《太平经合校》Vol. 1

Plain-Language Reading of Taiping Jing (Collated Edition)

Question: “The Three Unifications (the revolving patterns of the three great ways of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity) turn like a wheel, going and coming—surely the people ought to have a leader. Can his surname and personal name be known?”

Answer: “Well asked! Why do you still need to ask this again?”

Question: “A clear teacher is hard to meet, and a good opportunity passes quickly; my heart is truly urgent, and I wish you would explain. I am dull and presumptuous; if my questions go too far, I fear the fault would be very deep.”

Answer: “That is not a fault. Heaven has sent you to ask in order to guide those who come after; those who can understand now can recognize the correct principle and discard the false for the true. If I did not speak, I would also fear that Heaven would be troubled and that chaotic times could not be settled on schedule. Sit at ease—I will explain it clearly for you. You will understand of yourself; there is no need to doubt.”

The former Heaven-and-Earth order and today’s Heaven-and-Earth order have a beginning and an end; in essence they are the same and not two different things. The start is good and the later end is bad; in between there is rise and decline, success and failure. When Yang Nine and Bai Six arrive (major calamity cycles reckoned by numerological methods), when six times nine is full, one great cycle is complete; when the cycle is full, there is great collapse: Heaven and Earth mix in confusion, and people and things scatter and break apart. Only those who accumulate goodness can escape this tribulation and long endure as zhongmin (“seed people”—survivors after great calamity who carry on the good way and receive teaching anew).

Among the seed people, wisdom and insight still differ in depth and are not yet fully the same; they still need teacher and ruler. When the ruler is sage and the teacher is clear, teaching never ceases; through accumulated refinement one can become a sage—hence they are called seed people: seed people are people of the same kind as sages and those who attain long life.

The great lord of long life bears the title: Lord of True Great Peace, Supreme One Wondrous Qi, Golden Gate of the Clear Heaven Above, Sage Emperor of the Nine Mysteries in Succession. His surname is Li. He is of the bloodline of Supreme One on High (the highest Qi of the Supreme One) and a descendant of the line of Jade Emperor and Utmost Emptiness.

In the era of Mysterious Primordial Emperor, in the fifteenth year of Taishang, the year stood at Bingzi of the Grand Year and zhaoqi (herald qi) first appeared; by Huangping, first year Jiashen, form and substance were complete; on the third day of the ninth month, Jiageng day, Mao hour, in the seventh year of Shanghe, Gengyin, at the moment when punishment and virtue mutually restrain each other and straight alignment combines, he was born between Li Valley in Penglai Mountain, at Renniao Pavilion in Tian’gang Spirit Realm in Northern Mysterious Jade Kingdom.

His mother was Mother of Mysterious Birth Above, dwelling in the Chamber of the Nine Mysteries, situated in the shaded part of the valley. When the Mysterious Void Mother first conceived, she dreamed that mysterious clouds and the sun and moon wound around her form; the stirring of the six qi responded to her spirit, secretly matching the yang way, and thus she conceived the Zhenren (the holy fetus who receives the Way).

On the day of birth, three suns rose in the east. After he was fully formed, nine dragons spewed divine water. Hence his clan took the name Linggu (Spirit Valley), and his style-name was Yaojing (Radiant Splendor).

At age three, his body was united with the Dao and he concentrated his spirit and guarded the One; in the dark silence he felt communion with the yang path, and thus conceived the embryo of Supreme Truth. On the day of birth (as told again), three suns rose in the east; after he was fully formed, nine dragons spewed divine water. Therefore his clan was Linggu and his name Yaojing.

At three years, his body accorded with the Dao and his spirit was concentrated in truth; his words became golden brilliance. (Beginning) At five, he often looked up at the sunrise and rejoiced in its beginning, gazed at the moon and sighed at its ending. Above he observed the bright fullness of yang qi; below he saw yin qi’s waning and ruin. Then he gathered hun and harmonized po, guarded the treasured spirit in the womb, recorded essence to replenish blood, and fixed the fluids to consolidate the sinews.

At seven, he learned to swallow the light of the sun and ingest cloud and rosy mist, chewing the root of the sun (the sun’s essential refinement). At fourteen (in his second seven-year cycle), he already had a golden countenance and jade complexion; he left the world and shed worldly attachment, (stop) embracing transformation to save the world, his sincerity and spirit moving Supreme Simplicity (Tai Su), receiving the teaching of the Three Origens (San Yuan), studying the work of the Three Caverns (San Dong), and mastering methods for the nine directions.

At twenty-one (third seven), solitary retreat blunted his sharp edge. At twenty-eight (fourth seven), the light of marital union and harmony. At thirty-five (fifth seven), he spread the mysterious subtle dew, and his merit and virtue reached far. At forty-two (sixth seven), he received the written mandate as Lord of the Later Saintly Emperor (Hou Sheng Dijun), equal in rank to those who had earlier perfected the Way and ascended to the emperor-lord seat. The prophecy was fulfilled in this age, hence the title Later Saint (Hou Sheng). The earlier saint and the later saint share one Way. He ascended to the halls of Shangqing, wandered in the palace of Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), and below governed the heavens of the ten directions, entrusted with sealing and overseeing billions upon billions of subjects, inspecting all rivers and seas of the heavens and the sources of mountains on earth—none failed to look up and follow. He presided over the ninefold and tenfold heavens, hence the title Nine Mysteries (Jiu Xuan).

At seventy, he fixed the span of boundless longevity, suited himself to hiding and revealing as appropriate, edited and settled the arts of non-death, and composed formulas for long life. Precious scriptures, talismanic charts, and the subtle methods of the three antiquities were hidden in a jade casket, guarded by divine clerks; transmission followed ritual rules, action and concealment had their signs and measures, and canonical statutes were established for seed people (those who can uphold this Way). Those who cannot practice it are not seed people.

After Heaven and Earth were opened and formed, the wind of simple honesty gradually faded; the breath of Great Peace (Taiping) hid and no longer shone forth, while disasters and epidemics spread everywhere. From the age of the High Sovereigns through the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, war, plague, flood, and fire took turns; the root lay in countless people’s hearts turning wicked and deeds turning false—breaking the virtue of the Five Phases (Wuxing), indulging the six emotions, acting violently and cruelly, harming one another, and overturning order among high and low, elder and younger, noble and base. Heaven and Earth then lost the balance of Yin-Yang; the sun, moon, and seven luminaries ran off course; the three powers of Heaven, Earth, and humanity shifted abnormally; strange talk and omens multiplied; spirits and ghosts injured one another; people perished; calamities came one after another—yet people still did not wake up or change their ways. Myriad poisons ran rampant beyond counting.

There are four great evils: war, disease, water, and fire. When a Yang Nine (Yangjiu) cycle completes, yin alone flourishes and floods surge; when a Bai Liu (Bailiu) cycle completes, yang dominates and great fires break out. Events before the time of Yao need not be detailed; from the Tang onward a brief account is given—you should remember it well and hurry to guard and escape.

After the great flood in Yao’s time, the Shang founder Tang again met with fire; afterward there were small floods and fires here and there—those whose guilt was heavy saw disaster arrive as soon as it was invoked; this was not the great tribulation of the great Yang Nine and Bai Liu. Within the great nine-six cycles, there must be greater and lesser Jiashen years. Jiashen marks the deadline—the season when “ghost faces human.” Disasters vary in weight; fortune and misfortune vary in depth; they shift differently by era and region. For people of middling rank, the deadline comes of itself; for those above or below the middle, they may rise or fall—advance, retreat, ascent, and descent have no fixed rule. Doing evil shortens the deadline; doing good lengthens it. Without diligent cultivation, one cannot attain the Dao (dedao); one can only wait according to the deadline, as fixed by the amount of merit and guilt. Thus Bai Liu and Yang Nine may come sooner or later; though there are fixed numbers in the great calendar, one must still estimate by the depth of guilt and blessing. Calculating from the Dinghai year of the Tang, another forty-six years followed.

During the period before and after the year Jiashen, known as the Lesser Jiashen, military calamities, plagues, and fires will strike in turn, each making the others worse—though not yet on the scale of the “great flood.” Only lesser floods will spread and scour everywhere, growing worse year by year.

Fifty-five years later, around Dinghai, another Jiashen year will occur. This will be the Greater Jiashen, when the three great disasters of water, fire, and war break out together, and great floods sweep across the world.

Whenever Lesser or Greater Jiashen arrives, Heaven will remove the wicked and save the good: the good become zhongmin (seed-people who carry forward the orthodox teaching), while the wicked fall into hun (those who sink, opposed to the zhongmin).

Before long, all kinds of demons and false teachings rise and contend: plague descends from above, the fires of war close in from all sides, floods burst out without fixed place, and the wicked sink one after another.

Within these fifteen years—and at most within thirty—the age’s great disasters run their course; sages and worthies mostly hide and do not appear. Shenren (spirit immen) of the Great Dao again send zhenxian (true immortals) and shangshi (superior adepts) down to the world, bearing scriptures to teach and patiently guiding; they exhort those above and encourage those below. Those who follow become zhongmin; those who do not follow sink—and sinking means becoming hun. The wicked are eventually all swept away.

Among the zhongmin, those of supreme goodness are perhaps only one or two extra in every ten people; those of middle and lower goodness—Heaven first destroys half of them, and the remaining half gradually grows and flourishes. Then shengjun (sage rulers), mingshi (illumined teachers), and dachen (great ministers) must descend and appear.

After the Lesser Jiashen and before Renshen, the rulers and sages of the Lesser Jiashen age are strict yet benevolent; the world knows no great harm or great disorder, and people may extend their years and long life. Those who study diligently may attain immortality—but without deep study of the Scripture of Great Peace and without long practice of the Way of Great Peace, it is hard to reach the end.

In the age of Great Peace, the ruler’s name cannot be fully settled in a short time. Those who practice the Way of Great Peace have their names written in the qinglu (register of life) by Siming (the god who governs lifespan)—not in the heiwen (black writing, register of death) by Silu (the god who governs death). Black writing means death; green register means life. The rolls of life and death both lie in Mingtang (the Bright Hall) in Heaven. The Way of Heaven is impartial; it stays only with the good. Good people must practice Great Peace to complete Great Peace; completing the Lesser Great Peace aligns one in virtue with the Great Peace Lord.

The name of the Great Peace Lord is already fixed: he is Lord Li. On the sixth day of the third month of the Renchen year he will clearly appear in the world, riding the Sansu Jingyu (chariot of the three pure qi) with Feiping (flying carriages) in attendance like a host of ten thousand dragons.

First section

Those who promote good deeds may become “seed people” (zhongmin)—people who carry forward the true Way and leave seeds for later generations. Those who devote themselves to learning the Way may serve as “immortal officials” (xianguan), posts in the celestial court charged with teaching and assisting in governance. One must establish ritual regulations and compile canonical statutes, reward good conduct and cut off evil, block the roots of sin, and urge those who cultivate merit to persevere without slackening and to advance day by day, until they attain “spiritual truth” (shen zhen)—the body of a true immortal united with the Dao—and align with the virtue of the Celestial Emperor. If one slackens, turns back, or falls into evil, a bad name is recorded day by day in the registers, and corresponding retribution will follow in due course.

When supreme adepts and lofty scholars are wise and clear, with no doubt about the teaching, they should strive diligently, keep the Celestial Emperor’s instructions in mind, and remember the teachings of the great spirit lords and their assistants without ever forgetting them. With a sage ruler enlightened and ministers capable, spirit officials protecting travelers, one may naturally avoid death, remain a seed person forever, rise to the rank of immortal official, and in the end ascend to the position of the “Later Sage.”

Second section (the Later Sage Lord Li and his master the Peng clan)

The grand master of the Later Sage Lord Li bore the surname Peng. This lord studied the Way before Lord Li and held the rank of “Left True One of the Grand Abyss” (Taiwei zuo zhen). In the age of the Human Sovereigns, he was charged to assist and preserve the imperial Way, and was often enfeoffed to govern the myriad people; later he was appointed grand master to Lord Li. His seat of governance was at North Pond Palace in the Grand Abyss Heaven and the Platform of Spiritual Upper Radiance. Every two thousand five hundred years he changed his taboo name and wandered in the Great Void, moving through the Eight Dark Depths (baming)—the farthest reaches of the dark underworld. Above he reached “no higher”; below he reached “no lower”; among true officials, few could glimpse his radiant countenance.

Notes (to help read the original)

• Seed people (zhongmin): Good people and students of the Way who carry the Dao, continue its fortune, and leave seeds for posterity.
• Three Pure Radiance chariots, flying carriage with myriad dragons: Ascending in celestial splendor, riding the myriad-dragon flying carriage—images of attaining the Way, rising as a true immortal, and leaving the dusty world.
• Later Sage, Lord Li: In the Taiping jing system, the title of the sage lord of a later age; Grand Abyss (Taiwei): name of a celestial palace bureau.
• In the original, passages such as “blocking sins, clearly manifesting birth from the world…” overlap with “blocking the roots of sin…” and “governance at North Pond Palace in the Grand Abyss…”—likely from collation or copyist duplication; the translation above follows the existing wording as one continuous reading.

This passage explains how five high-ranking immortal officials serve beside the “Later Sage Lord Li” (Housheng Lijun), and how the “one teacher, four assistants” (yishi sifu) support and teach. The following is a plain-language account.

The five immortal officials are titled as follows. The chief minister (shangxiang) to the Later Sage Lord Li is the Qingtong Lord of Fangzhu Palace. His chief protector (shangbao) is the Nanji Yuanjun of Taidan Palace. His chief mentor (shangfu) is the Taisu Zhenjun of Baishan Palace. His chief administrator (shangzai) is the Zhenwang Lord of Xicheng Palace.

These five form one teacher and four assistants. “Assistant” (fu) means honoring him as a father would, and also supporting the Dao so it can be practiced—together they are called fu. Taken separately, they are the left assistant (zuofu), right helper (youbi), front clarifier (qianyi), and rear supporter (houcheng).

The rear supporter (cheng) speaks and acts, fills gaps and completes what is lacking, decides and proclaims—this is the role of the administrator (zai). The front clarifier (yi), when the mind is unclear and not yet settled, enlightens and makes things plainly visible—this is the role of the mentor (fu). The right helper (bi), at points of doubt, helps reach a decision—this is the role of the protector (bao). Supporting the sovereign and following the teacher, pervading the Dao and spreading the correct teaching—this is the role of the minister (xiang).

The four assistants and the teacher together observe omens of fortune and misfortune, examine what is feasible, and help expand the orthodox teaching; collectively they are called “assistants and teacher.” When at leisure with nothing urgent: if something ahead is doubtful, ask the mentor; if something behind might be omitted, ask the supporter; if something on the right is unclear, ask the helper; if something on the left is not understood, ask the assistant. In all matters consult the four assistants—minister, protector, mentor, and administrator each fulfill their duty; whether things succeed depends chiefly on the teacher, and the four assistants must not be absent.

