《太上灵宝元阳妙经》Vol. 5

The practitioners said to the Celestial Worthy, “Why are you about to leave and ascend to the heights? Suppose someone is possessed by demons and ghosts. If they meet a master skilled in incantations, the power of the spells can drive away their illness. The Celestial Worthy is like that too: you can drive out the ghosts of ignorance from many practitioners and help them abide in good deeds and blessings. Or suppose a fragrant crow has been tied up. Even a highly skilled master cannot make it move while it is bound. Its restraints must first be undone before it can fly away freely. I have not yet escaped the bonds of fifty-seven kinds of affliction. Why, then, are you about to leave and ascend to the heights?”

“Suppose someone suffers from malaria and meets a good physician; their pain and illness can then be cured. I, too, have many afflictions and sufferings. My body and mind are tormented by illnesses such as malign Qi, chills, and fever. Though I have met the Celestial Worthy, my suffering has not yet been removed, nor have I attained supreme peace and enduring joy. Why, then, are you about to leave?”

“Suppose a drunk person is confused and cannot tell one relative from another. They mistake their mother, daughter, and sisters for someone else; their conduct becomes lewd, their speech unrestrained, and they may even collapse amid filth. Later, a good teacher gives them medicine. They vomit up the wine, recover their senses, and recognize their relatives again. Filled with shame, they reproach themselves bitterly: ‘Wine is bad. It is the source of all kinds of wrongdoing. If I can give it up, I can avoid many offenses.’”

“I am the same. Since the distant past, I have wandered through the cycle of birth and death, intoxicated by sensual desire and attached to the Five Desires, or sensory pleasures. My perceptions have been inverted: I have taken women who were not my mothers for mothers, women who were not my sisters for sisters, and women who were not my daughters for daughters. I have even regarded lifeless things as living beings. So I have continued to transmigrate and endure the suffering of birth and death, like a drunk person collapsed in filth. Celestial Worthy, please give me the medicine of the Dao so I can vomit up this wicked wine of affliction. I have not yet awakened. Why are you about to leave and ascend to the heights?”

“Suppose someone praises a banana tree as solid and dependable. That is impossible. Living beings are the same. It is unreasonable to take ideas such as ‘self,’ ‘person,’ ‘living being,’ ‘life span,’ ‘nourishment,’ ‘knowing and seeing,’ ‘doer,’ and ‘recipient’ as real. Therefore, we cultivate contemplation of no-self. Dregs left over from wine are useless; this body is the same. It has no independent, unchanging ‘self’ and no entity that rules over it. A seven-leaf flower has no fragrance; likewise, this body has no fixed self or ruler. We should constantly cultivate contemplation of no-self. As the Celestial Worthy has said, all phenomena should be contemplated as having no self. Through this practice, we can remove conceit and be free of it; only then can we ascend to the heights.”

“Bird tracks do not appear in the sky. In the same way, it should not be possible for someone who cultivates contemplation of no-self still to cling to various views.” The Celestial Worthy then praised the assembly: “Well done! You have cultivated contemplation of no-self diligently.”

The assembly replied to the Celestial Worthy, “We cultivate not only contemplation of no-self, but also contemplation of suffering, impermanence, and no-self. A drunk person is dizzy and sees mountains, rivers, cities, palaces, the sun, the moon, and the stars as if they were spinning. If we do not cultivate contemplation of suffering, impermanence, and no-self, we cannot be called sages. We would only indulge ourselves and grow lax, continuing to wander through birth and death. That is why we earnestly cultivate these contemplations.”

The Celestial Worthy told the assembly, “Listen carefully. In the example of the drunk person that you just gave, you understand only the words, not their meaning. When a drunk person sees the sun and moon, they are not actually turning; the person merely mistakes them for turning. Living beings are the same. Obscured by affliction and ignorance, they give rise to inverted thoughts: they take no-self for self, impermanent for permanent, impure for pure, and suffering for joy. Because affliction obscures them, they hold these views without understanding what they mean, like a drunk person who sees something that is not moving as if it were turning.

“Here, ‘self’ refers to the Dao; ‘permanent’ refers to the Dharma Body; ‘joy’ refers to the heights; and ‘pure’ refers to the true Dharma. Why do you say that those who teach there is a self will become arrogant and boastful and continue to wander through birth and death? If you cultivate only contemplation of impermanence, suffering, and no-self, these three contemplations do not constitute a complete and true practice. I will now explain a higher form of threefold practice.

“To take suffering for joy and joy for suffering, impermanence for permanence and permanence for impermanence, no-self for self and self for no-self, impurity for purity and purity for impurity: these are all inversions. Living beings imagine joy amid suffering, permanence amid impermanence, self amid no-self, and purity amid impurity. Both the worldly and the transcendent speak of permanence, joy, self, and purity. In the worldly realm, these are names without corresponding realities; beyond the world, both the names and their realities are present.

“Why is this so? There are four kinds of inversion in the world, and so people do not understand the truth. Because living beings’ thoughts, minds, and views are inverted, they see suffering in what is joyful, impermanence in what is permanent, no-self where there is self, and impurity where there is purity. This is inversion. Because of it, worldly people understand only the words, not their true meaning.

“The true meaning is this: no-self refers to birth and death; self refers to the Celestial Worthy; impermanence refers to the teachings practiced by the Hearers and the Solitary Realizers; permanence refers to the Celestial Worthy’s Dharma Body; suffering refers to the realms embraced by all non-Daoist teachers; joy refers to the heights; impurity refers to conditioned phenomena; and purity refers to the true Dharma upheld by the Celestial Worthies and perfected beings. This is freedom from inversion. To be free of the four inversions is to recognize permanence, joy, self, and purity in this way.”

