《龙门心法》Vol. 2

This is called the "Precepts of Initial Perfection" (Chuzhen Jie Zi). The Initial Perfection Precepts (chu bu xiuchi zhe zunshou de jielü, "precepts observed by beginning practitioners") require that one maintain dignified composure in the four daily postures of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, so that the bearing of the body is orderly and upright. They do not yet address the "Dharma body" (the pure original substance spoken of by cultivators), and they have nothing to do with concentration or wisdom. Because your minds are restless and hard to quiet, ten precepts have been established to restrain body and mind. If you cultivate in accordance with these precepts, body and mind can settle, and from there you may go on to practice the Precepts of the Central Ultimate (Zhongji Jie).

Friends, the Precepts of the Central Ultimate concern concentration (ding), which differs from the Initial Perfection Precepts: the Initial Perfection emphasizes precept (jie), the Central Ultimate emphasizes concentration, and the Precepts of the Celestial Immortal (Tianxian Jie) emphasize wisdom (hui). Out of compassion for all beings, the Venerable of Heaven (Tianzun) established these three methods of precept, concentration, and wisdom to subdue body, mind, and intention. They are the essentials and treasures by which one transcends the ordinary world and leaves it behind to cultivate the Golden Elixir (jindan). Apart from them, there is no other gate of practice. Outwardly there are eighty-four thousand methods of cultivation, yet none of them can be separated from concentration and wisdom.

Whether one takes divine elixirs, refines the Golden Liquid Returning Elixir (Jinye Huandan), ascends bodily in broad daylight, lifts one's whole house up to heaven, or practices the arts of spiritual transformation, shijie (liberation by leaving a corpse behind), lihua (sitting down and dying upright), or transmigration and seizing another's body, none of these can exceed concentration and wisdom. The light of concentration and wisdom, steady and unmoving, illuminates these marvels just as a bright mirror hung in a hall reveals the form of whatever comes and goes before it. These arts therefore still lie within concentration and wisdom and cannot transcend them.

Friends, the "Zhong" (central) in "Zhongji" (the Central Pole) refers to Doumu Tianshu (Dipper Mother Celestial Pivot), the pivot of the Northern Dipper that Daoism venerates. It symbolizes a lofty, steadfast center that does not move. "Ji" (pole) refers to the pivot where the Southern Pole gives life and the Northern Pole brings death, that is, the key that governs birth and death. The great transformations of life and death all depend on the handle of the Dipper turning in secret and driving this numinous pivot. The two characters together signify grasping the authority of heaven and earth and the key to life and death.

The "zhong" here is neither inside nor outside. It does not lean left or right, front or back, but is the Way of centrality and rectitude, neither too much nor too little, without bias. It is also the "zhong" of yunzhi juezhong (sincerely holding fast to the Mean), zhizhong he (reaching centrality and harmony), duo yan shu qiong, bu ru shou zhong (where words are many, one soon runs out of argument, so it is better to keep to the center), the middle way walked by the junzi (exemplary person), and the uprightness of one who establishes oneself without deviation.

The names xuanzhu (mysterious pearl), shumi (millet grain), moni sheli (muni relics), jindan daji (Great Ultimate Golden Elixir), and others all in fact point to the same thing: the empty, luminous, unclouded, wondrously bright true nature. Friends, what is dinghui dengchi (the balanced cultivation of concentration and wisdom)? In Chan meditation, it means that samadhi and wisdom advance together in equilibrium.

Friends, this numinous true nature (inner spiritual awareness) has been bound from beginningless time by the three karmas (the actions produced through body, speech, and mind, sanye). It has been stained by the six dusts (external objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental phenomena), clouded by the seven emotions, disturbed by the six desires, defiled by the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusion, and oppressed by the ten demons (the obstacles that disturb the mind in cultivation). As a result, the spirit is secretly obscured. People wish to die yet dare not give up their lives, and wish to live yet cannot live in peace. For this reason, they cannot look up to observe the Dao of Heaven or follow its movement.

