The meaning of Five Stages of Practice in Taoism 什么是五渐门

The meaning of Five Stages of Practice in Taoism

"Wu Jian Men" (五渐门, "The Five Gradual Gates") are the five stages of cultivation proposed by Tang dynasty Sima Chengzhen.

He believed that people cannot suddenly realize the true nature and attain the Dao; they must gradually advance and practice with tranquility. Therefore he established the gradual gates. The five gradual gates are: First, fasting and purification — requiring cultivators to regulate diet, harmonize the center, rub the skin, and purify body and mind. Second, peaceful dwelling — requiring practitioners to dwell deeply in quiet chambers, eliminating various disturbances, "internally calming the mind, externally calming the eyes." Third, visualization — "preserving" means "preserving my spirit"; "visualizing" means "visualizing my body." Close the eyes to the outside, gather the mind within, concentrate the spirit with single focus, "then see one's own eyes," "then see one's own mind." Fourth, sitting in oblivion — requiring practitioners to reach the realm where self and things are both forgotten through sitting meditation and silent observation, "internally not perceiving one's own body, externally not knowing the universe, merged with the Dao, all concerns abandoned." Fifth, divine understanding — also called "myriad dharmas penetrating spirit," meaning reaching the realm of longevity and immortality, of spirit transformation. Here "spirit" means "moving without traveling, arriving without haste, transforming through Yin and Yang, enduring as Heaven and Earth."

The meaning of Five Stages of Practice in Taoism

Sima Chengzhen believed that the first four gates are respectively faith-understanding, leisure-understanding, wisdom-understanding, and stability-understanding. "Gradually reaching the second, the immortal is accomplished," hence it is called "divine understanding."