《天乐集》Vol. 9

Du means keeping the mind single-pointed and steady, without wavering. When breathing and body–mind gradually merge and the breath becomes peaceful and harmoniously balanced, something subtle arises within—what Daoists call yanghe (warm nurturing and harmonious blending, like being gently warmed through).

The Huainanzi puts it this way: “Embrace de and yanghe, and the myriad things appear zalei”—hold fast to virtue and cultivate warm harmony, and the ten thousand things show the look of zalei (ripeness and fullness). Here zalei is the mark of maturity.

The yanghe work described in the Xuanzong current (the line of neidan and dual cultivation of nature and life) is extremely fine. When practice reaches a certain point, the outer breath grows very fine and subtle; one then knows it in the body: the limbs and every joint seem lightly warmed and gradually soften and grow numb; what was blocked and stagnant in the body opens layer by layer; from head to foot one is steeped in Taihe yiqi (the most balanced, most undivided innate qi), as if drunk and dazed. Immortal traditions call this yinhe (“drinking harmony”); it is the first step toward longevity and enduring vision (living long without decline).

“Burning harmony” (fen he) means exhausting and burning away the yuan he (yuan harmony) within—the fundamental harmonious qi, the innate balance of life.

Zhuangzi, “Outer Things” chapter, says: when a person is tightly trapped by profit and harm in fear and has nowhere to escape, they are like a startled insect—restless, unable to sleep soundly; the heart seems suspended between heaven and earth, afflicted with worry, sluggishness, and being caught between advance and retreat with no release. Profit and harm rub against each other, and many “fires” arise in the mind; the multitude burn harmony—ordinary people burn dry the harmonious qi heaven gave them. “The moon truly cannot overcome fire”: the word moon here is used in a special way—it can be read as water (the moon belongs to yin and images water); water cannot suppress fire, like physicians say “one water cannot overcome five fires”—a little coolness cannot settle many restless fires. Another reading: in ancient seal script moon sometimes stands for flesh (rou)—this flesh-and-blood body cannot endure the stewing, and so yuan ran er dao jin—yuan means decay and qi exhausted; dao here means the way of life, the path of survival—when the way is exhausted, form and spirit collapse together.

Lu Fanghu (teaching in alchemical writings of the Lu Xiujing lineage) explains: those who cultivate truth and embody the Dao are empty and still, plain and sparing in desire, practicing wuwei; the fire of the five intentions (fire from the five emotions—joy, anger, worry, thought, fear) is subdued for a time; profit and harm do not move the heart, and life and death do not disturb order. Those who do not understand the Dao cannot bear the grind of worldly affairs; fear traps them in profit and harm with no escape; the heart hangs between heaven and earth; comfort and tun qian (stagnation and hardship) cannot be undone; profit and harm grind together and the fire burns ever stronger—they burn their heavenly harmony; then come the disasters of yin-yang imbalance and loss of bodily and mental balance—because they do not know that outer things cannot be forced, they fight themselves in the arena of profit and harm, as if burning themselves. Hence Daoists nourish harmony; the multitude burn harmony. Burn means to stew and consume. The moon truly cannot overcome fire—as above: whether water or the fleshly body, neither can overcome so much fire, and thus yuan ran er dao jin.

The point is to quietly dissolve fire in the heart, abide in plainness and wuwei, fulfill one’s allotted years and not die before the due time—benevolence that saves the world, urging people not to burn their yuan harmony to ashes in profit and harm.

Cao Wenyun’s Song of the Great Dao has a line: “The palace chambers empty and quiet—the spirit dwells there of itself; the spirit mansion stewed and tormented, withered.” The dantian, the palaces within the body—when empty and still, the shen stays; when the spirit mansion is stewed and tormented, it withers. It follows the same thread as nourish harmony, do not burn harmony: in emptiness the spirit remains; in torment, yuan harmony is spent.

The author writes: In her Song of the Great Dao, Cao Wenyi says—“When the palace chambers are empty and at ease, the spirit settles on its own; when the spirit mansion is scorched by fire, the blood and fluids dry up. Each bout of grief and joy, each thought and worry, each indulgence and strain eats away at body and spirit. Morning injury and evening loss, yet one wanders on unaware—the spirit scatters and has nothing to hold to. Thus, bit by bit one wears away and slowly declines, until innate primordial Qi is exhausted and the spirit leaves the body.” These lines serve well as a commentary on Zhuangzi’s “burning harmony”—burning through the qi of central harmony.

When the student practices the work of “return,” heart and breath mutually resting is outwardly visible while inwardly the heart empties; when the heart is empty, fire does not flare upward and the wood-fluid does not dry—this is inner cultivation of “harmony.” When heart and breath both settle in empty openness, outer contact with the true Qi of yang from Qian steams the four limbs and permeates the whole body; in an instant inner and outer yin and yang blend in harmony—this is outer cultivation of “harmony.” Inner and outer mutually nourish each other, vital force grows day by day, and the foundation of the path of non-death is established here.

(133 With Form and Without Form) The same section also draws on the Zhuangzi Constrained Will chapter’s path of “constrained will, exalting conduct, leaving the world and diverging from custom”—deliberate striving and lofty talk about cultivation—and sets it against the earlier theme of “inner and outer mutually nourishing, vital force growing day by day”: whether one follows a fixed framework or the formlessness of nature, both must come down to heart, breath, and yin-yang truly harmonizing—not merely leaving the world in outward appearance while preaching high doctrine.

This passage is drawn from the “Ke Yi” (Purposeful Effort) chapter of the Zhuangzi. Its main point is to distinguish six ways of living and to show which one truly accords with the way of Heaven and Earth and the virtue of the sage.

The first kind of person deliberately cultivates conduct, keeps away from the world, and seeks to be strikingly different—holding forth at length and railing against society—merely to appear lofty. This is the path favored by those who hide in valleys, refuse to go along with the common run, and even torment themselves in the name of austerity.

The second kind speaks of benevolence, righteousness, loyalty, and trustworthiness, and of respect, frugality, deference, and yielding, solely to refine themselves. This is the path favored by those who get on in peaceful times, make a vocation of teaching others, and travel to study the Way.

The third kind speaks of great achievements and famous names, of the rites between ruler and minister and the order between superior and inferior, solely to govern the state. This is the path favored by court officials who honor the ruler, strengthen the realm, build merit, and annex other states.

The fourth kind go to marshes and mountains, live in open wild places, fish and idle at leisure, and take Wuwei (non-action) as their satisfaction. This is the path favored by those who entrust themselves to rivers and lakes, withdraw from the world, and seek quiet ease.

The fifth kind use breathing techniques such as blowing to warm and exhaling the old to draw in the new, and imitate the bear hanging from a branch and the bird stretching its legs in daoyin exercises, all merely to prolong life. This is the path favored by those who practice daoyin, care for the body, and model themselves on Peng Zu’s longevity.

The sixth kind (the one Zhuangzi upholds): without deliberate effort they are naturally noble; without preaching benevolence and righteousness they are already cultivated; without chasing fame and rank they can still order the world; without retiring to rivers and lakes they are equally at ease; without practicing daoyin they still live long—forgetting nothing yet possessing everything; calm and boundless, and every kind of excellence comes of itself. This is the state that accords with the way of Heaven and Earth and the character of the sage.

Hence it also says: calmness, stillness, emptiness, and Wuwei (non-action) are the native peace of Heaven and Earth, and the inherent quality of the Dao and De (Virtue). And again: the sage rests in this state; when they rest, the heart is level; when level, it is calm. Calm and level—cares cannot enter the heart, noxious influences cannot harm the body, so character is preserved whole and the spirit is not drained.

Qiu Qiongshan said: Those who delight in mountains, forests, marshes, and wild places often go in and do not come back; if they can settle there and let the heart rest, the mind becomes plain and simple. Plain and simple, one naturally becomes tranquil. Tranquil and plain, worry cannot enter, and noxious influences cannot harm—so virtue is preserved and spirit is not depleted.

Qiu Qiongshan also said: People who happily dwell in mountains and marshes go and find it hard to return; those who serve at court enter and find it hard to leave; those who rest content in teaching and admonishing, once wronged, find it hard to speak out again; those who obsess over nurturing the form and preserving life, once committed to cultivation, find it hard to let go. None of these is the natural face of “authentic nature.”

Lu Xixing said: Here several kinds of people with fixed paths are named in turn, while the emphasis falls on the sage who is “without fixed method.” “Ke” means sharp, severe, and one-sided; “shang” means holding something up as lofty and different; “yuan” is resentment; “fei” is slander. “Withered and hurrying to the abyss” means willingly accepting solitude and casting oneself into deep mountains and empty valleys, as if plunging into every deep pool. What is called “wei xiu” is cultivating in accord with the body—nothing forgotten, nothing lacking—which is the meaning of wuwei (non-action) yet nothing left undone. “Danran wuji” means serene and still, deep and without boundary.

In my view, the five kinds of people Zhuangzi describes all deliberately train the mind and pursue what they love, yet they have not reached forgetting self and forgetting things, nor returning to unity without leaving a trace. As for those who truly embody the Great Dao, they cultivate virtue by returning to nature, their essential nature aligns with empty void, and their actions leave no trace—hence they are calmly without limit, and every kind of beauty naturally follows. What is called forgetting, resting, plainness and tranquility, emptiness and wuwei—all of these accord with the Dao and are the subtle truth of returning to original nature. For those who study the Dao, mind and breath rely on each other; what matters is attaining balance. When balanced, the breath flows smoothly and the heart is at peace; once one reaches the state where spirit and breath are both forgotten, one settles calmly in samadhi, person and method are both forgotten, environment and wisdom both vanish, neither being nor non-being is established—that is precisely the moment of being calmly without limit. Then the pure yang qi of heaven and earth gathers and returns; in stillness one can respond and connect, in quietness one can respond to all things—the emptier, the more fullness; the more forgetting, the purer; the more pure, the more transformed—until the dharma realm and oneself are wholly without gap, called the Dao penetrating as one. Because of oneness there is spirit (shen); because of spirit there is no fixed direction. Dwelling in being, one is not stuck in being; dwelling in non-being, one is not stuck in non-being—Yin-Yang cannot bind them, creation and transformation cannot fathom them—is this not the way of the perfect person (zhiren)? Hence it is said: “Do not forget, yet do not hold to forgetting; there is nothing that is not present; calmly without limit, and every beauty follows.” This is the subtle point of true forgetting of mind—not something those who merely cultivate with deliberate effort can reach. The subtle point of “no fixed direction” is not something those still clinging or with attachment unresolved can enter. Thus deliberate cultivation versus forgetting intent, fixed direction versus no fixed direction—that is the difference between a mind that abides and a mind without abiding.

134 Unity with Heaven and Unity with Humanity

In the “Heaven’s Way” chapter of Zhuangzi it says: “Long ago Shun asked Yao, ‘How does the king of Heaven use his mind?’ Yao replied, ‘I do not treat the unprotected with arrogance, I do not abandon the destitute…’” (The text continues with Zhuangzi’s original passage on how the king of Heaven uses his mind and the destitute, and so on.)

In the “Heaven’s Way” chapter of the Zhuangzi, it is written: In ancient times Shun asked Yao, “When the king who takes Heaven as his model rules the world, what is in his mind?” Yao said, “I do not look down on those who have no one to appeal to; I do not abandon the people in hardship; I grieve for the dead, cherish infants, and pity women—that is how I apply my heart in governing.” Shun said, “That is very good, but it is not yet the highest.” Yao asked, “What should it be then?” Shun said, “Let the virtue of Heaven (Tiande) issue forth, and the world will naturally be at peace; sun and moon shine of themselves, the four seasons run their course, like day and night each keeping its measure—clouds move and rain falls, and everything takes its proper place.” Yao said, “That is too rigid and too taxing on the heart! Yours is being in accord with Heaven; mine is being in accord with people. Heaven and Earth are what the ancients valued most, and what Huangdi, Yao, and Shun all praised. So what were those who in antiquity claimed kingship over the world really doing? Nothing but taking Heaven and Earth as their model.”

The “Conscious Purpose” chapter also says: “Emptiness and stillness—this is the great realm that accords with the virtue of Heaven (Tiande), and what Huangdi, Yao, and Shun praised alike. So what did those who in antiquity claimed kingship over the world do? Likewise they took Heaven and Earth as their model.” The same chapter also says: “When the spirit is unified and penetrates, one accords with Heaven’s natural order (Tianlun).”

Lu Xixing explains: “What is meant by ‘the virtue of Heaven issues forth and there is peace’ is governing by the virtue of Heaven one already possesses, so that the ten thousand things are naturally at peace. The virtue of Heaven is nothing other than Wuwei (non-action) and ziran (spontaneous nature). Thus sun and moon shine of themselves, the four seasons turn of themselves, day and night keep their constant order, clouds move and rain falls of themselves—Heaven does not deliberately apply its mind to the ten thousand things, yet they find peace on their own. The operation of the Way of Heaven does not rely on piled-up artifice; the virtue of the ruler should be the same. Truly this is being in accord with Heaven, not merely matching human affairs and human effort.”

Xuanjing said: Governing the state and cultivating the self follow the same principle. Heavenly Virtue (Tiande) is Heavenly Heart (Tianxin)—Heaven’s intent and the original mind. When the heart aligns with Heavenly Heart, one rests in emptiness and naturalness; the firing process stays pure in the pre-heaven (xiantian), and return (fanduan) to the root is easy. When one aligns with human heart (renxin)—worldly feelings, calculation, and attachment—intention and fixation arise, everything is forced against nature, step by step one falls into the post-heaven (houtian), and the fruits of return are hard to see.

“The Heavenly Virtue emerges in stillness” is the finest phrase: on the same path as Heavenly Heart, one may act outwardly yet the heart stays still—movement is stillness, stillness is stillness; in the four deportments (si weiyi) of walking, standing, sitting, and lying, not a moment falls outside stillness. This is what “held in great samadhi (da ding)” means. Hence emptiness and quiet ease, the wondrous nature harmonious and blended, silent illumination with knowing forgotten, following fate without obstruction; though there is action, one is not bound by “having”; though there is non-action, one does not sink into “nothing.” Neither having nor nothing clings, nor does one grasp the label of the “middle way”—only then can one transcend and be free.

