Daoist Bigu and the Science of Fasting

By Michael Rinaldini

My next journal writing project is a consolidation of my first three books (A Daoist Practice Journal: Book 1: Come Laugh With Me; Book 2: Qigong, Circle Walking & Daoist Cultivation; Book 3: Qigong, Seasonal Food Cures & Daoist Cultivation), and a fourth book that focuses on the practice and science of Bigu Fasting. This new book will be titled: You Grow As A Daoist In The Heart, Journals Of A Modern-Day Western Daoist Priest. Below are selected entries (mainly on Bigu fasting) from Book 4 of my new volume on Daoist cultivation.

September 27, 2019

I just arrived at the Hackerman Patz House, outside of Baltimore, the residence where I will stay for a three-day Bigu Fasting training with Kevin Chen (Kevin Chen is a well-known teacher of qigong and bigu fasting. He offers bigu trainings throughout the year in the USA, and China). It was a tiring overnight flight via Salt Lake City and arriving at 5 a.m. The last 5-6 hours I spent sitting in various locations in the airport terminals. I feel the need for a couple of hours of sleep and then getting something to eat. It’s a funny thought, but I don’t want to start the fasting retreat hungry.

September 30, 2019

I am back at the Baltimore airport waiting for my return flight at 6:55 p.m. I am still fasting. I am on day 4. My last meal was the cobb salad I had last Friday afternoon, around 3:30 p.m. And the good news is that things are going really well for me. These last few days, I have had an abundance of energy.

October 2, 2019

Today is day 5 of my fast, which started last Friday The Empty Vessel — Page 22 afternoon. I feel tired this morning and although I don’t feel hungry, I feel I am ready to end my fast. I just finished my recovery soup and am ready to eat it. Kevin Chen said you can eat some of this soup every 2-3 hours. Ok, here goes, I’m ready to eat.

2 p.m.

Still feeling tired after eating my soup, I ate a handful of nuts: cashew, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds.

October 3, 2019

I spent some time reviewing Bigu on the web, specifically looking for Daoist references to ancient practices of Bigu. And I found a lot. I also found some useful information from some Daoist books I have on my bookshelves. Plus, I haven’t gone back to all the material that Kevin Chen gave us during our training. So, I have ample study and writing material for my journal writings.

November 5, 2019

Okay, it is the first week at the start of a new month. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it yet, but my intentions are to do a 48-hour fast on a monthly basis. I did some preparations already like purchasing some napa cabbage for a pre- and postcleansing soup. I also weighed myself this morning. Naked, I weighed 163.5 pounds. It’ll be interesting to see how much weight I lose on this 48-hour fast.

November 6, 2019

I am at the start of a monthly fast. Today is Wednesday and I am continuing to eat my preparation soups. I bought a few extra ingredients for it this morning. Here are the ingredients: Napa cabbage, kale, carrots, gogi berries, shitake mushrooms, and some left-over brown rice. I also added some olive oil and Spike seasoning. One of the key cooking directions is to cook the napa cabbage for no more than 3 minutes. This helps

IMAGE PROVIDED BY MICHAEL RINALDINI

to maintain the long fibers in the napa cabbage. I will probably have some more of it tonight, but with some chicken, and a side salad dish of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and avocado.

Fasting has a long tradition in Daoism. It doesn’t take much effort to find references to fasting (Bigu tradition) in my own personal book collection. The first one I picked up was a book that Livia Kohn edited in the early 1990s. It is an anthology on various Daoist scriptures, it is “The Taoist Experience, An Anthology.”

In Livia Kohn’s discussion on the path to the Dao, she presents a few texts which explore the different levels of cultivation practices. One text, written during the mid-Tang period speaks about the value and purpose of fasting. The text is the Tianyinzi (The Master of Heavenly Seclusion) and its authorship is assigned to Sima Chengzhen, though this is not verifiable. Remember, Sima Chengzhen is also the author of the Zuowang Lun.

In the Tianyinzi, one of the sections states the different stages of study and cultivation. The practitioner of the Dao is supposed to practice and master each stage before they progress to the next stage. The first stage is “fasting and abstention” followed by other stages, like training in solitude, Qigong and Daoist visualization practices, and the meditation practice of sitting in forgetting or oblivion. (Kohn 1993, 82)

November 7, 2019

Okay, my fast began after dinner last night and continues into today, Thursday.