Friends, this numinous true nature is a precious treasure, and it should only be reversed, never allowed to flow along with habitual tendencies (xiqi). To follow habit is to be changed by external things, to act on every thought the moment a circumstance arises, and so to invite demonic obstacles and calamities, to fall into transmigration, and to drift and sink through the four modes of birth and six destinies (the different forms of life and places of rebirth). Those who have received the Zhongji precepts (Daoist moral precepts) should be especially diligent in reversing their cultivation. To reverse is to refuse to be led by external things and circumstances. In this way, demonic obstacles and calamities will find it hard to disturb you, and you will be able to escape transmigration and rise above the endless drifting and sinking.

What, then, is meant by following habitual tendencies? In worldly life, it means bearing children, taking a wife or concubines, pursuing descendants, fame, and wealth, acquiring households, fields, and property, dressing in silk and brocade and enjoying luxurious garments, indulging in desire, taking life, and satisfying the palate with rich foods. All of these are busy efforts to pamper the physical body.

This body is originally a leather sack temporarily formed by the harmonious union of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind. Through the mingling of the father's essence and the mother's blood, and the mutual response of essence and qi, the blood congeals into a fetus, and then the consciousness (shenshi) enters it, establishes the fetus, and fixes its destiny. Ultimately, the body is transformed from the two qi of Yin and Yang, cannot last forever, and in the end returns to dust. Only merit and fault, these two matters, do not belong to the physical body itself, yet they cause the Dharma body (the nature or spiritual life that transcends the physical body) to bear the consequences of retribution.

Alas! Among you, some who do not believe in ghosts and spirits or in retribution after death hold instead that the fashen (dharma body, the spirit-body free from the limits of the flesh and able to bear karmic retribution) resides within the sheshen (visible physical body). Once the physical body dies, they say, the fashen is also emptied away. By this reasoning, when a person dies, their vital breath scatters and returns to the void, so where would there be heaven, hell, hungry ghosts, or animal realms as destinations, and where would there be a fashen to bear retribution?

Now let me ask you: if a person's breath is entirely dispersed and returned to emptiness at death, why do people still set out offerings for their deceased parents in spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and on festival days? If that vital spirit is not detained by the yinsi (netherworld bureau) for examination, then the good and evil a person did in life, whether they were honest and kind, and all their sins of debt, murder, plunder, slaughter, and theft, would not prevent them from returning to enjoy the sacrifices offered by their descendants. But if the dead cannot return to partake, then ancient texts such as the Zhou Li (Rites of Zhou) should not have recorded sacrificial texts, vessels, ceremonies, and rites, and the great sage Confucius should not have said that one should serve the dead as one serves the living, and sacrifice to the departed as if they were still present, and sacrifice to the shen (spirits) as if they were before one's eyes. He also said that one should fast and purify oneself and dress with solemnity to officiate at sacrifices, as if the spirits were abundantly present above, to the left and to the right. The Odes also say, "Shen zhi ge si, bu ke du si" (the coming of the spirits cannot be measured), meaning that the spirits' descent is hard to fathom. They also say, "Wen Wang zai shang, yu zhao yu tian" (King Wen is above, brilliantly shining in heaven), meaning that King Wen is above, radiant in the sky.

Gentlemen, since the ancients left us such sayings as "as if the spirits were above" and "King Wen is above," our hearts hold a sincere sense that ghosts and spirits draw near. Given this, the great sages Duke Zhou and Confucius must have understood the circumstances of ghosts and spirits deeply when they established the sacrificial texts, vessels, ceremonies, and rites, and transmitted them to teach later generations. How could sages speak falsehoods or invent strange tales?

Today, the officials and scholar-gentry who hold office still receive posthumous titles and enfeoffments after death. If the vital breath dispersed at death and one had no consciousness afterward, then the honor of these posthumous grants would already be considerable, but who would enjoy the golden seal and purple patent of nobility and bear the imperial favor? To believe that there are ghosts and spirits when one receives blessings, but none when one suffers punishment, is only to show that the human mind is unenlightened and the numinous nature has not awakened.

