《太上升玄说消灾护命妙经注(王玠)》

“The Most High” refers to the supreme and unsurpassed Dao (the Way); “ascending to the mysterious” means rising into a subtle and wondrous realm; “expounding” means to reveal and instruct; “eliminating disasters” means removing calamities; “protecting life” means preserving life; and the “wondrous scripture” refers to a subtle Jing (scripture/classic), also explained as a path that anyone can follow.

The Most High Ancestor of the Dao—the supreme Dao—transforms and brings forth heaven and earth, and the myriad things each have their own mystery. Human beings receive the spiritual excellence of heaven and earth and are therefore the most lucid in spirit. Yet climate and local custom differ from place to place, and the endowments people receive also vary, so there is a distinction between the worthy and wise and the dull and foolish. The Celestial Worthy, with a compassionate heart, reveals expedient methods and instructs the people of the world, enabling them to understand the true nature originally theirs and to preserve the body, mind, nature, and life they now possess.

If a person refines thought with the mind and brings emotion and desire back to original nature, then in stillness one can circulate and transform the hidden workings of Heaven, convert Jing (essence) into Qi (vital energy), gather it in the Qian palace—the site in Daoist internal cultivation that symbolizes the movement of yang Qi—and then let it fill the whole body. This is called “ascending to the mysterious.” One then refines Shen (spirit) with symbolic fire and refines the bodily form by swallowing the golden liquid—this is the language of Daoist internal cultivation—so that the body grows strong and the spirit clear, malign Qi can scarcely intrude, and illness does not easily arise. Going further, one seeks long life and lasting vision, and transcendence of the mundane world and of calamity. This is called “eliminating disasters and protecting life.”

If someone can receive and cultivate this path and set it working within their own person, they can stand alongside the holy immortals and endure together with heaven and earth. This is the intent of the “wondrous scripture.” The Daodejing says: “The good person is the teacher of the person who is not good; the person who is not good is a mirror for the good person.” Therefore, no one ought to be abandoned. Although living beings have hearts of craving and attachment, inwardly they all possess a nature that is good and wise.

The Celestial Worthy expounds this scripture in order to clarify the mysterious principle and instruct those who come later. If it can be widely transmitted and recited, and if one investigates the root of the great Dao, then, once one has understood, foolishness can turn to wisdom and turbidity can turn to clarity; one may go on to leave the ordinary and enter sagehood, and will naturally be able to eliminate disasters, extinguish transgressions, preserve nature and life, and lengthen one’s years. This is precisely the mystery of this scripture.

The hymn says: the limitless and mysterious Dao of the Primordial Beginning; the lofty and exalted Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure; it spreads the teaching of ascending to the mysterious, manifests the great Dao, and proclaims the scripture.

At this time, the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning was in the Palace of Five Brilliances within the Grove of the Seven Treasures.

What is meant here by “at that time” is the chaos before Heaven and Earth had yet taken form; “primordial beginning” refers to the source Qi (vital energy) of the myriad things; and “Celestial Worthy” refers to supreme, unsurpassed numinous clarity. Commentators interpret the Grove of the Seven Treasures as a person’s heart and Shen (spirit), and the Palace of Five Brilliances as the Yellow Court (Huangting, the palaces and residences within the body as described in Daoism).

From the perspective of the formation of Heaven and Earth, in the remote beginning the Qi of the ancestral kalpa transformed into the orthodox Qi of the myriad ways, filled the void, and condensed into a sacred body. The numinous Shen within it contained the wondrous principles of the myriad things and was therefore called the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning. The Jing (scripture/classic) says that he was then located in the Grove of the Seven Treasures and the Palace of Five Brilliances of the Heaven of Initial Azure (Shiqing Tian, the name of a celestial realm in Daoism).

From the perspective of cultivating the Dao (the Way), the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning is also present in every person’s life. Here this refers to a thread of pure Yang true Qi, dwelling in the secret portal of the gate of life within the body (a technical term of cultivation, referring to the hidden place of vital potential inside the body). There is an empty aperture there called the Heart of Heaven, which is also where a person’s nature and spirit reside, and it is regarded as the root of the court assembly of the many spirits.