A few years ago when I was trying to find more information on current-day Bigu practices in China, I learned some interesting news. Apparently, there is a small group of Chinese Daoists who take Bigu very seriously. I don’t have any details but what I learned second-hand was that there are individual Chinese Daoists who spend half the year in their normal roles as Daoist priests or monks in various temples or monasteries. And then they spend the other half of the year in remote mountain hermitages in Bigu practice. How long they fast, I don’t know. I would only imagine that if they are practicing Bigu from anywhere from a few months to six months they must be pretty advanced. And this would include not only Bigu cultivation, but the other stages of practice like I mentioned in yesterday’s entry: Bigu, solitude, Qigong, meditation, and Digging a little further into ancient Daoist practices of Bigu, we find extensive reasons for fasting. Perhaps it’s only important or relevant to know that during the medieval period there were many beliefs about the body as harboring all kinds of evil entities like death-bringers, or harmful worms or parasites infesting the body. This is also the period when Bigu became known as the “abstention from grains” practice. This notion is widely discussed in Daoist scholarly research.

November 8, 2019

I am almost at the ending of my fast. Right now, at 2:15 p.m., it is 44 hours of fasting. I plan to make the traditional Napa cabbage soup at 3 p.m. and have a first light meal by 6 p.m. Also, I had a very peaceful meditation session, it was a very restful session. I clearly had a deep experience of stillness. Prior to meditating, I recited from the Friday morning gongke service (Rites of the American Dragon Gate Lineage). One of the readings was from the Dingguan Jing (Zuowang Lun)

Each thought that emerges should be swiftly eliminated, and each thought that rises should be immediately controlled, ensuring that one becomes still. (Rinaldini 2019, 28)

I found myself aware of subtle thoughts, and they were forgotten so easily. Eventually, there was just a quietness of the mind. In the past, I would have made a big deal about attaining such a quiet state of mind. But now, today, it just felt so natural, was it the result of the fasting or something else?

November 18, 2019

I’ve been eating more of my fasting recovery soup the last few days to help myself return to a normal bowel movement regime. This napa cabbage and a few additional ingredients like mushrooms, kale, and a root vegetable did the trick. I also decided that the next time I do a 2-day fast, I will start on a Tuesday evening and end the fast on Thursday late afternoon. The lesson that I am learning is not to be rigid about the details of the fast and to pay attention to what my body and mind are telling me.

December 1, 2019

Here are possible preparations for another fast. If possible, have this special soup on Tuesday for lunch: organic napa cabbage, kale, tofu, winter

squash, mushrooms, regular or shitake, sesame seed oil or olive oil, etc. Note: No onions, carrots, scallions, garlic, leek, pepper, or miso.

Preparation: Add all food, except cabbage and kale to a pot of water and boil. After the other foods cook for a few minutes, add the cabbage and kale for only 3 minutes, then take off the heat. Add the oil at last minute of cooking. You can eat this soup again for dinner, even with a little skinless chicken/turkey.

Note: The amount of Napa cabbage you eat at one time should be a pretty sizable amount, both before and after the fast. One goal of fasting is a cleansing of the bowels in which the cabbage helps. Also, add more fresh cabbage to the soup whenever you reheat it.

Later on the 1st of December, 2019

I didn’t mention above that during your fast, you will practice Qigong regularly. You will focus on cleansing Qigong like the basic Taichi ruler with the healing sound for the Liver — shuu. Most of the Qigong will highlight the tonifying of the three Dantians, and because it is winter, you’ll practice Qigong to nourish the Kidney energy. Specifically, your Qigong, like the Bear Frolic, will safeguard the small flame of the Yang deep in the Lower Dantian, Kidney organs/meridians. And you will strengthen your external Yin energy so as to create a powerful protective shield around your whole body, much like the bear’s thick fur coat protecting its inner warmth. You will nourish the Three Treasures (Jing, Qi, and Shen) with frequent periods of deep abdominal breathing and Zuowang sitting in oblivion.

January 7, 2020

Okay, let’s jump to modern times and see a very enlightening view on how fasting has a profound effect on the biology of human aging. The fasting retreat I did last year with Kevin Chen was an eyeopening experience for me. The following article was one of the things that Kevin shared with everyone. I’ll edit out parts of it since it is a long article:

The 2016 Nobel Prize for Medicine Supports Health Benefits of Fasting

“The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Dr. Yoshinori Ohsumi of Japan for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy.

