The Seven Emotions and Six Desires, Nathan Brine

Notes on The Seven Emotions and Six Desires 七情六欲

By: BK Wee

(This article was put together by Wang Liping’s student and translator BK Wee. These notes are from a 21-day fasting retreat held in 2014.)

The Taoist world view of 神 Shen

There is a 神 Shen, an ultimate ruler and creator in each discrete and distinct universe. The human body is a defined universe and therefore has a Shen within, so when the body dies, the Shen will go away.

There are many 神 Shen, for example 山神 mountain Shen, 河神 river Shen, and 樹神 tree Shen, including a 神 Shen in each one of our internal organs.

The 神 Shen and 靈 Ling are not separable.

Generally, there are 2 types of Shen, 元神 Yuan Shen and 識神 Shi Shen, and they are connected through the 靈 Ling.

For the 元神 Yuan Shen, there are 2 scenarios:

(i) 無感而生 arising from without sensory perception or beyond sensory perception;
(ii) 無感而知 knowing from without sensory perception or beyond sensory perception.

The Yuan Shen can be further divided into 陰神 Yin Shen and 陽神 Yang Shen. For the 識神 Shi Shen, there are also 2 scenarios:

(i) 有感而生 arising from sensory perception;
(ii) 有感而知 knowing from sensory perception.

When you see images in sitting meditation, are you aware of the image/scene on the cusp of it being formed (i.e. before manifestation), or are you aware of it only after it has manifested?

Further, the Shi Shen can have 2 types:

(i) 有為有意 purposeful and intentional, with effort;
(ii) 無為無意 without purpose and intent, without effort.

The context for (ii) is that one becomes aligned with nature and her rhythms, so you become one with the wave rather than riding or fighting against it. 無為 (ii) does not mean not having to do anything; it refers to a state of consciousness and accomplishment.

六欲 Six desires arise from the 六感 sensory organs: 眼 eyes, 鼻 nose, 口 mouth (or 身 body), 舌 tongue, 耳 ears, and 意 yi, and are confined within the gates of 生 birth and 死 death. The six desires are triggered when 神行於體外 the Shen is moving outside the physical body. First, 觸覺 sensory inputs such as smell, taste, sight and hearing (through our sensory organs) from the visible surroundings (i.e. 身邊, and not just anywhere outside the physical body, 身外, which by definition covers a much wider and further range) come into contact with our physical body, and from that we have a 感覺 sense of feeling. So if we are in a room, our range of perception will be much more limited. Depending on whether the external stimulus is far away or nearby, strong or weak, all in relative terms, this leads to 色變, so everyone perceives the world differently.

As long as we have a physical body, we will have desires. These desires will lead to 7 emotions within our body.

Seven emotions: 喜 pleasure, 怒 anger, 悲 sorrow, 驚 fright, 憂 worry, 恐 fear, 思 thought. The seven emotions are triggered when 神行於體內 the Shen is moving within the physical body. When these emotions are out of balance, the people around us and the corresponding internal organ will be affected negatively.

The six desires and seven emotions colour our overall perception of the world through 自覺 (sense of self-awareness), 感覺 (sense of feeling), 知覺 (sense of knowing), and 無覺 (state beyond senses).

Emotion - Internal Organ - Sensory Organ - Colour

Pleasure - Heart - Tongue - Red
Anger - Liver - Eye - Green
Sorrow/Worry - Lungs - Nose - White
Thought - Spleen - Mouth - Yellow
Fright/Fear - Kidney - Ear - Black

For the Taoists, this is not merely a philosophical discourse; it has direct implications and applications for the practice of alchemy.

First, the human universe is sealed off from the surrounding environment: eyes look within (preserves liver and reduces anger), ears hear within (preserves kidney and reduces fright/fear), nose not smelling outside (preserves lung and reduces sorrow/worry), mouth sealed (preserves spleen and reduces thoughts), tongue touching upper palate, 意念 yi nian/focus turned inward on own body/inside the body. The 7 emotions will be influenced/affected by the 6 desires and vice versa.

Everything is interlinked!

愛 Love is not part of the seven emotions but is implied (hidden) in the six desires 意 yi.(意裡藏愛)。愛不是情，有意才有情，沒意就無情。愛中不一定有情，但愛是在感裡出現。有情不一定有愛。如愛在七情裡-> 思 -> 病

So the practitioner creates a sealed-off universe within the body and uses the human universe as a basis to discover and know the World ganwu 感悟(性功) beyond the normal sensory organs 感覺(命功). This will give you lots of inspiration 感悟中靈感. Discover the extraordinary in the ordinary, and integrate the extraordinary back into the ordinary 從感覺(平凡)找感悟(超自然)，從超自然再回來找自己的感覺. In short, dual cultivation of both xing and ming 性功命功 is needed.

