《静余玄问》

Lü consulted the Master about the minor heterodox techniques he had obtained. The Master said that the matter of swallowing had already been discussed in the Thirty-Nine Chapters of Yunfang. Yet whatever is swallowed is excreted again and has no place of return. A person’s four limbs, hundred bones, and entire body all belong to Yin, so where then is Yang?

When Lü asked where Yang is, the Master replied that it resides in a profound, obscure, dim, and elusive realm that is difficult to grasp. Buddhists say it belongs neither to the middle nor to the inner or outer, which is precisely the meaning. The Song scholar Shao Kangjie also observed that it seems to exist when seen yet is absent when sought. Seeking within oneself yields only what belongs to Yin; seeking outside yields nothing that is pure Yang. In the end this matter is extremely difficult to explain clearly.

Lü asked whether the sun and moon, dragon and tiger spoken of in the Cantong qi (Daoist classic of cultivation) refer to jing (essence) and blood. The Master said no. Lü asked again if they were jing (essence) and qi (vital energy). The Master said they were not those either. When Lü asked what they then referred to, the Master replied that they speak only of shen (spirit) and qi (vital energy).

The Master said that since one is already practicing the method one ought to concentrate and advance with diligence. Cultivation methods cannot be pursued greedily in great number, or else where would one ultimately return?

The Master further remarked that practicing methods is like holding office while cultivating the Dao is like retiring into seclusion. How can one grasp two snakes with a single hand at the same time?

The Master stated that the Zhenren four generations after Ziyang Zhenren are all still present. Lü asked why this was so given that the dates of their liberation and transformation have been recorded. The Master explained that what is meant here is ultimately their physical bodies.

The Master then spoke of the native places of several Zhenren: Ziyang Zhenren was from Tiantai, Xinglin Zhenren from Changzhou, Piling Zhenren from Shiweizhou, and Cuixu Zhenren from Huizhou, though another account holds that he was from Hengzhou.

(The original text contains repeated passages, and terms such as “Shiweizhou” appear to contain errors; the above follows the existing wording.)

The master suddenly took out the Jade Book of the Great Thunder of All Heavens from under the outer mat and handed it to Lü, saying: “Take this back and copy it as quickly as possible, then bring it tomorrow. Considering your lifelong admiration for the Daoist methods, I shall fulfill your desire to seek the Dao.”

Lü inquired: “Since the Perfected One Cuixu is titled ‘Cuixu,’ why then is he called ‘Niwan’?” The master replied: “‘Cuixuzi’ is his personal title. He once treated the sick with mud pills, so the people of Huguang referred to him as ‘Chen Niwan.’”

Lü further asked from whence the Perfected One Cuixu had obtained his teachings. The master said: “The previous master acquired the Jade Book of the Great Thunder of All Heavens in the Limu Mountains, without mentioning the family name of the one who transmitted it; it was likely bestowed by an immortal. Regarding the methods of Neidan (internal alchemy) cultivation, these were transmitted by the monk Daoguang.”

My late master once said after becoming drunk: “I am a disciple of Judge Xin of the Thunder Department (the Daoist divine office in charge of thunder). What does that have to do with Monk Daoguang?” What “Monk Daoguang” refers to is not explained in the original text.

Lu inquired about the circumstances of Master Cuixu’s jiehua (the Daoist term for the manner in which a cultivator departs the world). The master said: “On the fourteenth day of the fourth month in the sixth year of Jiading (1213), my late master conversed with an old barrel-hooper at Liangshan in Zhangzhou and then threw himself into the water and died. That same day a County Lieutenant Ge from Chaozhou saw him in Ningxiang County of Tanzhou. My late master and the lieutenant’s father were old friends, so he entrusted him with a letter to take back to his father. Only later did it become known that the master had died in one place that day yet appeared in another. I was attending upon my late master at the time and witnessed this with my own eyes.

“That barrel-hooping old man was an old acquaintance of my late master. He left an axe on the ground. After conversing with him my late master threw himself into the water, and the situation could no longer be saved. Later I went back with one or two others to look for that axe, but we could not find it.

“At the time my late master was attending a Crane Assembly in Zhangzhou. After the gathering dispersed he said to the host: ‘I wished to attend this assembly and to undergo shijie here.’ The host did not take these words seriously. My late master then left a four-line poem, had me inscribe it at the assembly, and departed. The poem said: ‘Thunder roars above my head; chaos falls to earth and leaves no trace. Today I find the way out and set forth, riding a hornless fire dragon.’