When the first Yang begins to stir (the initial arising of Yang Qi within the body), at the very moment suited to revolving the scriptural method, Shen and Qi descend to the Mysterious Pass (the crucial place in cultivation where body and mind meet). One then uses the wind of Xun (the internally refined Qi symbolizing the Qi of wind) to blow upon the samadhi fire of the Li palace (the internally refined fire symbolizing the fire of the heart), so that the two Qi of Yin-Yang circulate along the Yellow Path and the three natures (three inner factors that unite in cultivation) gather in the primal palace, blending and congealing into the elixir. Refining and nourishing the mind and nature is like rendering gold firm and solid: one must rely on forging with the power of fire. Commentators correlate “seven” with fire and “five” with earth, and therefore say that the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning is in the Palace of Five Brilliances within the Grove of the Seven Treasures.

This also corresponds to the statement in the Scripture of Salvation (Duren Jing): the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning suspended a precious pearl the size of a grain of millet in the void, five zhang above the ground, leading the Dao of the celestial perfected.

The hymn of praise says: The Primordial Beginning existed before Heaven and Earth; it is the root that, through Wuwei (non-action), passes through vast kalpas. The one mind embraces the many forms, and true nature gazes downward in illuminating contemplation upon the True Void.

Descending together with the holy assembly of Wuji (the Limitless), they pour forth light without end, illuminating worlds without bound.

This continues what has gone before: a deity sits composed in the place of honor, and the myriad spirits all come to pay homage. In terms of the outer scene, when the Tianzun (Celestial Worthy) expounds the Jing (scripture), the limitless holy assembly of every heaven and every earth, of the Three Realms and the Ten Directions, gathers together in the Palace of Five Brilliances within the Forest of Seven Treasures to hear the profound mystery of the scripture; at that moment inexhaustible light is released, shining upon worlds without limit.

In terms of the application of Daoist method, when the elixir is refined one borrows the force of Tiangang in its course and reverses the turning of the Dipper’s handle, so that the myriad spirits and the myriad Qi (vital energy) within the human body converge together in the heart. After a brief interval of warm nurturing, Shen (spirit) is clear and Qi refreshed, the breast opens wide, and body and mind are at ease; spiritual nature holds within it the realm of empty mystery, and every pore and aperture of the body appears luminous—this is what is meant by “illuminating the Wuji worlds.” It is the same as the scene described in the Duren Jing (Scripture of Salvation): the supreme sages and lofty worthies, the Zhenren (Perfected) of wondrous practice, and countless holy beings come from the void and enter together into the precious pearl; once inside the pearl, one no longer knows where they are. When the rite is largely concluded, the divine hosts of the heavens each return to their proper stations, and in the blink of an eye all is silent and still. The hymn says: within a single grain of millet heaven and earth lie stored; the various Zhenren gather in the body of the holy one; the light of wisdom arises amid the vague and elusive, shining throughout the worlds of emptiness.

They contemplate sentient beings without bound and without number, and see them bearing affliction without end: wandering and adrift in the world, passing through the cycle of birth and death; sinking and floating in the river of craving and desire, carried on the waves of the sea of desire; entangled by sound and form, and bewildered by “being” and “non-being.”

“Contemplate” means to discern with penetrating insight. “Wuji” here means that persons and beings under heaven are inexhaustible and ever arising without cease. “Sentient beings” means those sunk in birth and death, dull and astray: they drift on the river of craving and desire, rise and fall with desire, are drawn along by sound and form, and are confused about the principle of being and non-being.

“Guan” means to see with penetrating insight and to perceive completely. “Wuji,” as used here, refers to the great multitude of people and beings in the world and to their unceasing generation. “Sentient beings” refers to people who are foolish and greedily attached, and also includes every living being endowed with a spiritual nature.

This passage says that the Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) dwells quietly in the most profound stillness and, with the eye of wisdom, surveys the vast world. In an age when the kalpic course of fate is turbid, some people are greedy and vulgar, foolish and ignorant. They neither revere the mandate of Heaven nor cherish their own lives. Their craving never ceases; though they have human form, their hearts are like those of birds and beasts.

Such people understand neither human ethical relations nor fear the laws of the state. They let bodily desire rule the mind, pursue nothing but profit, and sink into sensual passion. They would rather risk death for the sake of greed and never know contentment. They thus commit every kind of fault and create karmic offenses without restraint. Once disaster is brought on by themselves, the lesser harm falls upon their own persons and the greater implicates their kin. They then endure endless affliction, wander through the world, and pass through birth and death in the six paths (the six destinations of rebirth for sentient beings), unable to escape. They drift amid love and desire, drown in the sea of craving, and remain sunk for a long time, unable to stop.