Baozhenzi said: “Humans are in truth very small. What makes one worthy of the name celestial immortal (tianxian) is taking Heaven’s heart as one’s heart; one must return to the beginning of one’s nature (fu qi xing zhi chu). Without returning to the beginning of nature, one drowns in the tips of emotion (qing). Returning to nature is why one can ascend to Heaven; drowning in emotion is why one remains an ordinary person. As an ordinary person, examine closely how the master (fuzi) uses the heart: how much is the same as other people? How much is the same as Heaven? Cast off human emotion, take Heaven’s nature. Wherever the heart is, there is Heaven—this is called a True Person (zhenren). Only when one has become a True Person can one speak of a celestial immortal.”

Plain-Language Explanation

Xuanjing said: When the mind holds fast to things and is bound by emotion, one remains an ordinary person; when one can let go of emotional fixation and no longer be dragged about by outer circumstances, one approaches the realm of immortals and sages. What is called “forgetting emotion and ceasing [attachment to] appearances” is the key to moving from the human level toward the sacred. As for concrete practice, one may enter through the gate of “mutual accord in samadhi”: let mind and breath work together and rely on each other; when reliance is pushed to the utmost, transformation opens naturally—breathing seems to have neither in nor out; thoughts neither arise nor are extinguished; one settles calmly in concentration; body and mind are still; inner and outer are forgotten; both person and dharma are released; phenomena and principle both dissolve; environment and wisdom are subtly empty. Only then has one left the discriminating human mind and united with the Dao. To unite with the Dao is to share one body with the Great Void and one function with Heaven and Earth: “one body” means the Way runs through all as one, without rupture; “one function” means responding to circumstances as they come without clinging in the heart. Master Miaozheng said: “Without mind, one responds to conditions; extinguishing illumination, awakening is complete”—this is not reached casually. Without truly shedding bodily fixation and abiding without reliance, it is hard even to speak of this level.

Plain-Language Reading of Tianle Ji (Collection of Heavenly Joy)

True Emptiness (Zhenkong) and stubborn emptiness (wankong) differ in this way: one carries zaohua—the living power by which heaven and earth generate and transform the myriad things; the other does not. One is complete emptiness (yuankong)—emptiness that is whole and undivided; the other is cut-off emptiness (duankong)—treating emptiness as sheer nothingness and cultivating toward dead stillness.

If we speak from the angle of practice (gongfu), true emptiness means that outer breathing has ceased, Shen (spirit) and Qi (vital energy) enter samadhi together, breath and thought are both exhausted, and Xing (nature) and Ming (life) become one. At the utmost stillness, movement arises of itself—at the moment of “one yang returns” (yiyang laifu), when stillness reaches its limit and the pre-heaven yang stirs again, the subtle function appears. Here “being” and “non-being” are one; the wondrous aperture and the arcane principle meet in the same return.

Wuyuanzi said: “A full moon shines upon the heart of heaven; at midnight thunder shakes the land.” That is exactly the wonder of aligning with “true emptiness that is not empty.” Thus true emptiness melts “being” into emptiness: at utmost non-being there is still utmost being; empty yet not empty; substance and function are one; hidden and manifest never part. Within it lies inexhaustible vitality and zaohua.

The Vacuum Chapter of the Great Penetration Scripture (Datong Jing) says: “Born before heaven, it lives yet has no form; preserved after heaven, it abides yet has no body. Yet without body, it has never ceased to abide. Hence it is called inconceivable.” It also says: “It embraces the body of the ten thousand images, yet hangs not by a single thread.” And again: “When the mind is extinguished, nature appears—like empty space without images, deep and perfectly round.” Fuqiu Weng said: “True emptiness without self—great return, great restoration; one harmonious Qi, merging back into the pre-heaven.” That is the gist of true emptiness.

Stubborn emptiness, by contrast, belongs to those who one-sidedly cling to stillness and sink into emptiness: dull and heavy, merely pressing thoughts down so they do not rise, the heart like still water. The ancients compared it to “dead water does not hide the dragon”—very apt. The body like withered wood, the heart like dead ash—that is this image. Hence there is no vitality, no zaohua. In recent times the path of dry Chan (kuchan)—Chan that only guards empty silence and does not seek xingming cultivation—matches this exactly.

In the method of refining the elixir (neidan), the most essential point is to grasp the move of “vacuum” (zhenkong); this is the core secret transmitted generation after generation in the Zhong–Lü lineage.

To achieve this, one must first enter the great samadhi (da ding) of “no breathing”: when practice goes deep, body and mind are utterly still; self and dharma (the object of meditation) are both released; environment and wisdom merge subtly in emptiness, inner and outer are one, and such a state is realized.

When practice reaches this stage, inwardly “self-earth” (jitu) appears; the Five Phases and Four Images naturally harmonize, Kan and Li mate on their own, and the work of “seven returns” (qi fan) is completed; outwardly “host-earth” (wutu) appears, the pre-heaven single qi (xiantian yi qi) comes without being summoned, one embraces the dharma-body and nourishes the form-body, form-body and dharma-body both benefit, primordial yang (yuanyang) grows day by day, and the wonder of “nine returns” (jiu huan) is achieved. Outer return and inner reversion proceed together; bathing and sealing happen naturally, without deliberate arrangement.

Therefore Zhongli Zi said: “The ten thousand things in turmoil each return to their root. I too am one of the ten thousand things; thus I probe the origin, gather the spirit, leave the formed, return to the formless, and revert to vacuum. To revert to vacuum, one must first remove the cracks in the mind (stray thoughts and attachments).”

Chunyang Weng (Lü Dongbin) said: “The wondrous treasure refined is no accident; only when vacuum is fully exhausted does true transcendence arise.”

Sanfeng Weng (Zhang Sanfeng) said: “I only wait to move fire and refine vacuum, to seek light and break primordial chaos (hongmeng).” He also said: “Until the position of vacuum is reached, great function appears before one—like the dragon girl offering the jewel pearl, golden light manifest—only then is it truly ‘gained once, held forever.’” He also said: “Clear, clear vacuum; form-color extinguished, dharma-form enduring without falling into emptiness.” He also said: “Raise the Zhou-tian samadhi fire, forge vacuum and return to supreme non-being (tai wu).” He also said: “When the golden elixir is refined into vacuum, the body does not move for a thousand or ten thousand years.”

Thus the elixir formulas of the Shaoyang and Wenshi lineages alike emphasize verified realization of “vacuum.”

This passage explains that among Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) lineages of the Northern school, internal alchemy (Neidan) places special weight on realizing zhenkong (true vacuity—the “vacuum” of awakened emptiness). The following layers spell that out.

Patriarch Wang Chongyang said: in practice, refine zhenkong until it is pure—as one might discern fire in the dark—and in the end return to Taiwu (the utmost primordial non-being). He also said: when the Golden Elixir (Jindan) is complete, that is the realization of zhenkong; then the bodily form can long remain unmoving and become one with the Dao. The Shaoyang and Wenshi lines of alchemical instruction likewise take realizing zhenkong as essential.

Patriarch Wang Chongyang also taught: turn the light back upon vacuity, and only then can one see the “scene” of emptiness; after illuminating zhenkong, one understands that “emptiness” is not dead, inert wu (nothingness). Again: in the “grave” (a metaphor for the depths of body-and-mind and the realm of quiet absorption), the true image of vacuity often appears; once one penetrates “empty yet not empty,” one is no longer stained by the dusty world. He also said: to behold zhenkong, take the primordial wuxu (non-being/void) of Yuanshi as root and as ancestral source.

Wang Yuyang said: once zhenkong is thoroughly understood, one may count the path to immortality as fully settled.

Qiu Changchun wrote in the Song of Great Space: take Chan as the sect’s frame and the Dao as its ancestor; break fixation on Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth (the Five Phases); within radiance that shines mutually, zhenkong is concealed—how laughable are those who merely count “one, two, three, four, five” as mechanical gongfu. This is neither Chan alone nor the Dao alone; in deepest obscurity one merges with nature; strip away the ten thousand affairs and look with the eye of clarity—chi kong bright and penetrating, illuminating the boundless.

Yu Qingfeng said: until one reaches zhenkong, the yang spirit finds it hard to “exit the spirit” ( shenchu —the shift from yin spirit to yang spirit manifestation).

Baozhenzi said: only when there is no “I” within zhenkong can one afterward tuotai and shenhua (shed the husk and transform the spirit).

Zhang Zhenren said: do not seek mystery elsewhere; align with zhenkong and finish the work in xujing (empty stillness).

All of the above are sayings handed down in succession within the Chunyang gate and the Northern school; they are clear testimony that zhenkong is the pivot of cultivation.

This passage explains a central idea in Neidan (internal alchemy) cultivation: True Vacuum (not ordinary “nothing at all,” but the alchemical “true non-being / wondrous emptiness”).

Zhenyang Zhenren says in the preface to Four Hundred Characters on the Golden Elixir: the Golden Elixir arises from “non-being,” yet it must not be taken as rigid, dead emptiness. The “emptiness” meant here is True Vacuum—within “non-being” there is not literally nothing; this “being within non-being, empty yet not empty” is true non-being.

Shi Xinglin in Huanyuan Pian (Returning to the Source): “Who would know the wonder of the elixir formula—refining True Vacuum day after day.”

Chen Cuixu: “Once roundness and secrecy are complete, inside and outside are one True Vacuum.”

Bai Yuxian: “True Vacuum fills the cinnabar cauldron equally; emptiness penetrates the spirit through the curved-moon furnace.” He also says: “Kan and Li achieve harmony, Gou and Fu intermingle—then one comprehends the life-pulse of True Vacuum; heaven and earth’s principle is in order, the ten thousand things are bathed in spring breeze; beyond Yin and Yang there is a natural pair—one point and success is complete.”

Longmeizi: “All that is contrived is not truly existent; awakening to the true source, one knows emptiness is not dead emptiness.”

These are clear evidence that the Chunyang lineage, Southern school handed down generation after generation, likewise taking True Vacuum as the essential teaching.

Eastern Patriarch Qianxu Zhenren wrote Nanhua Fumo, devoted to the subtle meaning of True Vacuum. Formerly Master Wang, when instructing initiated disciples, also ranked the method of “True Vacuum” as most crucial, calling it the pivot of the elixir way, the key to return, the path to becoming true, and the shortcut to completing the Dao.

Yet looking at alchemical books ancient and modern, those that speak of dragon and tiger, lead and mercury are everywhere; those that truly pierce True Vacuum are as rare as stars at dawn. Why is this?

Master Dongshan said: “Uniting with the body of the vacuum is not something gained through post-heaven exertion.” Wan Hui said: “The vacuum does not destroy the original nature of numinous wisdom; its subtle function is always present, yet it needs no deliberate contrivance.” In the Zhuangzi, the Gate of Heaven is described as “issuing from no root, entering through no aperture—having substance yet no fixed abode, having length yet no root of swift change,” which likewise expounds the principle of the vacuum. Uniting with the body of the vacuum is the single, non-dual gate recognized alike in Chan and in the arcane Way. Hence Chen Niyan said: “Returning to the root and reverting to the source means returning to the vacuum.” Patriarch Lü said: “All under heaven seek the wondrous aperture—who can awaken to the true purport in the midst of emptiness?”

As for the works of the Five Patriarchs: once you enter the vacuum, “wondrous aperture and arcane principle converge, being and non-being are one”—then you grasp the outline of the Daodejing; once you enter the vacuum, “the cosmos in the palm, myriad transformations born from the body”—then you obtain the operative key of the Yinfu Jing; once you enter the vacuum, the Three Schools naturally meet, the Four Images naturally unite, the Five Phases naturally gather—then you obtain the talismanic treasure of the Cantong Qi; once you enter the vacuum, “true nature naturally reveals itself, deluded afflictions naturally vanish”—then you ascend to the inner hall of the Wuzhen Pian; once you enter the vacuum, “through stillness and silence, resonance is awakened; pre-heaven true Yi qi comes unbidden; the plow and hoe need no force, and the whole earth is golden”—then you open the treasury of the Ruyao Jing. In the patriarchs’ books of the Five Schools, if you verify each with “vacuum,” none fails to accord. This is truly the destination of arcane cultivation and the furnace-and-bellows of entering sainthood.

136 Holding the Rear and Whipping the Rear

The Liezi, “Signs and Omens” chapter, says: (The original here appears to cite the Liezi on the meaning of “holding the rear” and “whipping the rear,” connected to the preceding theme of verifying the Five Patriarchs’ books with “vacuum”; if the scripture continues in the full edition, read accordingly against the complete text.)

In Liezi, “Explaining Omens,” it is written: Liezi studied the Dao under Master Huzi. Master Huzi said: “Only when you understand what ‘holding back’ means can you speak of ‘holding the self.’” Liezi asked: “I wish to hear what holding back means.” The reply was: “Turn and look at your own shadow, and you will understand.” When Liezi looked, he saw: when the body bends, the shadow bends; when the body is straight, the shadow is straight. Thus bending and straightening follow the bodily form, not the shadow; bending and extending follow outer things, not stubborn attachment to “self.” This is what is meant by “holding back” yet being able to stand in front.

Explanation (as developed in Tianle Ji)

The character for “breath” (xi) was anciently written with a dot above “heart-mind” (zixin), carrying the deep meaning of “breath arising from the mind, breath calms the mind”: only when breath is regulated does the mind grow still; when the mind is agitated, breath is coarse; when the mind is level, breath is fine. Mind and breath are like form and shadow—hence “mind and breath mutually depend” is precisely the secret of “holding back.” Only by holding to the “back” (not rushing ahead, not clinging to self) can one return from the post-heaven to the pre-heaven and settle the body within the pre-heaven—this is the subtle way of returning from post-heaven to pre-heaven. Some also explain “holding back yet standing first” as Laozi’s “Putting oneself last, yet coming first”: in the cultivation of the Mysterious Ancestor, letting mind and breath depend on each other outwardly until entering true emptiness is the hidden purport of “holding back yet standing first.”

This passage draws on a story about “nurturing life” (yangsheng) from the “Perfected Life” (Dasheng) chapter of the Zhuangzi, along the following lines.

Duke Wei of Zhou saw Tian Kai Zhi and asked him: I hear that Zhu Shen studies how to nurture life, and that you often keep company with him—have you picked up any teaching? At first Tian Kai Zhi demurred, saying he merely swept at the gate with a broom and had no learning to speak of. When the duke pressed him, he relayed Zhu Shen’s words: Those who truly know how to nurture life are like shepherds: they watch the sheep that fall behind and drive them forward with the whip—when the stragglers catch up, those in front will not go astray either.

The duke asked what this meant. Tian Kai Zhi gave two counterexamples.

In Lu there was a man named Shan Bao who lived on cliff ledges and drank from springs, did not compete with the world for profit, and at seventy still had the complexion of an infant. Yet he happened upon a starving tiger and was bitten to death and eaten. Another man, Zhang Yi, never passed up a great house or a humble shack—there was no household he did not approach and curry favor with—and at forty he died of “internal heat” illness.