The holy emperor left this model so later generations could follow it.

When entering inward there is the protector: the protector presides; yin belongs to the right, stillness and guarding the true. When going outward there is the teacher: the teacher presides; yang belongs to the left, movement and return to stillness. This point is hardest to explain in words, so the four assistants and the minister are touched on briefly while the teacher is emphasized.

Looking forward there is the mentor: the mentor is in front, laying out the meaning and discussing the intent. Looking back there is the administrator: the administrator is behind, judging right and wrong.

Beyond this there are ranks such as dukes and ministers, functionaries, immortal worthies, sage grades, and grand masters—three hundred sixty-one grades in all; subordinates number thirty-six thousand, departments oversee three hundred sixty thousand; the people governed are counted again in tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, and beyond. They regularly charge twenty-four perfected ones to transmit secretly to those with sincere hearts; all are subordinate to the chief minister of Fangzhu. The fine details cannot all be listed—hold firmly to the main outline and infer the rest for yourself.

The questioner said: “Excellent! Today’s questions have again received your instruction.”

First exchange

Someone asked: “Can merit or efficacy reach tenfold, hundredfold, thousandfold, ten-thousandfold, or even hundred-millionfold?” The reply was: This often happens because the Twenty-Four True Persons (guardian deities of the Way in the upper realm) secretly instruct those who sincerely turn toward the Way. All such people fall under the authority of the chief minister on Fangzhu (the immortal isles said to lie in the sea in Daoist geography); the details cannot all be told. Students need only hold fast to the main meaning and work out the finer points for themselves. The questioner asked again: “Well asked! Today’s doubts have again been cleared up by your teaching.”

Second exchange

Someone asked: “What did Master Li (the model in the Scripture of Great Peace for receiving and practicing the teaching) practice day by day to attain such a lofty rank among the True Ones? Can one hear anything about the learning of the Grand Master and the Four Auxiliaries (the highest offices set out in the Scripture of Great Peace)?”

The reply was: “Well asked! Only if you are dull and deluded, do not believe in the Way, study without firmness, or advance and retreat without measure and fall into base suffering would you question so earnestly. I will tell you this: from beginningless time, accumulated practice has stretched over long ages; good and evil acts in each moment cannot all be named, and to list them would little profit you. Here I take only what was done in recent years and what could make one honored, with the Purple Script of the Numinous Writings (precious instructions in purple divine script sent down from above) as the essential thread.”

(The scripture then describes the realms Master Li reached; the text is damaged and repetitive, but the gist is as follows.) Donghua (eastern heaven’s immortal realm)—the Youthful Lord of Azure (Qingtong Dajun, one of the chief deities of Donghua), teacher of the Jade Guard of High Dawn, once kept pure fast in the Hall of the Spirit Elixir and the Yellow Chamber (names of inner palaces for inner refinement and spirit visualization) for three years, then ascended to the Golden Gate of Upper Clarity (the golden portal of the Upper Clarity heaven). At the Golden Gate stand the Four Heavenly Emperors; the Lord of the Way of Great Peace (the exalted deity who presides over the Way of Great Peace) attends at left and right. He also dwelt in the Hall of Penetrating Truth on the Jade Terrace of Empty Space, in chambers of level jade and within golden splendor; attendant maidens and True Ones numbered in the tens of thousands; poison dragons and lightning tigers (protective spirit beasts) and heaven’s hunters and netters guarded the gates; giant hornless dragons a thousand zhang high defended the walls—because of copyist errors and lacunae in the scripture, these lines do not run smoothly sentence by sentence. The main point is: Master Li, following the Purple Script of the Numinous Writings, kept pure fast and accumulated years of practice, ascended to the Golden Gate and the hall of penetrating truth, was received and guided by the high True Ones, and reached the most honored rank.

Dragons soar in the heavens; swift sparrows, great peng birds, and wondrous fowl beat their wings, peck and claw in display, arrayed across the vast immortal court. Celestial majesty shines forth; flowing light illuminates the eight directions. Dark banners billow in the wind; plumed canopies wheel and dance. Jade trees sound; gem branches seem to play heaven’s music on their own. The gods perform spirit hymns; phoenixes cry in profound peace. Divine consorts sing in chorus; qilin dance and luan birds soar. The heaven’s eight tones ring together; the nine harmonies and hundred melodies meet. The Youth in Azure crawls forward to request the purple-script spirit book and the orally transmitted essentials recorded in the scripture—twenty-four in all:

Earnestly memorize the true record and inwardly know it without forgetting; carefully retain the immortals’ prohibitions and never neglect them; in practice, gather flying-root qi and swallow the sun’s essence; take the Opening Brightness spirit talisman; take moon splendor; take the yin-generation talisman; bind the three hun; control the seven po; wear the Imperial Image talisman; take the flower elixir; take yellow water; take returning water; eat ring-hard [substances]; eat phoenix brain; eat pine pears; eat plum and jujube; take water broth; stabilize white gold and purple gold; take cloud cream; refine white gold and purple gold; make the stabilizing [medicine]; eat bamboo shoots; eat swan breast; wear the Five Spirits talisman.

When all twenty-four are complete, transformations are boundless: one may rise beyond the three realms and wander in the six directions. Calamity cannot harm the body; demons and devils dare not obstruct—all submit of themselves. One reaches the pinnacle of the Way’s lineage; grace extends to all; the hidden and the manifest alike receive its benefit. Those who do not believe, do not follow, do not know, and do not see remain in their own darkness, forever estranged from the Way, sunk in misery and poison, tangled in affliction.

Dialogue portion of the scripture

With great compassion in mind, one still faces things in the world that cannot be helped. Alas—those with aspiration should plan early, plan early, and not fail to heed these words today.

The other said: “Good, good! Today I came to ask about difficulties, and again I have received your instruction.”

Preserved passages from Part A, Section 1 (vernacular)

Scholars who practice and apply this book must be able to find its root; the core aim of that root is to take the “Three-One” (the essentials of alignment with the Dao) as primary.

When this book is recited, disasters are not easily stirred—this is the writing by which ancient sages and worthies weighed gain and loss.

The book falls into three grades: first, Scriptures of the Divine Way; second, Texts for Verifying Affairs; third, Flowery Records.

Scriptures of the Divine Way: single-minded and unified, never straying from the root, truly holding to the foundation, in accord with yin and yang, sharing the gate with the spirits.

Texts for Verifying Affairs: examining sameness and difference in affairs, clarifying doubtful and erroneous points so they are not mishandled.

Flowery Records: already too far from the root, content scattered and confused—not to be relied on constantly, only occasionally noted; hence the name Flowery Records.

(Definitions of Texts for Verifying Affairs and Flowery Records match the above; copyists may repeat them.)

One who can clear great disorder, with lofty merit and upright virtue, is therefore called “Great Peace (Taiping).” When this method spreads in the world, it is the time of Great Peace. So this scripture says: it appears in response and hides when the task is done.

The sage ruler governs the realm and carefully adopts this text; ordinary rulers in office often neglect this canon.

Note on the sources (sense of the original annotation)

The passage on “the book has three grades,” etc., also appears in the Taiping Jing Chao, Gui part; according to the Dunhuang catalog, that part should belong to Part A.

Daojiao Yishu juan 2, “Meaning of the Seven Divisions,” and Yunji Qiqian juan 6, “Four Supplements,” quote various items from Part A, Section 1; “the book has three grades” also appears in the Taiping Jing Chao Gui part, listed in the Dunhuang catalog under Part A.

Laozi was a great sage who had attained the Dao, a master revered by beings in both the hidden and manifest realms. He transformed in response to conditions, appearing when the occasion called for it, changing without fixed form. When his merit and virtue were complete, he withdrew and did not emerge again, dwelling forever in mystery. Where he abides seems as if he is not present—yet that “not being present” is precisely being at the “ultimate”: the realm of utmost extremity is the Grand Mystery (Tai Xuan).

The Grand Mystery is the capital palace of the Most High, the Lord of Utmost Extremity. Laozi dwells there and guides the ten directions. The responsive outreach and guidance through his wondrous teaching cannot be exhausted or fully described. In recent ages he responded and manifested, born at the beginning of the Zhou dynasty. He blended his light with the dust of the world, descending into human life to show the way of gestation and birth, so that people could learn truth and cultivate the mysterious. Though he held a humble station, he cultivated the Dao through lifetime after lifetime and finally attained the supreme Way. He moved through the six voids and taught the three realms; whether dharma beyond the world or within it, whether with action or without (youwei / wuwei), nothing was left unexplored.

In the time of King Wen of Zhou, he served as Keeper of the Archives. One account says he lived in the world for more than two hundred years. In the forty-third year of King Ping of Zhou, in the year guichou, on the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth month, he expounded the five thousand words of the Daodejing for Yin Xi, the gatekeeper of the pass.

Aligning Yin and Yang with the Way of the Dao

Methods for restoring years and not aging, and for the great Dao returning to its root, aim to make human lifespan something that can be tested and verified. In practice, one closes the eyes and looks inward; one should see the body’s qi clear, bright, and well-ordered—a common description of the inner landscape (often rendered in commentaries as zheng bai bin bin).

At the time when dawn is about to break, while the body lies at ease on a mat—or as if in a warm, sheltered setting—the sinews and bones should not be moved rashly, and the mouth should not speak much. If one only flexes and stretches slowly, the body becomes more and more at ease; the heart is joyful, with a sense of moistness and nourishment; the breath through the nose is unobstructed, and sweetness rises in the mouth—these are signs that the method’s verification is near.

Therefore governance that accords with Heaven and Earth can last long; the kingly way that accords with the four seasons grows day by day. The great Dao has no strange or extravagant talk; one yin and one yang are the root of how it works. When one obtains this correct order, there is flourishing; when one loses it, there is disorder; when one obtains it, the spirits are bright; when one loses it, the Dao cannot be practiced. One should ponder this meaning carefully and align oneself with the Dao.

Method of Recording the Body and Correcting the Spirit

Heaven, through the Dao, gives birth to and transforms the multitude of people. What follows carries the same message as the passage above: when one obtains the correct governance of one yin and one yang, there is flourishing; when one loses it, there is disorder; when one obtains it, the spirits are bright; when one loses it, the Dao cannot be practiced. One must still think this through in detail and unite with the Dao in agreement.

Note: In the passage you copied, the text between “Aligning Yin and Yang with the Way of the Dao” and “Method of Recording the Body and Correcting the Spirit,” and the opening lines of the latter section (including phrases about “receiving the one correct order” and disorder), appear to show duplication and lacunae typical of manuscript copies. The translation above follows the coherent, readable thread in the usual sense of the passage. For collation against a specific edition (e.g., Wang Ming’s Taiping Jing Hejiao), use that edition’s pagination as the authority.

The Method of Recording the Body and Rectifying the Spirit

Heaven dispatched the Dao to generate and transform humankind. Each person receives one teaching and one body; within, yin and yang crisscross and interweave, half yin and half yang, so that each can complete the other. Therefore the upper part takes yang as its model, the lower part takes yin as its pattern; the left follows yang methods, the right follows yin methods. Yang by nature favors giving life; yin by nature favors killing. Yang belongs to the Dao; yin belongs to punishment. Yang is goodness, and yang shen assist people. Yin is evil, and yin shen also assist people—in the sense of fostering wicked thoughts. When goodness accumulates without cease, the blessings of the Dao rise up and bring daily auspiciousness. Yang occupies the head; yin occupies the feet. Thus the ruler should value De and treat punishment lightly—this follows that pattern. Petty men do the opposite: they slight De and emphasize punishment—this too follows that pattern. The human being is the root and pivot of the Dao, and the place where shen long dwell and attach. One should understand this meaning, guard and nurture the body well, and only then reach the natural span of life. Those who do not know how to nurture the body are punished by the various shen; once shen depart and turn away, how can the body remain well? In doing good, one dares not stray from the measure, dares not deceive oneself. Whether one acts well or ill, the shen within the body know it themselves—these are not external shen, but shen within the body. When words issue from the heart and belly, others can hear them—that is the body’s shen “informing.” Therefore to rectify the spirit and settle body and mind is the root of governing the body and the sign of long life; the way of wuwei (non-action) rises from this. First learn how to care for the body, and only then can one know fortune and misfortune. Thus the wise and sagely, clear and penetrating, cultivate only themselves and do not blindly imitate others; they deeply ponder the meaning of the Dao, and only then can the realm be at peace. The noble person rises by this; the petty person falls and fails by this.

Method of Cultivating the One to Repel Evil

When heaven and earth first opened, what was most precious was the “fundamental root”—the root of Qi. To attain Great Peace, one must keep the mind fixed upon guarding this root. If one does not keep the root in mind, this is called great disorder: undertakings fail and calamities arrive together. This is not entirely the person’s fault; it is losing the foundation. Abandoning the root and chasing the branches, disaster is hard to settle—so one should reflect deeply.

“The One” is the root of the Dao, the beginning of Qi, what binds nature and life, and the master of the myriad minds. To know its true meaning: when things do not succeed and disasters come together, again it is not wholly the person’s fault but losing the foundation. Leaving the root to seek the branches, trouble is not cured—still one must reflect deeply. “The One” at the center is the root, the storehouse of life (ming). Therefore one must know it deeply, turn toward benevolence (ren), turn toward worthies (xian), and have them put it into practice.

A person’s root is within the body; branches and leaves are outside. Guarding “the One” means making the outer also return to oneness—urgently ordering the inner, pursuing what is far, ordering what is near. Guard “the One” and celestial spirits assist; guard “two” and earthly spirits assist; guard “three” and human ghosts assist; guard “four” and “five” and outer things also give aid. Thus guarding the One prolongs life; guarding two goes with inauspicious times; guarding three brings disorder hard to cure; guarding four or five brings daily increasing disaster. Reflect deeply on the meaning—only then is it called knowing.

Therefore: the “One” of the head is the crown; the “One” of the seven uprights (the seven orifices properly aligned) is the eyes; the “One” of the belly is the navel; the “One” of the vessels is Qi; the “One” of the five viscera is the heart; the “One” of the four limbs is the palms and soles; the “One” of the bones is the spine; the “One” of the flesh is the stomach and intestines. One who can hold fast and know the meaning of its way—the one who obtains the Dao makes people humane; the one who loses the Dao makes people greedy.

Method of Using Joy to Avert Disaster (the section title is already given; if the transmitted scripture has further entries in the main text, continue reading according to that transmission.)

Cultivating the body through joy, guarding form and following right intent, and warding off calamity

Using le (joy/harmonizing music-mindset) to tune body and mind, hold fast to form and spirit, and think along with upright intent can block disasters and avert harm.

What does it mean to “take joy in the Dao”?