The Celestial Worthy pities sentient beings in their suffering and regards it as truly lamentable. He therefore uses this to guide the people of the world, hoping they will awaken early and turn back. The scripture (Jing) warns that evil deeds inevitably bring evil recompense, just as a shadow follows the body. Yet some people never examine themselves. They only indulge their thoughts and actions and wallow in sound and sensual beauty. Whatever the ears hear and the eyes see sets mind and spirit (Shen) chasing outward in confusion, so that the spirit is dissipated. They may even be reborn as creatures of another kind, yet still they do not awaken. Lost between being and non-being, they never change.

The verse says: The minds of sentient beings are themselves benighted; once they create evil karma, they suffer and sink in the round of rebirth. Immersed in sound and sensual form, how can they still resemble human beings? They are scarcely different from birds and beasts.

“No emptiness, yet emptiness; no form, yet form; no non-being, yet non-being; being, yet no being—from beginning to end they remain in darkness, unable to illumine themselves, and in the end they are deluded.” This means that people fail to understand clearly such principles as emptiness and being, or form and non-being. They stay dim throughout, unable to grasp the meaning, and ultimately remain trapped in delusion.

This section continues from the foregoing passage. It says that sentient beings are confused by the notions of “being” and “non-being,” yet they have not awakened. The root of the Great Dao (the Way), at the outset, had neither form, feeling, nor name; later, Qi (vital energy) transformed and gave rise to the myriad things, the one dividing into two, and the myriad things thus came to have form, feeling, and name.

Sentient beings cannot realize the true Dao because they cling to illusory forms, taking them as truly existent, and thereby obscure their original nature. The Dao is not empty nothingness, yet some cling to “emptiness”; the Dao originally has no color, yet some cling to color; the Dao originally has no form, yet some cling to form. Although the Dao is empty and subtle, it actually and truly exists; people, however, cling to “non-being” and instead take this very clinging as real. Deluded thoughts keep them from believing in the true Dao and from understanding whence they come and whither they will go; thus, from beginning to end, they remain in darkness and cannot awaken. In the end they go astray, commit evil deeds, suffer defilement and humiliation, endure endless retribution, and forever lose the true Dao.

The verse says: “The Great Dao originally has no color; true emptiness is not the absence of everything. If someone can understand this completely, the original face can be revealed.”

The Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) said: “You sentient beings manifest as being from within ‘original non-being,’ and manifest as non-being from within ‘what is originally not non-being’; you manifest color from within the colorless, and manifest emptiness from within emptiness. It is not clinging to ‘being’ that makes it being, nor clinging to ‘non-being’ that makes it non-being; so too with color and emptiness. Emptiness is emptiness, yet emptiness has no fixed and unchanging mark of emptiness; color is color, yet color likewise has no fixed and unchanging mark of color. The essence of color is emptiness, and emptiness is precisely manifested within color.”

“Emptiness” means that the Great Dao (the Way) is void and without form; “form” means all things that have shape. From this passage on, the Celestial Worthy, pitying the people of the world for not understanding the true Dao, exhorts them again and again and explains the substance and the functioning of the Great Dao.

He wants them to understand this: the substance of the Great Dao is utterly empty and utterly without being, yet it is not that there is nothing at all. From this it gives rise to bodily form, and through bodily form it becomes manifest. Bodily form is like the dwelling place of the Dao, while the Dao is the functioning of bodily form. Thus, where there is bodily form, there is Shen (spirit), and there is also the Dao. A person’s original spirit—the luminous spiritual nature innate in them—is originally empty and numinous; it only seems dull because it is bound by the body. It is like the moon in the sky reflected in a thousand rivers: when the water is clear, the moon’s image is bright; when the water is turbid, the moon’s image is dim. The moon does not leave the water, nor the water the moon; form does not leave spirit, nor spirit form. The body will decay, but spirit is without birth or extinction. A person merely borrows this temporary, illusory body in order to cultivate the Dao. Why are living beings so foolish and deluded, clinging to the illusory body and driven about by it, abandoning the root to chase the branches, and never to the end understanding the principle of nature and life?

Therefore the Celestial Worthy says: “You should listen carefully to what I tell you.”