Tian Kai Zhi explained: Shan Bao nurtured only the “inner” (spirit and character) and neglected the outer, so a tiger destroyed him; Zhang Yi nurtured only the “outer” (fame, gain, and social obligations) while the inner was empty, and disease broke him from within. Neither of these two went to “whip the sheep that lagged behind”—that is, nurturing life cannot favor one side alone; inner and outer, body and mind must both be tended. Whatever is left out is where trouble will strike.

“Great gates and hanging reed screens” (gaomen xuanbo) here is a figure of speech: wealthy gates and poor reed curtains stand for all kinds of households, describing how Zhang Yi climbed and schemed everywhere and never found rest.

Exegesis

Commentary: The Dao is originally in the pre-heaven realm, yet without borrowing this post-heaven physical body, one cannot truly advance in cultivation. Therefore the wise preserve themselves: they do not stand beneath a crumbling wall, do not walk dangerous paths, and do not squander spirit and energy in vain pursuit of fame and reputation; whatever does not benefit body and mind, they simply do not do. Inwardly they nourish themselves; outwardly they protect the body, lest post-heaven drag pre-heaven down. Laozi asks, “Which is dearer, name or person? Which is more, person or goods?” He also asks, “Why would the lord of ten thousand chariots treat his own life lightly in governing the realm?”—all in this sense. Shao Yong said, “If you ask whether the pre-heaven has a single character—it has none; only in post-heaven must one apply effort,” likewise stressing post-heaven first. Only by first “holding to the posterior” can one “surpass the anterior.” This is the meaning of “whipping the rear” and “holding to the rear” in Zhuangzi and Liezi: it carries the deep intent of cultivating the true by means of the false—students of the Dao should take note.

137 Mutual Promotion and Mutual Subduing

The Book of Changes speaks of Yin and Yang mutually promoting one another, thereby giving rise to creation and transformation. For example: the sun departs and the moon arrives, the moon departs and the sun arrives—sun and moon promote each other and brightness arises; cold departs and heat arrives, heat departs and cold arrives—cold and heat promote each other and the year is completed. It also says that firm and yielding promote each other and change arises—all the same principle.

The closing section of the Yinfu Jing, however, speaks of Yin and Yang mutually subduing one another, and returns to the unfathomable emptiness where Yin and Yang are no longer distinguishable. Hence it says, “The art of Yin and Yang subduing one another—how clear it is; it advances beyond images.” This means Yin and Yang guard each other until both are extinguished together: neither being nor non-being, neither bright nor dark, neither arising nor perishing—thus from paired opposites (duidai) is accomplished the wondrous aim of transcending all pairing (juedai).

Mutual promotion is forward movement; mutual subduing is reverse movement. Mutual promotion establishes opposites in relationship—it is the way of Change (yidao). Mutual subduing merges opposites—it is the way of the elixir (dandao). In mutual promotion there is before and after; in mutual subduing it is in the same moment. Mind and breath mutually relying, nature (xing) and life (ming) united as one—this is precisely the image of mutual subduing.

138 Old Beginning and Beginning of Doubt

Summary of the Original Text

The Laozi says: Face it and you do not see its head; follow it and you do not see its tail. Hold fast to the ancient Way to govern what exists today; one who can know the “ancient beginning” is said to grasp the “discipline of the Dao.”

The Zhuangzi says: Yu’ou heard it from Xuanming; Xuanming heard it from Canliao; Canliao heard it from Yishi.

Plain-Language Explanation

“Nameless” is the beginning of Heaven and Earth—though it is called “beginning,” in truth it has neither beginning nor end, so facing it you see no head and following it you see no tail. This “limitless empty stillness” is the source of the great Dao and the root of xing and ming (nature and life). In cultivation, aligning with the “ancient beginning” means that initial awakening merges with original awakening. “Yishi” (Beginning of Doubt) and “gushi” (ancient beginning) differ in name but share one meaning: both point to the root without beginning.

139 Inner Bondage and Outer Bondage

Summary of the Original Text

The Zhuangzi (Gengsang Chu) says: Outer bondage (wai huo)—do not grasp it too tightly, or you will turn inward and shut yourself in; inner bondage (nei huo)—do not grasp it in confused haste, or you will turn outward and shut yourself out. One who is bound both inside and outside cannot even hold to De (Virtue/Power); how much less can one walk in departure from the Dao!

Plain-Language Explanation

“Huo” means bondage and clinging. Zhuangzi discusses inner and outer fetters: if outer bonds are gripped too tightly, one must shift toward inner closure; if inner bonds are seized in disorder, one must shift toward outer closure. Whoever is bound on both sides cannot even sustain “Dao and De”; still less can they act while turning away from the great Dao. The point is that if practice is doubly fixated inward and outward, one loses the natural Dao instead.

Lu Xixing said: In cultivating the Way and learning, what matters is reaching the point where “both inner and outer are forgotten”—only then is one truly finished.

When something in the mind holds you fast, that is neige (inner binding), like strapping something tight with leather thongs; when something outside holds you fast, that is waige (outer binding). Ge means to bind or tie with leather. The human heart should stay empty and still, with few desires. Once you touch outer things, if you cannot “pass through without lingering,” you compete and strive, the heart is bound by externals, and turmoil follows. To seek the original nature in such restless agitation is like filling the inner space until it is packed solid—then the inner barrier (neijian, the inner gate) cannot open. Once thoughts move and desire arises, you no longer turn with zaohua (the creative unfolding of nature); thinking scatters, and the heart is again bound by neige. To seek the original nature amid such tangled anxiety is like already being caught in discriminating consciousness, with outer conditions hard to cut off—then the outer barrier (waijian, the outer gate) cannot be released.

“Zhuo” means to seek; “jian” means a firm pass or checkpoint. Such freshly coined phrasing, like stray lines that drift in beyond the clouds, is not something an ordinary person who “eats fire and smoke” (lives a mundane life) could utter.

When inner and outer are both bound, even Dao and De cannot be kept—meaning that when inner and outer mutually constrain each other, even if Dao and De are already present in the person, one still cannot hold them steady; how much less someone who merely follows the Way without having reached fulfillment? Understand that when Dao and De truly dwell in the body, even sweeping the floor and responding to others are already fully mature, and one is naturally free of all binding. Lu’s words here are mostly sheyan (deliberate teaching speech) for effect.

Xuanjing says: The explanation in terms of principle above is already clear enough. In summary, “external fetters” (wai ge) mean that outer circumstances shake and stain the inner mind; “internal fetters” (nei ge) mean that the inner mind clings to and grasps outer circumstances. When the outer realm returns to emptiness, external fetters are released; when mind-consciousness no longer clings, internal fetters vanish. One must reach the point where both mind and circumstances are forgotten—only then are inner and outer empty together, and illumined nature (huixing) shines forth clearly. In the cultivation of the Xuanzong lineage today, one first empties body and mind, then simultaneously frees the six faculties and the six dusts, inner and outer alike. One begins from “mind and breath mutually depending” (xixi xiangyi), advancing step by step into realization, all the way to great absorption (da ding) and constant absorption (chang ding); then inner and outer naturally merge and interpenetrate, and on the level of principle there is no longer any distinction between what binds and what is bound, what grasps and what is grasped. What Li Daochun called “with the mind stilled, verify the unborn” (xinjizheng wusheng) refers to this state.

140 Preserving Light (Baoguang) and Preserving Genuineness (Baozhen)

The Zhuangzi, “Discourse on Making Things Equal” (Qiwu lun), says: “Pour into it and it is never full; ladle from it and it is never exhausted—and yet one does not know whence it comes. This is called preserving light (baoguang).” The “Tian Zifang” chapter says: “In his person he was genuine: human in appearance yet empty in the way of Heaven; following conditions yet preserving genuineness (baozhen); clear yet able to accommodate things. When things were not of the Way, he still composed his bearing to awaken himself, and made the intentions of others dissolve.”

Explanation: Preserving light means gathering and hiding one’s brilliance so it is not displayed outward—this accords with what the Yijing calls “brightness entering the earth.” Preserving genuineness is guarding one’s inherent authenticity: outwardly like an ordinary person, inwardly empty and open to Heaven; following circumstances while keeping one’s true nature; clear and harmonious, yet able to embrace all things. When outer things do not accord with the Dao, one still holds correct deportment to awaken oneself, and causes the perverse, oppositional intentions in people’s hearts to dissolve without trace.

Summary of the Commentary

Preserving Light (Baoguang) means concealing one’s brilliance (taoguang)—holding radiance inward—and corresponds to the hexagram image in the Yijing of “brightness entering the earth.” The Cantong qi says “the original source hides its brightness; inner illumination shines upon the bodily form,” which states the essential point of preserving light.

The verse means roughly this: turn the light back and reflect it inward, resting spirit and intent in emptiness and stillness; regulate the breath until it is fine and continuous, until breath gradually condenses and seems to stop; until breathing seems neither in nor out, inner and outer both still and settled, entering the realm of great silence (daji); then returning again to nothingness—neither knowing nor not knowing, neither person nor thing—this is called concealing within (cangmi), also called preserving light. To understand preserving light is to understand preserving the true (baozhen); the true refers to true nature (zhenxing), nourished by samadhi (ding) and insight (hui), so that day by day its light grows clearer.

Lu Xixing said: “Emptying attachment to conditions means emptying the self and accord with circumstances as they arise; preserving the true means nourishing the true through emptiness and stillness.” When mind and breath rely on each other and enter great samadhi (dading), inner and outer merge in harmony—this is the practice that runs in one thread from preserving the true to preserving light.

141. Cultivating Nature and Cultivating Life

(The preceding passage from Lu Xixing and the line on “mind and breath relying on each other to enter great samadhi…” repeat the same import: empty the self and follow conditions, nourish the true in emptiness and stillness, and in samadhi unite body, mind, and breath—linking preserving the true with preserving light throughout.)

Lü Dongbin said: “Cultivating only nature and not life is the foremost flaw in practice. Cultivating only the nature inherited from one’s ancestors without cultivating the elixir path—after myriad kalpas the yin spirit cannot enter the sage realm. Mastering the life school yet losing ancestral nature is like trying to see your face without a precious mirror. Life may equal heaven and earth yet one remains a fool; one may hold authority over the household yet lack the true handle.” This song speaks from the side of opposition between nature and life, urging dual cultivation of nature and life (xingming shuangxiu)—that is most fitting. If students take these words and misread Buddhist cultivation, accusing it of ignorance of the life school and fall into a yin-spirit realm, that is a grave error. What Daoism calls nature (xing) is discussed in relation to life (ming), spirit (shen) and qi, emptiness and subtle being; what Buddhism calls nature blends nature and life, spirit and qi, being and non-being, form and emptiness, sentient and non-sentient into one. So-called wondrous luminous true nature is absolute truth—not a relative substance—how can one use Xuanzong-style doctrine to judge the Buddhist realm before King Weiyin?

Question: Then is the “mind-born body” in Buddhism also a yang spirit? Answer: Realization of self-nature Dharma-body does not fall into yin-yang, light-dark, or any paired dharmas. The Book of Changes says: “That which yin and yang cannot fathom is called spirit.” The Buddhist Dharma-body is pure, all-pervading, subtly inclusive—beyond thought and measure. If you measure the Buddhist mind-born body with the yardstick of yin and yang, you will never reach it. Students must exhaust emotional measuring and manifest suchness (ruru), then they can faintly correspond.

142 Yin Spirit and Yang Spirit

Yin spirit is a term set against yang spirit.

Plain-language explanation

Yin spirit is the layer of consciousness sent out from the body before the “five yin” have been fully broken through. Yang spirit is the “mind-born body” that appears only after all five yin are completely gone. The line between yin spirit and yang spirit depends solely on whether the five yin are exhausted—not on whether there is physical form or audible speech. Pine and cypress in deep mountains, foxes, deer, and other such creatures can take human shape; that is all transformation of refined essence and spirit—how could it be called yang spirit?

The Surangama Sutra’s account of breaking through the five yin says: “When the mind leaves the body and turns to look back at one’s own face, coming and going freely with no further obstruction, this is called the exhaustion of the skandha of feeling.” It also says: “One who has exhausted the skandha of feeling, though not yet free of outflows, has a mind that can leave the body like a bird leaving a cage and has already achieved a certain attainment. From this ordinary body one ascends through the sixty saintly stages of the bodhisattva path, obtains the mind-born body, and dwells wherever one wishes without obstruction.” The Surangama is very clear here: only when the skandhas of form and feeling are both exhausted can the mind leave the flesh and move freely; but if the skandhas of thought, formation, and consciousness are not yet broken, there is no divine transformation or power, and one cannot broadly benefit sentient beings—what is sent out at that stage is still yin spirit. Going further, through the sixty bodhisattva stages, one then obtains the mind-born body. The mind-born body belongs to the same category as the Daoist True Person (Zhenren). The Lankavatara Sutra says: “The mind-born body of a bodhisattva-mahasattva, through the power of illusion-like samadhi and unobstructed divine power, manifests at once the splendid forms of the holy kinds of bodies, without any obstruction.” It also says: “Having entered the immovable stage, with immeasurable samadhi freedom, one then obtains the mind-born body, gains illusion-like samadhi, penetrates to the ultimate, possesses clear unobstructed power, and saves and benefits all sentient beings.” This too is explicit: obtaining the mind-born body depends on the divine power of samadhi to manifest splendid forms and various spiritual powers—intention completes it instantly, free and unobstructed. That is not the same level as the Surangama’s “mind leaving the body.”

Those who have thoroughly broken through the yin obstruction of the “consciousness” layer are like one for whom the light of nirvana has dawned: only then do the numinous powers and subtle functions of self-nature manifest, and only then can one realize this kind of bodily form.

According to the Lengqie Jing (Lankavatara Sutra), there are three kinds of mind-born body (yìshēngshēn). The first is called the samadhi-bliss right-reception mind-born body: when the “three kinds of ripening” are complete, the Dharma body can move freely in all directions, appearing and vanishing at will; because the root of the Way-embryo’s completion is samadhi right-reception, it receives this name.

The second is called the awakening-to-dharma-self-nature mind-born body: bodhisattvas from the eighth ground upward penetrate that all dharmas are manifest from self-nature alone; they gain “freedom of mind” and “freedom with respect to dharmas,” and therefore can manifest measureless mind-born bodies of dharma-nature—that is, they can manifest measureless forms of the Dharma body, complete in every adornment, pervading every buddha-field, free and unobstructed.