Joy harmonizes Yin and Yang. All things are accomplished in stillness, and one can also return to the root in the Dao. Thus: when primordial Qi (yuanqi) is joyful, there is great flourishing; when Nature is joyful, the myriad things thrive; when Heaven is joyful, sun, moon, and stars shine bright; when Earth is joyful, the myriad things keep their constant order; when the Five Phases (Wuxing) are joyful, they do not injure one another; when the four seasons are joyful, life and kingship flourish; when the king is joyful, illness is rare under Heaven; when crawling creatures are joyful, they do not harm one another; when the myriad things are joyful, each keeps its proper constancy; when people are joyful, the heart is free of worry and the nature is easy to harmonize; when ghosts and spirits are joyful, it benefits the sovereign.

Where joy comes from and what it does

Joy is formed from the finest essence of Heaven and Earth’s benevolent Qi; it can reach the numinous and bright. Hence stillness can give birth to radiance; radiance is used to discern spirit (Shen); one can communicate with the numinous and bright, take the Dao as neighbor, and long endure without perishing.

The hardship of seeking the Dao and the joy of Great Peace

Seeking the Dao is often bitter, and the heart is hard to turn back. Now if customs are changed and hearts rectified, who could still contend? Does the joy of Great Peace (Taiping) issue from within the palace? The point is to settle the realm through clarity and stillness, secure the person and enter the Dao, so that barbarians withdraw, auspicious signs arrive, the suspended images return, and baleful spirits depart.

Spirit within, wandering outside

Human spirit is born within and also wanders outside; when wandering does not match the season, it turns and harms the body. If one can pursue it and bring it back, then self-governance prevails and one does not fail.

How to “pursue and return” it

Make the chamber empty and pure, with no one nearby. Paint according to the colors of the stored images (zangxiang), matching the Qi of the four seasons, hang them in window light, and contemplate them. Above are the stored images; below are the ten domains (shi xiang). When lying down, keep the near suspended images in mind and think without cease—then the spirits of the five viscera (wuzang shen) can report the Qi of the twenty-four time periods, the spirits of the Five Phases come to assist, and every illness is healed.

Note: In the original, two passages—“when primordial Qi is joyful… when the king is joyful” and “how to… every illness is healed”—are nearly duplicated, likely from repeated copying in the collated text; the vernacular explanation merges them once without changing the meaning.

The Methods of Men and Women and the Four Seasons

Men uphold the way of men, and women uphold the way of women. Both take “one chi” as the measure and rule, and adjust according to the turning of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Spring corresponds to the Green Youth (spring spirit) ten; summer to the Red Youth ten; autumn to the White Youth ten; winter to the Black Youth ten; at the junctures of the four seasons, the Yellow Youth twelve is used. The twenty-five spirit beings and perfected ones together constitute the orthodox method of “Dao and De”: yang qi transforms into yin qi, yin qi transforms into yang qi; when yin and yang match, the Dao can be put into practice.

Heaven and Earth, Ruler and Minister, Stem and Branch—all depend on one another

Heaven needs earth to generate the myriad things; earth needs heaven to complete the myriad things. Spring and summer need autumn and winter; day needs night; a ruler needs ministers to bring governance to completion; ministers also need a ruler to carry out affairs. Thus heavenly stem jia must pair with yi, earthly branch zi with chou—all mutually completing one another. Cultivating the Dao and ordering the world should follow heaven’s movement naturally. If one is out of step with human feeling and the way of heaven, that is going against the Dao of heaven.

The Effects of Attaining the Dao (the metaphor of the Eastern Sea)

It is like the Eastern Sea lying below yet gladly receiving water, so that the hundred streams all turn toward it. By following this Dao, whales arise from it, and the bright moon pearl is born from it—this is the proof of attaining the Dao. When Daoists gather in one place, formulas for extending life inevitably appear, and great auspicious signs respond in turn. When many worthies gather, the realm is greatly well governed; when documents and edicts are in disorder, there is minor turmoil; when weapons and troops gather, there is great defeat. The ruler should hold to the Dao; ministers should hold to De. Dao and De are like the lining and outer surface of a garment—inseparable.

The Ruler as Heaven, the Virtue of Parents

If heaven is not vast and great, it cannot embrace the myriad things. Most things in the world are half good and half bad, and all must be borne with patience; the human ruler takes this as his model. Next, the empress and the inner palace take as their model the loving kindness of parents: parents raise their children—they cherish the good and also pity the bad—then the way of the family can be harmonized.

Sun, Moon, Stars, and the Clear, Turbid, and Harmonizing

The sun represents the human ruler, the moon the great minister, the stars the hundred officials; when many worthies shine together, the myriad things can grow in harmony. Therefore what is clear and light returns to heaven; what is heavy and turbid returns to earth; the harmonizing qi lodges in human beings.

Method for Harmonizing the Spirit Deities

I wish to make the myriad spirits of the world live in harmony and mutual affection, no longer acting rashly to harm people; that heaven and earth may long rejoice, the hundred spirits all be glad, and people be free from suffering.

Note: The original text has repeated lines in the middle; this vernacular version merges them according to the scripture’s meaning. “One chi as law,” “twenty-five spirit beings,” and the like belong to the Taiping Jing’s distinctive numerology and spirit-visualization system; for specific ritual details, consult other chapters of the same scripture.

Method for Harmonizing Spirits and Deities

(This method aims) to bring the myriad spirits of heaven into mutual accord so they no longer harm people at random; to keep heaven and earth long at peace and joy, with every spirit content, so that people do not suffer. When the sovereign receives the strength of heaven and earth and acts with blessing, need one still doubt it?

For this reason the sage can hold to the Dao: in stillness, at dawn when taking food, the myriad spirits will come to call upon him and speak with him, just as people today receive and greet guests.

The myriad spirits call themselves celestial clerks and celestial messengers (officials and envoys of heaven); the host of essences are earthly clerks and earthly messengers (officials and envoys of earth); the hundred ghosts are envoys of central harmony (mediators who harmonize Yin and Yang and link heaven and earth). These three kinds are all envoys of Yin-Yang in central harmony. They assist heaven and earth in governing the ten thousand things and together promote benefit for the sovereign.

Guarding the One and Clarifying the Method

“Guarding the One and clarifying the method” is the root of attaining long life. When guarding the One reaches thorough refinement and clarity, the myriad spirits can all be gathered in, and the person emerges through the “gate of radiance.” Guard the One until spirit and mind are clear and bright, as when fire has just been kindled: you must at once focus and hold it without slackening. Its signs are first pure red, then pure white, and after long practice pure azure; penetrating clarity can illuminate what is extremely far, yet you must still return and unify everything under the “One,” so that nothing within remains obscure. The hundred diseases can be removed—likewise you must urgently guard without loss “as when fire is first lit,” with the colors moving from red to white to azure, penetrating clarity shining far, and still returning to govern by the One, so that nothing within is unclear. If you can guard the One without ceasing, this may be called the art of longevity for ten thousand years.

To guard the One and achieve clarity: that “clarity” has the light of sunrise and the brightness of midday; this is the foremost gate for receiving heaven’s allotted lifespan. Dwelling in peace, staying at leisure, guarding the One without interruption—through ten thousand generations you need not lose it.

What you rely on when guarding the One is whether your practice of the Dao is superior or inferior. What is the Dao? It is the sovereign of the ten thousand things, originally beyond naming. Within the “six extremes” (heaven, earth, and the four directions, and other ultimate realms), without the Dao there can be no transformation. Primordial Qi (yuanqi) moves according to the Dao and thereby generates the ten thousand things; great and small in heaven and earth—all arise from the Dao. Primordial Qi is originally formless, yet it is used to constrain what has form; to extend and unfold primordial Qi, if you do not follow the Dao, generation and transformation cannot occur. What is called “spontaneity” (ziran) is each thing’s own inherent state. Without practicing the Dao, one cannot embrace heaven and earth, make the ten thousand things each find their place, or keep those in high position from failing to see danger.

Heaven practices the Dao without rest day or night, more urgent than wind and rain, yet still fearing to miss the Dao’s intent—how much more human rulers? The “three luminaries” (sancang)—sun, moon, and stars—practice the Dao without ceasing, therefore they hang in heaven and illuminate the eight extremes; lose the Dao and their light is extinguished.

Human rulers correspond with officials of all ranks and the ten thousand things; living beings dwell together; the five planets observe their faults. When the ruler practices virtue (de), the virtue star comes to attend; when he practices martial force, the martial star comes; when he practices softness, the soft star comes; when he practices strength, the strong star comes; when he practices trustworthiness, the trust star comes. Heaven and humanity seem far apart, yet their mutual resonance is very near—heaven and humanity are originally one body; how can one not be careful?

Practices of the Way Have Grades of Better and Worse

When the virtue of the “king” (wang) matches spring, the climate is mild; when it matches summer, the air is hot; when it matches autumn, the air is cool; when it matches winter, the air is cold—this is the “kingly virtue” (wang de) that a ruler should embody: governance in harmony with the four seasons.

King qi (wang qi) resonates with the emperor’s qi; minister qi (xiang qi) matches prime ministers and assisting officials; petty qi (wei qi) matches minor clerks; rest qi (xiu qi) belongs to the same category as the inner palace’s qi; waste qi (fei qi) matches common people; execution, death, and imprisonment qi (xing si, qiu qi) match prisoners in jail. Qi of the same kind, though separated by vast distance, can still mutually respond and summon one another.

If king qi does not arrive, the ruler’s grace cannot be carried out to the end. Ancient sage-kings therefore examined the Great Dao, reading its meaning in the signs of gain and loss. When the ruler acts according to the Dao, heaven and earth rejoice; when he loses the Dao, heaven and earth show portents and anomalies. The ruler should quietly ponder virtue and the Dao, practice the Way to settle his person, and seek long life and self-cultivation. He should harmonize the way of husband and wife so yin and yang each obtain their place—then heaven and earth are at peace.

Heaven and the emperor are separated by more than tens of thousands of li, yet they respond to each other through the Dao—is that not marvelous?

Plain-Language Reading of a Passage from the Taiping Jing

This passage belongs to the “divine formula” (shenjue) type of material in Taiping Jing, an early Daoist classic. It explains how the qi of Heaven and Earth, the mutual responsiveness of humans and spirits, and the principles of governing a realm and cultivating the person fit together.

The Qi of Heaven and Earth and Responsive Correspondence

What the “book of divine formulas” transmits is a set of essentials for grasping the inherent nature of Heaven and Earth. Yuanqi (primordial qi—the first qi from which the ten thousand things are formed) runs in its natural course and together shapes the native character of Heaven and Earth. When the sixfold harmony and the eight directions (above and below, the four quarters, and the four intermediate directions—a shorthand for the whole cosmos and all things) are in a state of joyful accord, favorable responses (auspicious signs) appear; when they are not joyful, unfavorable responses (inauspicious signs) appear. This correspondence is like form and shadow, sound and echo: Great Yin, Great Yang, and Central Harmony—the three kinds of qi—jointly constitute li (the order by which Heaven and Earth operate), and they mutually resonate. Human beings stand in the middle, like a hub that moves what is above and below; therefore one should deeply understand this relationship.

Cherishing Life, Guarding the One, and Auspicious Signs

When people know how to value life and care for the body, they respect those above and cherish those below, take life as joy and death as something to abhor; the three qi, through this joy, reach supreme harmony (taihe), and various auspicious signs appear together. Gather the worthy, with one mind seek the way of long life, and you can stabilize the upper realm and become a treasure of the state. Only when you can nurture your own xing (innate nature, the nature of life) can you nurture the people. Heaven does not favor anyone in granting blessings, yet it only protects those who have sincerity (you xin); spirits do not favor anyone in drawing near, yet they take good people (shan ren) as their model.

The same person may at times seem like a worthy, at times like a spirit, at times like someone unworthy (bu xiao)—why? Because conduct has deviation (wu), and spirits show themselves to warn. Therefore one must guard the One (shou yi—hold to singleness and the root teaching without confusion) and nurture one’s xing; the key lies in learning (xue—study and practice). Among the multitude, those with many auspicious signs are people of sincerity; those without auspicious signs are people whose conduct is flawed. Use divination and verification to distinguish right from wrong, and you can know. It is like weighing light and heavy on a balance—this is how one reads ordinary human nature. Heaven’s illumination of people is no different from a mirror reflecting things. Ponder this carefully: share Heaven’s wish and be of one heart with the true spirit (zhen shen)—how could ill fortune follow?

Uniting the Three Unifications and Achieving Great Peace

In handling affairs without missing the measure (the text here has damaged characters; the sense is roughly not erring by the smallest weight), one must grasp the meaning of Heaven–Earth central harmony. When Heaven and Earth are in tune, the ten thousand things are secure; when the court is just, the myriad people are governed. If one acts only with pure yang, Earth will not transform everything; if one acts only with pure yin, Heaven will not generate everything. One should unite the three unifications (he san tong—the three powers Heaven, Earth, and humanity, or the three qi yin, yang, and central harmony, gathered into one): yin and yang must match each other, and harmony must rest in the center. Ancient sages who governed and brought about great peace (taiping) all sought the heart of Heaven–Earth central harmony; when one qi does not flow through, the hundred affairs fall into disorder.

Note: The passage “The spirit can make one unworthy … people of sincerity” near the end largely repeats the earlier “Within one body … people of sincerity”; this is probably duplicate copying in transmission, so one plain-language rendering suffices. The gap “cheng shi □□” is missing characters and is understood here only in context as achieving outcomes without missing the measure.

The Essential Meaning of Responding to the Three Qi and Establishing the Method of the Sage-King

One who understands the central harmony of heaven and earth, follows the great enterprise, and moves with the Three Qi will find nothing amiss under the sage-king’s rule; worthies will all come forth to assist the sovereign, and Heaven too will greatly rejoice.

The Perfected One asked the Spirit Person: “I wish the sovereign to attain Great Peace at once—may I hear the method?”

The Spirit Person replied: “If one fully accords with heaven and earth without the slightest deviation, Great Peace can be attained immediately and auspicious omens will arise together. Primordial Qi has three names: Sun Qi (taiyang), Moon Qi (taiyin), and Harmonizing Qi (zhonghe). Form has three names: Heaven, Earth, and Human. Heaven has three names: sun, moon, and stars, with the Northern Dipper as the pivot. Earth has three names: mountains, rivers, and level land. The human has three names: father, mother, and child. Governance has three names: ruler, minister, and people—all desiring Great Peace. These three should constantly serve as the inner core, without the slightest gap; sharing worry and mutual aid, they become one household, and Great Peace can be established at once, with extension of life beyond doubt.

Thus the man images heaven; his mind turns toward the woman—this is heaven’s effect of making humans clear. The minister images earth; earth constantly wishes to rise and unite in heart with heaven, so all things born from earth ascend without ceasing, and cloud-vapor fills heaven and becomes rain. Thus the loyal minister’s concern constantly rests above, urgently never forgetting the ruler—this is earth’s effect of making clarity. The people embody central harmony; central harmony governs harmonizing all things. Central harmony is like an infant: the child is born through the parents; life belongs to the father and is ruled from above, yet is entrusted to the mother’s womb—so when wronged, the child thinks of ruler and father. These three are the image of husband-wife and father-child; they should communicate in speech and join strength in shared worry, then the Three Qi merge into great harmony (taihe), and from great harmony emerges the qi of Great Peace. If these three qi are cut off and one qi fails to reach through, great harmony does not arrive and Great Peace does not appear.