The assembly asked again, “As the Celestial Worthy says, by leaving behind the four inversions we can understand permanence, joy, self, and purity. You have now left the four inversions forever and understand permanence, joy, self, and purity. Why not remain in the world for an eon or half an eon to teach us how to leave the four inversions? Why must you leave? If you cared for us and continued to instruct us, we would surely receive and practice your teachings with sincerity. If you ascend to the heights, how can we remain here with these poisonous bodies and cultivate the pure way? We too wish to follow you to the heights.”

The Celestial Worthy told the assembly, “You should not speak this way. I have entrusted all the unsurpassed true Dharma to Lord Lao, a revered deity of Daoism. Lord Lao will be your important refuge, just as the Celestial Worthy provides a place of refuge for living beings. Suppose a great king oversees many affairs. When he goes on a journey, he entrusts the affairs of state to his ministers. The Celestial Worthy is the same: I entrust the true Dharma to Lord Lao.

“You should understand that the contemplations of impermanence and suffering you practiced earlier are not the ultimate truth. Suppose that one spring day someone is boating on a large pond and accidentally drops a crystal jewel into its deep water. Everyone rushes in to search for it, but mistakes stones, plants, and sand for the jewel. Each person happily brings what they have found to the surface, only to discover later that none of it is the real jewel. The true jewel remains in the water. Through the jewel’s power, the pond gradually clears, and everyone sees it still lying on the bottom, its shape like the moon seen from beneath the water. Then a wise person uses a skillful method, slowly enters the water, and finally retrieves the jewel.

“You should not take contemplation of impermanence, suffering, no-self, and impurity as the ultimate truth, just as those people mistook stones, plants, and sand for the jewel. You should use skillful means and cultivate thoughts of self, permanence, joy, and purity at every time and in every place. The four contemplations you practiced earlier are all signs of inversion. If you wish to cultivate true contemplation, you must practice thoughts of self, permanence, joy, and purity, like the wise person who skillfully retrieved the jewel.”

The assembly asked the Celestial Worthy, “Earlier, you said that all phenomena have no self and that we should learn this. Once we have learned it, we can leave behind the idea of self; leaving it behind removes conceit, and removing conceit allows us to ascend to the heights. What is the meaning of this?”

The Celestial Worthy replied, “A good question! You ask this to dispel your doubts. Suppose there is a foolish king of little wisdom who trusts a stubborn, ignorant physician. That physician treats illnesses only with milk remedies and knows nothing about their causes. Even when he recognizes the remedy, he does not understand the different conditions of Wind, Heat, and Cold; he gives milk to everyone, whatever their illness. The king cannot tell whether this physician is skilled or inept.

“Later, a renowned physician who is expert in medicine and knows many prescriptions arrives from a distant place. The old physician does not ask him for instruction; instead, he arrogantly looks down on him. The renowned physician temporarily goes along with the old physician, pays him respect as his teacher, and asks him to explain the secret principles of medicine. The old physician says, ‘If you are willing to serve and attend me for forty-eight years, I will teach you medicine.’ The renowned physician agrees, and the old physician then takes him to meet the king.

“The renowned physician explains various prescriptions and medical techniques to the king, telling him which methods are suited to governing the country and which are suited to treating illness. Only then does the king realize that the old physician is ignorant and foolish. He expels him from the country and shows even greater respect to the renowned physician. The renowned physician thinks the time has come to instruct the king, and says, ‘If Your Majesty truly cares for me, please grant me one request.’ The king says that he can have his arms and any other part of his body. The renowned physician replies, ‘I ask for none of that. I ask only that Your Majesty decree that from now on no one in the country may use the old physician’s milk remedy. It is harmful and injures people. Anyone who disobeys will be put to death.’ The king immediately decrees that the milk remedy is forbidden.

“The renowned physician prepares medicines of different tastes—pungent, bitter, salty, sweet, and others—to treat different illnesses, and they are all effective. Not long afterward, the king falls ill too and asks the renowned physician what he should do. After examining him, the physician says that the king should take a milk remedy. The king challenges him: ‘You said earlier that milk remedies were poisonous. Why do you now say they can cure illness? Are you trying to deceive me? It seems the old physician really was more skilled than you.’

“The renowned physician replies, ‘Your Majesty should not say that. A worm may gnaw wood and accidentally leave marks that resemble writing, but the worm does not understand written characters. A wise person who sees them would not say that the worm knows how to write. The old physician is the same. He cannot distinguish one illness from another and gives everyone a milk remedy. This is like a worm accidentally making marks in the shape of characters; it does not show that the worm understands medicine. A milk remedy can be harmful, but it can also cure illness like sweet dew. If a cow does not eat wine mash or harmful fodder, and its calf is docile; if the cow grazes in a suitable place and drinks clear water; if it is not made to run or kept together with other calves; and if its food and living conditions are all proper, then its milk can cure illness and is called a marvelous medicine of sweet dew. All other milk remedies may be harmful.’”

The king praised him: “What an excellent physician! Only today have I learned that milk remedies can be good or bad.” He took the milk remedy prepared by the renowned physician and recovered. The king then issued another decree, permitting the use of milk remedies throughout the country. When the people heard this, they were angry and suspected that the king was possessed by ghosts and had lost his senses: why was he telling them to drink milk remedies again? The king explained, “You should not resent me for this. Whether a milk remedy should be taken is entirely for the physician to judge; it is not my fault.” Later, the king and the people were all pleased and showed the renowned physician even greater respect. Those who fell ill also took the milk remedies suited to their conditions.

The tenth and final scroll of the Taishang Lingbao Yuanyang Miaojing. The character “xin” is likely an extra, superfluous character.