《太上老君清静心经》

The Supreme Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun) says that the Dao (the Way) has two states: the pure and the turbid, the still and the moving. Purity and stillness are the root, while turbidity and movement are the lesser current. Thus Yang belongs to purity and Yin to turbidity; Yang belongs to movement and Yin to stillness; the male belongs to purity and the female to turbidity; the male belongs to movement and the female to stillness. The myriad things spread from the root to the extremity, and in this way they come into being.

Purity is the source of turbidity, and stillness is the foundation of movement. If a person can maintain purity and stillness, that person will be cherished by all under Heaven. The human spirit (Shen) originally delights in clarity, yet it is often disturbed by the stirrings of the mind; the human mind originally delights in calm, yet it is often drawn along by desire. If desire can be continually cast off, the mind naturally grows quiet; when the mind within is clarified, the spirit naturally becomes lucid. In this way the six desires—the cravings of the six senses—no longer arise, and the three poisons—greed, anger, and delusion—are also removed. One fails to reach this because the mind has not yet been clarified and desire has not yet been cast off.

To cast off these disturbances, one may contemplate as follows. Looking inward at one’s own mind, one finds that the mind has no fixed, unchanging substance; looking outward at one’s own bodily form, one finds that the form likewise has no fixed, unchanging substance; looking farther at external things, one finds that they equally have no fixed, unchanging substance. None of these three can be grasped; they appear only as emptiness. Even when contemplating this emptiness, one should not cling to emptiness, for what is called emptiness itself has no object that can be seized. Since even non-being cannot be grasped, one no longer clings even to the non-being of non-being.

The mind is limpid and constantly abides in stillness, and one does not cling even to the notion of stillness. There is no clinging to stillness, nor any clinging to what is not still; both are completely let go, so how could desire arise? When desire no longer arises, the mind is naturally quiet; when the mind is quiet, the spirit is not disturbed; when the spirit is undisturbed, purity and stillness can be constantly preserved. Having reached this constant purity and stillness, one accords with the Dao.

To accord with the true Dao is called attaining the Dao. Although it is called attaining the Dao, in reality there is nothing to be attained; the expression “attaining the Dao” is used only provisionally. It is in order to teach living beings that an expedient path—a teaching convenient for practice and understanding—is set forth.

Lord Lao further says that what is called the ability to attain the Dao turns on one’s own mind. The Dao is realized from within one’s own mind; it is not that the Dao hands it over to a person. Only what one realizes for oneself is the Dao attained by oneself. This is not truly a matter of some thing being obtained, and so it is said that in reality nothing is attained.

Lord Lao said: The reason people cannot realize the Great Dao (the Way) is that they fix in their minds the notion of a substantial “mind.” Once they posit a mind, they posit a substantial body; once they posit a body, they see the myriad things as standing over against themselves. From this arise craving and attachment, and then afflictions and delusive thoughts. As soon as delusive thoughts arise, a person is drawn along by desire, loses their original nature, sinks into the defiled world, cycles through birth and death, endures the sufferings of the hells, and gradually becomes estranged from the Dao. If one can constantly preserve purity and stillness, one will naturally realize the Great Dao.

He then spoke a gatha (a verse expressing the essentials of cultivation):

The wondrous functioning of the Celestial Worthy is constantly manifest before one’s eyes; every activity of body and mind is originally spontaneous.

Still that restless mind and observe how it moves; the realm in which thoughts arise is perfectly clear and without boundary.

What is called a boundary is originally the emptiness and stillness of one’s own nature; it is not that one first contemplates the inner mind and only then calls empty space empty.

Awakening to the fact that all things arise through causes and conditions and have no fixed self-nature, one can freely enter the Purple Tenuity Palace (the celestial palace spoken of in Daoism).

Within the palace and beyond it, all is bright and clear; amid the perfect interfusion of the myriad phenomena, the Dao is one alone, equal and without distinction.

The pure mind is bright and transparent like a clear mirror, free of obstruction; with no obstruction and no clinging mind, the mind is at ease.

The Great Dao is equal and without difference; who, then, set heaven and hell in place?

Shen (spirit)—here meaning the inner spirit—rests in silent stillness, neither increasing nor decreasing with gain or loss; if good and evil are both empty, from where do good and evil arise?