Yin and Yang must rest in central harmony; when harmonizing qi is obtained, the myriad things are born, the people are in tune, and royal governance is Great Peace. The ruler is like heaven: if grace and benefit do not descend, things have no way to live and people cannot extend their years; if the ruler’s heart is not open and clear, heaven’s heart cannot reach below, then wife and children do not receive the ruler-father’s command and the household becomes rebellious. If ministerial qi does not reach through, earthly qi is not fulfilled, and from where can loyal ministers aid the enlightened king in governance? If earth’s heart is harmed, widows at home constantly suffer grief and good ministers have no way to advance. If the people’s qi does not rise to reach above, from where can harmonizing qi arise? Central harmony should harmonize with the sovereign’s governance; those who regulate the myriad things should each attain proper order. Now if the three qi do not communicate well, how can Great Peace be achieved?

The Method of the King Who Brings Peace and Joy

A ruler should use the Dao and De to transform and nurture the myriad things of the world, so that each finds its place and each rests in its proper station. One who cannot move and change the ten thousand things is unworthy to be called a ruler. It is like a man and woman together begetting a child—only then may they be called parents.

This is also an analogy of “one household”: if they cannot produce offspring, how can they be called parents? One who cannot generate and transform the myriad things cannot be called a parent to humanity. Fire can transform and nurture the four phases of Metal, Wood, Water, and Earth, and together with itself they form the Five Phases (Wuxing); therefore in symbolic terms fire may be called the “ruler.” Fire by nature harmonizes with the other four phases yet holds a special place; when it meets fire it disperses and becomes ash; Metal is hard and firm, yet meeting fire it softens; Earth is originally rather yielding, yet meeting fire it hardens and becomes tile; Water is cold by nature, yet meeting fire it grows warm. Fire belongs to the same category as the Five Phases and yet can change without fixed pattern; its nature is active and ascendant. Yin follows Yang, subjects follow the ruler; it can also illuminate clearly and distinguish right from wrong—hence it may be called “ruler”; the other four phases cannot do all this. Earth cannot change at once; only after long time does it transform, hence it is called “Later Earth.” Wood, Metal, and Water assist—symbolizing the position of ministers.

The Dao can transform all things without exception; therefore primordial Qi (yuanqi) guards the Dao and moves according to its breath, and only then Heaven and Earth arise—standing without pillars. The myriad things are not born from some kind of “motion,” yet they come into being through this and are passed to later generations, showing that the ten thousand things have “kinds” and continuity of transmission. It is like grass and trees growing from the earth—they too are born according to kind. Primordial Qi guarding the Dao is just like this. Nature guards the Dao and acts accordingly, and the myriad things each attain their place.

When Heaven guards the Dao and acts, it may be called “spirit” (shen) without fixed location; above it symbolizes the human ruler and human father, governing and transforming all things without limit—only then is one truly aligned with the intent of the Dao. When Earth guards the Dao and acts, the five directions return to the center and the myriad things attach to it. When the sun, moon, and stars—the three luminaries—guard the Dao and act, nothing escapes their illumination and scrutiny. When thunder and lightning guard the Dao and act, they can stir the world and ride the Qi back and forth. When the four seasons and the Five Phases guard the Dao and act, they can transform the myriad things so each has its constant measure. When Yin-Yang and male and female guard the Dao and act, they can pass from generation to generation. In all matters great and small, guarding the Dao and acting accordingly leaves no misfortune. If one loses the Dao today, great disorder follows. When Yang is at peace the myriad things generate themselves; when Yin is at peace the myriad things complete themselves.

The way of governing through Yin and Yang extends teaching to officials and flows transformation to the common people. People receive Heaven’s mandate, inherit Earth’s Qi, and receive their teacher’s instruction—only then can they hear the great Way of the world. Those who guard the root can become kings; those who guard the branches can become ministers; those who guard only surface show may seem good for a time, yet they bring disorder and lack constancy.

The emperor is Heaven’s son, the empress is Earth’s daughter—they are the foremost spirit-and-Qi treasured by Heaven and Earth. Heaven and Earth always wish the myriad things peace and joy, not sorrow; their compassion is like this—the foremost place in the heart of Heaven and Earth. Therefore if the king is sorrowful, the Qi of the four seasons and Five Phases fall out of harmony, killing and giving life lose their regular pattern, and the world cannot be at peace.

Method of Suspending Images to Return the Shen

Shen (spirit) arises within the body. In spring there are ten Green Tongzi (child-spirit figures); in summer, ten Red Tongzi; in autumn, ten White Tongzi; in winter, ten Black Tongzi; and in the four seasons together, twelve Yellow Tongzi. These are the shen housed in the male body; the counts for the female body are the same.

Method of Male Contemplation

Shen arises within the body. The numbers of Tongzi for spring, summer, autumn, winter, and the four seasons are as above; the rule is the same for men and for women. The man contemplates the male form; the woman contemplates the female form. In every case one chi (about one foot) is the standard: the suspended image is to be painted so that it is pleasing to behold. If one cannot practice according to Lejin—the discipline of using inner joy (or ritual harmony) to restrain desire and guard the body—then the hun and shen will not be able to return swiftly.

Notes (to aid reading the original):

• Tongzi: Here they are inner-scape spirit names or objects of visualization linked to the four seasons and the Five Phases (Wuxing), not ordinary children in the worldly sense.
• Xuanxiang huanshen (“suspending images to return the shen”): By hanging up or visualizing fixed images, the wandering hun-shen are brought back into the body.
• One chi as the rule: In visualization or painting, a length of one chi is the prescribed measure—a concrete rule of practice.
• Lejin: In texts associated with the Taiping jing (Scripture of Great Peace), this is often tied to self-cultivation and prohibitions; in general it means holding to joy (inner joy or ritual music) without indulging desires and scattering the shen, so that the hun-shen can more easily return home.

Since heaven and earth were first opened, baleful qi has never been fully cut off; even when it pauses for a time, it rises again afterward—why is this? Because lifespan is what heaven values most. One must therefore quietly accumulate merit in secret, not obtain it through pretense. To grasp the principle of this “treasure”: all things throughout the six directions of heaven and earth and the eight extremities must be free from wrongful entanglement, so that everyone can rejoice greatly—only then does lifespan increase. If even one matter goes against one’s wishes, people will be harmed or die.

In ordinary human experience, sometimes one does all one can to do good yet meets with ill fortune; sometimes one does all one can to do evil yet receives benefit—therefore one must not call oneself virtuous on that basis alone. Good deeds that bring ill happen because of chengfu (inheriting and bearing the faults and calamities of one’s ancestors): accumulated misfortune from before and after flows onto this person. Evil deeds that bring good happen because one’s ancestors deeply accumulated great merit and virtue, and that blessing flows onto this person. If this person can then establish merit far beyond the ordinary, even if the ancestors still have residual calamity, it cannot harm him; but if that merit is also “used up,” it will extend to later generations, forming chengfu across five generations (five successive generations mutually entangled). One small cycle is ten generations as one round, then it returns to the start. If one only does small good insufficient to offset the debt, the evil left by the ancestors and chengfu calamities still bind the descendants; mid-generation lines die out without heirs—a truly unjust fate.

The mechanism of chengfu: heaven divides into three ranks—chengfu among emperors and kings can flow for thirty thousand years, among great ministers three thousand years, among common people three hundred years; they connect in chengfu, rising and falling in turn, unceasing with the rise and fall of human affairs. If one can now follow this principle, use heaven’s “supreme governance” to cut off the stream of evil, one should reflect deeply and not forget.

Humans have three grades of lifespan, corresponding to the three qi (solar, lunar, and moderate qi); Taiyi (the fundamental qi of the cosmos) also rises and falls in turn, unceasing with the flourishing and decline of human affairs (same principle—reflect deeply and do not forget). The three lifespans correspond to the mandates of solar, lunar, and moderate qi: upper lifespan one hundred twenty years, middle lifespan eighty years, lower lifespan sixty years. One hundred twenty years corresponds to the way of heaven, like the end of a great calendar year and the cycle of one realm of heaven and earth.

Eighty corresponds to Yin-Yang; the eight pairs (eight matched groupings) each respond to earthly Qi, sorting and deciding all things: what ought to depart dies; what ought to remain is restored to life.

Sixty corresponds to harmonizing, neutral Qi and aligns with the sixth-month Dun hexagram (the hexagram associated with the sixth lunar month). Dun means retreat or flight, so it presides over the crossing where death and life meet. If one keeps doing good without stopping and lives beyond this allotted span, it is called dushi (transcending the worldly realm and attaining longevity). If one keeps doing evil without stopping, one dies young before completing three allotted life spans. One who dies in the womb or before reaching adulthood is called bearing inherited guilt innocently—innocently shouldering the sins of ancestors.

When head ailments are frequent, it is because heavenly Qi is displeased. When foot ailments are frequent, it is because earthly Qi is displeased. When diseases of the five viscera are frequent, it is because Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) Qi are at war with one another. When diseases of the four limbs are frequent, it is because four-season Qi are out of harmony. When deafness and blindness are frequent, it is because the Three Lights (sun, moon, and stars) have lost their proper measures. When cold and heat disorders are frequent, it is because Yin and Yang Qi are in fierce contention. When confusion of spirit is frequent, it is because the myriad things have lost their proper places. When possession by malign spirits and strange beings is frequent, it is because the spirits of Heaven and Earth are angered. When death from warm fevers is frequent, it is because Solar Qi is killing. When death from cold disorders is frequent, it is because Lunar Qi is harming. When sudden death is frequent, it is because punitive Qi is too harsh and abrupt. When distension of Qi or chronic shortness of breath is frequent, it is because the eight seasonal nodes (the eight key junctures within the twenty-four solar terms) are disordered.

Now the inner positions of Heaven, Earth, Yin, and Yang have all lost their proper places, so disease injures the myriad things. When imperial governance is unfitting, flood and drought come without pattern, bandits rise again and again, yet punishments are only made harsher or doubled—wrongs are never cleared, and the people all cry out to Heaven: county magistrates govern in disorder, the seasons lose their constancy, the myriad things are wounded, and above this moves the Azure Heaven: the Three Lights flare and change without measure, and the host of stars run off course. Therefore only the supreme Dao (zhidao) can save this. I know that Heaven’s intent does not deceive you: when Heaven’s majesty is unleashed once, it cannot be restrained; to offend Heaven is to bring premature death upon people. From the first opening of Heaven and Earth, since the transformations of the Grand Sage, the array of stars has run off course—hence only the supreme Dao can save it. I know that Heaven’s intent does not deceive you: when Heaven’s majesty is unleashed once, it cannot be restrained.

Offending Heaven brings premature death. When Heaven and Earth first opened, the ancient sages each understood one facet of the Way of Heaven. They knew it in earnest and no longer doubted. Thus each could accomplish one great work, so later generations could follow without gross error. Even the sages, then, each mastered only one line of work and could not exhaust the whole Way of Heaven—so their virtue took different forms. It is like Heaven and Earth themselves; how much more so for human beings? Heaven and Earth each excel in one respect: Heaven excels in height and clarity, Earth in depth and heaviness; the harmonizing Qi nourishes the myriad things, yet even they cannot master everything—how much less ordinary people?

Hai is the northwest extremity of Heaven and Earth; Si is the southeast extremity. If at the Hai hour cold should gather but closing and storing do not come on time, the next year at the Si hour harm is taken instead. Zi is the north pole of Heaven and Earth; Wu is the south pole—if winter does not store well in accord with the season, by Wu (summer) one bears the burden and perishes instead. Chou is the northeast extremity; Wei is the southwest extremity. If at Chou the season’s sprouting does not occur on time, the sixth month suffers its penalty instead. Such is the native turning of Heaven and Earth. Today, if a ruler dwells within a hundred li and applies virtue and humane kindness, favor can reach ten thousand li; the people receive that grace: fathers kind, sons filial, households sufficient and needs met, without doing evil. If the ruler within loses that virtue, subjects ten thousand li away fail in their roles—though separated by myriad miles, the principle still flows from one source. Learning fine words is not as good as learning to practice in the body.

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The True Person (Zhenren) asked the spirit person: “Having been born, I do not know what I may be called yet I am often pleased—why?” The spirit person answered: “You would do better to look to the past—and better still to practice in your body.”

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The Perfected Person (Zhenren) asked the Divine Person (Shenren): “I do not know what level I belong to in this life, yet I often feel joy—why is that?”

The Divine Person said: “Consider the Vast and Great Perfected Person of old (a realized being famed for the breadth of the Great Way). He was first young and later aged because he abandoned crooked paths and devoted himself solely to the True Way (Zhendao); the True Way constantly preserves one, and false methods naturally fade. While the masses are trapped in hardship, he endures for long ages—that is why there is lasting joy.”

The Perfected Person asked again: “To be bright and glad alone—what is there to resent? If in the end one cannot attain long life, what then?”

The Divine Person said: “Accumulated practice (long-term cultivation of virtue and habit) draws one near to fulfillment; dwelling on goodness draws one near to long life. The Way (Dao) is inexhaustible scripture and method. In antiquity, Divine Persons governed the realm with the Way, taking Perfected Persons as ministers to assist in ordering the people, so the people did not know there was a Son of Heaven above them—they simply followed the Way in natural non-action (ziran wuwei) and governed themselves.

Next, Perfected Persons governed the realm, with Immortals (Xianren) as ministers; at first the people did not know there was a Son of Heaven, until they heard teachings and then honored their ruler.

Next, Immortals governed the realm, with Daoist adepts (Daoren) as ministers; governance already relied somewhat on punishments, laws and decrees were more visible, hearts among the people stirred and fear arose, and clever deceit (qiaozha) was about to appear.

Next came hegemonic rule (bazhi)—rule that subdues by force: ministers were not chosen with care, the people suffered many wrongs, and disorder (luan) arose from this; one drifted farther from order (zhi) and closer to chaos, and it was hard to restore the old system.

Therefore: If you think of spirits, spirits come; if you think of the true, the true comes; if you think of immortals, immortals come; if you think of the Way, the Way comes; if you think of wisdom, wisdom comes. When sages refine their thought, the spirits of worthy persons (xianren) come to aid; if you think crooked thoughts, the ghosts (gui) of foolish people come to bewilder. Whatever people hold in mind has something it can summon—the difference lies only in whether what is thought is good or evil, high or low.

Thus: the superior person (shangshi) as ruler constantly thinks of spirits and the true; the middle person (zhongshi) as ruler has a penetrating mind and much wisdom (zhi); the inferior person (xiashi) as ruler cannot think deeply and only acts under compulsion of fate and circumstance.