Normally the six desires and seven emotions are dynamic and generally balanced, although one affects the other. The practice aims to disrupt this balance. Desires will be greatly enhanced, e.g. the desire to succeed in the training, to create something out of nothing and/or to achieve things ordinarily not possible. The following are examples of what practitioners are able to experience when the sensory organs are sealed off during sitting:

(a) 下田 Xia Tian begins to pulsate and move in 小腹 xiaofu cavity;

(b) Shifting of the heartbeat from the left side of the chest to the midline and then down to 下田 Xia Tian, and being able to hear the pulse at the midline as well as down in 下田 Xia Tian.

(c) Detecting the astral/etheric body (有形無質 with form but no substance) and causing this layer to breathe and come under our conscious control. The aura is part of this layer. The aura is the layer of light between the physical body and the etheric/astral body. The light/aura can be of different colours and sizes at different times, and is different for each person.

Achieving these feats gives you a cellular memory of the experiences, and through this an even greater desire to achieve more. 從無到有，從有到得

Note that in this instance the desires referred to are beyond human emotions 無情欲望 (cf. 大道無情無義, having the same characteristics as the Dao) and are qualitatively different from the desires that arise from the sensory organs 有情欲望.

So,

Where to look for the Shen?

How to seek this Shen?

How do you know that it is your Shen communicating with you and not some entity outside of yourself?

Seal sensory organs and 下三陰 lower 3 yin (前陰 front yin/genitals, 後陰 back yin/anus and 會陰 huiyin/perineum) - this creates changes inside the body and triggers the seven emotions. Here the emotions will be relatively balanced, 乾淨 “clean and pure,” and will not potentially harm the internal organs.

Stabilize the body and activate pore breathing, gradually shifting from normal breathing to inner breathing and True breathing.

Once the practitioner’s own human universe is properly sealed, the emotions and desires will be more stable, and this allows the 神光 Shen Guang to enter from the 天目 Celestial Eye directly into the 下田 Xia Tian (lower dantian). Otherwise the light may be directed to the organ whose corresponding emotion is out of balance rather than into the 小腹 Xiao Fu cavity (lower abdomen). E.g. if the practitioner is feeling anger, the 神光 Shen Guang will end up in the liver instead of the 下田 Xia Tian.

The method to attain emptiness/void:

Compress the 3 cavities (3D sphere) and connect all 3 cavities into 1 inner cavity. Continue to compress.

Compress the human universe, training space and cosmic space, and connect all 3 spaces (3D sphere) into 1.

If the above are done properly, we can see:

(i) a glow of light around the practitioner’s body;
(ii) a well-formed layer (with form but no substance) outside the physical body.

Ideally the practitioner should progress to the next stage of practice when these benchmarks are met.

Increasing the length of time for sitting, and keeping still despite pain in the legs, causes:

(i) the 元神 Yuan Shen to separate from the 識神 Shi Shen;
(ii) the form without substance (astral/etheric body) part of our anatomy to separate from the physical body.

Guided meditation: intentionally use 識神 Shi Shen to guide 元神 Yuan Shen by executing guided meditation instructions one after another.

When awake you see images/scene in sitting/sleeping practice and/or you see images/scene outside your body: 陽神 Yang Shen.

When asleep you see images/scene in sitting/sleeping practice and/or you see images/scene within body: 陰神 Yin Shen.

When you can see images/scenes during sitting but not during mirror practice: too much 識神 Shi Shen, too forceful and anxious to get results.

The purpose of practice is to:

(i) enable the 神 Shen to experience pain,
(ii) attain the 無覺 State Beyond Senses,
(iii) attain 無覺的愛 love in the State Beyond Senses (a parent’s love for their children is nowhere near this state),
(iv) attain the state of Emptiness/Void, return to become Light/energy (to be all present and everywhere at once).

As you progress towards the 無覺 State Beyond Senses, your sense of self-awareness (自覺), sense of knowing (知覺) and sense of feeling (感覺) are less likely to be in error and more in touch with reality.

All of this is applicable and must be integrated into your daily lives so that you become a better Man. Taoists believe that until you become a 真人 True Man by finding your 真我 True Self, you are not really fully human 是人可是還不算成人. 心化藏而變質成人，神化藏而變形成仙，靈化藏而變光成道:三個條件具備就是真人。

The following 3 conditions must be met before the True Self is revealed:

(i) the 心 heart transforms, becomes hidden, causes a change in substance to become human;
(ii) the 神 Shen transforms, becomes hidden, causes a change in the form/shape to become immortal;
(iii) the 靈 Ling transforms, becomes hidden, causes a change in the light to become one with the Tao.