Yesterday at noon, Taoist Master Li Mingji was locked inside the "Living Dead Man's Tomb" - Photo by reporter Ning Feng
According to reports (reporter Yao Luzu, intern Zhou Jing), after more than ten days without eating or drinking, and having to complete five pieces of sculpture work, starting from yesterday, Taoist Master Li Mingji from Chongyang Palace in Huxian County entered the "Living Dead Man's Tomb," confining himself within the tomb passage of Ancestor Chongyang. Using Daoist techniques for abstaining from food as a form of health preservation, he will live in a closed environment for thirteen days and nights.
At 11:00 AM yesterday, just before Master Li was about to begin his fast, Chief Abbot Chen Fayong of Chongyang Palace introduced that, in order to practice the Quanzhen Sect’s philosophy of saving lives and helping people, and to showcase Daoist methods of health preservation, on the 800th anniversary of the birth of Wang Chongyang, the founder of the Quanzhen Sect, the Chongyang Palace in Huxian County and the Daoism Research Center of the Shaanxi Academy of Social Sciences jointly organized this exhibition of Daoist health preservation skills. From February 5, 2010 (the birthday of Patriarch Wang Chongyang) to February 17, 2010 (the day Patriarch Wang Chongyang achieved enlightenment), Quanzhen Taoist Master Li Mingji, director of the Daoist Health Preservation Center at Chongyang Palace, will complete this exhibition in the "Living Dead Man's Tomb" at Chongyang Palace in Huxian County. During this period, he will publicly abstain from eating and drinking for 13 days while maintaining normal vitality. According to scientific research, if one neither eats nor drinks, the human body can survive for a maximum of seven days. If Master Li successfully abstains from food and water for 13 days, how can there be a scientific explanation?" In response to questions from the audience watching the exhibition, Abbot Chen said that the Daoist methods of cultivation and health preservation must have some scientific basis.
At noon, dressed in a Taoist robe, Master Li entered the "Living Dead Man's Tomb." At the bottom of the tomb passage, a specially designed glass door separated an approximately 10 square meter "room." Inside the "room" was a bed board and a set of table and chairs. To monitor Master Li 24 hours a day during his abstinence from food and drink, a surveillance camera was installed in the room. For the next 13 days, Master Li will remain indoors, practicing abstention from food and drink.
It is understood that Taoist Master Li Mingji once lived in seclusion for more than ten years in ancient caves such as Kunlun Mountain, Tianshan, Qingcheng Mountain, and Huashan Mountain. After 2000, he lived in seclusion on Wang Diaoling in Huashan Mountain, where he practiced herbal medicine fasting for one and a half years in Sichuan and abstained from food and water for 81 days on Huashan Mountain. During this period of Master Li's fasting, his disciple Shao Tianze will simultaneously practice water-only fasting and write the "Tao Te Ching" on a hundred-meter-long scroll during the water-only fasting period.
What is Fasting?
Fasting is also known as "abstaining from grains," "cutting off grains," "suspending grain consumption," etc., meaning not eating grains, which is a method of Daoist cultivation and health preservation.
Daoism believes that eating grains causes accumulation in the intestines forming feces, producing foul gas. The human body contains three worms (three corpses), which rely on this gas to survive. Their presence causes evil desires in people. Therefore, to clear the foul gas from the intestines and remove the three corpse worms, one must fast. Taoists imitate the practices described in Zhuangzi's "Free and Untrammeled Excursion," where they "do not eat grains but inhale wind and drink dew," aiming to achieve a state of quiet mind and health preservation. Scientifically speaking, this is a method of regulating human functions, where energy needed by the body can be replenished through intake of water and air.
Related articles:
A man fell from the 16th floor and survived, now discharged from hospital
9048 households in the community contributed vegetables for a communal New Year's Eve dinner for 30,000 people (with pictures)
A man with a head resembling a thumb became an internet sensation (with picture)