The Dance of Smoke and Stillness

Have some incense nearby.

Have a safe way to light it.

Have a safe place to place it.

I'll refer to this space as an altar, even if you might not ordinarily consider it an altar.

(Our focus will alter any place. 🙂)

If possible, let your meditation take place near an open window or under the open sky.

We'd like the lighting to be appropriate to viewing easily the smoke from the incense.

The Dance of Smoke and Stillness

a Dàoist Guided Meditation

Introduction: Setting the Space Sit comfortably before your altar, the incense unlit. Not waiting. Not patient. Fully present. Slowly breathing. Close your eyes.

Take three deep breaths:

Letting your lungs fill slowly, as if drawing in the purest morning air.

Exhale, releasing tension with each breath.

Imagine the world outside fading into a blurry, quietness, leaving only the present moment - a sanctuary of calm. Haziness there, clarity here.

Lesson 1: Quietude, 靜 (Jìng) Before you light the incense, allow your breath to guide you back home - to stillness.

Inhale deeply, letting the calm settle into your belly.

Exhale softly, releasing thoughts like autumn leaves falling into a stream. Washed away.

With steady hands, prepare the incense.

Move as if time itself has slowed; each motion becomes deliberate, sacred. Perhaps profound.

Collect it.

Unwrap it, perhaps.

Place it.

Be lightly curious about its weight, its texture, its color...its scent now - unburned.

Take your time. Sacred intentionality is our aim.

Continue deep inhalations, sense the stillness there at the end of each inhalation.

Continue these soft exhalations, releasing anxiety and worry - replacing them with stillness.

Time is still slowed. Still sacred, still deliberate: we find fire.

We bring the flame to the incense.

A spark is born, a flame dances...and is shared.

Light and shadow born by your hand...beside your altar.

As you light the incense, observe the first tendrils of smoke rise into the air. Curling, uncoiling. Fix your gaze lightly, softly on this motion, quieting your mind to mirror the stillness of the altar.

The smoke wafts away, moving and dancing...leaving stillness.

Your thoughts, tensions, worries also burn and float away - leaving a soul's stillness inside.

Continue these deep inhalations, sensing stillness all around and everywhere within.

Continue these soft exhalations, releasing all thought and all pain - replacing them with sacred stillness.

Lesson 2: Respect for the Unseen, 鬼神 (Guǐ Shén) As the incense smoke swirls and ascends, visualize it as a bridge spanning realms - linking the tangible world with the unseen forces that cradle existence. A smoke-bridge offering connection between worlds, times. With hands pressed together or resting in humility, whisper silently your feelings toward these unseen energies. Each breath you take is an offering, each curl of smoke a message sent into the mysterious expanse. Mystery of mystery. Reflect on the unseen beauty that flows as the Dào, touching every soul and every leaf. This entire existence, smoke over an altar.

Lesson 3: The Flow of Qì, 氣的流動 (Qì de liú dòng) Observe the smoke as it dances unpredictably, carried by unseen currents. This is the flow of Qì - free, flowing, alive!

With each inhalation, feel the incense’s fragrance entering you, cleansing and harmonizing the Qì within. Imagine the smoke purifying the space around you, too. Scented smoke drawing out disharmony and spreading calm. Let the steady rhythm of your breath align with the graceful dispersal of Qì, echoing the natural harmony of life.

Each exhalation, softened and softening, contributes to the currents in this space. Just as your life contributes to the current of the Dào.

Lesson 4: Returning to the Source, 無極 (Wújí) Now, contemplate the transience of the incense, its solid form slowly dissolving into fragrant smoke, and then into emptiness.

Inhale deeply, reflecting on the ephemeral nature of all things, all beings. Even the smoke returns to the unseen source, Wújí, the common beginning and shared end of all. As you exhale, allow yourself to soften into this truth, embracing the infinite potential of nothingness.

Feel the unmanifested state within yourself, a reservoir of stillness and tranquility. Thinking on this state will dispel it - instead feel for it or its echoes. The smoke casts shadows despite only barely being there.

Continue these deep inhalations, sensing stillness and emptiness all around and everywhere within.

Continue these soft exhalations, releasing all names, all that is manifest - replacing them with sacred silent stillness.

Lesson 5: Harmony with Nature, 天人合一 (Tiān Rén Hé Yī) Imagine the incense as a gift from Nature - its wood, herbs, or resins born of the Earth’s abundance. As it transforms from solid to smoke from smoke to Emptiness, feel your connection with the natural world deepen. Each breath carries you closer to the rhythm of the Earth, the Sky, & the Stars. Each living in an ocean of Emptiness - their home. Even now, scented smoke, lit with your intention and born of your altar space is weaving its way into the air outside, uniting you with the great and limitless expanse of the cosmos. Whisper silently your gratitude to the elements, for their gifts of sustenance, of meaningfulness, and of balance.

Closing and Reflection When the incense finishes burning, sit for a moment longer in quiet reflection. Visualize the lingering scent wrapping around the altar, the meditator like an unseen embrace. It is an reminder of the Dào that flows to through and from all things...in all places...at all times.

Three enjoyable breaths, now...

Slowly return to the present place.

Slowly raising the eyelids.

Be aware of your connection to the Earth, to the unseen, and to your own abiding inner stillness.

Thank you