It is only ordinary people who give rise to discriminating views and insist on drawing all kinds of boundaries in the world.

Even though these discriminations bring a thousand kinds of suffering, one must carefully observe each of them: there is no controller within them.

Careful observation reveals that there is neither a controller nor a fixed source; everything comes about only when causes and conditions meet.

When causes and conditions meet, there seems to be a coming together, yet in truth there is no fixed “meeting”; let go of attachment to meeting, accord with the Dao of Wuwei (non-action), and let the myriad things proceed of themselves.

If someone understands the meaning of this Jing (scripture/classic), then whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, so long as they recite it with a focused mind, receive it inwardly, and continue to practice it, they can eliminate the boundless obstacles and evil karma accumulated in the past, bring enemies to reconciliation with one another so that they no longer suffer painful retribution, and even heterodox demons and deviant paths can be subdued by the Dao. All beings are admonished: if they wish to escape calamity and hardship, they should purify body and mind, faithfully receive this scripture, and put it into practice.

The Dao (the Way) inherently has differing states of clarity and turbidity, movement and stillness. The Scripture of Clarity and Stillness (Qingjing Jing) says: “The Dao has clarity and turbidity, movement and stillness.” Clarity and stillness are the root, while turbidity, disorder, and agitation are the tip; the two lines “clarity and stillness are the root; turbidity and movement are the tip,” however, do not appear in the Qingjing Jing.

Thus Yang belongs to clarity and to movement, and Yin belongs to turbidity and to stillness. What the Qingjing Jing says is that Heaven is clear and Earth turbid, Heaven moves and Earth is still. If a person can maintain clarity and stillness, all under Heaven will honor him; the Qingjing Jing, for its part, says that if a person can constantly preserve clarity and stillness, Heaven, Earth, and the myriad things will all turn toward him.

“The three cannot be attained” appears in the Qingjing Jing as “the three have already been realized,” meaning that these three aspects have all been comprehended.

The scripture then speaks of contemplating emptiness and quiescence: even in contemplating “emptiness,” one does not cling to emptiness; since the emptiness contemplated cannot be grasped, one no longer clings even to “non-being.” When even “the non-being of non-being” is let go, the mind becomes clear and settled, constantly abiding in stillness. The original text of the Qingjing Jing reads: “Contemplating emptiness is itself empty; emptiness has nothing to empty. Since what is emptied is already non-existent, the non-being of non-being is also non-existent. Since the non-being of non-being is already non-existent, one is limpid and ever still.”

When the mind no longer clings even to stillness, how could desires arise? The Qingjing Jing has: “Stillness has nothing to be stilled; how could desire arise?”

When desires no longer arise, that is true stillness. Dwelling in true stillness, one can still respond to external things and preserve one’s inherent nature; able both to respond constantly to things and to remain constantly still, one ultimately reaches constant clarity and constant stillness. This passage concerns cultivating the mind. It does not require ignoring the external world altogether, but rather that, in dealing with affairs, one not be pulled along by desire. The original text of the Qingjing Jing says: “Once desire no longer arises, that is true stillness. True stillness responds to things, and true constancy attains nature. Constantly responding and constantly still, one is constantly clear and still.”

Continuing in clarity and stillness in this way, one gradually enters the true Dao; entering the true Dao is called attaining the Dao. The Qingjing Jing says: “Clarity and stillness such as this gradually enter the true Dao. Having entered the true Dao, it is called attaining the Dao.”

One gives it, only reluctantly, the name “attainment,” in order to instruct living beings and to set forth expedient methods. The Scripture of Clarity and Stillness (Qingjing Jing) calls this process “attaining the Dao (the Way).” Those who are able to comprehend it may transmit the sacred Dao.

In the two passages that follow “Lord Lao (Laojun) said,” the Scripture of Clarity and Stillness reads, “Lord Lao said: Superior persons do not contend; inferior persons delight in contention…” and so on; the wording differs in many places.

The content from “Thereupon a verse was spoken, saying” onward does not appear in the Scripture of Clarity and Stillness.

The character “wu” was originally written “yuan”; here, following the version in the Yunji Qiqian (Seven Tablets in a Cloudy Satchel), it has been changed to “wu.”