Tonight I read "Bai Letian's World" (written by Masahiro Shimotsada, Phoenix Publishing House, 2017) and wrote about Bai Juyi's health care. I found it very interesting. I simply recorded it as follows:
One morning Get up, knock your teeth, burn incense, sit in meditation, and read Buddhist and Taoist classics. "Knocking on the teeth" is a health regimen that involves tapping the upper and lower teeth together. "Baopuzi" written by Ge Hong in the Jin Dynasty has a description of "Those who have knocked on their teeth for three hundred times in the morning will never waver" (Internal Chapter Volume 3) . Then it refers to sitting meditation, which is the practice of Buddhism and understanding the teachings of Zen.
Bai Juyi wrote a poem about health preservation:
Rise up at sunrise and wash your hands, shake your clothes and enter the dojo. Eat when the sun is high, and the food is not pure rice.
At noon, I took off my scarf and hairpin, and got out of bed by the window. I lead my stick to the west and take a walk in the woods.
For a long time, I often don’t eat, and sometimes I just drink wine. There are five hours in a day and a regular schedule.
Right and wrong are consistent, and life experiences are forgotten. There is no other thought in silence, but for a burner of incense.
Essence and coarseness follow everything, and they are enough to fill the intestines. The cool breeze is blowing, and you can reach Emperor Xi while lying down.
Or drink a cup of tea, or recite a chapter of poetry. Why send off a leisurely night with a song of autumn neon clothes?
I like to grow old and stay healthy, and I don’t mind being busy in my spare time. If you ask what this is, this is nowhere.
It is really enviable, "If you ask what this is, this is no country." The allusion comes from "Zhuangzi·Xiaoyaoyou": "Now you have a big tree, but it is useless, why not tree it?" In a day where there is nothing, Bai Juyi washes his eyes, fixes his hair and meditates, eats plainly in the morning, takes a lunch break at noon, walks in the evening, and goes for a walk at night. Listening to music, although there is a lot of content, is calm and beneficial.
Bai Juyi has seen through life and death, so when he was sick:
Sickness and old age follow each other in the world, and he has known this for a long time.
As I approach my seventieth year today, I still feel ashamed that my illness came late.
This kind of optimistic attitude has been rare throughout the ages!
Throughout Bai Juyi's life, sitting meditation seemed to be the most important activity he performed at any time in his health regimen. In addition, Taoist "regulating qi" is a health regimen for regulating breathing, which was also absorbed into Bai Juyi's life.
Bai Juyi's regimen was very similar to Su Shi's. Su Shi also had to tap his teeth, meditate, breathe and exhale the old and absorb the new after getting up early every day, then massage the Yongquan point, eyes, face and ears, and finally comb his hair.
Then there’s the meditation!
The key is that both of them are open-minded, cheerful and open-minded people!
In fact, the effect of massaging and tapping teeth and breathing in the morning is quite good. I have persisted for many years!
But I really can’t sit still while meditating!
In fact, meditation is one of the most effective ways to improve trading!