Section One

A True Person (Zhenren) asked: “How can one tell whether the sovereign’s mind is turned toward good or toward evil?” The spirit being replied: “That is not hard to explain. When a ruler often dwells on benevolence, righteousness, and doing good, his heart moves in tune with the Way of Heaven (Tiandao), and his wisdom grows deeper day by day. Someone of humble origin who suddenly holds supreme power often cannot truly ‘think’ at that depth; for the most part he can only go along with fate and circumstance, acting against his own inclination.”

Section Two

The True Person asked again: “How can one know whether the sovereign is thinking good or thinking evil?” The spirit being answered: “Again, it is not difficult to say. When the ruler’s heart is wholly bent on benevolence and goodness, auspicious omens appear only for him, and prophetic charts and mandate-charms (tuwei, fuming) arise only on his account. A ruler’s enlightened kindness usually answers to the qi of Wood and Fire; martial valor and strategic wit answer to Metal and Water; gentleness and yielding answer to Earth. The signs that Heaven displays do not miss their mark.”

The True Person asked: “When extraordinary charts or formulas appear in antiquity, who is meant to receive them?” The spirit being said: “Officials and common people obtain them and present them to the sovereign. Once the ruler possesses the chart, the seasons and weather turn harmonious, government grows clearer, sages with real attainment come to assist, and the way of rulership strengthens daily. The four border peoples settle; he can govern as if letting his robes hang loose and folding his hands—rule through non-action (wuwei)—punishments naturally grow rare, and the people are not constantly scourged by war. When the sovereign thinks good, such proofs appear; how could one fail to know? Even before the person himself is seen, the auspicious responses already make it plain.”

The True Person asked: “How can a spirit being know all this?” The spirit being answered: “By sensing in silence, without words. When the ruler thinks benevolence and cherishes life, he follows the Way of Heaven; when ministers think submission and nurturing care, they follow the way of Earth (didao)—then good omens show themselves. Thus Heaven and Earth do not speak yet endure; their ordering works through the subtle and does not parade itself. Spirit beings do not speak yet long remain immortal: inner clarity, outer concealment—therefore they stand at the head of the myriad paths. Spirits enter and leave without fixed openings; quiet and without sound, they rest on their pillows and divine light appears—how could they not be auspicious and at peace? Too much use of the mouth drains essence and qi (jingqi); too much exertion of strength wearies the body; too much reliance on force harms oneself—these are the roots of misfortune. Listen carefully to my words; do not indulge scattered thoughts. Thinking good can sometimes accumulate virtue; thinking evil turns back and harms you. Between safety and danger the margin is as fine as a hair—you must cut off idle thinking. When a person loses the Dao (the Way), life is hard to preserve; when he truly grasps its meaning, life may be prolonged. Strive to nourish your essence and qi; do not torment yourself. Follow and serve a clear-sighted teacher, and disorder is not easily unleashed.” The True Person did not dare go against the spirit being’s words.

The spirit being spoke further: (The following lines largely repeat the themes above—spirit beings passing through without fixed orifices, inner light and outer obscurity, how mouth, labor, and martial force breed calamity, and the need for careful thought, nourishing essence, and following a worthy teacher to ward off chaos.)

Those who study the Dao each cultivate themselves—they do not cultivate on someone else’s behalf. So each person should cherish and stay close to themselves; only after long practice can one attain the body of divine authenticity and become utterly unlike ordinary people—that is what this means.

The Perfected One asked: “How does one know the efficacy of the Dao?” The Spirit Person said: “Decide it clearly with an enlightened teacher, then put it into practice in your own body. When the body transforms and changes form, you share the gate with the spirit-way, stand beside true appearance, and enter the same door as spirit-persons. Seek within yourself—why would you not see where trouble comes from? If you lose the meaning of the Dao and instead go seeking in the four wilds, you will not find it and will end your days in poverty. Then you cut yourself off from the root yet still say there is no Dao under heaven, and often brood alone—that is great calamity. When great persons lose the Dao they cannot settle the realm; when middling persons lose it they disturb their lord; when humane persons lose it they cannot become sages; when petty people lose it they destroy themselves. What ancient worthies and sages practiced is the same as today; what ancient petty people were reduced to is the same as today—the evidence is plain.”

The Perfected One asked: “How does one know when a person will rise or decline?” The Spirit Person said:

When a person of great De (virtue and power) is about to rise, unusual writings appear, and worthy people assist him in governing the world. When a household is about to flourish, those who seek a path find one, and the good or ill conduct of later generations can be read from that as well.

The Zhenren (Perfected Person) asked: “How can such worthy people be drawn to one?” The Shenren (Spirit Person) answered: “It all depends on intent and reflection. If refined thought never stops, what should come will come of itself.”

The Zhenren sighed: “Using the Dao to order the world is truly marvelous—how could one not earnestly put it into practice?”

The Shenren added: “The Three Bonds and Six Principles (the bonds of ruler and minister, father and son, and husband and wife, together with the six norms of human conduct) endure and bring good fortune because they are upheld through the Dao, and governance does not stray from what is right—hence lasting auspiciousness. Heaven’s allotted span does not cut short what people rightfully seek.”

“Wood corresponds to benevolence (Ren); with the mind set on benevolence, one aligns with the east; the east presides over benevolence. The same pattern holds for the Five Directions (east, south, west, north, and center). Affairs under Heaven gather according to their kind. Therefore when a ruler seeks stability with a single-minded heart, his rule tends toward stillness—like attracts like.”

“In antiquity, those who studied applied their effort to themselves; people today who study apply it to others instead. The ancients studied to establish body and life; many today chase ornate phrasing. They do not store refined thought within themselves but pile effort on literary display—this is ignorance of the root.”

Taiping Jing Chapter 33 as Cited in the San Dong Zhu Nang (Extant)

A Realized Person asked: “Why do ordinary people so often fall ill?”

A Divine Person answered: “When the liver spirit leaves the body and wanders outside without returning on time, the eyes fail to see clearly; when the heart spirit is absent, the lips turn bluish or pale; when the lung spirit is absent, the nose cannot breathe freely; when the kidney spirit is absent, the ears hear poorly; when the spleen spirit is absent, the mouth loses the sense of sweetness; when the head spirit is absent, the person grows dull and dim; when the belly spirit is absent, the abdomen is disordered and nothing can be digested; when the spirits of the four limbs depart, the person cannot move on their own.

Human spirit-nature naturally prefers to dwell in quiet, open places and will not stay in filth and disorder. To call the spirits back, one must observe purification (zhaijie) and practice in a quiet chamber with images set up and incense burned—then the hundred illnesses will vanish; without purification, the spirits refuse to return to the human body. These (departed spirits) may also ascend together to Heaven to lodge complaints against the person. Hence diseases pile up among people and death never ceases.”

Extant Taiping Jing Passage (Same Meaning, Slightly Different Wording)

The Realized Person said: Human spirit-nature usually dwells in leisurely, clear places and does not stay amid filth. To bring essence (spirit) back, one should observe purification in a fragrant chamber, and the hundred illnesses will clear by themselves; without purification, the spirits will not return to the human body.

Taiping Yulan, Fascicle 667 (Further Overlapping Account)

Same idea: spirit-nature loves quiet and hates defilement; one must observe purification in a fragrant chamber for the hundred illnesses to clear; without purification the spirits do not return, and they “all ascend to Heaven together to accuse people,” so illness is abundant among humans and death never stops.

Taiping Jing He Jiao, Fascicle 35, Part One of Section Bing

Title of fascicle: Taiping Jing, Fascicle 35

Title of chapter: “Method of Distinguishing Poverty and Wealth” (Chapter 41)

Here only the fascicle and chapter titles appear: “Method of Distinguishing Poverty and Wealth” discusses how to tell poverty from wealth (in the Taiping Jing system this is often tied to morality, practicing benevolence, receiving Heaven’s mandate, accumulating merit, and the like—not merely to how much money one has). The main text is not given under this entry, so only the titles can be stated: this section belongs to Chapter 41 of Fascicle 35 and treats the distinction between poverty and wealth and its relation to cultivation and the Way of Heaven.

The Perfected Person stepped forward, and the Celestial Master asked the disciple: “In the time you’ve been studying the Way, have you come to think you’ve already learned enough?”

The disciple replied: “I used to think I had, but after hearing the Celestial Master again, I see there is still more I lack. I’ve said all I can think to ask; I don’t know what else to inquire about—I only ask the Master to point out what I have not yet understood.”

The Celestial Master said: “Good. Perfected One, your turn.” (beginning) He asked again: “In the world, what counts as rich? What counts as poor?”

The disciple answered: “Whoever has much is rich; whoever has little is poor.”

The Celestial Master said: “What you say is right, and yet not right.”

The disciple asked: “What do you mean?”

The Celestial Master said: “If there are many who are corrupt, flatterers, and thieves, can that be called rich? If there are many ordinary people and few rulers, can that be called poor?” (end)

The dull and ignorant student, seeing the Celestial Master teach, dared not stay silent, yet feared speaking beside the point and being wrong.

The Celestial Master said again: “You still say you cannot grasp it—how would worldly people know how to judge rich and poor?”

The disciple said: “Your disciple is ignorant, like an infant who only learns what parents teach.”

The Celestial Master said: “Well said—very modest, and not mistaken. Good; Perfected One, listen carefully—I will explain in detail.” (beginning)

The character for “rich” (fu) means complete and sufficient.

When Heaven brings forth all things, that is called richness. Thus when the supreme imperial qi (the fullest primordial vitality) is at work and twelve thousand kinds of things are fully generated, that is richness.

In the Middle Sovereign age, kinds of things were somewhat fewer—they did not reach twelve thousand; that is slight poverty.

In the Lower Sovereign age there were again fewer than in the Middle Sovereign age; that is great poverty.

When auspicious signs fail and good things do not arise, that is utmost poverty. (end)

Consider the large-scale proof: like a farm household—with no rare or precious things, it is a poor household; when the myriad things cannot be fully provided for, it is an utmost poor household—this is poverty between Heaven and Earth. (beginning)

When all twelve thousand kinds of things are born and the earth can nourish them without harm, that is earthly richness;

If you want to know the great signs of whether Heaven and Earth are “rich” or “poor,” the analogy is like a farm household: with no rare treasures, it is a poor household.

When the myriad things cannot all be complete and intact, that is the poorest kind of household in the sense of Heaven and Earth—this is “poverty” at the level of cosmos. When all twelve thousand kinds of things come forth and the great earth nourishes them without harm, that is “earthly wealth” (di fu); when it cannot nourish them well and they suffer slight damage, that is “slight earthly poverty”; when the damage is great, that is “great earthly poverty.” When good things do not appear because they are afraid, or are injured by the terrain and cannot grow, that is poverty at the lowest extreme; when there are no precious things and half of the myriad things are harmed, that is poverty from a great cause; when all are harmed, it is poverty like an empty void. Here Heaven is taken as father and Earth as mother; when father and mother are poor to the extreme, their children will grieve over poverty. This corresponds to how an emperor governs the realm.

Therefore the ancient sage-kings, in governing, could make the twelve thousand kinds of things complete—that was a ruler of supreme wealth; when good things fell short of two-thirds, a ruler of middling wealth; when short of one-third, a ruler of lesser wealth; when there were no rare and wondrous things, a ruler of the poorest wealth. When half the myriad things were harmed, it was a declining household; when all were harmed, a person of deepest poverty. The ancient sages dwelt in quiet chambers, reflecting on Dao and De by themselves; as for the rich and poor they touched upon, there was no need to ask others—they could know it while seated.

“Excellent, excellent! Now only the Celestial Master (Tianshi) pities emperors who long suffer grief, when half the things are harmed it is a declining household…” (repeated question on rich and poor)

“Excellent, excellent! Your question is difficult yet apt; you have already reached the subtle vital point. Yet rich and poor are summoned by the gains and losses of one’s conduct. One who vigorously practices the True Dao (Zhendao) is born with divine aid for transformation and nurture, so celestial spirits and good things are all complete and ample. One who practices De (Virtue) has the yang spirit of the earth come forth to nourish the spirit and assist in governance, hence half-wealth. One who practices benevolence (ren) has the harmonizing benevolent spirit come forth to assist in governance, hence slight wealth.”

This passage explains that the way a ruler governs determines which kind of “spirit” comes to assist—and the outcome differs sharply.

Governing through fine words and surface show (government by rhetoric and display) is like climbing a ladder of concealment and deceit, so a “spirit of deception” comes to help, and the realm falls into minor disorder.

Governing through force and punitive killing (government by martial might) brings spirits of the bandit type to assist. Outwardly the situation may seem controlled, even half-prosperous, but in truth this goes against Heaven’s heart (tianxin) and harms the good. Only one who truly governs by the Dao (the Way) follows what Heaven approves and promotes.

Heaven is most numinous, so the true spirit (zhen shen) assists its transforming and nurturing work. Earth is chiefly for sustaining life, so the spirit of De (virtue/power) assists its transforming and nurturing work. Human beings should take benevolence (ren) as their root, so the spirit of benevolence (ren shen) assists their transforming and nurturing work.

“Civil/rhetorical” rule (wen) stresses outward form, stratagem, and mutual manipulation—it loses the root, so the spirit of deception assists; above and below all play with words and schemes, and affairs turn chaotic. “Martial” rule (wu) uses punishment and killing to subdue people; bandits also use punishment and killing to subdue people. Whoever rules by mood, fierceness, and intimidation is in essence no different from bandits, so bandits multiply and rule becomes ominous and violent. Bandits further harm by seizing goods, so the realm loses its wealth.

Therefore ancient superior rulers made people submit through the Dao—in great accord with Heaven’s heart, rule seemed divinely aided and free of worry, because they used the true Dao to win hearts. Middle-grade rulers made people submit through De. Lower-grade rulers made people submit through ren (benevolence). Disordered rulers made people submit through wen (empty rhetoric and stratagem). Ruinous and defeated rulers had to make people submit through punitive killing.

Thus from antiquity superior rulers governed and won submission through Dao, De, and ren—they did not win submission through empty rhetoric and punitive killing, because those are base and inferior methods. Superior exemplary persons (junzi) are akin to Heaven and Earth: Heaven loves to give life and does not love to kill, hence the titles ruler and father; Earth loves to nourish the myriad things, hence the titles worthy minister and mother; human beings should keep a benevolent heart, cherish and nurture all living beings like Heaven and Earth, and are therefore called ren (benevolence).

These three are all paths of goodness, and therefore they can jointly govern the myriad things and serve as their teacher and refuge. Relying on deceit and harsh punishments cannot be used to govern a state; it only leads day by day toward disorder and violence, and cannot help a sovereign realize great peace. Hence such methods should be abandoned.

