?

One of the methods of Taoist cultivation proposed by Sima Chengzhen (司马承祯).

"Zhen Guan" means that a practitioner of the Dao should dwell with the mind beyond external things and observe the phenomenal world, seeing clearly its illusory and insubstantial nature, so as not to be deluded by external objects. For "if one observes objects with a mind still attached to them, one will never perceive anything unwholesome throughout one's entire life; but if one observes objects with a mind already detached from them, one will then be able to see clearly what is right and wrong."

The meaning of True Contemplation in Taoism?

To achieve "Zhen Guan," one must "collect the mind and simplify affairs, daily diminishing deliberate action, keeping the body still and the mind at ease." Even for "affairs that cannot be abandoned and things that cannot be discarded," one should not "give rise to a mind of gain and loss": "Whether occupied or unoccupied, the mind is always at peace and ease. Seeking things together with others, yet not sharing their greed"—this is the state of "desirelessness" (wu yu, 无欲).

The Zuowang Lun (坐忘论) states: "All love and aversion is delusive arising. If delusion is not removed, how can one see the Internal Alchemy Dao? Therefore the mind relinquishes all desires and abides in having nothing; eliminates emotion and rectifies the nature—then, turning to observe what one was formerly foolishly attached to and enamored of, a sense of revulsion and detachment naturally arises." The practice of Zhen Guan thus complements the meditative discipline described in the Dao De Jing, wherein the sage observes the ten thousand things with equanimity and returns to the root.