The third is called the kinds-co-arising, non-acting, non-fabricating mind-born body: bodhisattvas at equal enlightenment, with the vajra mind, cut off the finest “production-mark” of ignorance; when flux is exhausted, they can manifest bodies in a thousand and myriad kinds, with no kind they cannot respond to—yet without acting, without fabrication, without mind, without object—hence the name.

Among the three, the third is supreme.

In the practice of the Mysterious Teaching (internal alchemy, Neidan), when “the ten-month embryo is complete and the true person’s form appears,” one has already attained the first kind of mind-born body; when the matter of “three years of nurturing warmth” is finished and one can divide the body into measureless forms, one enters the second kind; finally, upon returning to the origin and completing the Dao, one enters the third.

The Hai Shan Qi Yu Ji (Record of Wondrous Encounters at Sea and Mountain) states: “When the Southern School’s three years of nurturing warmth is complete, one can divide the body into measureless forms and enter the second kind of mind-born body. Finally, upon returning to the origin and completing the Dao, one enters the third kind of mind-born body.”

Records of Wondrous Encounters at Sea and Mountain relates that Yao Pingzhong, a disciple of the Southern School, met the two patriarchs Zhongli Quan and Lü Dongbin on Damian Mountain. They had him quietly nurture himself in a mountain cave. By the ninth nine-day period (eighty-one days in all), he could leave his ordinary limits and penetrate future events, and he took this for real attainment. When Zhong and Lü came again, they said: “This is the yin spirit; it cannot endure for long. You must obtain the Golden Fluid (Jinye)—only that is the yang elixir (yangdan).” Patriarch Lü transmitted to him the oral formula of the “Nine Returns” (Jiuhuan). Pingzhong then withdrew into the world, cultivated diligently, accumulated merit and conduct, and at last realized the Great Dao. As the account has it, the yin spirit Pingzhong first manifested belongs to the kind the Surangama Sutra describes when it speaks of “the mind leaving the body and turning back to behold one’s face”—not the thought-born body (yishen).

After the First Patriarch Bodhidharma entered nirvana, he was interred on Mount Xiong’er. In the Northern Wei, Song Yun, returning from an envoy’s mission to the Western Regions, met his master on the Congling passes. He saw him holding a single shoe, drifting away alone as if weightless. Song Yun asked, “Where are you going?” He answered, “To the Western Heaven (Xitian).” He also told Song Yun, “Your sovereign has already died.” Song Yun was at a loss. After parting from his master and traveling east to report on his mission, he found that Emperor Ming had indeed passed away. When Emperor Xiaozhuang took the throne, Song Yun submitted a full account. The emperor ordered the coffin opened; there was only an empty coffin, with a single leather sandal left inside. (See Biographies of Divine Monks, vol. 4.)

The tradition holds that what Bodhidharma displayed was the thought-born body (yishen). The “Ten Grounds” chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra (Huayan Jing) gives a vast and marvelous exposition of the realm of the thought-born body; it is worth consulting.

143. The Killing Trigger and the Stealing Trigger

This passage explains what “the mechanism of slaying” (shaji) and “the mechanism of appropriation” (daoji) mean in the Yinfu Jing (Classic of the Hidden Talisman).

The upper section reveals the subtlety of the mechanism of slaying; the middle section explains the purpose of the mechanism of appropriation. Neither slaying nor appropriation here means harming others in the ordinary sense. Both refer to turning things around—drawing back the outward-dissipating life-generating force (shengji) and returning to the root and restoring the source (fanben huanyuan). This is a crucial method in cultivation.

The classic’s gist runs as follows: When Heaven activates the mechanism of slaying, the stars shift; when Earth activates it, dragons and serpents rise onto the land; when human beings activate it, Heaven and Earth seem overturned; when Heaven and humanity activate it together, the myriad transformations find a firm foundation.

Nature (xing) in itself is neither born nor destroyed. What we see as birth and death is really Qi in motion—not nature being extinguished. Master Qianxu said: Nature was never something that “came into being”; it appears as life only by riding the movement of Qi. To go against the current and ascend, the key is heart-mind and breath in mutual dependence (xinxixiangyi)—from breathing that is present, gradually entering breathless stillness; from thoughts that are present, gradually entering thoughtlessness. When breath and thought are both exhausted, the vacuum of reality (zhenkong) fully appears; root and dust no longer couple, consciousness is exhausted, original nature is revealed, and great function is manifest. This is what Patriarch Lü meant by “having been born, one slays birth”: not killing life, but within the realm of what has already been born, gathering in and slaying the restless “mechanism” of delusion.

At this stage, dependent and direct retribution turn together, the myriad transformations have a firm foundation, one suddenly transcends the leaky, breaks the five yin on the causal ground, and fully realizes the three virtues—this is the subtle point of “the mechanism of slaying” in the classic.

Brief glossary: Return to the root and restore the source—returning to what is originally so and to the source; heart-mind and breath in mutual dependence—mind and breathing coordinated, advancing and retreating together; vacuum of reality—the suchness of true suchness, not mere emptiness; five yin—the five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness; three virtues—typically the realization virtues of Dharma-body, prajna, and liberation.

Therefore, what is meant by “turning through birth-and-death into stillness-and-extinction” is that within a single pivot of thought, birth-and-death is exhausted and one returns to stillness-and-extinction; body and mind do not stir in vain, yet they can embrace and encompass heaven, earth, and the cosmos. The Buddhist phrase “breaking the clouds and turning,” and the Daoist (Xuanzong) phrase “the slaying intent (shaji),” share the same meaning.

Grand Master Hanxu says in his Classified Commentary on the Yinfu Jing: The Commentary on the Appended Phrases of the Book of Changes states, “One yin and one yang—that is called the Dao.” Yin is placed before yang because, in the principle of heaven, earth, and the myriad things, without stillness there is no arising of movement; this is also why the Bo (Stripping) hexagram comes before the Fu (Return) hexagram. The entire Yinfu Jing expounds that crucial mechanism where yin and yang meet and mutually accord. Here “spirit (shen)” is exhausted, and here “the spirit that is not spirit” arises—this is precisely where birth and extinction, concealment and manifestation, hand off to one another; the gateway through which reversal and return, egress and ingress, pass back and forth; where sun and moon meet in waxing and waning; the path along which great and small traverse one another; the root by which death and life mutually restrain; the place where favor and harm multiply and divide against each other; the field in which water and fire advance, retreat, take, and leave.

Plain-Language Commentary

The verse says: The subtlety of the “mechanism of killing” (sha ji) first depends on recognizing the crucial point known as the single aperture of the Mystery Gate (xuan guan yi qiao). One begins from the place of “movement,” and through circling breath (xuan xi) gathers qi back to its proper root; body and mind settle, inner and outer both empty. The old “spirit” (shen) is extinguished here, and only then does the higher “spirit beyond spirit” appear. Passages in the Surangama Sutra such as “turn the breath and follow the origin, turn the dharma and return to nothingness; enter the stream without dwelling, exhaust what is heard in hearing, empty what is felt in feeling, extinguish emptiness in emptiness—when arising and ceasing have ceased, still extinction appears before you”—all point to the wonder of this “mechanism of killing.”

Master Jiaoshan said, “The six gates do not shut (that is, rest and return in the sixth month), the four quarters leave no trace”; Master Sixin said, “When the six sense-roots are empty, the myriad dharmas have no arising or ceasing”—both are speaking of the killing mechanism: the six roots (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) no longer cling outward, and among the myriad dharmas no arising-and-ceasing appearance arises where the roots are empty.

There is no more direct method for undoing attachment and shedding bonds.

The Yinfu Jing (Scripture of the Hidden Talisman) also says: “Heaven gives birth and heaven kills—such is the principle of the Dao.” Heaven and earth nourish the myriad things; the myriad things nourish human beings; human beings in turn nourish the myriad things—the three “steals” (san dao) of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity each get what is fitting, and only then are the three powers secure. Hence, “When one eats in accord with the season, the hundred joints are ordered; when one moves the mechanism rightly, the ten thousand transformations are at peace.” It also says: “As for stealing the mechanism—under heaven none can see it, none can know it.” When the noble person grasps this essential mechanism, they guard the body and firm up life; when the petty person grasps it, they treat the body lightly and use it recklessly.

Note: In internal alchemy (neidan), “killing mechanism” usually means stopping thoughts, returning to the root, and quieting movement back into stillness—not killing in the literal sense. “Mystery Gate, the single aperture” is the place in inner practice where spirit and qi meet and where one begins; schools differ in detail, but most tie it to “movement within stillness” and “returning the breath within movement.” The “three steals” is imagery peculiar to the Yinfu: Heaven, Earth, the myriad things, and human beings mutually sustain and mutually constrain one another; when aligned with “season” (shi) and “mechanism” (ji), both the person and the transforming mechanism are secure.

This passage explains how notions such as “stealing the mechanism” (daoji) and “Heaven gives birth, Heaven kills” in the Yinfu Jing (Classic of the Hidden Talisman) all refer, in the author’s view, to the same rise and fall of the “one Qi of emptiness” within the human body.

The One Qi and Life and Death

With the one Qi of emptiness, life continues; without it, decline sets in. Small children can still keep mind and breath mutually joined—their minds are simple and their breathing deep and long, so the “opening and closing” of the breath can gather the authentic yang of heaven and earth into the body. Once the heart awakens to desire and longing stir, breathing becomes short and shallow—little is taken in, much is released—and the original Qi in the body, following the pathway of the breath, flows back into emptiness. This is what the scripture means by “Heaven gives birth, Heaven kills.” The author makes clear: the real meaning is self-birth and self-destruction—nothing outside truly “kills” you; rather, you yourself dissipate authentic yang.

The Immortal’s Return

Those who understand the subtlety of return practice sensing through stillness: they let mind and breath depend on each other outwardly, until spirit and breath are both settled, and body and mind enter stillness. With one’s own emptiness they merge with the emptiness of heaven and earth, and the flow of Qi naturally reverses—without forcing, the original yang of heaven and earth comes back; what was lost from the body can return to the body again. This is “things return to their master.” Forced to a name, it is called “stealing the mechanism”; in truth it is returning to the source and inheriting what was always one’s own.

The Realm Reached in Practice

If the student cultivates until the essence-body is empty, roots and dust are both extinguished, and self and other are not established, then the whole Dharmadhatu appears, pure and full within the one body—what could still be called “what steals” or “what is stolen”? This is what the Surangama Sutra calls “inactive suchness (wuwei zhenru), nature pure, clarity revealed”—suchness is originally pure, illumination present; it is not stealing something outside, but what was always there returning to what was always there.

In one sentence: When the child’s mind and breath are joined, yang gathers; when the adult’s desire moves and breath scatters, yang is spent. In practice, stillness merges with emptiness and spirit and breath are both fixed, then the flow of Qi reverses and original yang returns by itself—what is called stealing the mechanism is return, not grasping outward.

Plain-Language Explanations of Passages Related to Tianle Ji (Collection of Heavenly Joy)

I. On “Tianji” (Heaven’s Secret Mechanism)

Zhuangzi says that when desire sinks too deep, the layer of “spiritual responsiveness” that connects one with the Dao of heaven and nature becomes thin.

Chen Cuixu says that only by realizing and holding fast to the subtlety of Tianji can one observe the heavens at midnight—for example, reading the direction of the Big Dipper’s handle to know the season and the proper “fire phases” in cultivation. He also says that truly grasping Tianji allows one to transform within oneself a realm as clear as “Jade Clarity Heaven” (Yuqing); that Tianji often appears marvelous precisely because the method is simple; and that many essentials are scattered through alchemical scriptures yet authors are reluctant to spell them out.

Chen Baoyi says: if one does not earnestly seek lead and mercury—the pivotal pair in internal refinement—how can one penetrate Tianji and form the sacred embryo (shengtai)?

Lü Dongbin says this gate of Tianji is unfathomably deep; outsiders only talk of merit across myriad kalpas and secret methods worth a thousand gold, yet rarely touch its root.

Ge Xianweng (Immortal Ge) says: when jade fluid irrigates and the inner chamber flows like tassels (images of inner landscape and the circulation of essence and qi), once Tianji reveals itself, no realm compares.

The passages above belong to the line of teaching on Tianji.

II. On “Shenji” (Spirit Mechanism)

The Yinfu Jing (Scripture of the Hidden Talisman) says: there is a singular “vessel” from which the myriad forms arise; the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) and the sexagenary cycle (jiazi) respond to it, while Shenji and ghostly concealment lie within (Tianji is deeply hidden and not to be lightly disclosed).

Chen Momo says: the two spiritual medicines naturally combine of themselves; that point of Shenji must be sought right here.

Zhang Sanfeng says: align spirit (shen) with the celestial circuit (zhoutian) in hidden harmony; and discipline body and mind, guarding against danger and foreseeing peril.

Li Qing’an says: what is stored in the body is shen (spirit); what issues from the body in action is ji (mechanism). Stillness without movement is shen; responsive penetration is ji. Hidden and manifest beyond measure is shen; application without fixed form is ji. Contained in the one person is shen; extended to the ten thousand things is ji.

The above belongs to the line of teaching on Shenji.

III. Xuanjing’s Discussion (Related to Spirit and Mechanism)

Xuanjing says: when Tianji reaches utter stillness without movement, that is shen; when it responds and penetrates, that is ji. Hidden and manifest beyond fathoming is shen; application without fixed method is ji. Stored in the one body is shen; spread to the ten thousand things is ji. Here the theme is still the unity of spirit and mechanism, and the continuity between body-mind and the ten thousand things—a thread that runs in the same vein as Li Qing’an’s words quoted above.

Xuanjing said: What is meant by “Heaven’s Mechanism” (tianji) is that one point of utmost spiritual Qi from the innate realm. What Confucius called “the heart of Heaven and Earth” points to the same thing; what Zhou Dunyi, in his Explanation of the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate (Taijitu Shuo), called “the reality of the Limitless” likewise refers to this same layer of meaning.

“Spiritual mechanism” (shenji) is the subtle turning that, in trance-like vagueness and deep obscurity, shifts naturally with huohou—the timely phases in practice when Yin and Yang wax and wane and rise and fall. “Extraordinary vessel” (qiqi) refers to the outer xuan pass (the critical gate outside the body).

The deeper one’s cravings and desires, the more primordial Qi is dissipated, primordial Jing grows turbid, and primordial Yang dims day by day—hence the ancients spoke of a “shallow Heaven’s Mechanism.”

