Zuowang
| Zuowang | |||||||||
| Chinese | 坐忘 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Literal meaning | sitting forgetting | ||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | zuòwàng |
| Wade–Giles | tso-wang |
Zuowang (simplified Chinese: 坐忘; pinyin: zuòwàng) is a classic Daoist meditation technique, described (Kohn 2008a:1308) 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." Zuowang originated during the late Warring States period (475-221 BCE), formed the Zuowanglun title of a Tang dynasty (618-907) treatise on meditation, and continues in Daoist contemplative practice today. This ancient Daoist practice compares with zuochan "sitting meditation" in Chinese Buddhism and jingzuo "quietly sitting" in Neo-Confucianism.
Chinese zuowang compounds the words zuo "sit; take a seat" and wang "forget; overlook; neglect".
In terms of Chinese character classification, this zuo character 坐 is an ideogrammatic compound with two "people" sitting on the "ground"; and wang 忘 is a phono-semantic compound with the "heart-mind radical" semantic element and a wang "lose; disappear; flee; die; escape" phonetic and semantic element. Wang 亡 and wang 忘 are etymologically cognate, explained as "(Mentally lost:) absent-minded, forget" (Karlgren 1923:366), or "'to lose' (from memory)" (Schuessler 2007:507).
Accurately translating zuowang is problematic. Compare the remarkable similarities among dictionary translation equivalents.
Kohn explains translating wang as "oblivion".
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