“Being within non-being” means that bodily form does not exist forever and cannot be taken as something constant and real. “Non-being within what is not non-being” means that human nature is empty and luminous, neither arising nor perishing from antiquity to the present, and cannot be regarded as sheer nothingness. “Form within non-form” means that the Great Dao is pure, still, empty, and quiescent, and originally has no shape or color; one should not crave or cling to outward forms. “Emptiness within non-emptiness” means that a person’s wondrous numinous clarity can preside over every kind of activity; it is not a blank void with nothing in it, and one cannot cling to “emptiness.”

“Taking non-being as being” means that when a person is first born as an infant, one is originally pure, plain, and simple; after growing up, one should not covet long life and rich profit and claim them as one’s own. “Taking what is not non-being as non-being” means that the lives of human beings and of the myriad things each possess the subtle principle of creative transformation, just as each body and each aperture has its own principle. One must not cast aside everything that belongs to oneself and cling to nothingness.

“Taking non-form as form” means that the Great Dao is open and empty, and there is nothing it does not pervade. Divine clarity between heaven and earth is present everywhere, yet it has no visible, fixed shape or color, and cannot be fixed upon as some particular form. “Taking non-emptiness as emptiness” means that one who has attained the Dao transforms freely and endures through lifetime after lifetime and age after age. The Great Dao is not empty nothingness but truly exists, and one must not mock it as void.

“Emptiness is emptiness, yet emptiness has no fixed emptiness” means that the Great Dao is formless and its transformations hard to fathom. It can bring forth heaven, earth, and the myriad things—how could there be one fixed and unchanging “emptiness”? It is like wind, cloud, thunder, and rain in a clear sky, changing in the blink of an eye and spreading across the vast reach of heaven and earth. When a person’s mind and nature are calm, they resemble great space; when joy or anger suddenly arises, spirit and thought shift in ways hard to predict. The principle is the same. Does this not show that “emptiness” has no fixed, unchanging state?

“Form is form, yet form has no fixed form” means that the scenes a person sees with the eyes are all the shapes and colors before them. If one can perceive them and contemplate them, and then turn back to illuminate one’s own mind, one understands that mind and nature are originally empty, and shape and color no longer become objects of clinging. Between heaven and earth, Yin-Yang transforms and gives birth to the myriad things. The myriad things take on substance by following Qi (vital energy), and then, following that substance, change in shape and color. Things with feeling become things without feeling—for example, a faithful woman turns into a stone mountain, and an earthworm turns into a lily. Things without feeling also become things with feeling—for example, a red maple turns into a feathered immortal, and rotting grass turns into fireflies. The myriad things change without cease and circle without end. Does this not show that shape and color have no fixed, unchanging appearance?

Therefore it is said that form is emptiness, and emptiness is likewise form. The Diamond Sutra says: “There is no mark of a self, no mark of a person, no mark of living beings, and no mark of a lifespan. Every mark to which one clings is illusory; if one can see that all marks are not truly fixed marks, one sees the Tathagata.” These words are penetrating. If those who cultivate the Dao can ponder this principle again and again, they may perhaps come to some understanding.

The verse says: The mystery of the Great Dao is not mere empty nothingness; people of the world are infatuated with illusory shapes and colors. Let go of both being and non-being, as if even the farthest edge of the land sank into stillness.

Ha! Do you understand? Go on to where the waters end and the mountains run out: birds sing and flowers bloom, and everywhere is one and the same spring.

If one can reflect on this principle again and again, one is close to being able to awaken to it. A verse says: The mystery of the Great Dao (the Way) does not consist in regarding everything as nothingness; people are confused because they cling to illusory forms and thoughts. When both being and non-being are let go, the mind is like level ground sinking into water—still, without a trace. He! Do you understand? Go to where the waters end and the mountains run out, and hearing the birds sing and watching the flowers bloom are all one and the same spring.

If one can understand that “emptiness” is not absolute nothingness, and also understand that form is not a real existence to be clung to, this is called “illuminating comprehension,” and only from this can one grasp the “wondrous sound.” Recognizing that there is no fixed and unchanging “dharma of emptiness,” one can contemplate everything with penetrating clarity and without obstruction; entering the gate of all mysteries, one naturally comes to understanding and awakening. In this way one can leave behind every kind of doubt and not cling to the view that takes everything to be empty.

This section continues from what precedes it and explains how living beings are to be taught and transformed. One who can awaken will not fall into a stubborn nihilism, nor cling to wrong views; one simply guards the one mind, keeping the mind clear and still, and by realizing the principle of true emptiness one can see with penetrating clarity. The Dao lies in oneself, not in external things. Only upon awakening to this realm does one truly understand “emptiness that is not empty, and form that is not form,” and this is therefore called “illuminating comprehension,” and only then can one grasp the “wondrous sound.”