Some foolish people know only to indulge in wine and sensual pleasure, are bewitched by wealth and profit, and never investigate the yinye (karmic causes, the roots arising from one's conduct in life that bring about retribution after death). They believe only in the flesh-and-blood body before their eyes, and instead grudgingly chant a few lines of verse: "Do not think of the endless affairs after death; first enjoy a cup of wine before you." Yet they refuse to chant the two lines: "When the body dies, nothing can be taken away; in the netherworld, only karma follows one."

Beings: Karma is divided into three kinds, my good people. The first is unwholesome karma, namely the various evil deeds that entangle one another, continue without end, and are hard to bring to a close. Such actions have causes, and where there are causes there are corresponding retributions.

For instance, one who does not believe in ghosts and spirits, does not revere Heaven and Earth, and does not fear the royal law; who is disloyal to the ruler and unfilial to parents; who disregards the Three Bonds and Five Relationships (the ethical norms of traditional society); who slanders sages and worthies, kills living beings, steals, indulges in illicit sexual conduct, acts with cruelty and wantonness, and causes family members to live in fear and neighbors to be bullied. Such a person, after death, falls into hell, wandering from one level of hell to another and bearing endless suffering. Afterward they are reborn into the human world as an animal. Once the retribution of being an animal has been fully borne, they may be reborn as a human again, yet with mutilated features, dull-witted and muddled, ignorant of human feelings, despised and rejected by all, and condemned to lowly service as a menial for life. Later they sink further into begging, covered in sores, filthy and lousy, with clothing that does not cover the body and food that is never sufficient, suffering hunger and cold with nowhere to appeal, and enduring every kind of pain. When they die in the wilderness, their corpses are gnawed by ants and dragged away by dogs, their lonely spirits have no one to rely on, and they sink once more into hell.

The second is wholesome karma: one who is clever, upright, incorruptible, and fair, who keeps relatives harmonious and the village at peace; who loves and honors parents, serves the spirits, reveres Heaven and Earth, respects the ruler and teachers, and cherishes friends; who cultivates the self and restrains desire; who does not grasp at wealth when faced with money, and does not cling to beauty when faced with desire; and who observes the Five Relationships, so that all affairs are handled with rectitude and propriety.

In the third kind of karma, the practice of pure karma (jing ye), the aim is to become a sage and to vow to pursue the realm of immortals and Buddhas. One holds good thoughts in the heart, speaks good words, and performs good deeds; one draws near to good people, dwells in good places, and keeps good things. One's bearing is steady and dignified, the body does not move carelessly, and the mind does not wander recklessly; one strives to make the heart pure and tranquil. After long cultivation and deep accomplishment, the primal spirit (yuan shen, the originating spirit of a person) comes to rest and constantly abides in the bodily chambers that inner alchemy (neidan) practice describes: the Crimson Chamber (jiangshi), the Yellow Court (huangting), and the Golden Gate and Jade Hall (jinque yutang). At this point all worldly concerns cease at once, the many thoughts return to emptiness and stillness, and only the true numinous nature appears. One forgets the body, external things, circumstances, and cunning calculations; this is called "concentration" (ding).

This state of concentration is extraordinary. It is the realm of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), the supreme immortal realm revered in Daoism, where the spiritual brightness never dims. Above, one can transcend the thirty-six heavens; below, one can perceive the seventy-two earths. One roams freely beyond the three realms (sanjie) and can also move within the Five Phases (wuxing). The concentrated state is deep and silent, as though heaven and earth were turning along with it, and the myriad things return to primordial chaos and coalesce into a single undifferentiated Qi. At this point there is no heaven above, no earth below, and no human being in between; it cannot be expressed in words, nor can it be contemplated. Suddenly a divine light appears, and a wheel of wisdom-nature emerges. The clear Qi separates into heaven, the turbid Qi separates into earth, and the harmonious, balanced Qi condenses into the Dharma body (fashen), the pure body formed by the practitioner. Wisdom pervades the three realms, and its light illuminates the profound and remote. Nothing can escape its traces, nothing happens whose coming and going it does not know, and there is not the slightest attachment, obstruction, or dust.