The True Person (Zhenren) transmitted this scripture to a ruler who possessed De (Virtue/Power), so that by earnestly practicing it and seeing results aligned with the Dao of Heaven, great peace could be achieved. Such a state may be called a “wealthy household” (fu jia)—there is no reason to doubt it. If one cannot do this, the sovereign is left in distress and the realm becomes instead a “poor household” (pin jia). Nowadays people sometimes call one another a wealthy household in ordinary life—what does that mean? It is empty talk among common folk. “Wealth” in its proper sense means having everything complete and sufficient; if even one thing is lacking, it is not complete. Therefore the ancient sages did not demand that a single person possess every quality, knowing that no human being can be perfect in all respects—so they did not use “completeness” as a harsh standard applied to individuals.

Today the eighty-one domains each have limited and incomplete resources and cannot always remain fully supplied, so they must draw from other states. How far can one single household’s wealth extend? True Person, you must not echo the common people’s loose talk.

“Dare not, dare not.”

“Since you study cautious speech, do not speak rashly. Rash speech disrupts the correct order of Heaven and Earth and cannot serve as a model for others—be ever more careful.”

“Yes. Today the Celestial Master (Tianshi) has shown favor and pity for the sovereign on the throne, who toils in worry and does not obtain Heaven’s intent, and has opened the way item by item so they may enter the path that leads to great peace and the supreme sovereign way. Your foolish student has received so much from the scriptures that, like a small child, I am dizzy and do not know what else to ask. I only hope the enlightened master will set forth the full admonitions and instructions.”

“Excellent, excellent! In the law of Heaven, the yang number is one and the yin number is two; thus yang is odd and yin is even. Therefore rulers are few and ministers and subjects are many.”

Yang is honored and yin is humble, so two yin should jointly serve one yang. That is why heaven counts as one and earth as two; among people, as between heaven and earth, two women should jointly serve one man. Why must two together sustain one person? Because the honored must not be left unsupported: when one goes out, the other should stand or sit beside him, making up what he lacks.

“One” stands for heaven; “two” stands for earth. Human beings are children of heaven and earth, so they ought to follow the pattern of their parents, heaven and earth.

Since the world lost the Dao, many have looked down on women and even killed them, so women become fewer than men. Yin energy is cut off and no longer answers to the law of heaven and earth. By the way of heaven, a lone yang with no mate withers, and heaven does not send rain in season. Women correspond to earth; if they alone are despised, and all under heaven together slight the true mother and together harm earth’s qi, earth’s qi dies and ceases to give birth. Earth grows angry and displeased, disasters multiply, and the ruler’s governance can hardly be at peace. Why?

Men are the spirit of heaven; women are the spirit of earth. Things of the same kind respond to one another. When rule is not balanced, it is not entirely the fault of the ruler alone; the world has lost the Dao, slighted human affairs, and joined in wrongdoing. The faults are not one kind but myriad, so the way of rule is hard to settle and disorder appears everywhere.

In the nature of heaven and earth, among all things human life is most precious. This practice of killing women gravely disrupts royal governance; the great calamity lies here.

“Today the Celestial Master (Tianshi) has opened the ladder of Great Peace (Taiping) for the ruler; the true scripture of Great Peace has already appeared. The ruler ought to dwell in ease without many troubles, yet now he brings great disaster by harming women—what is to be done?”

“Well asked—you are already aligned with heaven’s heart. …” (What follows continues with the Celestial Master’s reply.)

Therefore, the reason people throughout the world look down on and loathe women is, at root, that they think the blame lies in how women behave.

“What does this mean? I want to hear you explain it clearly. If it can be written on bamboo and silk and passed down for ten thousand generations without being cut or altered, that would be best.”

“Very good. If you can record it now, no one under Heaven will kill infant girls anymore.”

“Yes, yes. Please write it down: to remove the calamities that fall on emperors and kings—that is what I wish; and also to save the lives of women who suffer injustice.”

“Very good. You have already gained the benefit counted in Heaven’s ledger.”

“What is the benefit counted in Heaven’s ledger?”

(Question) Then, letting people live is called “living by oneself,” and killing people is called “killing by oneself.” Heaven cherishes its children; if children can sustain their own lives, their life tally in the celestial court will be increased, and Siming (the deity who governs lifespan) will also amend their names on the registers.

(Answer) “I dare not, I dare not.”

(Question) “You must not defer any longer—this is heaven’s natural law. The reason people in the world kill their children is that while the children are small, parents themselves suffer hardship and must cut their own food and clothing to raise them together. It is not only humans: insects and beasts are the same. Whether old, grown, or young, each should seek food and clothing according to their own strength, so all things leave their parents and find their own sustenance. The worthy live in ease; the unworthy live in hardship. When children are young, their strength grows day by day and becomes more than enough; parents grow old day by day, and their strength grows less and becomes insufficient. Whether male or female, whoever is intelligent, capable, and has strength to spare ought in the first place to take less support from parents and repay their parents’ merit and kindness by providing for them. Therefore parents should not keep demanding food and clothing from their children. If it is reversed, the weak are made to sustain the strong and the insufficient to sustain the surplus—this is contrary governance (niezheng). When the young still worry over the old, it does no good for the parents, and that is why parents so often kill their children. Now, merely because food and clothing are lacking they kill them—would it not be better to let them live and each find their own food and clothing? True Person! This truly wrongs and severs earthly order (ditong)—the continuity of earth and human relations; the people are foolish beyond measure.

(Question) “Today, hearing you speak thus, I feel both grief and fear, knowing that those wronged are indeed very many. What can be done?”

(Answer) “It is so. Those who love learning yet cannot obtain food and clothing will inevitably slacken in study, and the Dao will come to a stop; if they can obtain food and clothing, the worthy will study without ceasing. Each person’s benefit should be his own; they must not be made to turn on one another in mutual hardship and poverty.”

(Question) “What do you mean?”

(Answer) (The text continues with how to let those who study the Dao and each social stratum obtain what is due to them, so they are not dragged down by one another over food and clothing—the original breaks off at the end of this passage and continues in what follows.)

Note: The core of this passage is the Taiping Jing’s consistent view of “self-sustaining life (zihuo)”: lengthening the life tally and Siming’s amendment of the registers both depend on “living” rather than “killing.” It also stresses that grown children should support their parents and that parents must not let the weak sustain the strong, treating killing children out of poverty as contrary governance and a wrongful severing of earthly order. It further argues that food, clothing, and study of the Dao cannot be separated: poverty stops learning; when each obtains his proper benefit, the worthy do not cease learning. The terms Siming, zengsuan (increasing the life tally), ditong, True Person (zhenren), and niezheng are retained according to the scripture’s usage.

Women have no official career to pursue, as men do when they enter government service and hold office. When a woman marries into her husband’s family, it is like a man taking up a post: she should receive food and clothing from that household.

In her husband’s home she should work with him to manage the household and carry on the human line that Heaven and Earth have entrusted to us—bearing and raising heirs and sustaining the clan. She stays with her kin in one place until death, each side supporting the other so that all have food and clothing. Then the worthy can live at ease, and even the unworthy feel their hardship—like soil: on good earth things flourish; on poor earth they do not. Heaven does not strip away what you have earned by your own labor; still less should people do so. Once this is understood, ordinary people will no longer kill daughters.

“Excellent, excellent! When that great harm is removed, the age of imperial Great Peace will be near.”

“How does the True Person know?”

“Parents and children are the closest bond under Heaven. One must not kill a child out of poverty and distress. To kill one’s own child aligns with the violent Qi of bandits and outlaws; it is supreme unfiliality and rebellion against the Way, and among such disorders none harms sage rule more deeply. When girls can be born and neither fall prey to robbers nor be destroyed by their parents, great joy will come.”

“You are right; you may say you understand. If every household under Heaven kills one daughter, think how many tens of millions of households there are. Some kill more than ten daughters in one family; some harm the fetus before birth. That grievous Qi gathers and rises to move Heaven—where is the sense in it? That is why I know this harm so clearly.”

“When each person earns food and clothing by honest labor, wives will not harbor divided loyalties; their minds stay fixed on their duties and doubt no longer.”

When a person toils hard yet sees no fruit from their labor, the heart cannot find lasting peace. Matters of this kind belong to the natural order of Heaven and Earth. The perfected person (zhenren) should be cautious: this book must not be cast aside. Entrust it to a ruler of benevolence and virtue, and it can dissolve a great knot of injustice and calamity.

You must faithfully keep the words in my book and show them to the world: if once again no one is willing to abandon infant girls, that will accord with the law of Heaven and Earth—for by heaven’s ordinance, yang numbers are odd and yin numbers are even, so one man may be paired with two women. Since middle antiquity, people have turned away from the Way of Heaven, killing infant girls in great numbers, with the perverse result that men are many, women few, and partners insufficient. This is a grave violation of the Way of Heaven, yet it has been handed down generation after generation as custom. Later ages grow ever more wicked—how painful, how devoid of the Way!

Men inherit the celestial lineage (tian tong); women inherit the terrestrial lineage (di tong). Yet now the terrestrial lineage is cut off, so that women cannot pass on generation after generation through birth; many lineages end childless and without heirs—how heavy the guilt! Originally men and women should generate one another and continue through the ages; now the terrestrial lineage is severed and humankind is destroyed, so Heaven has long cut off those lineages from the world.

Moreover, when a person is formed in the mother’s womb, celestial qi (qi) is present first, and only then does birth occur. The round head images Heaven, the square feet image Earth, the four limbs image the four seasons, the five viscera image the Five Phases (wuxing), the ears, eyes, mouth, and nose image the seven governors and three luminaries—such correspondences cannot all be listed; only the sage can fully comprehend them. Every person contains yin and yang; when the sun and moon complete their term, the womb opens and the child emerges. One should look to Heaven and Earth as enduring, jointly transmit the lineage of the ancestors, assist Heaven in nourishing the myriad things, and assist Earth in completing form and substance. The spirits of Heaven and Earth trust in this principle.

The divine lineage of Heaven and Earth is entrusted to human beings, yet people turn and harm it. Heaven rebukes this deeply, while among humans no one forbids it—therefore Heaven sent me to bring forth this book as a sign for later generations.

When a matter has already been detected and brought to light, yet one deliberately offends again, this is called “knowingly violating celestial law with full awareness.” The guilt is doubled in weight, harms the present generation, and severs posterity—there is no doubt about it. The True Person (the accomplished guide on the Way) must be extremely careful, exhorting and warning himself without slackening. “Yes, yes.”

“Since you have already become aware of this matter, yet you still conceal the scriptures and evade transmitting them, you are bearing others’ guilt while bringing punishment upon yourself.” “We dare not, we dare not.” “Go now—each of you must look to the safety of your own body and life.” “Yes, yes.”

(Right column begins.) It treats separately how the rich and the poor, and how rulers, should act in order to obtain good fortune; it forbids people from cutting off earthly lineage and the thread of human relations, so that men and women may be properly paired and governance and teaching may be at peace. (End.)

“The Law of One Man and Two Women,” section forty-two.

The Perfect Person stepped forward and said: The great qi of supreme peace is about to arrive, and the kingly Way is moving toward great peace—should people keep to “purity” (zhen)? And why should they keep to purity?

The reply: What is meant by purity is to stir the emotions and desires little and not act recklessly.

Someone sighed: The Perfect Person’s words are upright. From the middle antiquity onward, worldly people have gone astray, often because their teachers, jealous at heart, instead taught the common people to act rashly.

The Perfect Person asked: What does that mean?

The answer: If a man keeps purity by not releasing essence (jing) and a woman keeps purity by not receiving transformation, Yin and Yang do not join, and posterity is cut off and human relations are severed. When two people together break the thread of heaven-and-earth’s nurturing, all for the sake of grasping at a small, hollow reputation, they end with no descendants and lose the real core—this is a great harm to the world. (Stop.)

You also ask: If you did not come into being through your parents’ transmission of life, where did you come from? Yet you turn around and want to sever that line—this is what heaven and earth together detest; such people are called those who violate the norm and commit the greatest rebellion. Their retribution is that heaven and earth are cut off from each other—heaven will not send rain, earth will not give birth to the myriad things. Why is it so?

(Continued) When heaven sends no rain, it is like “purity” without release; when earth does not nurture the myriad things, it is like “purity” without receiving transformation. When heaven sends no rain and earth does not nurture, that is the greatest misfortune and guilt in the world. (Stop.) How can that still be called good?

It is also said: Look at the Perfect Person’s teaching—going against heaven-and-earth’s teaching of generation, opposing the Way of Heaven (Tiandao), heaven and earth are not pleased. When heaven sends no rain and earth does not give birth to the myriad things, that is the greatest misfortune and guilt. (Stop.) How can that count as good?

The Perfect Person (or the reply) said: What comes from your mouth—have you never failed the August Heaven and the Sovereign Earth? The other had no strong words to answer, knew his guilt was heavy, and upon seeing the Celestial Master’s (Tianshi) teaching, how could he not feel his offense was deep?

I say to you as my child: In all things one must not go against the Way of Heaven; if one only follows what ordinary people say and does not accord with heaven’s intent, Yin and Yang are often cut off from each other, and that is fundamentally because men and women are not in harmony.

Men and women are the root of Yin and Yang. If one governs the realm yet turns away from this root, how can there be good fortune?

“Today only the Celestial Master (Tianshi) can answer this. What should be done?”

“Yes. The harmonizing qi of the Great Heaven is about to descend; one should wholly follow the Way of Heaven. Therefore it is prescribed that one man should be paired with two women, to symbolize Yin and Yang: yang numbers are odd, yin numbers are even. This is how the arrival of supreme harmonizing qi is shown. If women are too many, yin qi will overflow; if men are too many, yang qi cannot maintain balance on its own, and misfortune will follow as well. Why? The size of the population should correspond to heaven and earth; if they do not match, strength is insufficient, and harm will result.”

“What is meant by saying the sovereign’s inner quarters should correspond to the land?”

“What the perfected person says matches my meaning exactly. Woman is the spirit of the land; the king is the spirit of heaven. The ruler fears that the land may lack yang spirit, so kingly qi cannot unite in harmony. Where the land fails to nurture and transform the myriad things, one woman is taken from each province to connect its qi. To make transformation go smoothly, and lest grace not reach everywhere or royal governance be incomplete, women are taken in proportion to the breadth of the land and distributed broadly, so heavenly qi can penetrate, rain falls in season, and the land can nurture and transform the myriad things. When the qi of Great Peace arrives, one must not exalt chastity and celibacy alone; inwardly clinging too rigidly to purity will make royal governance discordant, and ordinary people too must not overstep the law—hence the rule of one man and two women.”

“Excellent! Excellent!”

From here on: aligning with heaven and earth and following the pattern of Yin and Yang, so that men and women suffer no injustice—then timely rain falls, the earth gives birth and transforms, and royal governance is at peace. End.

