Zuowang () is a classic Daoist meditation technique, described as "a state of deep trance or intense absorption, during which no trace of ego-identity is felt and only the underlying cosmic current of the Dao is perceived as real." According to Louis Komjathy, this is one term for Daoist apophatic meditation, which also goes by various other names in Daoist literature, such as "quiet sitting" (靜坐 jìngzuò), "guarding the one" (守一 shǒuyī), "fasting the heartmind" (心齋 xīnzhāi), and "embracing simplicity" (抱朴 bàopǔ).
Zuowang instructions can be seen in classic Taoist texts from as early as the Chinese Warring States Period, such as the Zhuangzi. The term also appears in the title of an influential manual from the Tang dynasty (618–907), the Zuowanglun, and continues to inform Daoist contemplative practice today.
Terminology
Chinese zuòwàng compounds the words zuò 坐 "sit; take a seat" and wàng 忘 "forget; overlook; neglect".
In terms of Chinese character classification, this zuò character 坐 is an ideogrammatic compound with two 人 "people" sitting on the 土 "ground"; and wàng 忘 is a phono-semantic compound with the "heart-mind radical" semantic element and a wáng 亡 "lose; disappear; flee; die; escape" phonetic and semantic element. Wáng 亡 and wàng 忘 are etymologically cognate, explained as "(Mentally lost:) absent-minded, forget" (Karlgren, or "'to lose' (from memory)"
Accurately translating zuòwàng is problematic. Compare the remarkable similarities among dictionary translation equivalents. "be in a state of mental abstraction" - Herbert Giles "to sit in a state of mental abstraction" - Robert Henry Mathews "oblivious of oneself and one's surroundings; free from worldly concerns" - Liang Shih-chiu & Chang Fang-chieh "oblivious of one's surroundings, free from worldly concerns" - Lin Yutang "① be oblivious of oneself and one's surroundings ② be free from worldly concerns" - John DeFrancis Kohn explains translating wàng as "oblivion". Zuowang 坐忘 "sitting in oblivion," signifies a state of deep meditative absorption and mystical oneness, during which all sensory and conscious faculties are overcome and which is the base point for attaining Dao. I translate wang as "oblivion" and "oblivious" rather than "forgetting" or "forgetful" because the connotation of "forget" in English is that one should remember but doesn't do so, or—if used intentionally—that one actively and intentionally does something in the mind. None of these holds true for what ancient and medieval Daoists were about. This is borne out both by the language and the writings: the word wang in Chinese consists of the character xin for "mind-heart", usually associated with conscious and emotional reactions to reality and the word wang for "obliterate" or "perish". The implication is – as indeed described in the sources – that one lets go of all kinds of intentional and reactive patterns and comes to rest in oneness with spirit and is ready to merge completely with Dao. The synonyms yíwàng 遺忘 and wàngquè 忘卻 mean "forget; oblivion".
Daoist zuòwàng meditation had parallels in other Chinese religions and philosophies. The practice of jingzuo 靜坐 "quiet sitting" was first recorded in the (third century BCE) Legalist classic Hanfeizi. Neo-Confucian leaders like Zhu Xi (1130-1200) and Wang Yangming (1472–1529) advocated jingzuo meditation. (Jingzuo shiwei 静坐示威 is the modern Chinese word for "sit-in"). The Chinese Buddhist practice of zuochan 坐禪 "sitting meditation" (namely, Japanese zazen) uses the word chan "meditation; abstraction; trance", and zuosi 坐思 "sitting contemplation" uses si "think; consider; deliberate". Compare the Buddhist word zuowang 坐亡 "sitting death; passing away while sitting in meditation", which is the ideal manner of death for eminent monks and nuns.
Classical usages
Chinese classics first used zuowang "sitting forgetting" around the third century BCE, during the late Warring States period.