All the heavenly dragons, ghosts, spirits, and demons submit to the Dao. When the Yanwang (King of the Underworld) sees this, he does not dare to speak loudly. The Niutou (Ox-Head) and Yecha (ghostly soldiers of the netherworld in underworld legend) also raise their fists in salute and obediently submit. Those who uphold these methods carry no attachment, hindrance, or dust in their hearts.

All the heavenly dragons, ghosts, spirits, and demons submit to the Dao. The Yanwang sees this and dares not speak loudly. The Niutou and Yecha also raise their fists in salute and obey respectfully. Those who uphold these methods have no name in the register of the living and no surname in the book of death, and so they can live long in the world. They can also expound the principles of the Dao and deliver others. In the end their spirits ascend, and they transform into immortals through Yuhua (feathered transformation, the Daoist term for ascending to immortality). They finally enter Qingjing Xuwu (the realm of Pure Stillness and Void) and have an audience with Wushi (the Beginningless, the Daoist term for the primordial source of the Dao), and they forever escape the cycle of birth and death.

Friends, the secret to the gradual progression of cultivation, moving from shallow to deep, lies in the interplay between true movement and true stillness. Deep stillness is called steadfast power (dingli), and true steadiness is called the radiance of wisdom (huiguang). If you do not first let deluded thoughts subside, so that the mind and spirit settle and the breath becomes calm, how can you reach great stillness? If you cannot keep purity constant, how can you enter absorption? Without entering absorption, how can wisdom arise?

Friends, when the mind is empty and luminous, the spirit (shen) and vital breath (qi) become settled; when they are settled, the radiance of wisdom appears. If there is stillness without wisdom, this is called yin spirit overpowering yang spirit. Wisdom must arise within stillness. Wisdom is the Dharma-body (the true-nature body spoken of in cultivation), and stillness is the buddha-land (the dwelling-place where practice rests). Stillness is the home, precepts are the road, and wisdom is the root by which one is able to grow; all the things, circumstances, and affairs of the world are merely passing guests. When stillness and wisdom give rise to each other and enter the gate of all wonders, the spiritual power and wisdom of the True Lord (the inner master of the true nature) will fully develop and shine forth. In this way one can meet all things without being bound by them, transform the many circumstances of the world without being confused by them, and also transcend the transformations of yin and yang and the cycle of birth and death.

Friends, first you must understand the two paths of transgression and merit, and the principle of karmic retribution. Follow the precepts item by item, and do not dare to violate even the slightest one. As you contemplate them over a long period, you will naturally become pure and clear. Only then should you go on to sit in quiet contemplation and cultivate the states of absorption. Within absorption, the original nature is complete and luminous, the light of wisdom shines brightly, and the spirit suddenly attains awakening. At that time, the mountains, rivers, and great earth are not separate from oneself, and the arising and ceasing of all things is not apart from a single thought. When the numinous clarity of the True Lord appears, you grasp the essentials for not falling into the cycle of rebirth.

This practice of the central character (the inner cultivation whose essence is "the Middle") cannot be substituted by father or son, and neither gods nor ghosts can know it. Each of you must cultivate it with your own mind. Friends, I have set up a ladder reaching to the heavens, but I do not know who will climb it; I have raised a raft to the realm of the Dao, but I do not know who will board it. Listen to this humble monk's verse:

"The river of love and desire is vast, and no one has crossed it;

The sea of suffering is boundless, and few have found the Dharma bridge.

Friends, hasten to uphold the three hundred precepts,

And in ordinary times cultivate stillness to generate wisdom, and you will escape the waves."

Gentlemen, since you have set your aspirations on cultivating the Dao, cultivating body and mind and pursuing the True Way, and wish to become Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoists, you must first distinguish clearly between the "true" and the "false." Once you thoroughly understand this, you can apply yourselves to practice. Striving to abandon what is false and turn toward what is true is what a cultivator should do.

Let me first explain what is false, so that you may cultivate what is genuine. This body of yours is also a temporary, illusory form, called the "impermanent phantasmal form." The six sense faculties (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind) will eventually decay, and the six consciousnesses (the cognitive activities arising from the six faculties) will ultimately dissipate. While a person is alive and breath remains, they can accomplish many things. Once death comes, everything comes to an end.