The True Person stepped forward and said: The breath of Great Peace has now descended, so that those who are cautious and do good may flourish day by day, while those who do evil may decline day by day. Yet if people still commit murder and violence, and bandits rise in rebellion, what should those who govern do?

The other asked: What do you mean by that?

The reply: It means that when calamity and disorder are about to arise, one must be able to detect it beforehand. It is like when the ruler harbors doubts in his heart—he must find ways to make good people flourish greatly and evil people decline swiftly; when bandits gather, he must be able to grasp the situation in time.

They asked again: Then what should governance actually do?

The reply: True Person, you must remember this well. Today the Celestial Master has ordered me to explain, and I dare not remain silent; yet each time I speak I fear it may not accord with the Celestial Master’s law.

The Celestial Master said: Why such modesty? Since ancient times the great sages have not been harsh toward a single person. Your words have not yet hit the mark—what is there to be modest about?

The reply: Yes. One need only reward good and punish evil, so that the boundary between them is clear (characters missing in the later text), and good people will rise day by day while evil people decline day by day.

The Celestial Master said: You speak correctly. Surely reward and punishment have specific categories?

The reply: My ability is limited; I dare not say more. I ask the Celestial Master to instruct us.

The Celestial Master said: Good—remember this; I will explain in detail. When the chief official reaches the place where bandits have risen, he gathers all the people of the district: former high ministers and former clerks are seated facing east; those who understand the scriptures and possess virtue are seated facing north; those who are filial to parents and respectful to elder siblings are seated facing west; among tenant households, cautious young men who keep within their station are placed in the southeast corner, facing northwest; youths who do evil are placed in the southwest corner, facing northeast; the ruler himself sits facing south. Must they be seated exactly thus? Each class takes its proper place—only then does it accord with the Way of Heaven, align with human hearts, and establish good government, and bandits become easy to capture. What is meant by “easy to capture”? Former high ministers and clerks are placed in the position of “righteousness,” showing that though this person no longer holds office, he still wishes to assist through righteousness; those versed in the scriptures and possessed of virtue are placed in the position of “illumination,” so that they may help one another on the path of the scriptures and discern wickedness; those who practice filial piety and fraternal respect are assigned to their native place—for the utmost filial devotion is rooted in the native place, hence they are sent home; those who practice filial piety and fraternal respect must always be as cautious and reverent as if attending court.

All things arise from the east, and people rejoice to see them grow day by day. Diligent sons who exert themselves fully cast (symbolic objects) toward the southeast corner—the southeast belongs to the position of “nourishing growth”; one must earnestly align with the way of growth. That is why the rite has them “return to their native place,” back to their proper role. Those who speak of filial piety and brotherly respect wish everyone to remain reverent at all times, as when attending court before the ruler, never slackening.

(To restate the meaning above:) Things are born from the east; people delight in their daily advance. Sons who are careful and forceful cast toward the southeast, because the southeast is the realm of long nurturing—meaning to rejoice in cultivating and ordering the myriad things without slackness. Wicked and unworthy sons are assigned to the southwest—the southwest is where yang energy wanes and yin is about to rise. Wicked people tend toward mutual scheming and craft; punishments and offenses often begin there. That is why creatures famed for cunning, such as monkeys and apes, are placed in the southwest, the direction of “facing decline.”

(In seating,) those facing east, west, and north sit in the front; unworthy sons and wicked sons are all placed behind. Where there is wine, each receives one vessel; where there is no wine, they receive good words instead, helping one another so that everyone understands the matter more clearly, until the rite ends.

The ruler sits in the inner chamber, closed within the door, and calls each person by name in turn. This follows rank from high to low in beginning instruction: each person states one matter, and the “chief name” (the person or item recorded) is noted. What is said and what is recorded should be able to match afterward; if they do not match, that person is made to take a seat and be examined (or is not allowed to share the same mat). Speech that does not match the record marks a great hypocrite—thus one knows who the flatterer and deceiver is. Even when speech matches the record, do not reward or promote at once—why? For fear of stirring resentment. A ruler or father who lets ministers or sons accumulate resentment is not a loving father or a wise ruler. Therefore, when the rite is finished, the good are sent away; wicked young men go with officials to pursue (bandits), and they may not stop even if they fail to catch the thief.

The True Person (Zhenren) entrusted this book to a ruler of supreme De (virtue), and also displayed it to ordinary people, so that everyone would know this teaching exists: the good grow daily, the wicked decline daily, and thieves, robbers, and treachery become fewer.

(Someone asked,) “Excellent, excellent—why must this be shown beforehand?”

(Answer:) When Heaven is about to send rain, wind and clouds rise first, so that people may know in advance. The reason is joy that (the rain) can gather and store the myriad things; so showing this teaching beforehand is likewise joy at seeing the good flourish day by day and the evil cease day by day.

The qi of great peace is about to descend; Heaven fears that evildoers may disturb that order, so it lets people become aware beforehand. In governing, one should take the Dao as model—the Dao does not cover up people’s faults, and the sages of utmost antiquity did not do so either; those who do good grow daily, and those who do evil cease daily.

If one still fears that the rule of great peace will be disrupted, the same applies: awareness must come first. If rule does not shine like Heaven, it is called dark governance; it repeatedly draws misfortune and misses Heaven and Earth’s intent, so the principle must be shown clearly first.

In the dialogue, the other party says: Very good, very good. Why must the ruler shut himself inside the gate and seal himself in, while those who offer counsel stand outside?

The reply: When one is to hear confidential words, the mind often does not yet know or prepare. If head and face are too close, bystanders will learn the content, and the adviser will come to harm. One who leads should take in others’ wise counsel, yet afterward lets them suffer—that is called injuring loyalty and trust; worthy assistants will no longer speak. When wisdom is blocked and orders cut off, state affairs fall into disorder and danger. Moreover, the ruler belongs to yang yet occupies the yin position (inside the door); ministers belong to yin yet occupy the yang position (outside). When yin and yang each have their place, people are glad to finish what they say, and what is offered will be fully believed—this is Heaven’s natural law. Does the Perfected One not know this?

Answer: Yes, yes.

Again: Go, and do not speak rashly. This is the book that brings great peace.

Answer: Yes, yes.

(Summary of the section) To promote good and stop evil, open the way to wisdom, establish fixed standards, end banditry and theft, and let loyal and trustworthy people obtain the essential method.

(Volume) Taiping Jing Hejiao, juan 36, Part Bing 2—Taiping Jing juan 36, Shou San Shi Fa (Keeping the Three Realities), section 44.

Opening

The Celestial Master asked the Perfected One: “Among the affairs of people under heaven, which are of great urgency? Which are of lesser urgency? And which seem not urgent yet, over time, draw misfortune and calamity?”

The Perfected One replied: “Yes, yes. I will speak as far as my heart can reach, without concealment.”

The Celestial Master said: “Speak.”

The Perfected One said: “Among all affairs under heaven, what is useful is urgent; what is useless is not urgent.”

The Celestial Master said: “Part of what you say holds, but it is not complete. As for what is constantly urgent and must not be abandoned: once abandoned, the world is cut off and no one continues. Those root matters where heavenly patterns merge and names and ranks are not yet fixed—these are the great urgency.”

End

The Celestial Master said again: “What you just said is mostly the small urgency that fits human wishes for the moment.”

The Celestial Master spoke further: “Still partly right, yet still not at the root. What is constantly urgent and must not be abandoned—if abandoned, the world perishes and none remain—what aligns with heavenly signs and the calendar, where names and ranks are not yet established, that is the great urgency.”

End

“What you describe is still the small urgency that pleases people for the moment; it instead feeds expectation and becomes the source of various misfortunes and calamities.”

The Celestial Master asked: “Perfected One, I ask: Who or what is constantly urgent and must not be set aside?”

The Perfected One: “Now only the Celestial Master may array and explain in detail. Your humble student overstepped once with a line that missed the mark and dares not speak again.”

The Celestial Master: “So. Only what one knows can one speak; to speak forcibly without knowing is to trap oneself in a dead end.”

“What human strength cannot reach: whether the matter is large or small, one must not force oneself to know and explain. What is within reach is not hard; what is beyond reach is not easy. Therefore, since the Celestial Master has already illumined those born dull and not yet arrived, they wish you would open the beginning—first assent, then listen.”

Opening

“Under heaven there are two great urgencies and one lesser urgency; the rest are not urgent and instead weary people’s ears and eyes—what seems good in the moment yet in the long run draws misfortune and brings people to ruin.”

〈Under heaven there are two great urgencies and one lesser urgency…〉

“What does this mean?”

Note (thread of the scripture’s meaning, not original text):

This passage is the Celestial Master examining the Perfected One: one must not treat “useful in the moment, pleasing to people” as the highest urgency. What is truly constantly urgent and must not be abandoned concerns the world not being cut off, heavenly patterns and names and ranks (cosmic order and the bond between names and reality), and other fundamentals; the scripture also marks two great urgencies and one lesser urgency, while much else is “false urgency” that distracts the senses and invites harm. The Perfected One’s first answer—“what is used is urgent”—is corrected again and again by the Celestial Master, who also stresses speak when you know; do not speak forcibly when you do not.

How foolish people are! When human beings first received their mandate from Heaven and came into life, they shared the same essential nature as Heaven and Earth and carried within them the primordial Qi of nature. They had no need for food or drink; sustaining life through breathing the Yin and Yang Qi alone was enough, without hunger or thirst. As time went on, they drifted ever farther from the divine Way, little by little turning away from their original intent, until those born later could no longer know how things once were. The true Dao is empty and subtle; as it gradually degenerated into what is false, hunger and thirst appeared, and without eating and drinking one would die—this is the first of the great urgencies.

Heaven and Earth took pity on living beings and together provided things that people could eat and drink, so that they both ate and drank. Heaven presides over Yin and Yang; the line of life ought to be passed from generation to generation and must not break the great continuity of Heaven and Earth. The way of continuation should take Heaven and Earth as its model: one Yin and one Yang. That is why Heaven arranges for one man and one woman in the world, whose forms match one another, and only then can they give birth to offspring. Why must it be one Yin and one Yang? When Yang reaches its extreme it can generate Yin; when Yin reaches its extreme it can generate Yang. The two transform into each other, just as when cold ends heat returns, and when heat ends cold returns—this is the natural order, and only thus can life be mutually sustained without end, passing down the great continuity of Heaven and Earth from age to age.

If men and women cannot be paired, there will be no descendants at all; if there are no people in the world, how can there be husband and wife, father and son, ruler and minister, or teacher and disciple? On what basis could mutual generation and governance exist? If there were no male and female pairing between Heaven and Earth, by what means could continuity be passed on? All would sink into empty stillness—this is the second of the great urgencies. Thus Yin and Yang are what continue the great lineage of Heaven and Earth and keep what is boundless from being cut off; ruler and minister are what govern disorder; the sage, the teacher, and the disciple are charged with opening the teaching that reaches the Way of Heaven and assisting the sovereign in transforming the realm. Food and drink and the pairing of male and female depend on each other; both rank equally among the great urgencies.

The Way of Heaven brings both cold and heat; it does not deliberately hide or conceal itself, yet it often “half-kills” people. That is why Heaven created the myriad things for people to use as covering for the body. Without clothing, one could only dwell in caves and hidden places, barely clinging to life while still fearing that half-death of injury without yet dying completely—this is what is called a half-urgency.

What is meant here by “the great urgency of Heaven’s Way” is the path toward total extinction and death. The most pressing matter is this: Heaven and Earth give birth to the myriad things, and human beings must have clothing. Without it, people can only live like birds and beasts, hiding in caves, barely surviving, often burdened by worry and half-ruined yet not quite dead—this is called “half-urgency.” “Great urgency” means complete extinction and death; nothing is more urgent than that.

Without clothing, people naturally find it hard to eat properly or harmonize Yin and Yang, which harms body and mind alike. With clothing, it is easier to nurture worthy persons; without it, people easily slide into unworthiness. Thus the main purpose of clothing is to ward off cold and harm; the ancient sages did not chase after splendid colors such as black and yellow in dress.

Food and drink and the harmony of Yin and Yang must not be cut off; if they are, no one under Heaven can be sustained and governance becomes impossible. Guarding these three—clothing, food, and Yin-Yang—is enough to live out one’s full span, transmit the mandate of Heaven, and see cycles begin again without end. The ancient sages took these three as the root of ordering the world; everything else that is not urgent and that invites misfortune and disaster should be discarded.

Why? Because these three accord with the movement of Heaven’s Way: the male corresponds to Heaven, the female to Earth, and clothing to what one relies upon; Heaven and Earth are like parents, and through this they nourish the human form. Beyond these three, odd and crafty ornaments are not needed for survival; they are only kinds handed down and generating one another—yet in excess they draw in fraud and wickedness, skew governance, keep the sovereign qi from arriving, and disorder Heaven’s Way, which deeply troubles the noble person.

The six emotions’ cravings—everyone delights in play and does not restrain themselves; the more they play, the more pleasure they find, until disaster comes. When nobles lose proper command and petty men rob and assassinate, it is often these “non-urgent things” that lure them. Poverty under Heaven, unbroken calamities, and the lower deceiving the upper—great harm often starts here. This trend is old, not only of our age; generation after generation it has been passed on, turning away from the true root and chasing surface glitter, harming oneself with worry, unable to live out a full span.

Taiping Jing Hejiao · “The Method of Three Urgencies, Auspicious and Inauspicious” (Chapter 45) — Plain-Language Commentary

Main text

Later generations often jumble their affairs and stay busy without rest, mostly because they treat what is not urgent as if it were urgent. That invites misfortune, so they run and toil and cannot stop.

[Supplement]

People chase surface glitter day after day, so worry clings to them and they cannot live out their full span. They also drive later generations to rush without pause; mountains and rivers are hollowed out, yuanqi (the life-breath of heaven and earth) is cut off, diqi (earth’s vital breath) weakens, and the ten thousand things fail to thrive. Heaven sends disasters and strange omens; the people dwindle, and deceit and falsehood grow again. “Things that are not urgent” (what survival does not truly require) can harm the world to that degree—yet people only indulge eyes and ears and do not see the deep calamity behind it.

In high antiquity, wuwei governance (ruling by non-forcing action), alignment with daoyi (the intent of the Dao), and alignment with tianyi (the intent of heaven) came from holding to the root and not losing the sanji (three urgencies—the text’s dialogue will explain: roughly, doing what must be done first, holding to what is solid, and casting off the false). Middle antiquity had somewhat more activity because small troubles were too many. Lower antiquity had many worries because too many troubles bred evil and falsity; people competed and blamed one another, and treachery arose among them. Within, they lost what is real; they left the root and abandoned the foundation and turned to harming one another, until people were confused. Though the junzi (noble person) worried and wished to set things right, the tasks they took up were endless; reason could not master reason, and order itself was disturbed. The Zhenren (Perfected Person) pondered this deeply.

(The other party) replied: “Excellent, excellent!”