Someone asked: “The ancients said Heaven’s Mechanism must not be leaked. You now openly expound the wonders of the Dao—is that leaking Heaven’s Mechanism?”

Xuanjing answered: “Those who treat oral formulas as Heaven’s Mechanism do not yet truly understand Heaven’s Mechanism. When the student of the Dao reaches extreme emptiness and profound stillness, at the moment when primordial chaos is about to divide but has not yet divided, that one point of innate spiritual Yang emerges from emptiness, like dew, like lightning—that is Heaven’s Mechanism directly revealed. At that moment one must immediately turn the xuan pass, secretly store this point of spiritual Yang, and never let it leak again—this is called gathering the medicine and returning it to the gourd. What must not be leaked is sending it back to the earth crucible and sealing it firmly—that is the true meaning of ‘Heaven’s Mechanism must not be leaked.’ How could words in speech or writing count as Heaven’s Mechanism? Know that speech and writing, even when they accord with the wonder of the Dao, are like the moon in a painted moon—not the true moon in the sky.”

Someone asked: “So is it really true that Ziyang Zhenren (Purple Yang True Person) three times transmitted the teaching to people who should not have received it, and three times suffered heavenly punishment?”

The answer: “The Ninwan (Upper Dantian) Immortal Master has already analyzed this. Bai Zhenren (Bai Yuchan) wrote in On Dispelling Doubts: ‘Students of immortality under heaven are beyond counting; most of them study but never meet the true method, meet it but will not practice in earnest, or practice but will not endure bitter effort. When they grow old they can only resign themselves to dying beneath the earth—how pitiful! Now, if one wishes to have the oral formulas passed down by one’s master carved and printed to circulate in the world, one already fears greatly that celestial secrets might leak out—would one still incur heavenly punishment?’

The Ninwan (Immortal Master) said: ‘I intend to awaken all who study immortality under heaven. If there were truly anyone who ought to be punished, would the Way of Heaven still be Heaven? The scripture says: “My life is in my hands, not in Heaven’s”—what punishment is there to speak of?’

Yuchan (Bai Yuchan) asked: ‘Our patriarch Zhang Pingshu (Zhang Boduan)—why did he three times transmit to unworthy recipients and three times meet disaster?’

The Ninwan (Immortal Master) said: ‘That was because for a time his discernment fell short—and moreover, his heart was not wholly bent on universally saving the world. You must understand: Pingshu’s calamities were in truth brought on by his own showing off; they had nothing to do with Heaven. Why still doubt what the Ninwan (Immortal Master) has said?’”

The Yinfu Jing (Secret Instructions on the Unseen Ties) may not actually have been written by the Yellow Emperor, but it is certainly an ancient Daoist text. The upper section says: “Heaven’s nature is in the person; the human heart is the pivot.” The lower section says: “The pivot is in the eyes.” Regarding “the pivot of the heart” and “the pivot of the eyes,” my master Tizhen Shanren once offered an explanation. He said: “Ji (the pivot) is the crucial point where movement and stillness turn.” The scripture also says: “Where the gaze reaches, the heart follows; where the heart reaches, the eyes follow.” And again: “If the eyes do not move, the heart comes to rest; if the heart does not move, the eyes also come to rest.” Outwardly this is spoken of as the “eyes”; inwardly it is spoken of as the “heart.” One must understand heart-and-breath interdependence (xinxi xiangyi)—heart and breathing working together until breathing ceases and one settles in great stillness (ding). Patriarch Lü said “learn to die before one is dead”; heart-and-breath interdependence is the method of learning to “die”; to learn dying is to let the heart die first. When the heart is dead, the eyes naturally do not move either. One must know that when the eyelids no longer move, heart-and-breath interdependence has been carried to the utmost—hence “the pivot is in the eyes.”

This exposition by Master Tizhen Shanren can be called an insight never fully articulated through the ages; he has spoken to the end of the matter, and it is hard to add anything further.

Turning from delusion toward awakening is called “return” (hui); returning to the root and restoring the source is also called “return.”

From beginningless time, beings cycle through kalpa after kalpa, often because they turn away from awakening and cling to circumstances—like a prodigal far from home, not knowing to return, recognize the father, and inherit the family estate. Once one awakens to past error and sharply changes direction, engaging in the study of nature and life to complete nature and restore life—that single thought of “turning the heart” is initial awakening (shigjue).

With the pure mind gained through initial awakening, one reflects inward into the qi cavity (qi xue), clarifying and stilling it until mind and breath unite; over time spirit gathers and breath rests, and one naturally enters samadhi; still further, clarity deepens, the six senses grow empty and quiet, one thought is wuwei (non-action), and the ten directions are cut off—this is called resting the mechanism (xiji). Resting the mechanism is forgetting artifice (wangji). The ancients said, “When artifice is forgotten, Buddha-Dharma flourishes”; the immortal path likewise values forgetting artifice: forgetting the body, forgetting things, forgetting qi, forgetting spirit, forgetting illumination, forgetting knowing—all returning to primordial chaos. The more one forgets, the more spirit shines, until person and dharma are both empty, mind and realm both still; stillness upon stillness, then the sacred embryo (shengtai) is complete and the Dao transcends images.

Master Lü said: “Sitting and lying, forgetting artifice, sword-shadow alone—one point of numinous origin merges with the elixir furnace”; again: “Pine wind intoxicates me in twofold forgetting of artifice, carving cloud-root barely half a span”; again: “Resting thought and forgetting artifice accord with the natural”—all express the subtle aim of resting the mechanism.

The yuan (conditions) spoken of here mean the causal conditions that truly allow one to carry out the Way (xiudao and bancao). The Profound Teaching (the “aim of the Mysterious Gate” as internal alchemy circles often call it) holds that Dharma, wealth, companions, and place must all be in place before the work of the Way can be established.

The Tiantai school’s zhiguan practice (stilling discursive thought and contemplating true reality) likewise says one must first fulfill five kinds of conditions. Which five? First, adequate food and clothing; second, pure observance of precepts; third, quiet dwelling in seclusion; fourth, ceasing all worldly engagements; fifth, staying close to good spiritual friends.

Among these, worldly engagements fall into four types: livelihood engagements (making a living and miscellaneous chores), social and courtesy engagements, and skill and study engagements—all of which should be set aside during dedicated practice.

Good spiritual friends also come in three kinds: external protectors (those who support one’s practice), fellow travelers (those who practice together), and teaching masters (those who transmit scriptures and methods). This aligns in meaning with the Profound Teaching’s Dharma, wealth, companions, and place.

Yet if conditions are met but virtue is not, all sorts of obstacles and demonic hindrances will arise, blocking the practitioner’s progress and making success in the Way hard to achieve—so being endowed with virtue is more urgent and more essential than merely having the external conditions.

The Zhuangzi says: “De is the outcome of achieving harmony and completing one’s cultivation.” The Master of Hidden Emptiness (Qianxu Zhenren) explains that in the way of external elixir (Waidan), whether success comes depends on the person, on Heaven, on wisdom, on merit (fu), on the master, and on discernment—none of these links can be falsified in the slightest, and one cannot expect others to finish the work for oneself. If one can cultivate De in secret and truly unite in heart with fellow practitioners, De can move Heaven and Earth and sincere intent can reach the spirits; when one comes to the furnace to refine the elixir, mistakes will naturally be fewer. Otherwise, however correct the learning and however clear the inner eye, when demonic trials arrive one still cannot withstand them. He says this is what he has personally tested and verified through experience, and dares not conceal it. Though these words chiefly address terrestrial-fire (diyuan) practice, the human-element elixir method (renyuan danfa) is the same: hence Awakening to Reality (Wuzhen Pian) says, “Great medicine is easy or hard to refine—you know it depends on me and also on Heaven; unless you accumulate practice and bestow hidden De, whenever you act, a host of demons will become obstructing causes.” The Master of Hidden Emptiness writes in the Short Preface to Awakening to Reality: hidden De (yinde) is merit others may not see—the True Person of Upper Yang (Shangyang Zhenren) once discussed this at length—giving without seeking return is hidden De; doing good without letting others know, not driving people into danger, and quietly giving others convenience all count as hidden De. The scripture also says: when the other party comes bearing misfortune, I respond with blessing; when they come bearing resentment, I respond with De. Immortal Master Hao Taigu (Haotaigu Xianshi) said: Yang De can win people over; yin De can subdue demons.

In the Baopuzi, it is said: “The way of cultivating immortality requires that one cannot bear to harm even the smallest wriggling creatures, and does not injure any living thing that breathes. The way of cultivating immortality requires broad love for all under heaven in every direction, treating others as oneself.” It also says: “Someone asked: Should those who cultivate the Dao first establish meritorious deeds? Is that so? Baopuzi answered: Yes. The Yuling Jing states: Establishing merit comes first; removing transgressions comes next. For those who cultivate the Dao, saving people from danger and calamity, shielding them from disease, and preventing wrongful death—these are supreme merit. Those who seek immortality should take loyalty, filial piety, harmony, benevolence, and trustworthiness as their foundation. If virtue is not cultivated and one only pursues technical methods, long life cannot be attained.” It further says: “I suspect all the more that people like Peng Zu failed to ascend to heaven because their good deeds were insufficient.” This is precisely to show that “possessing virtue” is the key to becoming an immortal.

Those who practice the Xuanzong (inner alchemy) path, if they wish to realize the true realm in this very life, must first transform the heart-mind and constantly hold the intention to benefit all beings: with great compassion bringing them ease and joy, with great compassion relieving their suffering, always acting with skillful means and widely accumulating good affinities. In this way, those who have not yet met a teacher will meet one, and those who have already met a teacher will attain the Dao. Laozi said: “The Dao of heaven has no favorites; it constantly protects the good person”—that is exactly this meaning.

148 · Level Mind and Calm Breath

Master Sengcan says in the Xinxin Ming (Inscription on Faith in Mind): “With a mind that is level and open, all distinctions naturally dissolve.” When Chan master Gao of Liaoshan visited Boshan again, Boshan asked, “You have studied with teachers for many years—what have you gained?” Gao answered, “Only ping huai—a level heart.” Those two words are extremely subtle, and not easy to attain. One must reach the point where state and wisdom are one, self and things forgotten, before one can enter. Beginners on the path cannot yet let go of attachment to circumstances—how can they speak of a level heart? If a level heart is not yet within reach, start with “quieting the breath.” Quieting the breath means mind and breath relying on each other, tuning respiration until it is pure, even, soft, and unbroken. When the breath is level, the mind becomes level too. If in a burst of great anger one can turn the light inward in an instant and within three or five breaths enter trance and emptiness, one gradually aligns with the aim of ping huai. Zhuangzi speaks of “resting in heaven’s balance”—that points to the wonder of a level heart; Huzi’s “balancing the qi mechanism” speaks to the wonder of quieting the breath. Jun (balance) is levelness; heng (equilibrium) is levelness; both suggest chaos without inside or outside.

149 Settling the Dwelling and Settling the Mind

Mozi says: “It is not that there is no secure dwelling, but that there is no secure mind; it is not that goods are insufficient, but that the mind does not know contentment.” Reading this, one cannot help but slap the table in admiration: how closely this echoes Laozi! Laozi says, “Knowing contentment brings no disgrace; knowing when to stop brings no danger,” and also, “Of crimes, none is greater than many desires; of disasters, none is greater than not knowing contentment; of faults, none is greater than craving gain—therefore the contentment of knowing contentment is lasting contentment.” The two texts illuminate each other.

The Method of Truly Settling the Mind

How to truly settle the heart-mind is valued in all three traditions—Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist. Regulate breath and gather spirit; let body and mind both grow still. Dwell in plainness and leisure, clear and empty to the utmost—what Zhuangzi calls “ roaming the heart in the very beginning of things” is the Daoist (Xuanzong) path to settling the mind. The Yijing says: “The sage therefore washes the heart and withdraws, storing it in the secret”; Yang Xiong says: “Hide the heart in the deep, beautifying that numinous root”—this is the Confucian way to settle the mind. The Second Patriarch Huike said to Bodhidharma: “My heart is still not at peace; Master, please help me settle it.” Bodhidharma said: “Bring me your heart, and I will settle it for you.” Huike thought long and said: “I seek the heart but cannot find it.” Bodhidharma said: “I have already finished settling your heart for you.” This is the Chan way to settle the mind.

Chan is most free and transcendent, yet not something beginners can suddenly enter; “the heart empty and you pass the exam”—those who have not opened Buddhist wisdom and insight cannot do it. If you want what is level, simple, and reaches all three capacities, nothing beats the Daoist line of settling the mind: gather spirit-intent in the empty place, united with the breath; when breath is regulated, the heart grows quiet; when quiet lasts, concentration naturally comes; in concentration the body feels light, the intent at ease, the hundred parts harmonized, worldly weariness gradually fades, and wisdom grows day by day. Hence Liezi says: “Nothing like stillness, nothing like emptiness; stillness and emptiness are where one ought to abide—once there is grasping and rejecting, one loses the place of peace.” This is the purport of Xuanzong Quanzhen, and also the crucial gate of returning to the root (fuming).

150 Seeing the Alone and Doubting the Alone

Zhuangzi says: “Only after seeing the Alone (the single unchanging substance) can one be without past and present; only without past and present can one enter the undying and unborn.” Liezi in this passage quotes only as far as “unborn”—connecting with the preceding “undying and unborn,” still speaking of the Xuanzong Quanzhen path of returning to the root.

Zhuangzi says: “First see that ‘Alone’ (du), and you will not be bound by past and present; not bound by past and present, you can enter the realm where there is neither death nor birth.” Liezi says: “What is called non-birth means doubting/suspending in the Alone; what is called non-transformation means going and returning; the limit of going and returning cannot be exhausted, and the Way of doubting the Alone cannot be run dry.”

Commentary: When the Dharma-eye of the mind-ground can see the Dharma-body, that is called seeing the Alone (jian du). Alone (du) is the truth that waits on nothing. Dharma-nature is not a paired, relative dharma; it does not take the myriad dharmas as companions, hence “alone.” Hanshan Zi said: “Precious is the natural original thing—standing alone with no partner.” Laozi said: “There is a thing confusedly complete, born before Heaven and Earth; silent, void, standing alone unchanging, circling without failing.” All point to absolute non-reliance (juedai)—not depending on an opposite—so it is called the body of the one truth. Birth and death, day and night, light and dark, form and emptiness all belong to the paired; seeing the Alone, one does not stick to either side but rounds and penetrates in one boundary, hence no past and present, entering neither death nor birth. The “doubting” in doubting the Alone (yi du) is the same intent as Zhuangzi’s doubting the beginning (yi shi): with true nature assimilating all dharmas, root and branch both converge in the source—even the source is not established, then neither Alone nor not-Alone need be clung to. That is to drop even the seeing of “seeing the Alone,” not stuck on the Dharma side. How subtle!