Have you not seen people in the world? Some are tall and handsome, eloquent, clever, and resourceful. Some are accomplished in both letters and arms, some hold high office or command as fierce generals, some establish themselves through skill and talent, and some run businesses and compete for fame and profit. They crave glory and nobility, accumulate wealth, and build up their family fortunes. In their halls are many beautiful women who play music and dance, and on their magnificent steps guests come and go, advancing and retreating in ceremonial greeting and farewell. Gold and treasures pile up like mountains; they eat rare delicacies and wear brocade silk. They socialize with chivalrous men and attend carefully to every courtesy. When a wife grows older, they wish to cast off the old and take a new one; with concubines in abundance, they still do not know restraint, until their spirit is exhausted. Their estates are rich, their fields are many, their children are bright, and even a first-rank official post is not enough for them. Day and night they indulge in desire and pursue pleasure. Their greed is never satisfied, and in the end their body and mind are worn out.

Summer heat, dampness, and wind and cold invade them, and the balance of their blood and qi is disrupted. Rushing about in pursuit, their spirit also gradually dissipates. Hundreds of illnesses beset them, and they suffer the hardships of birth, aging, and sickness, with calamities and toil following one after another. Taking medicines such as ginseng and poria does not cure them, and calling out to heaven and earth does no good. Their sufferings cannot be fully described, and one day their breath finally ceases, and they return to the realm of the yin officials.

Those who once had stately bearing, after death, quickly have their bodies covered by others who hold their noses against the stench. Those who once were imposing and majestic, as soon as their eyes close, can only lie facing the sky. Their limbs are laid into the coffin, and their likeness remains only in a portrait. Children cannot die in their place, and wives and concubines will not accompany them on the journey. Before the corpse has even grown cold, the living have already begun to scheme: brothers fight over the property, and wives hide valuables and make plans of their own. Those with sons think about how they will make a living in the future; those without sons think about remarrying. Guests and carriages at the gate grow fewer, just as the common saying goes: "While a person lives, so do their social ties." Servants in the household begin to steal, and some say, "Once you lose your power, you will be bullied by your servants." Gates and walls collapse, houses fall into ruin, and no one looks after them. Family fortunes decline, and few care to mind them. The wife has secret affairs, the children fail to amount to anything, and each looks only to their own prospects.

After death, who can come back to life, and who, once gone, can return? A person comes into the world with empty hands and leaves it with empty hands. The physical body eventually returns to the earth, and one's reputation also fades away. Yet the consequences of good and evil are borne by each person, clearly and distinctly.

All of you, look: these visible things die and come back again. Who, then, is it that departs and returns? A person comes into the world with empty hands, and when they die, they still leave with empty hands. The physical body returns to the earth, and reputation in the end comes to nothing. The paths of good and evil differ, and the retributions they bring are perfectly clear.

Look again: though the physical body is like an illusion, it is not without effect. The body may be illusory, but the desire to build a household, seek wealth and rank, take a spouse and concubines, cherish children and grandchildren, and enjoy glory and riches is real. Consider where this true numinous spirit (the inner spiritual nature) finally goes. Clearly it returns to the dark, hidden realm. Since it must return to that realm in the end, can it still keep its spouse, children, wealth, and glory? All of you, the causes of good and evil bring the retributions of sin and blessing, and these in turn produce the fruits of suffering and joy, following one another like shadows. Not a single hair's weight of the suffering and sin borne by the body can be escaped.

Therefore, all of you should make light of the form body (the visible physical body) and place weight on the Dharma body (the pure true body formed through cultivating the Dao). Use the illusory body to cultivate the real nature of the Dao, preserve what is real, and abandon what is illusory, so as to escape the sea of suffering. Yet without this physical body there is no basis for practice. And if that is so, the numinous Dharma body cannot govern itself and can only fall into the Six Paths of transmigration (the six destinations through which sentient beings cycle in birth and death), and then liberation becomes very difficult. Since we have already obtained a human body and entered the gate of the Dao, we should strive to free ourselves from the cycle of rebirth, and while our minds are still clear and we are still able to practice, advance diligently in cultivating the true.