Recognizing that there is no fixed and unchanging dharma of emptiness, one can contemplate freely and without hindrance; mind communicates with other minds, and one can discern the nature of things; even when facing mountains and rocks, one does not feel any obstruction. One’s own wisdom-nature is thereby made manifest, and the reach of its illumination is boundless. One then enters the gate of all mysteries and naturally comes to insight: the Dao can be seen everywhere, and the myriad things all reveal what is real. Every kind of doubt thereupon disperses, the original face is revealed, and the mind no longer clings to the view of emptiness.

A verse says: What is called emptiness is not a matter of there being nothing at all; what is called form is not something fixed and unchanging. To awaken directly to the mysterious principle, one must understand “knowing the white while keeping to the black”—understanding the bright and manifest side, while at the same time guarding the dark and hidden side.

Make the six faculties—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind—pure and still, and cut off wrong views and obstructions.

Keeping the mind inwardly pure and still means letting the mind be empty and quiet and the body full and securely at ease. The six roots are the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. “Cut off” means to sever; “remove” means to eliminate. Deviant obstructions are all kinds of afflictions, desires, and attachments to external things. Continuing from what precedes, the passage explains that one should not cling to the notion of “emptiness,” and teaches one to quiet the six roots and cut off and remove deviant obstructions: do not let stray thoughts arise from within, and do not let temptations from outside disturb the mind. In this way Shen (spirit) naturally becomes clear and Qi (vital energy) calm, the six roots rest at peace, and deviant obstructions disappear.

The verse of praise says: Thoroughly understand the principle of the one mind, and one can reach through to Heaven and Earth; when Yang Qi flourishes and Yin Qi recedes, deviant demons withdraw.

I now expound for you this wondrous Jing (scripture/classic), named Huming (Protecting Life), in order to rescue and deliver living beings, to spread the teaching in the world so that it circulates widely, and to have people recite it.

“I” is the Celestial Worthy referring to himself; “you” refers to those who have realized the Dao (the Way). “Expound” means to open and instruct; “wondrous” means profound and mysterious; “Jing” refers both to the mind and to something like a path—a path that everyone alike may follow. “Rescue” carries the sense of receiving and aiding; “deliver” means to lead people across suffering to the other shore.

The meaning of this passage is as follows. If people of the world can understand the principle, unbound by the physical body and by deviant obstructions, and can grasp the essential point at a deeper level, only when they have reached such a state can the Celestial Worthy expound to them the root of the great Dao and the wondrous meaning of the scripture. Reciting this scripture, one can commune with the spirits; understanding its meaning, one can nourish life; obtaining its intent, one can prolong one’s years. For this reason it is named Huming (Protecting Life). If this scripture can rescue living beings and be spread in the world, so that everyone may recite it and soon awaken and attain the fruit of the Dao, that accords with the Celestial Worthy’s wish.

The verse of praise says: Each person’s body and mind accord with the Dao, and each person’s mind is itself the scripture; when Jing (essence) and Qi gather and coalesce, and Shen and Qi are firm and steady, one can protect life and preserve longevity.

Thereupon the Divine Kings Who Fly through Heaven, the Vajras Who Destroy Deviance, the Spirit Lads Who Protect the Teaching, the Perfected Who Rescue from Suffering, and the Fierce Beasts of Metal Essence—each with hosts of a hundred million myriads—together attend and guard this scripture.

According to the common way of speaking, spirits such as the Flying Heaven Spirit Kings, the Evil-Destroying Vajras, the Numinous Lads Who Protect the Teaching, the Perfected Who Relieve Suffering, and the Fierce Beasts of Metal Essence each exist in hosts of hundreds of millions, and together they guard and serve this scripture (Jing).

On the ordinary level, those who delight in the methods of the Dao (the Way) and recite and uphold this scripture will, as the text says, have these spirits and numinous beasts guarding them beside the one who chants. In terms of their function in cultivating the Dao, the “Flying Heaven Spirit Kings” refer to mind and intention circulating the Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) path of ascent into the Mysterious; the “Evil-Destroying Vajras” refer to martial refinement, the vigorous mode of firing; the “Numinous Lads Who Protect the Teaching” refer to civil cooking, the gentle mode of firing; the “Perfected Who Relieve Suffering” refer to driving back the demons of the mind so that the original mind of Heaven is restored; and the “Fierce Beasts of Metal Essence” refer to the five-colored lions.