The word autophagy originates from the Greek words auto-, meaning “self”, and phagein, meaning “to eat”. Thus, autophagy denotes “self-eating”. This concept emerged during the 1960s, when researchers first observed that the cell could destroy its own contents by enclosing it in membranes, forming sack-like vesicles that were transported to a recycling compartment, called the lysosome, for degradation. Difficulties in studying the phenomenon meant that little was known until, in a series of brilliant experiments in the early 1990s, Yoshinori Ohsumi used baker’s yeast to identify genes essential for autophagy.

He then went on to elucidate the underlying mechanisms for autophagy in yeast and showed that similar sophisticated machinery is used in our cells.

Autophagy is the process of utilizing and recycling unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components — the so-called cellular rubbish which accumulates in cells. Autophagy is intrinsic to living organisms, including those of human beings. Thanks to autophagy cells get rid of excess parts, while an organism gets rid of unnecessary cells.

Eat Less and Live Longer…

Scientists have shown a link between long-living calorie-restricted mice and the types of microbes residing in the guts of those mice. The finding, published in 2013 Nature Communications, suggests a novel mechanism of living longer by establishing the right kind of microbes in our gut through a low-calorie diet. A very lowcalorie diet could be the key to a long and healthy life, according to new research. Eating less can boost healthier aging by protecting the body’s cells from harmful deterioration and the risk of cancer.

Evolutionary biologist Dr. Margo ADOBE PHOTO Adler said that Mechanism of cellular authophagy, illustration for cutting back on food Nobel Prize Award in Medicine 2016. 3D illustration leads to increased showing fusion of lysosome with autophagosome con- rates of “cellular taining microbes and molecules recycling” and repair mechanisms in the body. Dr Adler said: “This effect has been demonstrated in laboratories around the world, in species ranging from yeast to flies to mice. There is also some evidence it occurs in primates.”

Fasting Activates the Cell Autophagy

Autophagy becomes especially intensive when an organism is under stress, for example, when a person goes through fasting. In this case, a cell produces energy using its internal resources, that is, cellular rubbish, including pathogenic bacteria. The Nobel Prize winner’s discovery indicates that abstaining from food and keeping fasts is wholesome — the body truly cleans itself during fasting.

I learned during the retreat that this process of autophagy kicks into action after the person has fasted for 24 hours. This is the amount of time it takes for the body mechanisms to utilize all its stored supply of glucose. After this point, the fun begins and the rule of autophagy reigns supreme. This is also the reason that I have selected 48 hours to be the length of my monthly fasts. I figure that 24

hours into the autophagy realm on a monthly basis will have a lasting effect on my longevity.

January 15, 2020

This is a full day of water fasting today. I began yesterday at 5 p.m. after my pre-fasting soup of napa cabbage and other vegetables. There was a chunk of pork in it, leftover from the previous day. So, in 2 hours, I will be passing through the 24-hour mark, where the real action of fasting begins.

I will include some information below from articles on the benefits of fasting for general health and longevity, as well as for cancer prevention and treatment.

The following quotations are from a research article on fasting as a way to revitalize the immune system in conjunction with cancer treatment:

“Although fasting diets have been criticized by nutritionists for being unhealthy, new research suggests starving the body kick-starts stem cells into producing new white blood cells, which fight off infection. Scientists at the University of Southern California say the discovery could be particularly beneficial for people suffering from damaged immune systems, such as cancer patients on chemotherapy.

It could also help the elderly whose immune system becomes less effective as they age, making it harder for them to fight off even common diseases. The researchers say fasting “flips a regenerative switch” which prompts stem cells to create brand new white blood cells, essentially regenerating the entire immune system. “And the good news is that the body got rid of the parts of the system that might be damaged or old, the inefficient parts, during the fasting.

‘Now, if you start with a system heavily damaged by chemotherapy or aging, fasting cycles can generate, literally, a new immune system.’”

Sarah Knapton, The Telegraph. Telegraph.co.uk June 5, 2014

The above quotations are just one source of information that is easily discoverable by searching the internet. If you do your own surfing the web, you’ll find endless articles on how fasting is being proved beneficial by modern-day medical researchers. Here are some of my own findings on the kinds of medical conditions that fasting could benefit: Weakens cancer, protects the brain, reduces the risk of heart diseases and diabetes, fights inflammation, delays aging and extends longevity, promotes autophagy, and lowers the risk of several chronic diseases.