151 Seeing the Plain and Embodying Plainness

Laozi said: “See the plain and embrace simplicity.” Zhuangzi said: “Plain means nothing mixed in; pure means not impairing the spirit; one who can embody pure plainness is called a true person.” Nanyue Huai Chan said: “Practice and realization are not nonexistent—if polluted, they cannot be attained.” Sixth Patriarch Yin Ke said: “It is precisely non-pollution, what all Buddhas protect and remember; since you are thus, I am also thus.”

Interpretive Commentary: “Su” (simplicity) refers to the true countenance of one’s native ground—namely, the original nature of the source. Laozi’s “seeing su” means fully awakening to that original nature of the source. Zhuangzi’s “embodying pure su” likewise points to this nature-body that is unstained and clear, free of defilement. In Tang-dynasty Esoteric Buddhism and Chan, ultimate attainment was framed as returning to the scenery of one’s home ground; this can be taken as evidence. As for “holding to pu” (unadorned simplicity), it corresponds to what the Chan school calls “maintaining and accepting” (baoren). Seeing su and holding to pu are the correct Dharma eye treasury of the Laozi lineage. What Emperor Xuanzong cultivated can be said to interpenetrate and accord with the supreme vehicle of Buddhism; hence Master Dazhu said: “Those of great spiritual capacity use it in the same spirit as holding to pu; those of small capacity, once they cling, the two paths diverge.” It is only because skillful application and understanding differ that the three teachings are distinguished; delusion and awakening lie in the person, not in differences among the teachings.

152 Inheriting the Constant and Inheriting Clarity

The Laozi says: “Employ its light, return again to its clarity; leave no calamity for the body—this is called inheriting the constant (xichang).” It also says: “One skilled at walking leaves no tracks; one skilled at speaking leaves no flaws; one skilled at reckoning needs no counting rods; one skilled at shutting needs no bar or bolt, yet none can open; one skilled at binding needs no cord, yet none can undo. Therefore the sage is always skilled at saving people, and so does not abandon anyone; always skilled at saving things, and so does not abandon anything—this is called inheriting clarity (ximing).”

Laozi’s transmission of the meaning of “embracing constancy” (xí cháng) and “embracing clarity” (xí míng) is that people should personally realize the abiding Dharma body. That abiding Dharma body is the wondrous awareness of nature (xìng jué miào míng) that all sentient beings originally possess; hence sometimes “constancy” is spoken of, sometimes “clarity”—the principle is one. “Embrace” (xí) means to inherit and merge with—to silently accord with the original mind and be in tacit union with the way of true constancy. This is not something coarse ordinary consciousness can fully grasp, yet it does not depart from the daily life of ordinary people—if one can turn inward and seek, one may also immediately accord with the mind-source and open the sage’s wondrous eye; what afflicts beings is that they enjoy it every day without knowing, using its light yet not returning to clarity.

What is “using its light”? Master Changqing An said: “Each of you has a great treasure: from the eye-gate it emits light, illuminating mountains, rivers, and the great earth; from the ear-gate it emits light, receiving all sounds. Thus the six gates constantly emit light day and night—called the samādhi of emitting light—yet you do not recognize and grasp it yourselves.” Laozi’s “return to clarity” is precisely to have people turn back to the mind-source: as when knowing lamplight and reaching the lamp itself, clarity continues in succession without cessation.

The five phrases beginning with “The good traveler leaves no tracks” display the wondrous function of arising from nature without contrivance; the four phrases beginning with “The constant virtue saves people” display the vow of great compassion as one substance. Those who fully realize the one mind do not separate self and other or thing and self, so their words share one another’s pain and itch—seeing another drowning is like oneself drowning; they save and deliver with goodness and cannot stop themselves.

The passage cited from the Tianle Ji uses Laozi and the Zhuangzi to explain what “Xuan De” (profound De) and “great accord” (da shun) mean.

Laozi says: Xuan De is both deep and far-reaching; it runs counter to what the world pursues, yet it attains “great accord”—alignment with the inherent order of heaven, earth, and the myriad things, not submission to human profit and loss.

The Zhuangzi, “Heaven and Earth” chapter, says: Cultivate one’s nature and return to De; when De reaches its utmost, one is again the same as one’s original authenticity. Sameness is emptiness; emptiness is vastness; harmonizing with the Dao is like many mouths sounding as one. When mouths sound together in harmony, one harmonizes with heaven and earth. This harmony is dense and seamless; outwardly one seems foolish, seems dim—this is called Xuan De, the same as “great accord.”

The Zhuangzi, “Lie Yukou” chapter, adds: The perfected person (zhiren) returns spirit to “no beginning” and rests at ease in the realm of “nothing whatsoever.” Like water flowing where there is no fixed shape, spirit unfolds in Supreme Clarity (Taiqing). How sad! You only know to reckon hairs and minute matters, yet do not know “great accord”; the same chapter speaks of “great peace” (da ning)—knowing only branches and leaves, not the whole-body peace and the Way’s accord.

Interpretation: Great Tranquility (Da Ning) means dwelling in the realm of Tai Ding (supreme stillness) and Xi Yi (the rarefied void)—the homeland of Tai Xuan (supreme mystery)—without disaster or harm, without burden or worry, auspicious to the utmost. The learner must reach qing wang jian xie (when emotion is forgotten and views rest) and a sudden awakening in accord with truth before one can speak of corresponding response. At first, in practice, until outer breath is cut off and one can hold samadhi continuously for three hours, one may say there is a slight corresponding response. In sum, before body and mind enter great samadhi, one cannot speak of Great Tranquility; there must be samadhi before there can be tranquility.

Great Accord (Da Shun) refers to great nature (the accord of great nature). There is great accord of qi transformation: the changes of firing times are purely natural, subtly accord with the pre-heaven, like Butcher Ding carving an ox or the hunchback catching cicadas (Zhuangzi’s images—skill advancing into the Way). There is great accord of spirit transformation: realm and wisdom unite subtly; whatever the heart turns to is utterly free, like the Ten Ground Bodhisattvas of the Avatamsaka who attain freedom of mind and freedom with the Dharma—where thought reaches, spirit transformation is unfathomable and subtle existence is inexhaustible—this may be called the utmost of great accord. This cannot be easily reached without return to emptiness at the utmost and union with the Dao in truth.

154 Profound Virtue and Mysterious Unity

Laozi said: The reason the Dao is honored and De is prized is that it does not command anyone yet constantly accords with nature. Therefore the Dao gives them life, De nourishes them, grows and rears them, completes and ripens them, feeds and shelters them; gives life yet claims no possession, acts yet relies on nothing, grows yet does not rule—this is called Profound Virtue (Xuan De). He also said: Profound Virtue is deep, is far, turns against things, and thereby reaches Great Accord.

The Zhuangzi says: Cultivating nature and returning to De, when De reaches its height one is the same as at the beginning; sameness is emptiness, emptiness is greatness, united beaks chirp, chirping beaks unite, in accord with Heaven and Earth. That accord is dense and continuous, as if foolish, as if dim—this is called Profound Virtue, the same as Great Accord.

Laozi and Zhuangzi both expound “profound De” (xuande). Profound De is the cultivation of the Dao; it is also another name for the “constantly abiding true mind.” Only when a person returns to the beginningless (the original state before falling into discrimination and clinging to self) can they align with profound De. Heart and breath depend on each other, neither leaving nor scattering, until the realm of true emptiness appears—only then can one speak of “cultivating from nature and returning to De” (xing xiu fan de). Phrases such as “act yet do not rely on it” describe responding to circumstances without deliberate intent: when the task is done one does not claim merit. If one clings to a “self,” there is a “beginning”; if private motives intrude, one cannot universally benefit all. Therefore to accord with profound De is to benefit the myriad things without storing private intent, to follow the turn of events without getting stuck in emotion—like a mirror reflecting images, or the sun shining and wind turning: one responds to things by handing them back to things, yet does not reckon the credit as one’s own.

Having revealed profound De, Laozi also reveals “profound unity” (xuantong). The classic says: blunt the sharp edge, untie the tangles, harmonize the glare, become one with the dust—this is called profound unity. Thus one cannot gain it through closeness, nor lose it through distance; one cannot draw near through profit, nor keep away through harm; one cannot be elevated through honor, nor lowered through baseness—therefore it is honored throughout the world.

(The later passages of the scripture contain repetition and miscopying in transmission; the gist remains that profound unity does not change in its substance because of closeness or distance, benefit or harm, honor or lowliness—hence it is honored under heaven.)

Explanation: Xuantong means that the myriad streams turn and return, all merging into the mysterious One; they take form in the wonderful and yet do not fall into duality. In the Huayan Sutra, “Entering the Dharma Realm” chapter, the fifty-three good spiritual friends each expound distinct methods, yet each resolves back into one’s own nature and attains liberation—liberation is the same while the gateways differ; equality appears within difference, and difference is shown within equality. Thus one who has mastered the function of Xuantong can manifest differentiated bodies within non-difference, enter non-differentiating samadhi within differentiated bodies, manifest differentiated realms within non-differentiating samadhi, and display non-differentiating wisdom within differentiated realms—subtly entering the Huayan gate of unobstructed liberation.

Again, Chan Master Caoshan Benji established the three kinds of fall (three modes of enlightened “falling”). One who penetrates Xuantong can be free everywhere—this is suizhui (falling along with circumstances); freedom according to kind is leizhui (falling by type). After Immortal Master Chen Cuixu realized the Way, he shouldered a hoop and bucket and hoop barrels for a living, singing in the market: “If leaking teachings teach non-leaking, how can water still seep through? Since round and secret are complete, inside and outside are one empty void.” Is this not the same as the incense seller and the boatman in the Huayan?

When Chan Master Yangshan Huiji was sweeping, Chan Master Weishan Lingyou asked: “Dust is not swept away; emptiness does not arise of itself—what is ‘dust not swept away’?” Yangshan swept once. Weishan asked: “What is ‘emptiness not arising of itself’?” Yangshan pointed to himself and then to Weishan. Weishan asked: “Dust not swept away, emptiness not self-arising—apart from this path, then what?” Yangshan swept once more, pointed to himself, and pointed to Weishan.

When Chan Master Linji Yixuan was planting pines, Chan Master Huangbo Yun asked: “Why plant so many pines in the deep mountains?” Linji replied: “First, to honor the mountain gate; second, to set an example for those who come after.” Having spoken, he struck the ground three times with his hoe. Huangbo said: “Even so, you have already eaten thirty blows from me.” Linji struck the ground three times again and gave a shout. Huangbo said: “Our school will flourish greatly in the world through you.”

Thus there is no dharma that is not mysterious; the mundane is the sacred, the myriad streams turn, and all enter the gate of non-duality—subtly matching the purport of non-arising.

The subtlety of “profound oneness” (xuantong) can be understood from two angles: first, the outward form is the same while the function differs; second, the outward form differs while the function is the same.

The Avatamsaka Sutra describes the fifty-three stages of good spiritual friends who “enter the Dharma realm.” Sometimes they appear as monks or nuns, sometimes as kings or lay devotees, sometimes as immortals or followers of other paths, even as boys or girls. Whether conditions are favorable or adverse, whether teaching is provisional or ultimate, the realms they display are not the same—yet what they uphold is one and the same method of the Vairocana Dharmakaya. That is different traces, same function.

Immortal Qianxu once said: “My ‘sameness’ means sameness with the subtle principle—not sameness with outward appearances.” That is exactly this idea.

Same traces, different function expresses the principle of harmony without uniformity: adapting to the world without being swept away by it. Sleeping, walking, standing, sitting, seeing, hearing, knowing, eating, drinking, rising and retiring—these outward activities may look the same, yet the inner state of someone who has attained the Way and someone who has not can be worlds apart.

Take sleep alone: the perfected person’s mind-nature is one whether awake or asleep; ordinary people have spirit and soul in disarray, piled with chaotic dreams. Someone who has not yet trained finds that in sleep the breath roars through the nose while heart and breath cannot stay mutually anchored; someone long practiced in cultivation, once asleep, has heart and breath mutually dependent—the breath at the nostrils is light and fine, almost inaudible, as if entering meditative absorption. What the scriptures call “samadhi sleep” is this kind of state. When ordinary people enter the realm of form and sound, they are dragged along by form and sound; sages are not. That is same traces, different function.

Laozi says, “Know honor, yet keep to disgrace, and become the empty valley of the world. Being the empty valley of the world, constant De (Virtue/Power) becomes sufficient, and one ultimately returns to original true simplicity.” Here “honor and disgrace” are symbolic terms; in fact they refer to mind and body. The mind-substance is vast and contains all phenomena—this is the so-called ever-abiding true mind, the essence whose intrinsic nature is pure and luminous, unchanging through kalpas and transcendentally liberated. This is the symbol of “honor.” The physical body, falsely composed of the four great elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—is impure and unclean. This is the symbol of “disgrace.” In cultivation, one lets go of the body, unites mind with breath, empties out all attachments, and causes mind and breath to merge, so that honor and disgrace are both forgotten and one gradually enters Taiding (deep meditative absorption). With inner and outer both empty, there appears an empty circular image like “○,” called Xuzhong (the empty center), which is the “valley of the world.” When body and mind are both forgotten and the six sense faculties and six dusts all dissolve, the prenatal original-yang true Qi (vital energy) bursts open the passes and apertures and penetrates to the crown gate; one embraces and nurtures the Dharma body and nourishes the form body, cultivating both inner and outer, with body and mind as one, guest and host merging, form and emptiness non-dual, equal and as-one, subtly according with true suchness—and the constant De becomes complete. When the six consciousnesses are forgotten and the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusion are extinguished, one returns to undifferentiated chaos; being and non-being are both no longer established, and the positions of sage and ordinary cannot confine one. This is the utmost of returning to the source. No wonder of returning to simplicity surpasses this.

The heading “156 Nature-Arising and Condition-Arising” marks the topic of this section. “Nature-arising” means arising spontaneously from the original source nature through natural functioning, unlike arising in dependence on conditions. Laozi’s “good action leaves no tracks or traces” precisely shows that action in accord with the Dao leaves no traces of fabrication; the phrase “good calculation does not…” also points to the same intent of not relying on clever arrangements. The wonder of returning to simplicity and returning to truth lies precisely in returning to the original source nature without resorting to fabrication.