How, then, should one practice? All of you, sweep clean the external objects and dust that the six sense faculties (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) come into contact with, harmonize and settle the Qi of the five viscera, and let the master of the mind-spirit (shen) dwell constantly in the Spirit Terrace (the seat of the mind-spirit), undisturbed by demonic thieves. Also, do many good deeds, and pull up the roots of sin.

Cultivation toward perfection has two paths, and within them there is the true and the false, as well as the method of purposive action (youwei fa) and the method of non-action (wuwei fa). The Diamond Sutra says: "All conditioned dharmas are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows; like dew, and like lightning." The Scripture of Clarity and Stillness (Qingjing jing) says: "The reason living beings cannot attain the true Dao is that their minds are filled with delusive thoughts." From the words of these two scriptures, the method of purposive action in true cultivation would seem to be unsound.

Yet there is a school that circulates the essential qi (jing qi) and moves the breath, seeking to prolong life, return to youth, and attain immortality, clinging to external forms in its practice. Others emphasize raising lead and lowering mercury, setting up the cauldron and furnace to refine medicinals, taking spirit elixirs, swallowing talismans and registers, and gathering qi. All of these rely on false means to pursue cultivation of the true, and they are all methods of purposive action. How could such practices enable a person to illuminate the mind and see one's nature, establish the root of life, and escape reincarnation? If one wishes to be free from birth and death, one certainly cannot rely on these methods.

Friends, understand this: to cultivate the true self through this visible body, you must first earnestly reflect on the great matter of life and death, and truly grasp where the correct path of cultivation lies. That path lies within a single thought. If you follow external things, they come to govern you; if you gather the mind inward, you become its master.

The physical body will die whether or not it is cultivated. Even if one lived a thousand years, it would at last return to dust, so why cling to prolonging its life? Whatever has form will be destroyed. Whatever has a beginning will have an end. Whatever is made will change. Whatever is assembled will disperse. Whatever comes will leave. Whatever is accomplished will decline. Whatever is strong will grow old. Since the body was born, it will naturally die.

The method I speak of for transcending life and death does not lie in remaking this physical form. It lies in treating the body as a temporary dwelling, in order to cultivate the "Heavenly Mandate Dharma Body" (tianming fashen), the practice-body that stands in contrast to the physical body and represents the inner, true life. Some heterodox teachers fail to grasp this principle. They cling to appearances and even wish to make flesh and blood unchanging and deathless. Is this not laughable?

The method I speak of for transcending life and death is found within the true mind that dwells in this very body, and it must be realized in every thought and action. When false thoughts cease, the Dharma Body appears. When the Dharma Body becomes still, the inner Heavenly Mechanism (tianji), the innate spirituality and vitality, begins to stir. When the Heavenly Mechanism stirs, the light within the true mind emerges. The purpose of cultivation is to bring this true light to completion, and so one uses the body to do good deeds.

Good deeds, however, are of two kinds. If one does good while clinging to fame, merit, or reward, this is attachment to appearances, and such deeds are false. Only when one is free of such clinging is the goodness true. Consider how the Tathagata (the Buddhist honorific for the Buddha) gave alms, accumulated merit, taught the Dharma, and cultivated the Way, all without clinging to outward forms. Because he did not cling to the appearance of renunciation, he was truly beyond the world, and so he transcended life and death.

The Scripture of Purity and Stillness (Qingjing Jing), a Daoist classic, says, "The highest De (Virtue) does not regard itself as De." This means that the highest virtue does not claim to be virtuous; it does not cling. If one still clings, how can one attain liberation and transcend life and death? Such a person would merely live a few more years and gain some blessings. Once those blessings are exhausted, they would still be unable to escape the cycle of rebirth.

Good people, I urge you to follow the teaching of the Most High (Taishang). Do not keep yourself at the center of your concerns, and you will truly preserve yourself. Put yourself last, and you will find yourself in front; in this way the physical body may die while life does not perish.