Taken together, when one cultivates the methods of Lingbao, one should set the Scripture for Protecting Life in motion. Sending one’s yellow intention into the Eastern Sea, urging the submerged dragon to drive the chariot of fire, and ascending to the Palace of the Mysterious Valley—this is called the “Flying Heaven Spirit Kings.” Causing the waters of the Yellow River to flow backward and become rain that surges against Kunlun and washes away the murk of Yin—this is called the “Evil-Destroying Vajras.” Mounting the White Tiger from the Western Mountains and returning to one’s proper place—this is called the “Numinous Lads Who Protect the Teaching.” Overcoming the powerful demons of the mind and bringing the original spirit (Shen) back to its proper place—this is called the “Perfected Who Relieve Suffering.” Sitting in person upon the five-colored lions within the Empty Mystery, awe-inspiring in bearing and upright in solemn dignity—this is called the “Fierce Beasts of Metal Essence.” When the myriad spirits (Shen) and the myriad Qi (vital energy) of the whole body all return to the one mind, this is what is meant by hosts of hundreds of millions together guarding and serving this scripture.

If those who cultivate the Dao can grasp the wondrous meaning in this and inwardly apply these practices continuously and in silence, then outwardly the good spirits of the Ten Heavens will of themselves grant lasting protection. This scripture is mysterious and profound, and its merit is inconceivable. The verse says: a single point of true intention, though not abundant, is yet the foundation for transcending the ordinary and entering sagehood; when one’s attainment in the Dao is deep, demonic obstacles submit of themselves; and what is numinous and marvelous appears in solemn and dignified bearing.

Wherever this scripture is offered veneration, it can ward off calamity and support the weak, helping all sentient beings to leave behind every kind of defilement and attachment.

Those who possess the Dao (the Way), when they recite the scriptures, are accompanied wherever they go by divine beings who protect and provide for them. Outwardly, they can subdue every kind of demonic obstruction; inwardly, they can commune with the true realm and manifest sacred signs. All beings endowed with spiritual nature receive the grace of the Great Dao, and both the sentient and the insentient are delivered, reaching the farther shore of liberation. Thus the recitation of scripture can ward off calamity and support the weak, freeing beings from every attachment and entanglement.

The hymn says: The Great Dao is profound and inexhaustible, its wondrous transformations beyond all measure; it saves beings, supports the weak, and wards off calamity.

At this the Celestial Worthy spoke in verse: You do not see me, nor do you hear my voice; the Great Dao transcends every partial view and limitation, and so it is called the “Wondrous Dao.”

This passage explains that, after the Celestial Worthy had finished expounding the Jing (scripture/classic), he did not dare to praise himself. He therefore used verses to extol the profound mystery of the Great Dao (the Way) and to summarize the purport of the entire Jing. These four lines of verse are the crucial points that those who cultivate and study must strive to realize.

Laozi said: “Look at it and you do not see it—this is called ‘Yi’; listen to it and you do not hear it—this is called ‘Xi’; touch it and you cannot grasp it—this is called ‘Wei.’” Although the Great Dao pervades heaven, earth, and the myriad things, heaven, earth, and the myriad things cannot perceive it. When it settles into clarity it does not appear clear, and when it is stirred it does not appear turbid. Amid movement it does not follow the movement, and amid stillness it is not confined to stillness. Its fundamental substance is utterly empty and quiescent, yet it can respond marvelously to the myriad things, and so it cannot be described by any concrete image. Only when one can leave behind attachment to form and set aside discriminative thought is one putting this principle into practice.

One sees directly within what cannot be seen, and within seeing does not cling to what is seen; one hears directly within what cannot be heard, and within hearing does not cling to what is heard. The “seeing” and “hearing” spoken of here are metaphors for realizing the Great Dao; they do not refer merely to the sensory activity of the eyes and ears. When the mind silently comprehends, Shen (spirit) communicates with the Dao, and one’s thoughts become clear of themselves, all external forms then dissolve of their own accord. Only this can be called the wondrous Dao. Is this not a rare attainment for those who cultivate and study?

The verse of praise says: “The greatest image has no fixed shape; the greatest sound is heard as silence. Empty space seems to shatter, and Shen ascends into Taiqing (the clear, vacant, and lofty celestial realm).”

Note: After the character “da” (great) beneath the chapter title, the original text may have lost a thousand characters.