But wait, I’m not done with my medical evidence on the benefits of fasting. Before I move on to another topic regarding fasting, I want to present some additional medical science evidence supporting fasting as powerful prevention and treatment of cancer. My information comes from a long article by a major medical center in San Francisco, the University of California San Francisco: Osher Center for Integrative Medicine (Osher.ucsf.edu). The title of the article is “Cancer and Fasting/Calorie Restriction.” The question raised in the article is “Can fasting or calorie restriction help my body fight cancer? Could it also help cancer treatment be more effective?”

The following is from the web page of https:// osher.ucsf.edu/patient-care/integrative-medicineresources/cancer-and-nutrition/faq/cancer-andfasting-calorie-restriction:

What is the Evidence?

There have been over 100 years of research looking at the role of calorie restriction in relation to the possibility of prolonging life. While most of this research has been on animals, a modest amount of information on humans has accumulated that indicate a protective effect against secondary aging. Obviously, I am not going to include the bulk of this article. Instead, I will jump to the recommendations and summary of the researchers:

• For general cancer prevention, it may be beneficial to add intermittent or short-term fasts in combination with a plant-based cancer prevention diet. Here are some take-home tips from our literature review:

• In general, follow an anti-inflammatory diet with lots of colorful fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, herbs, and spices.

• Low to moderate carbohydrate intake with low glycemic starches.

• Healthy fats at every meal, including good sources of Omega-3s.

• Moderate protein intake of 3-4 ounces per meal from a combination of animal and plant proteins.

• Lengthen the time between dinner and breakfast to allow for a longer overnight fast, with the goal of 13 or more hours, for example, dinner by 6 p.m. and breakfast after 7 a.m.

• Short-term water fasts of 1-3 days to possibly help re-generate the immune system and increase cellular protection against oxidative stress.

• If you are a cancer patient, water fasting 2-3 days prior to treatment and up to one day following treatment to optimize the efficacy of treatment and reduce treatment-related side effects may be considered, but only under the supervision of a qualified practitioner.

That is certainly powerful news to hear from a prominent medical institution. The value of fasting seems to have gained recognition as a highly worthwhile medical prevention and treatment modality. I would only add to this conclusion that fasting when combined with spiritual and health practices like Qigong and Daoist meditation, can only have miraculous results.

January 18, 2020

I found more information on fasting in one of my favorite books, Daoism, Meditation, and the Wonders of Serenity, by Stephen Eskildsen. My first investigation looks at a text, dated in the third century, it is called The Manifest Dao, Xiandao jing. It translates as The Scripture of the Manifest Dao. The text is broken down into three sections, but for the sake of brevity and clarity, I will make comments based on the text as a whole.

The purpose of the text is to support meditative practices and encourage the practitioner to seek inner states of calmness and serenity as the way to attain the Dao. However, in order to achieve these states of elevation, the adept is advised to limit both sexual activities and food intake. Following these practices, the adept gains the ability to live off of the “internal Qi” (Eskildsen 2015, 79).

The Manifest Dao goes into great detail about this practice including a description of an enclosure of solitude and supported by an attendant taking care of the adept’s needs (food, clothing, freedom from external distractions, etc). From what I read in Professor Eskildsen’s analyses of this text, it looks like there is, indeed, a great emphasis on avoiding grains in the fullest sense of no food. Thus a 100-day fasting regimen is proposed and The Manifest Dao describes the different phases the adept passes through.

In one part of this text, there is the literary style of question and answer, with Laozi portraying the master. Here are a few of these interactions recorded by Eskildsen:

Someone asked, “In practicing the Way, if there is constant Dao-Qi, can you eliminate grains or not?”

Laozi said, “If you want to transcend the world and separate from the worldly, it is urgent that you should eliminate them. By means of your Qi and your breathing, after a long while, you do not hunger or thirst. This is the great essential of the Way.” (2015, 84)

It is assumed that at this level of cultivation, the adept is a master of working with the Qi and the breath through practices that are now called Qigong practices. Some practices of this description might include deep abdominal breathing, full whole body breathing, and the different methods of ways of swallowing the medicinal saliva often called “eating the Qi.”