Nature-arising (xing qi) means relying on one’s original self-nature and letting it move of itself, without deliberate contrivance. Laozi says: “One who walks well leaves no tracks; one who counts well uses no counters; one who shuts well needs no bolt yet cannot be opened; one who binds well uses no rope yet cannot be untied.” Zhuangzi says: “When neither side can cling to one extreme, this is called the pivot of the Way; grasp the hub within the circle, and you can respond to the endless.” Again: “Ran Xiangshi obtained the hub within the circle and followed completion—together with the ten thousand things, without beginning or end, without near or far.” Again: “The perfected person uses the mind like a mirror: it does not welcome, it does not send away; it responds but does not store—thus able to overcome things without injuring things.” This is the “nature-arising” teaching in the Laozi–Zhuangzi line.

In Buddhism, only Chan and the Huayan school speak of “nature-arising”; most other schools speak mainly of dependent origination (yuan qi). Dependent origination is the mingling of true and false, hence distinctions such as defiled and pure. Nature (xing) is purely true, without falsity—pure and unstained: responding to things without clinging to emotion, following conditions without the mind grasping. Though the ten thousand practices adorn it, not a speck of dust is established—this is what is prized. In the Avatamsaka Sutra there is a bodhisattva named “Wonderful Virtue of the Arising of Tathāgata-nature”; the manifold adornments of the Flower Treasury world are all the vast display in form of “wonderful virtue of nature-arising.” In the “Entry into the Dharma Realm” chapter, Vimalakīrti-like figures may outwardly seem dissolute, yet whether intimate or embracing, looking or touching, all can free people from attachment to desire and bring great benefit—this manifests the vast efficacy of the wonderful virtue of the Tathāgata’s nature-arising.

Nature-arising is originally non-action, therefore it can transform things. Dependent origination turns with things, therefore it is turned by things. Being turned by things, one sees only things and not the mind. Non-action’s subtle practice is always moving yet always still. Further: with nature-arising, the one reality alone shines forth; with dependent origination, the six consciousnesses arise in dependence on objects. With nature-arising, affairs merge with principle and mind and objects are extinguished; with dependent origination, subject and object stand opposed and views and knowledge proliferate—one cannot return to pure unity. This is the necessary distinction on the level of principle.

The Xuanzong (Tang Daoist exegetical tradition) approach of xingqi (nature-arising)—virtue and teaching arising from innate nature—is aligned in meaning with the Huayan school’s Rulaixing qi (arising from the Tathāgata-nature) and the idea of miaode (wondrous virtue). That is why Laozi says: “The Dao gives birth to and nurtures the ten thousand things; De (Virtue/Power) cultivates and completes the ten thousand things.”

Yuanqi (dependent arising) still mixes purity with defilement; xingqi (nature-arising) is pure clarity alone, without defilement. Hence Laozi: “Purity is the correct standard for the world.” Under yuanqi, subject and object and attachment to “other” still remain; under xingqi there is no clinging mind—subject and object are not established. Hence Laozi: “It gives life yet does not possess; acts yet does not rely on itself; grows yet does not dominate—this is called xuande (mysterious De).” Yuanqi is argued within measures and scales, inner and outer not yet fused; xingqi transcends all measure and displays the inexhaustible dharmadhātu (realm of reality). Hence Zhuangzi: “Embodying the inexhaustible, roaming where there is no trace—no inside, no outside; no beginning, no end; no ‘few,’ no ‘when.’” Yuanqi belongs to relational duidai (paired opposites); xingqi belongs to juedai (the absolutely unconditioned). Hence Zhuangzi: “The Dao communicates as one,” “knowing communicates as one,” “the ten thousand things neither succeed nor are destroyed—they again communicate as one,” and again “thirty thousand years and it becomes one purity.” Laozi: “Penetrate to the one, and the ten thousand things are complete”; “The sage embraces the one and becomes the world’s model.” From this, the Xuanzong lineage takes a single Way that penetrates all, one truth alone manifest, completing the circle through past and present, erasing self and other into one. Unless one is of the highest wisdom, few can avoid feeling overwhelmed when they look out over the vast ocean.

Brief note on terms: Xingqi means functioning from the present moment of original awakening and dharma-nature (faxing), not arising step by step from external conditions. Yuanqi means arising from the convergence of conditions, still falling into subject–object and paired opposites. Xuanzong here names the Tang Daoist scholastic current that emphasized neidan (internal alchemy) and exegesis of Laozi and Zhuangzi, read here in dialogue with Huayan “nature-arising” doctrine.

Having set out the general meaning of the “nature-arising” (xingqi) dharma gate in Xuanxue and Chan, what is its practical effect? The answer: empty stillness, wuwei (non-action), spontaneity, and pure single-mindedness—its subtlety can be summed up in Laozi’s two sayings, “wuwei yet nothing left undone” and “acting yet without intentional acting.” In Chan this is called “the way of non-utility.” Because of “wuwei yet nothing left undone,” one is always still yet always active; because of “acting yet without intentional acting,” one is always active yet always still. Always still yet always active, so in “non-being” one does not cling to non-being; always active yet always still, so in “being” one does not cling to being. Not clinging to non-being, great function rises everywhere and myriad virtues shine forth; not clinging to being, sage wisdom is empty, penetrating, and rounded, without a speck of dust. As Sengzhao says in Zhao Lun: “Responding and transforming without fixed form, never having acted; silent and unmoving, never having been inactive”; and again: “Not exhausting the active, not dwelling in the inactive.” This is truly the wondrous application of the nature-arising gate and the deep practice of prajna. Chan and Xuan (Laozi–Zhuangzi) studied together—the sages of every age follow one track; even the chaff and husks among them are enough to refine and shape sages like Yao and Shun.

The various schools of Buddhism explain “dependent origination” (the idea that all things arise in dependence on conditions) in different ways.

In the Hinayana tradition, dependent origination is understood as karma-conditioned origination: sentient beings, because of wholesome and unwholesome actions performed in the past, experience the various results of those actions in this life. In the Mahayana Yogacara (Consciousness-Only) school, it is eight-consciousness origination: all realms of experience are manifested by the mind-consciousnesses—the six sense consciousnesses together with manas and the alaya consciousness. In the Mahayana Madhyamaka (Three Treatises) school, it is suchness origination: origination is explained from the side of ultimate suchness and emptiness. In Mahayana Esoteric Buddhism, it is six-great-elements origination: the ten thousand dharmas are explained through the mutual penetration and mutual inclusion of the six great elements—earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness.

The Tiantai school often speaks of inherent inclusion (xing ju)—the idea that one’s nature originally fully possesses Buddha-nature and the ten dharma-realms—and less often stresses arising from suchness (xing qi), the immediate manifestation and functioning of one’s nature in the present. “Inherent inclusion” usually refers to tathagatagarbha still bound by afflictions—Buddha-nature coexisting with defilements, not yet fully revealed. When arising from suchness is discussed, it is non-obstruction among all phenomena: in every event and every thought, the suchness that is bound yet not separate from affliction can manifest its function right here and now.

Chan holds up raising a fist, pointing a finger, carrying water, and hauling firewood as nothing other than the ultimate truth; sometimes a blow of the staff or a shout can instantly open the “wisdom eye” of someone with sharp capacity and suddenly accord with patience toward the unborn—this too is the marvelous functioning of arising from suchness: not seeking the Buddha in words, but letting the nature act in the present amid walking, standing, sitting, and lying down.

What Zhuangzi calls “acting as one without duality” (not clinging to two sides, moving as a single whole) is close in spirit: not setting up a separate “sage’s realm,” but aligning with the Way in this very act and this very use.

The Nirvana Sutra says: “All conditioned things are impermanent; this is the law of birth and death.” The Surangama Sutra says: “All conditioned things are impermanent; the nature of mind is neither born nor destroyed.” In the teaching schools, birth and death are discussed at length; only Chan and the Mysterious (Xuan) lineages turn this around and point to “first extinction, then arising.” For example, Chan master Yuanywu said: “Let go on the cliff edge, accept it yourself—only after total extinction can you revive; you cannot fool yourself or the king.” In the Chan tradition people often speak of “great death, great life”: the subtle point of arising again after everything is extinguished. The Cantong qi says: “When the node is exhausted, mutual succession of phases; the succeeding body again gives birth to the dragon”; it also says: “The number one-nine ends and begins anew; Han yuan and Xu wei spread essence into Zi”; “From dark to new moon dawn, Zhen comes to receive the tally”; “Hidden within its vast compass, sunk in cavernous void, metal regains its original nature, majestic fire in the cauldron blazes”; “Qi exhausted, life about to end, rest in death, the soul departs, color shifts to purple, brilliantly forming the returned elixir”—all of these likewise show the subtle point of “extinction and then arising.”

Birth followed by extinction is forward movement; extinction followed by birth is reversal—the mystery of returning to life (fuming), the secret core of the elixir tradition.

To grasp the fuming mystery of “extinction then arising,” you must first recognize the move called “the void outside the body”—that is where my “life” resides. Only if you can die at the place of life does death not fall into emptiness. What the Cantong qi calls “know the white, keep the black—the spirit illumines of itself” means exactly this. If you do not know the place of life and merely hold to stillness and cut off thought, until mind and intent are dead, you fall into dead Chan and empty cessation—the spirit does not come; that is not the realm of the withered tree’s dragon cry. Hence Confucius said: “If you do not yet know life, how can you know death?”

Chan Master Dongshan once said: “Withered wood puts forth blossoms—blossoms in a spring beyond the kalpa; riding the jade elephant backward, one goes in pursuit of the qilin.” This points to the subtlety of “destroy first, then be born.” In the Yijing, the hexagrams Bo (Stripping) and Fu (Return) follow one upon the other, and they too speak to this meaning. Again, the image of the Ge (Revolution) hexagram: the Yijing says “water and fire mutually cease”—only when water and fire each stop does Ge take shape, taking the sense of “cease first, then renew.” Great death and great revival: the marvel lies in being reborn after everything is extinguished. The Great Learning says “things have root and branch, affairs have end and beginning”—using “end and beginning” rather than “beginning and end” also fits the sequence of Bo and Fu. Thus Daoism, Chan, and Confucianism all move against the current, leaving the sea of birth-and-death behind; what they rely on is this secret of “birth arising within destruction.”

Zhuangzi says: “The perfected person has no ‘small self.’” He also says: “When one is united with the Great Dao, one no longer clings to the small self.” The “no-self” (wuji) spoken of here means no longer clinging to the “small self”—it does not mean denying the “great self” as well.

The small self is the attachment whereby sentient beings mistakenly take this seven-foot body before their eyes as “I.” The great self is the true self, also called the great Dharmakaya (fashen)—in Daoism and internal alchemy (neidan), the authentic body that is one with heaven and earth. Laozi calls it the “great image (daxiang)”; Zhuangzi calls it the “great unity (dayi).” Perfected Master Donghua said: “The Dharmakaya is firm, vigorous, and vast, communing with heaven and earth; original nature is truly such, its marks real, perfectly bright and illuminating past and present.” Perfected Master Heyang wrote in verse: “I ask myself: what kind of person am I? I cannot even recognize the true self—seeking truth in vain. Who knew that within the Grand One (Taiyi) lies the Primordial Beginning (Yuanshi), penetrating earth and reaching heaven—originally sharing this one Dharmakaya body?” All of this speaks to the meaning of the great self.

The Mahaparinirvana Sutra sets forth the four virtues of permanence, bliss, self, and purity; the “self” there likewise refers to the great self, the Dharmakaya, not the bodily small self. Hence the sutra says: “Because there is the great self, it is called great nirvana.” Chan master Shoushan said: “The silver world, the golden body—sentient and non-sentient beings alike share one truth.” Chan master Xiaoshou said: “Mountains, rivers, and the great earth—all fully manifest the Dharma king’s body.” The Avatamsaka Sutra says: “The sole solid, secret body appears in every dust-mote world.” The Great Penetration Sutra says: “Such as suchness, natural, vast and boundless.” All of these disclose the meaning of the great self.

This passage is about the difference between the small self and the great self, and why people get tied to the body and the senses.

The small self is like a patch of fú ōu—a little bubble of foam on the sea. The great self is the vast, clear, originally unmoving ocean itself. When someone grips this sè shēn (the visible, tangible physical body) and calls it “I,” the seven consciousnesses (the layers of discriminating, clinging activity within shí shén) keep spinning. When that grip on the small self loosens, the great self shows itself: mind and world are one, and there is no gap between things and oneself.

Zhang Sanfeng said: “The true heart is vast and boundless, without end; countless immortals arise from it—yet people cherish this little frame and do not know the Mystic Pearl ( xuán zhū ), the metaphor for the innate true heart and the body of the Dao.” Small frame means the small self that treats the form body as “I”; true heart vast and boundless means the great self and the Dharmakaya ( fǎ shēn )—the real body that aligns with the Dao.

The Sutra of Complete Enlightenment says: Since beginningless time, all beings, through many inversions, have taken the Four Great Elements (earth, water, fire, wind) as the appearance of their own body, and the conditioned reflections that the six sense objects (color, sound, scent, taste, touch, and mental objects) cast on the mind as the appearance of their own mind.

The Surangama Sutra compares it to this: Before you lie clear, as if a hundred thousand seas—but you ignore them and fix on one little patch of foam on the water, calling it the whole tide and thinking you have seen all of Yíngzhōu and Bóhǎi. You are people who wake a little inside delusion. The point is to rebuke treating this form body and small “I” as real, and taking images on the mind from the six sense objects as the true mind—both are inversion.

(Commentary on the Scripture Collection)

In Confucian terms, “self-restraint” (keji) means restraining this “small self.” What they call “all under heaven returning to benevolence” (tianxia guiren) is the true face of Qianyuan—the root of heaven and earth and the virtue of firm strength—coming forth; the great self and the great Dharmakaya are thereby revealed.

The gist of Ming Confucian Zhao Dazhou’s “Maxim on Self-Restraint” (Keji Zhen):

Within me there is a “great self” that can look down upon the myriad things and mirror heaven and earth.

When the great self cannot penetrate and appear, the small self flares up and shows itself plainly.

Once the small self is restrained, the great self comes alive before us.

Those ancients who were skilled at self-restraint: saw it as formless, heard it as soundless; in action left no trace, in speech used no stock phrases or empty repetition.

The “four functions”—eye, ear, body, and mind—were gathered back into one; the one true principle flowed without obstruction.

With no fixed form and no fixed place, when ritual fit the occasion, all was smooth.