“People in the Huguang region often asked my late master to compose poems. Verses would continuously pour from his mouth, all in accordance with literary principles, yet he would never take up the brush to write them himself.”

Lu asked: “Has the time I have served the master been very short? It has already been six years! Is what I have obtained nothing more than a superficial view?” The master’s Dao (the Way) is like a vast ocean or abyss, so deep and broad that it is difficult to fathom.

When Lu followed the master in ordinary times he saw him expel evil and treat illnesses for people: sometimes he would give them lumps of mud, sometimes pieces of wood, sometimes stones or charcoal; some could be eaten, some could not; some were actual objects, some were not. Sometimes he would give talisman water, sometimes he would only tell the other person some methods. Those who received neither object nor instruction never had their illnesses cured; those who received something or instruction mostly saw results. Lu did not understand the principle involved, but simply grasped it inwardly and followed the master’s way of doing things, and it often proved effective as well.

Someone said: “This is not ordinary water of the world; perhaps they were merely told the method. Anyone who has neither obtained this water nor received instruction cannot be cured; those who obtained the water and heard the instruction as a rule all see results. I do not know the principle involved; privately I have only grasped the meaning and tried following the Master’s practice, and it has often proved quite efficacious.”

Someone said: “This is not something that people of the world can know.”

The Master said: “Apart from tears, saliva, semen, body fluids, Qi (vital energy), blood, and other bodily fluids, is there then no true body? Must one necessarily abandon these and turn to pursue something else in order to be considered correct? Apart from joy, anger, sorrow, delight, love, hatred, and desire—these feelings and cravings—is there then no true nature? Must one necessarily take these to be wrong and something else to be right?

When the mind is profound and tranquil, free of distracting thoughts; at peace without deliberation, free of cares. One eats throughout the day yet is not attached to flavors; one wears clothes throughout the day yet is not attached to the fabric. If one still places one’s mind on these things, then hunger, cold, fullness, and warmth become sources of worry, and life and death, suffering and joy become things upon which one can rely. Can such a person be said to have seen the Dao (the Way)?

If one can truly comprehend this and indeed put it into practice, then one will understand that figures such as Zhang Daoling, Xu Xun, and Ge Hong, even though they had wives and children, were nevertheless immortals; even though they drank wine and ate meat, they were nevertheless immortals. Outwardly they resembled ordinary people, yet inwardly they differed from ordinary people. The reason I mingle in the mundane world and restrain my sharpness is simply that I do not wish to appear different from the crowd.

If a fish wishes to be different from an ordinary fish, leaving the water and leaping onto the shore it will die; if a tiger wishes to be different from an ordinary tiger, leaving the mountain forests and entering the marketplace it will be captured by people.”

Xiang said: “Alas, it is indeed so. My life and death are determined by fate; nobility and lowliness are arranged by Heaven. Why do people of the world not rest content in the Mandate of Heaven and accord with their destiny, but instead abhor death and love life, abhor poverty and lowliness and pursue wealth and honor? Cold and heat are both entrusted to the arrangement of the seasons; this body does not belong to me, it is truly generated by Heaven. If Heaven wishes it to undergo cold and heat and to encounter whatever befalls it, what can I do?”

The Master said that the Desire Realm, Form Realm, and Formless Realm discussed in the Duren Jing represent one doctrine of the three realms, whereas the Heavenly Realm, Earthly Realm, and Empty Realm discussed in the Tianxin Fashu represent another doctrine of the three realms. Nowadays some people describe the three realms as the upper, middle, and lower realms, which indicates insufficiently careful examination; still others speak of the three realms of Heaven, Earth, and Water, which is even more mistaken. The scripture states that the Office of Springs and Curves is located in the Northern Capital of Luofeng (the netherworld as spoken of in Daoism). From this it is clear that both the earthly palaces and the watery palaces belong to the lower realm. Some even go so far as to regard the Emperor of Fengdu as the lord of the earthly realm and the Emperor of Fusang as the lord of the watery realm. Speaking of the sovereigns of the three realms, it is the Jade Emperor, the Great Heavenly Worthy, who is lord of the heavenly realm, and Houtu, the Imperial Earth Spirit, who is lord of the earthly realm; this is the appropriate way to put it. As for the Emperor of Fengdu and the Emperor of Fusang, they are merely spirits each presiding over a particular office.