During my fasting retreat that I did last year with Kevin Chen, one method we were supposed to do was to swallow the saliva at the usual times of meals. Here’s another strong quote on the value of avoiding grains:

Xin Dao Tea

Tea from the heart...

High quality, reasonably priced teas from China

To inquire about our teas please contact us at: solala@abodetao.com/541.345.8854 or go to www.abodetao.com (in store)

piles up as feces, and the gods will not dwell in your body. Just practice the Way endlessly, and after a long while, you will naturally not hunger.” (2015, 84)

In my own words, I would conclude that when the adept realizes the deep states of union with the Dao, and even before any final stages of perfection, the adept prepares for such depths of enlightenment by refraining from all food. And from our long discussions on Zuowang meditation and elevated states of “fixation,” I would say it will only be natural (Wuwei) to avoid grains completely.

January 26, 2020

I am thinking about all the things I’ve said so far about Bigu fasting. Have I missed anything? I also did a review of the study material that Kevin Chen gave us during his Bigu training, including the notes I took. Perhaps, a couple of things are worth mentioning now. First, is the emphasis on “Mindset.” Kevin mentioned several times during his training the importance of keeping a positive mindset. Here are some brief notes he gave us. In one handout, it says, “Mindset: Bigu is not starvation, but a practice of getting energy and power from alternative sources, reboot your life system and experiencing life to its utmost form.” In another handout, there is this point, “The Mind technique of Bigu fasting (Mindset) is synchronized with the Immortals and Gods.”

Additionally, I have some notes that say that “mind” and “spiritual practice” should be integrated. My understanding of mindset is therefore that during our Bigu times of avoiding grains and foods, we should cultivate our higher purposes of living. We should refrain from eating in order to purify not only our bodies but our minds too for the purpose of attaining alignment with spiritual truths.

The other point that Kevin made was the practice of “gulping Qi.” He described the technique as stretching out the head and neck (forward) and opening the mouth as if you were swallowing water. You then physically swallow the air (the Universe Qi) you just grasped in the mouth. He suggested to briefly practice this method with some water in order to actually feel the sensations of swallowing inside your mouth and throat. He said to practice “gulping Qi” whenever you feel hungry. During Kevin’s retreat, I did practice this method. However, during the 2-day monthly fasts that I have done since then, I have relied more on my basic Qigong exercises to gather Qi. After all, it is not so much the technique of how you gather Qi, but it is the mindset of living off of Universal Qi, instead of the ordinary Qi from food. The accompanying quiet and calm state of fasting goes hand-in-hand with the goals of Bigu fasting.

January 27, 2020

I’ve been meaning to write a brief entry on a memory that I have of a very short period of my life. I was probably around 17 or 18 years old and worked at a local amusement park. Actually, it was my first real job while I was in high school. In short, I don’t remember why, but I kept asking myself: What if everybody stopped eating? Would God let us all die? I had these thoughts in my head while I ran the different amusement rides. I don’t remember when or why I stopped asking these questions, but I did.

And now, I wonder if these ancient thoughts of mine were really my thoughts, or were they voices of my distant past, as in previous lifetimes, or maybe even voices from my “spirit guides” of another dimension? Who knows these things?

References

Eskildsen, Stephen. 2015. Daoism, Meditation, and the Wonders of Serenity: From the Latter Han Dynasty (25-220) to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). New York: State University of New York.

Kohn, Livia. 1993. The Taoist Experience: An Anthology. New York: State University of New York.

Rinaldini, Michael. 2019. Rites of the American Dragon Gate Lineage). Unpublished text.

About Michael Rinaldini

Shifu Michael Rinaldini (Lichangdao) is the director of the Qigong & Daoist Training Center in Sebastopol, CA. He teaches Qigong, Circle Walking, Daoist meditation, and Chinese Food Therapy. For advanced students, he offers a Qigong Certification program of 200 hours in Qigong and Daoist practices. His program is available locally, nationally and internationally. Shifu Michael is founder of the American Dragon Gate Lineage. His trainings are limited to serious students of the Dao who wish to become ordained Daoist priests of the Lineage (ADGL) after three years of practice and study. Students perform the studies at their own residences but attend annual retreats throughout the 3-year training phase.

For more information on Shifu Michael, please visit his website: www.qigongdragon.com Spring 2020 — Page 29