On the Differences Between Taoist Míngxiǎng (冥想), Meditation, and Mindfulness

Fix your vocabulary before you damage your practice: Why conceptual confusion ruins real energy work.

NASA Hubble Space Telescope by Unsplash

Ever since Jon Kabat-Zinn dragged the concept of mindfulness into the medical field, its original meaning has become incredibly diluted. Because everyone and their mother is throwing the word around everywhere, the collateral damage to the true practice is severe. Some people even go as far as treating mindfulness and meditation as if they are the exact same thing. Let’s get this absolutely straight once and for all.

Mindfulness is witness. Meditation is touching. Meditation is not some intellectual concept game you play with your brain. Do not ask me what it is touching. The exact moment I slice it down into a single word, it undergoes a horrific fragmentation and drifts away from reality. If it could be done with mere words, believe me, it would be much easier for me too.

If you have not experienced it yourself, you know absolutely nothing about meditation. If you dare to define meditation without the actual experience, you are walking straight into a trap. This trap is so severe that it can eventually destroy your physical body. You might ask, “How can mere thoughts damage the physical body?” This is False. It is a massive misconception. If you just mistook meditation for mere thinking, you are in a state of absolute illusion.

Mindfulness is witness. Why am I saying it twice? Because it deserves to be said twice. Witnessing means tracking an object with your sheer will. This object includes almost every word and concept that people can possibly think of. Zen masters constantly tell practitioners to “observe” (觀). Although it is not a 100% exact match due to the limitations of translation, I have done my absolute best to bridge the gap.

Why must you observe the object?

Because only then can you escape the trap of your thoughts. The illusion that “Thought = Me” causes massive stress to your brain. If you think “I am tired,” your brain mirrors that directly into your body. Then a real feedback loop happens, making your body heavy and exhausted. If you think “I am excited,” your brain mirrors that directly into your body. Then a real feedback loop happens, making your body light and full of energy. This is not a concept; it is a physical reality operating within your system.

Please… I know someone will ask for “scientific evidence” yet again. This addiction to thinking is exactly what causes the disease. I am not telling you to blindly believe me. Doubt my words, but read until the very end, and then ponder upon it.

First, categorize and separate your thoughts precisely. If you fail to do this, you will never achieve a single shred of progress for the rest of your miserable life. Are you telling me to stop joking, or that I’m exaggerating? One megabyte (1MB) and one terabyte (1TB) are separated by just a single letter, yet the capacity they hold is worlds apart. And even if we only talk about capacity, that’s just the tip of the iceberg — in reality, it’s far worse. Do you seriously think an HDD and an SSD are the same thing?

Take a break right here. Before you dare read any further, categorize at least ten things from your own mind and write them down in a notebook. Go on. It’s going to be a lot more than you think. Those who just mindlessly scroll through these lines like a casual story have already given up on any true spiritual growth. You are nothing but fools wasting your own time.

“Why are there so many things to separate? Why does it feel like there’s no end to it?” Of course it feels that way. I don’t know exactly how many years you’ve spent breathing on this earth, but if you’re capable of reading this post, you’ve likely lived for at least twenty years. (If there are students under twenty reading this, welcome — you’ve come to the right place.) Just think about how much random information is crammed inside your head. The problem is, your treasures and your absolute garbage are all tangled up together. Why on earth would you throw a priceless pearl straight into a cesspool??? You need to fish the pearl out, not wallow in the filth!!!

Before we move forward, let me make one thing absolutely clear: this is not your fault. When we are young, we blindly assume that what our parents, teachers, and elders tell us must be right. But that is rarely the case. The world is changing at a breakneck speed. Furthermore, no matter how much good intention was behind their words, a child’s mind can easily misinterpret them. This is precisely why you must perform this deep-cleaning process right now. If you leave this mess untouched, any minor progress you manage to make in your practice will eventually be wiped out by your distorted perception. In the worst-case scenario, it will physically tear your body apart.

In exactly the same way, the original, profound meaning of the word Míngxiǎng (冥想) — to close one’s eyes and sync deeply with the cosmic matrix — has been dragged down into a total clusterfuck. As it was translated into Western terms like ‘meditation’ and ‘mindfulness,’ it hit the brutal wall of linguistic limitations. Combined with the reckless, indiscriminate consumption by people who lacked even the basic capacity to comprehend it, the true practice was completely butchered.

This might be boring, but we must point out the difference. I also want to skip this part and tell you to look it up on Wikipedia. But you won’t look it up, right? Because it’s too much trouble (Hahaha). Míngxiǎng (冥想) was originally a term used in ancient Chinese Taoism. Taoists called the truth the Great Tao (大道), and this is a practice method designed to synchronize the soul, mind, and body with this Great Tao. The reason you close your eyes during Míngxiǎng (冥想) is to block out visual distractions, which are the largest part of sensory interference, and at the same time, it is a trigger for a kind of consciousness shift.

However, later, as Buddhism flowed from India into China, Chinese monks translated Dhyāna — which means a deep state of Samādhi — as Chánnà (禪那) or Chán (禪, Zen). In this process, the original words Míngxiǎng (冥想) and Chán (禪, Zen) fused together, which is why in modern times, it is written as Míngxiǎng (瞑想). (Oh, and I am adding this just in case: the state of Samādhi is not achieved by your will, but is a mechanism that switches automatically. Therefore, do not make Samādhi your goal.)

In the process of Míngxiǎng (瞑想) being translated back into ‘meditation,’ the core essence was completely stripped away. To practice Míngxiǎng (瞑想) means to witness (觀) your thoughts so that the mental noise gradually decreases, allowing you to synchronize with the universe. However, they replaced it with ‘Meditation,’ a word derived from the Latin root meditari, which means the exact opposite: to work your brain hard and use thoughts to solve problems. Straying from the original meaning is problem enough, but this word spread across the entire English-speaking world. And because of the Jon Kabat-Zinn I mentioned earlier, Western practitioners now perceive that Mindfulness — which is merely one of the tools to reach Míngxiǎng (瞑想) — is equal to Meditation. (I will skip any further detailed explanation.)

So let me be direct. There is only one purpose of spiritual practice: Oneness with the universe. Compared to this, everything else is entirely secondary.

Therefore, if there is anyone who intends to directly study and practice the original Eastern scriptural texts related to Míngxiǎng (冥想) and practice — regardless of whether they are Sanskrit or Chinese texts — use this as your standard. Then, clearly see and apply what refers to the root, what refers to the branches, and what refers to the leaves and fruits, as well as what problems will come to the practitioner during the practice process and how to overcome them.

• Historical references for the concepts used in this article can be found on Wikipedia.
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