The Master said that the essential oral instruction for cultivating the Golden Elixir (Jindan) is, first and foremost, to gather Qi (vital energy) and concentrate Shen (spirit).

He further said that constantly clasping the hands tightly (known in Daoist cultivation as “wogu,” or grasping firmly) constitutes gathering Qi, while constantly holding the mind’s thoughts in check and remaining silent constitutes concentrating Shen.

He also said that when the various spirits remain constantly concentrated and settled, this is called “Ling” (the numinous); when the single Qi does not disperse, this is called “Bao” (the treasure).

The Golden Elixir is Lingbao, and Lingbao is likewise the Golden Elixir.

When the heart-spirit becomes wild and disordered, it causes the Jing and Shen to scatter madly; once they scatter madly they become chaotic, and once chaotic they cannot concentrate and settle.

When the heart is tranquil, the breath is even; when the breath is even, the heart-spirit is stable; when the heart-spirit is stable, the original Qi is not lost.

One must treasure the original Qi as one treasures one’s own eyes.

Only when thoughts do not arise in the mind can the spiritual illumination become lively; only when the po among hun and po recedes can the hun flourish.

The heart should constantly resemble that of the simple and ignorant, yet it must remain nimble, like a pearl rolling in a dish, and is therefore called perfectly interpenetrating (yuantong). The heart must not become dull and stagnant, nor must it freeze motionless as if dead.

First one studies how to prevent thoughts from arising in the mind, and only afterward studies how to forget the physical body.

The Master said to Xiang, “Do you think the Incantation of the Eleven Luminaries is truly what the Most High spoke?” Xiang replied, “It is indeed so.” The Master said, “Alas! The incantation mentions ‘Gan and Shi calculate the flowing and hidden.’ Gan De and Shi Shen were both observers of stellar phenomena who lived during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. Gan De and Shi Shen had not yet been born, yet this incantation already existed. How then could it be what the Most High spoke?”

He also said, “In cultivating the mind one should always be as if without knowledge or awareness, without clinging and without cleverness; at the same time remain flexible and lively, like a pearl rolling on a round plate, and this is why it is called ‘perfect penetration.’ The mind must not become stagnant and unmoving, still less rigid and congealed.”

He further said, “First learn ‘no-mind,’ then learn to ‘forget form.’” Here “no-mind” refers to not attaching to miscellaneous thoughts and discriminations, and “forgetting form” means not regarding the body’s physical form as overly important.

The Master asked Ziyuan Liu Yuanchang, “Do you believe the ‘Hunyuan Wish-Fulfilling Method’ circulating in the world is truly reliable?” Liu Yuanchang answered, “It is reliable.” The Master said, “Alas! In that method there are spells that say ‘by the command of the True Lord Protector Sage of the Northern Pole’ and also ‘by the command of the Great Master Supporting the Teaching and Assisting the Mystery of the Three Heavens.’ This is doubtful. The True Lord Protector Sage was a man of the Zhou period, while the Celestial Master (Tianshi) was a man of the Han. If the Hunyuan method existed even before the Most High, it should not use the designation ‘command of Taishang Laojun,’ let alone mention the True Lord Protector Sage and the Celestial Master. What is the reason, yet it is still called ‘Hunyuan’?”

The Master said, “My former teacher Elder Niwan, during the reign of Emperor Huizong, once met Perfected Sun of the Great Cavern. Perfected Sun told him, ‘In former times the scriptures taught by the Primordial Heavenly Worthy and Taishang Laojun were not many. Later people gathered and compiled these texts and only then formed a Daoist Canon. For example, the Scripture of the Northern Dipper was composed by Zhang Zhengyi, the Scripture of the Southern Dipper by Wang Chang. Generally, teaching people to recite scriptures at set times is not as good as reciting the Lingbao Scripture of Salvation and calling upon the name of the Jade Emperor Heavenly Worthy.’”

The Master said to Xiang, “Those who attain the Dao (the Way) are like an infant in the mother’s womb; those who obtain the methods are like a marshal sitting in the command tent making plans.”

The Master said: In former times a Korean monk left behind an alchemical formula (the oral instructions for refining the elixir and cultivating the Dao (the Way)), which said: “Those who attain the Dao are like an infant in the mother’s womb; those who attain the method are like a marshal sitting in the tent planning military affairs.”

The Master said: In former times a Korean monk left behind an alchemical formula, which said: “It is neither something with form nor something without form. Seeing the wuluwu (the original text uses this to refer to a form or scene that is difficult to describe), this is the backbone of creation.”