If one even slightly holds to “yi bi gu wo”—stubbornly fixing on that “I”—one becomes like forced contrivance; subtle function clogs, even like limbs numb with paralysis. That is “lack of benevolence”: it is nailing the small self to a wooden post, stubbornly clinging only to that small self.

Therefore: only with no small self is there true self-restraint; the true self is the great great self; when greatness reaches its limit it is benevolence, and in essence there is no opposing pair.

Not seeing the distinction between great and small, how can one wrongly split inner and outer? When one’s nature is thus, one is called a sage; next below, a worthy.

As for the utterly foolish petty person, in choosing and rejecting they often stick stubbornly to that small self.

(The latter half of the maxim repeats: no small self is self-restraint; the true self is the great; utmost greatness is benevolence, the substance without opposition; not seeing great and small, how know inner and outer—nature thus is sagehood, next is worthiness. The petty fool is most dull; one should choose this Way and hold fast to it.)

Brief notes

• Self-restraint (keji): Restraining selfish desire and the small self—not suppressing everything, but letting the “great self” (the original mind one with heaven, earth, and the myriad things) appear.
• Great self / small self: The great self is the original mind and Dharmakaya one with heaven, earth, and the myriad things; the small self is the deluded self clinging to private “I.”
• Four functions returning to one: The working of the senses and body-mind gathered back into one mind, one truth.
• Zhao Dazhou: A Ming Confucian; here Confucian talk of “self-restraint” and “returning to benevolence” aligns with Daoist canon language on the “great self” and “Dharmakaya.”

In my understanding, the sages of the Three Teachings all teach people to fade and empty the small self so as to realize the greater self. The practice of the profound Teachings stresses heart-mind and breath mutually relying on what lies beyond the physical body: when reliance reaches its utmost, one melts into great samadhi (Dading) and aligns with true emptiness—precisely the move of abandoning the small for the great, erasing the boundary between inner and outer, so that the wholeness of the One True is revealed. Master Zhang Sanfeng said: “Heart-mind shares radiance with sun and moon; I and heaven-and-earth are mutually inside and outside.” He also said: “The wondrous body of Yang Spirit is one with the Great Void; a single grain of the millet pearl contains heaven and earth.” Master Ziyang said: “Split off a child to ride the crane and go; only when the void is shattered do you see the whole body.” All of these point to the wonder of realizing the greater self. In the Zhuangzi, the discussion of the “seven greats”—the Great Unity pervades them, Great Yin unties them, Great Vision sees them, Great Equalizer follows them, Great Squareness embodies them, Great Sincerity attests them, Great Samadhi holds them—can each be read as images of the greater self. Hence ancient adepts of the lineage said: “The Dharmakaya realm is me, and I am the Dharmakaya realm.” If you take only the seven-foot illusory body as “me,” and do not know to take hiding in the Dharmakaya realm as “me,” how can you grasp the wonder of the greater self?

Nourishing Life and Preserving Life

Zhuangzi is adept at speaking of nourishing life (yangsheng); Laozi is adept at speaking of preserving life (shesheng). Zhuangzi says: the true person of old did not dream wildly in sleep, did not worry when awake, did not seek fine food in eating, and breathed deep and long—the true person’s breath reached the heels (the soles), while the ordinary person’s breath reached only the throat (shallow and short). He also says: taking “following the Governing vessel” (yuandu) as the constant path can preserve the body, complete life, nurture parents, and live out one’s years. This describes Yuanhe (primordial harmony) circulating within, with Qi full and Shen complete—the very gist of nourishing life.

Lao Zi said: “Push emptiness and stillness to the utmost, and steadfastly hold to quiet clarity; the ten thousand things grow and act together, and by this I observe how they return to the root. Returning to the root is called stillness; this stillness is called returning to destiny; returning to destiny is called the constant Dao; knowing the constant Dao is called illumination.” He also said: “Return to simplicity, return to the state of an infant, return to nothingness, return to Wuji (the undifferentiated ultimate).”

The Collection on Heavenly Joy (Tianle Ji) points out here: what is meant by “returning to simplicity” is that the six senses are not stained by the six dusts (the six external conditions of form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and mental objects). This is the essential point of she sheng (gathering in and preserving life and true nature). “Nourishing” (yang) stresses cultivating and fostering; “gathering in” (she) stresses turning back and re-collecting. Through immediate extinguishing one enters quiescent extinction; from the principle of “begetting life” one aligns with “non-begetting,” and thus returns to the truth of Wuji (the origin beyond opposition and undifferentiated), in accord with the state that exists before Heaven and Earth—like “the image of the Emperor before” (the origin that seems to precede the Lord on High).

Laozi says: Of people, from birth to death, about three in ten live normally, about three in ten die a normal death, and about three in ten could have lived but, through reckless action, move toward the place of death. Why? Because they over-nourish themselves in seeking to survive. I have heard that those skilled in she sheng (guarding life—carefully protecting life and, through embodying the Dao, transcending birth and death) walk on land without meeting tigers and rhinoceroses, and enter military formations without being harmed by weapons and armor. The rhinoceros has nowhere to thrust its horn, the tiger nowhere to set its claws, and weapons nowhere to lodge their blades. Why? Because such a person has no place where death can reach him. The guarding of life spoken of here is the realization of true emptiness and no-self (emptying attachment to self and not clinging to a self), so that things within and without cannot harm him. Because he is empty, there is no birth; because there is no birth, there is no death. Once the mind of arising and ceasing is extinguished, the state of quiescent extinction appears before him. This is the meaning of guarding life, and it is not something those attached to yang sheng (nourishing life) can attain. Why? Because in those who nourish life, the view of “life” has not been emptied, and attachment to self remains. With the view of self come the views of others and of things. When I am constantly set in opposition to others and things, the mind cannot remain unmoved. When my mind moves, the minds of things move too. For example, when I form the intention to catch a fly, the fly immediately forms the thought of guarding against me; before my hand arrives, it has already flown. That is why, for such a person, the rhinoceros has somewhere to thrust its horn and the tiger somewhere to place its claws. The one who guards life leaves body and mind unmoved; body and mind are quiescent and extinguished. The one who nourishes life, by contrast, values breadth of mind and bodily ease, the overflowing of Great Harmony, and the eternal firmness of the root of life (the root-stem of life). If one can reconcile the two, then although guarding life and nourishing life differ in name, their effects are no different. The practice is nothing other than “mind and breath depending on each other” (the mind joined with the breath). When one reaches great samadhi (deep meditative stability), the true yang of heaven and earth comes without being summoned; body and mind are unmoved, responsive yet always still, still yet always responsive. Used this way, nourishing life is possible; used this way, guarding life is also possible.

“160. Prenatal Nourishing of Life and Postnatal Nourishing of Life” distinguishes two approaches to nourishing life, the prenatal and the postnatal. Zhuangzi says, “The Dao has true reality and verifiable signs; it is Wuwei and formless.” This means the great Dao has a true condition and evidence, yet does not contrive and has no fixed form. Guangchengzi (an ancient immortal) spoke of “the ultimate Dao,” thereby calling this supreme Dao the great Dao itself.

The Zhuangzi says: The Dao has an aspect that is real and trustworthy, yet it is also wuwei (non-action) and formless. The Guangchengzi says: The essence of the supreme Dao is pure and refined, deep and hidden; the ultimate realm of the supreme Dao is dim and still—do not look, do not listen; embrace and guard the spirit in stillness, and the body will naturally become upright. The Kangcangzi says: My body joins with the heart, the heart joins with qi, qi joins with shen (spirit), and shen joins with nothingness. The Guan Yinzi says: Unify your nature, nourish your qi, embody your de (virtue/power), and through things enter into the place where the myriad things are transformed by creation. All the teachings above take shen and qi as the root and emptiness and stillness as the method—they belong to the school of innate cultivation of life.

Westerners who speak of hygiene mostly know six principles: light, heat, water, air, food, and exercise—sufficient light, free air flow, clean drinking water, nutrient-rich food, and ample bodily movement; they also pay considerable attention to deep breathing. Because water contains microorganisms, they disinfect it; because they know the human body needs vitamins, they analyze vitamins A, B, C, and so on in food and extract their essence for consumption. Such measures are largely postnatal in nature. They do not know to place one’s own shen and qi in the empty space beyond to nurture them, returning from the postnatal to the innate: True qi warming and permeating—no heat surpasses this; wisdom-light issuing inward, the empty chamber producing whiteness—no light surpasses this; wu and the interior circulating in harmony, the three fields moistened—no qi surges beyond this; Chan bliss as food—no food more precious than this; ghee as drink—no drink more pure than this; movement without moving, movement never leaving stillness, penetrating the subtle without obstruction—no movement more wondrous than this.

Pseudo Dao nourishes only the fleshly body; true Dao nourishes spirit and clarity (shenming). Both the “Huangdi” chapter of Liezi and the “Dasheng” chapter of Zhuangzi record Guan Yinzi’s teaching of “concealing shen (spirit) and guarding qi (vital energy).” This is the method of the Xuanzong line of Daoist neidan (internal alchemy): heart and breath mutually rely, shen is hidden in emptiness and stillness, and fused with breathing—thereby restoring the wonder of taixi (fetal breathing). Concentrate qi until you are soft; hold the One and do not stray. When shen is whole and qi is full, the physical form rights itself of its own accord. Zhuangzi says: to nourish the body you must first have “stuff”; yet there are those who have surplus stuff and still cannot keep the body alive. There are those who must not leave the body while alive, yet whose shen has already perished though the body has not parted from them. Life cannot be refused; death cannot be stopped—how lamentable! People think nourishing the form is enough to preserve life, but when nourishing the form truly is not enough to preserve life, what in the world is still worth doing? Those who devote themselves to innate (xiantian) longevity cultivation grasp the truth of “life” in emptiness, stillness, plainness, and wuwei (non-action); they grasp the truth of “fate” in concealing shen, guarding qi, embracing oneness and harmony, even to great stillness (da ding), in accord with true emptiness. Returning from having-life to original non-birth, one goes beyond form and image; without birth yet giving birth to all—this is the utmost of yangsheng (nurturing life).

161. Innate Investigating Things and Acquired Investigating Things

Western European science investigates the atoms of matter and their motive forces and seeks to harness them—this is acquired (houtian) investigating things. It relies on the deluded mind. Delusion stirs the mind to restless activity, so what Westerners have invented—machinery, steamships, railways, automobiles, aircraft, submarines, and the like—takes motion as its function and appears always in dynamic form.

In learning the Way, we follow the path of “investigating things and exhausting principle” within the primordial (xiantian)—the aspect of our nature not yet stained by acquired habit—not by turning over phenomena alone, but by recognizing reality from the ground of mind-and-nature. What we rely on is true mind (zhenxin): it does not shift with circumstances or stir because conditions arise; to take this “non-stirring” as our home is to arrive. The Yijing says “silent and unmoving”; the Diamond Sutra speaks of “abiding as such without moving”; the Surangama Sutra honors the “wondrous, clear, all-holding, unmoving lord”; the Complete Enlightenment Sutra adds that even when space embraces the three times and all is equal, pure, and unmoving—when space is thus equal and unmoving, know that knowing-nature is also equal and unmoving; when the four deportments (walking, standing, sitting, lying) are unmoving, know that knowing-nature is also equal and unmoving; when even the eighty-four thousand Dharma gates are equal and unmoving, know that knowing-nature is also equal and unmoving—and further that enlightened nature fills all, is pure and unmoving, round and without limit, so the six faculties also fill the Dharma-realm. The Benevolent Kings’ Sutra of Protecting the Nation speaks of entering the ground of the unmoving Dharma-stream, forever leaving segmented birth-and-death and transcending the three realms of existence. Master Ziyang in the Four Hundred Words on the Golden Elixir says: “Lead and mercury return to the true earth; body and mind are silent and unmoving.” Zhuangzi has “the great One pervades it, the great stability holds it,” “without beginning or end, without few or many, without time”—all pointing to one message: the nature-body is originally still, originally unmoving.

Because it is unmoving, it can be constant and hold steady; at the utmost of stability, clear wisdom arises of itself; at the utmost of clarity, enlightened practice is complete. Within, genuine knowing (zhenzhi) manifests—not cleverness of emotional consciousness, but awakening aligned with original mind; without, one merges with the dusty world without being stained; mind and world both “abide as such,” vast and boundless, round, bright, and silently illuminating—this is called the Golden Elixir, also Complete Enlightenment (yuanjue). This is the verification won by investigating things in the primordial way.

What we call “movement” is the cause of flux, the gateway of birth-and-death’s coming and going; “non-movement” is the cause of quiescence, the gateway to penetrating suchness (zhenru). The author marks here: Daoist learning weights the path of non-movement, suchness, and complete enlightenment through mind-and-nature; science in the usual sense investigates movement, flux, and observable, inferable phenomena of birth-and-death—so the two aim at different levels, and the distinction follows.

Investigating things in post-heaven consciousness means sorting things out within ordinary, acquired mind: as soon as there is discrimination, “knowing” and “views” are set up. Investigating things in pre-heaven original enlightenment means things are illumined in the innate awakened nature itself: knowing and views both dissolve, and no opposing view remains.

Post-heaven investigation never departs from the six sense fields (form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and mental objects). Pre-heaven investigation goes beyond them.

In post-heaven investigation, things and self still seem to wrestle on opposite corners. In pre-heaven investigation, things and self were never other than one suchness.

Post-heaven investigation follows the method of dependent origination (arising from conditions). Pre-heaven investigation follows the method of arising from nature (functioning from innate awakened mind).

Post-heaven investigation: the mind grasps and thereby “a mind” is produced. Pre-heaven investigation: mind arises without grasping.

Post-heaven investigation does not step outside direct present experience (present valid cognition). Pre-heaven investigation transcends it.

Therefore, when buddhas and sages complete their cultivation and realization, all alike penetrate the one mind, merge the ten thousand things, leave the dwelling of the five aggregates (form, feeling, perception, formations, consciousness), and go beyond the ten thousand images—what can be called: “I am king of the Dharma; in the Dharma I am free.”

162 Inner Joy and Outer Joy

On the Daoist alchemical path, when mind and breath subtly unite and inner and outer harmonize, and one reaches the trance of dim oblivion with breath fine and subtle, then all eighty-four thousand pores open. Pre-heaven true yang responds and enters the body; irrigating above and below, the whole body turns soft, pleasant, and blissful—like spring qi harmonizing into intoxication, beyond words. This is called pure subtle joy, also inner joy.

The Book of Changes says: “Stopping and yet joyful—therefore penetrating.” It also speaks of the way of “yellow center”—the qi of central harmony connects with the harmonized, intoxicating state described above.