Right: Hold the three solids; balanced qi comes, the false departs, and cunning ends

(The heading means: hold the three kinds of “solid”—root, solid virtue, solid governance, and the like, which in the scripture often pair with the “three urgencies”—then upright qi arrives, falsity leaves, and slick deceit is cut off.)

Dialogue

The Zhenren asked: In former times, among qixing (creatures that crawl on legs, such as insects) and the like, which things were greatly urgent, which slightly urgent, and which not urgent at all?

Answer: Yes—each has its urgency; there are thousands of threads, and each has its name for “urgency.” Qixing (walking insects and beasts) each has its aim; one cannot name them one by one.

Zhenren: You are already muddled. You pretend to be dull—why be so stubborn?

Answer: I truly cannot keep up (with your way of asking).

Zhenren: Think deeply on this meaning.

Key points (for reading the scripture)

• Sanji (three urgencies): The text stresses “hold the root and do not lose the three urgencies,” matching the later “hold the three solids.” The idea is to sort heavy from light: first protect the people, yuanqi, and the root—do not exhaust the world on what is not urgent.
• Things not urgent: Surface display, pleasures of eye and ear, over-mining mountains and rivers—these are treated as departures from the root.
• Wuwei governance: Not doing nothing, but holding the root and the three urgencies and generating fewer groundless affairs.

The disciple still said he could not grasp it, and asked what these “urgent matters” were actually called and where one should begin; he added that all kinds of creatures that can move each have their own orientation, so they cannot be summed up in a few names.

The True Person said: I have already worn myself out worrying over you, yet you still play dumb on purpose—why be so stubborn?

The disciple replied: I truly cannot keep up.

He asked again: You keep saying you cannot keep up—are people in the world wrong? Are they just as unable to keep up as you?

The disciple said: I only ask the Celestial Master to explain it clearly for us dull and dark-minded people.

The Celestial Master said: Very well. Every living being that can walk or crawl is born from receiving the lineage of Heaven-and-Earth Yin-Yang; all alike have “two great urgencies” and “one lesser urgency.” What does that mean?

When these beings are first formed by the Yin-Yang lineage, they are like inhaling and exhaling in breath-practice: they hold within them the natural qi and do not yet know they must eat or drink. As time goes on they drift farther from their root; the qi of the Great Dao is depleted, and Heaven’s qi cannot protect them forever, so hunger and thirst arise. For this Heaven established food and drink; at the same time the Yin-Yang lineage ought to be passed on, so there are male and female, generation after generation without end. If food and drink were cut off and Yin-Yang were not transmitted, under Heaven there would be no such moving life—this is the “two great urgencies.”

The “one lesser urgency” is: those with fur, feathers, or scales can also live, but above all they must transmit the Yin-Yang lineage; likewise they have male and female, never ceasing from age to age. If food and drink were cut off and they did not transmit with Yin-Yang, under Heaven there would likewise be no such beings—(in the meaning of the scripture this still comes under the great urgency of life, death, and continuation.)

Even among insects and lesser creatures, life persists. Those with fur and feathers are often prized for their charm and for shielding against cold and heat; those with scales are often prized for warding off harm—not because such traits are strictly necessary for life to exist, but only as a “minor urgency.” Most other behaviors, by contrast, tend to land in misfortune. Whoever fails to hold to these three foundations and acts recklessly in every direction will move toward death. This is the natural law suspended between heaven and earth. The realized person should grasp its meaning: those who keep these three align with the harmonizing qi of heaven and earth; those who lose them and indulge in endless novelty will meet harm.

“Excellent! Now that the Celestial Master (Tianshi) has instructed us, I wish to ask one thing more.”

“Speak.”

“Things like tree roots and hanging branches neither eat, drink, nor wear clothes—what is to be done?”

“Alas! Your learning does not advance day by day; instead you feel more ignorant each day—why?”

“There are also ‘two great urgencies’ and ‘one minor urgency’—what do they mean?”

“Listen carefully.”

“Yes, yes.”

All things need rain to grow; rain is their ‘food and drink.’ They also need the alternation of day and night, one span of yang and one span of yin: by day yang qi warms, by night yin qi moistens, so they can grow and dwell in peace—this is accord with yin and yang. Spreading branches and leaves are their ‘clothing.’ Some live with many leaves, some with few; this is the relation between substance (zhi) and ornament (wen). Thus without timely rain, the myriad things cannot grow and settle; without day and night joining yin-yang qi, they cannot take form—when nothing under heaven can live, it is great calamity: this is the first great urgency; when nothing under heaven takes solid form, that too is great calamity: the second great urgency.

As for fruit: sparse leaves can still bear fruit, few leaves can still bear fruit—bearing is what matters; leaf-count need not be lavish. That is the “minor urgency.” Fruit means the kernel (he). Hence the sages of old kept the “three substances (san shi),” and the realm knew great peace: they gained heaven’s heart, long-lasting fortune, and the full span of years—the weight lay on substance (zhi), not on dense foliage or gaudy color.

Therefore: whoever is lost in the branch-tip should turn back to the middle; lost in the middle, turn back to the root; lost in ornament (wen), turn back to substance (zhi); lost in substance, turn back to the root. The root shares one origin with heaven and earth, and so can govern. In decadent later ages the confused think of returning to the middle antiquity; when middle antiquity is chaotic, they think of returning to high antiquity; when high antiquity is chaotic, they think of returning to heaven and earth’s patterned norm (gefa); where that norm is doubtful, they think of returning to natural form; where nature still puzzles them, they think of returning to the primordial qi (qi) of the upper origin.

Thus the ancient sages governed by consuming qi (shi qi): dwelling deep in a quiet chamber to ponder the Way, reflecting on the image of gain and loss, not daring to step outside the boundary of heaven’s law and punishment; abiding in stillness until the meaning was theirs, their governance stood level and resembled heaven and earth. Realized one—ponder deeply the words of my Way: can you not know this?

“Well said, well said!”

“Go—you are awakened. Use my book to set disorder right; you can test it at once, without waiting for the season. Do not hide this text; let ordinary people know what substance and ornament have lost, ponder its meaning deeply, and turn back to the three authentics (san zhen)—do not torment yourself with the crooked and false. Realized one, be careful!”

“Yes, yes.”

Right interpretation: when the myriad things hold to their root, gaining the “three urgencies” brings good fortune; losing them brings harm.

(Following the previous section) When the myriad things keep to their root, grasping the “three urgencies” is auspicious; losing them is harmful.

The Method of Serving the Dead Without Falling Short of Serving the Living (Section 46)

The Perfected One stepped forward. The reply: “Yes, yes.”

Question: When a filial child serves parents, and after the parents die continues to serve them (sacrifice, mourning observances, and the like), should this be exactly the same as when they were alive?

Answer: It should not be the same; service to the dead should exceed service while they lived.

Question: Why?

Answer: People are born through their parents and grow up under them. When they see their kin die with no day of return, they cannot forget for a moment. While alive, they met daily, received instruction, and had somewhere to report when going out or coming in; after death they cannot meet again, and grief in remembrance runs deep—so what is done for the dead should outweigh what was done in life.

The Perfected One said: Correct. People already drift far from the truth of the Dao (the Way); the farther they go, the worse it gets. Even the Perfected One speaks thus; ordinary people, benighted likewise, lose the clarity of the Dao.

Question: What does this mean? Please, Celestial Master (Tianshi), explain.

Answer: The living person images Heaven and belongs to Heaven; the dead person images Earth and belongs to Earth. Heaven is father, Earth is mother—one must not serve the mother beyond how one serves the father. The living are Yang; the dead are Yin—one must not let service to Yin exceed service to Yang. Yang is ruler, Yin is subject—one must not serve the subject beyond how one serves the ruler.

If service to Yin in fact exceeds service to Yang, rebellious Qi (vital energy) arises; a small excess brings a small rebellion, a large excess a large one—called rebellious Qi, called rebellious governance. The harm is that Yin overcomes Yang, the lower deceives the upper, ghosts, spirits, and evil things flourish, all riding upon the human way, often walking by day without shunning people; disease never ceases, ranks of ghosts go on without stop. The great calamity lies here. Do you know or not?

Answer: This foolish student falls far short; there is fault. Now hearing the Celestial Master’s words, I am deeply moved and greatly awakened. Please, Master, forgive; I will strive to be careful in practice and ask you to open what I still do not grasp; this fault seems slight—why should it lead to such consequences?

Answer: Serving the lower beyond the upper, Yin beyond Yang—this fault is great. Since you are deeply moved and greatly awakened… (the Celestial Master continues below to explain the harm of rebellious Qi.)

Note: In earlier parts of this scroll, “three urgencies” often means urgent tasks or essentials of the root; here the heart of the chapter is serving the dead exceeding serving the living—the weight of mourning rites and remembrance in ritual and sincere intent should be heavier than ordinary daily care while parents lived, not a license to treat them poorly in life and spend lavishly after death. The hierarchy of Heaven and Earth, father and mother, Yang and Yin, ruler and subject is used to show one must not invert priority (Yin must not press down Yang), not to deny sacrifice and mourning as such.

This passage is a dialogue between a master and a disciple (or “Perfected One”) on what happens when yin flourishes and yang declines, and what follows when governance and human affairs lean toward yin and the lower ranks over yang and what is above.

The master says: You must still strive and act with care, and make clear what you do not understand. If the fault now seems slight, how could matters have come to this?

The other replies: In affairs, when yin presses over yang and the lower over the upper, that is a grave fault. Once things reach this point, how can it still be called a “small fault”? Even if the Perfected One presses again and again, it will be too late to catch up.

It is also said: The living are yang; ghosts and spirits are yin. The living belong to day; the dead belong to night. To grasp the deeper meaning, think of it this way: when the day lengthens, the night shortens; when the night lengthens, the day shortens. When yang rises, it presses over yin; yin hides and dares not appear rashly, and ghosts and spirits withdraw. When yin rises, it presses over yang; yang hides, and ghosts and spirits can appear in broad daylight.

The living stand with the sun; treacherous ghostly things stand with the stars. The sun is yang; stars are yin. Thus when the sun rises, the stars vanish; when the stars rise, the sun sets. Therefore when yin prevails, ghostly things harm together in ways too deep to name—this is called “raising yin and declining yang”: yin rises while yang is suppressed. To govern the realm and administer affairs in this way is to harm the living in return. Such a fault is very heavy; you must ponder it deeply.

The other answers again and again, “Yes, yes.” (End.)

Appendix: The True Person again asked the Divine Person: “When a filial son serves his parents, after they pass away should he go on ‘serving’ them exactly as when they were alive, or should something change? Should he be even more devoted than in their lifetime, or need he not be quite so thorough? A person is born through his parents and grows to adulthood; he sees both parents grow old and depart with no return, can no longer receive their teaching, and has no one to answer to in daily comings and goings—yet longing and imagining in the heart will not stop. Is it acceptable to want to serve them even more fully than before they died?”

The Divine Person said: “What you say is merely the worldly way of talking about filial piety, not the true meaning of the Great Dao. While alive, a person symbolizes Heaven and belongs to Heaven; in death, he symbolizes Earth and belongs to Earth. Heaven is father, Earth is mother. Serving ‘Earth’ (mourning rites and remembrance) must not exceed serving ‘Heaven’ (filial duty while they lived). Life belongs to Yang, death to Yin. Service to Yin must not exceed service to Yang. Yang is the way of the ruler; Yin is the way of the minister. Service to the minister must not exceed service to the ruler. If service to Yin surpasses service to Yang, Yin and Yang turn upside down and calamity arises; if minor matters are done with more zeal than major ones, the order of governance is inverted and misfortune grows worse. When Yin qi overpowers Yang qi, the lower overbears the upper, ghosts, spirits, and evil things flourish greatly, walking among people even in broad daylight; plagues never cease and Yang qi cannot flow freely. The ruler’s way declines while the minister’s way swells. Therefore the ancient emperors who possessed the Dao took raising Yang as their highest priority and restraining Yin as their constant practice. The day is Yang, the night is Yin. When the day is long, the night is short; when the night is long, the day is short. When the day prevails, the living flourish; when the night prevails, ghosts and spirits flourish. Humans share the day; ghosts and spirits share the stars. The sun is Yang, the stars are Yin. Thus when the sun appears the stars hide; when the stars appear the sun sets. When Yin flourishes, ghosts and spirits bring harm—and the harm that Yin brings is just like this.”

The Heavenly Dao and Yin-Yang

The heavenly Dao sets the pattern: the Yin side, in its proper role, should always be weaker than Yang—just as subjects should be weaker than the ruler so they can serve in obedience, and children weaker than parents so they can fulfill filial duty. When what ought to be weak is not weak, and what ought to move does not move, disaster becomes very grave. Therefore, even when a filial child’s feelings run deep, they must not exceed in honoring the dead what they showed while the living person was still alive. Do you, the perfected one, understand this? “Yes, yes.” “Be doubly careful! In all matters one must not act recklessly merely because it pleases oneself.” “Yes, yes.”

One Must Not Honor the Dead More Than the Living

“You wish to exceed in honoring the dead what you gave the living—that goes against the heavenly Dao. Why is that?” “Because one fails to revere Yang while the living still matter, yet only reveres Yin instead—that is turning one’s back on Yang and facing Yin, and that is where one overshoots the heavenly Dao. Your disciple is dull and greatly at fault; I only ask the Celestial Master’s forgiveness.” “It is not so—think it through yourself: everything said should accord with the proper standard.” “Yes, yes. I beg the Celestial Master to explain: why must honoring the dead not surpass what was done in life? Burial, clothing, and all expenses carried into the funeral should none of them exceed what the person had while alive. All of this counts as overturning proper governance; it also brings penalty upon the dead (zhé—reckoning in the other realm). If send-off for the dead does not match what the registers of the netherworld and the inquest truly record, it turns instead into deceit—and the penalty grows heavier. Excessive reverence in mourning, funerals on too grand a scale, inversely draws misfortune; corpse-ghosts flare up and harm people, and strange transformations multiply—what proves this?”

Funerals in High Antiquity, Middle Antiquity, and Late Antiquity

“A good question! The sages of high antiquity handled funerals with inward sincerity alone—they dared not make a great show. Death is the greatest inauspicious and evil event under heaven; to stir up inauspicious affairs harms people, so they only gave their full heart. Food and drink were as in life—neither stinting nor extravagance. People then were mostly fortunate, rarely ill, and all could finish their natural span. In middle antiquity, send-off and mourning slightly missed the standard, could not stay single-minded: inwardly they were roughly sincere, yet lost the original intent and instead added a little display, drifting into showiness to please the living—mind and goods only half reached the dead. The dead person’s ghost came to share the offerings; mourning slightly betrayed the facts, and sacrifices were raised on top—immediately evil was invited. One no longer knew which spirit or ghost came to share the food, and so lingered to plague people—hence people suffered small illnesses without end. Late antiquity again inherited the small errors of middle antiquity and enlarged them into great errors…”