You should set aside matters of the physical body. Do not fixate on stirring the jing (essence) and qi (vital energy), on tracking their rising and falling, on opening the orifices and channels, or on circulating the blood. Do not crave the effects of prolonging life or curing illness. If you cling to these things, you will only be concerned with making the body solid and comfortable and carefree, and you will forget your true nature, neglecting to look after it year after year. You do not know which day the minor demons may take advantage of your unpreparedness and suddenly carry you off. At that time, where will your Dharma body (fashen), the true life-essence that transcends the physical form, be? The physical body can only return to the dust, and in the end it will all come to nothing.

I urge you to quietly and continuously cultivate the work of subduing deluded thoughts and refining the mind, to see your original nature clearly as soon as possible. Why then worry that your life cannot be secured?

Good people, let me remind you: the physical form body (sheshen) is like a house, and the Dharma body is like the master who lives within it. If the master possesses treasures within, why worry that the house is not in order? But if the master falls ill, meets with calamity, or is carried off, then even if the house is in order, for whom would it be kept?

To take this further, so that you may understand: the physical form body is like a rented house, not one that was purchased. Once the master departs, the house still returns to dust, and the four elements (earth, water, fire, and wind) that make up the material body each return to their source. If you can quietly cultivate a true Dharma body that does not cling to outward appearances, why worry that the physical form body will not be properly settled?

Everyone, I have a few humble verses (gatha, short verses used to explain principles). Please listen:

The physical body (se shen, the visible body of flesh) was originally the house of the Dharma body (fa shen, the fundamental body that embodies Suchness, Buddha-nature, or the Great Dao). When the mind is clear and bright, the light naturally shows outwardly. As long as the master of this house cultivates merit and wisdom, why worry that the house will not be bright?

To cultivate the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Dao, one must first remove what is false. The true Dao must be discerned, and vain methods must be abandoned. Do not boast about yourself, and do not cling to outward appearances. Only through the dual cultivation of nature and life (xing ming shuang xiu) can one transcend impermanence. If you calm your mind and seek liberation, and let go of this illusory body, the true self will appear.

Those who cling to life and fear death will die in the end. How can one who cultivates the Dao by clinging to form attain the true Dao? The Tathagata once gave up his body and suffered for the sake of the Dharma, and the Jade Emperor once practiced patient endurance. They passed through long kalpas and even gave up their lives. Others gave up their thrones and entered the mountains to cultivate for many years. If a Daoist clings to this false body, even after myriad kalpas and thousands of lives he will find it hard to escape the mundane world.

Do not waste your effort. Everything that has form will ultimately return to extinction. If one loses sight of the Suchness of one's original nature, one falls into a boundless sea of suffering with no way out. If a Daoist clings to this false body, even after myriad kalpas and thousands of lives he will find it hard to escape the mundane world; wasting thought is pointless, because all that has form must return to extinction. If one loses sight of the Suchness of one's original nature, one falls into a boundless sea of suffering with no way out.

Alas, how pitiable! Clinging to the false within the false, layer upon layer of falsehood, one studies the Quanzhen Dao in vain. How could one attain the true Dao? When the sorrows and sufferings of birth, aging, sickness, and death arrive, and one faces death, how is one different from ordinary people in the world? Wearing the yellow crown and feathered robes of a Daoist in vain, how can one understand the key to life and death? Running around the world for food and clothing, one ends up burdened by karmic sins and returns to death like dust.

If one does not understand that sin and merit are both empty at their root, one will keep sinking into the cycle of birth and death. If one has not realized that the true and the false must be distinguished within oneself, then who will open the light and wisdom?

All of you should take careful note: life and death are impermanent, and they come very quickly. The "secret practices" (mixing) I speak of consist of three hundred items, namely the three hundred fine-grained precepts within the Great Precepts of the Central Ultimate (Zhongji Dajie). Using them to cultivate the body makes the body upright, and using them to cultivate the mind dispels deluded thoughts. Inwardly, one can reach the realm of a sage; outwardly, one's conduct can bear the responsibility of a true king. In this way, one can transcend the mundane world and attain the fruit of Qingxu (pure emptiness), and also help others escape suffering and loosen the entanglement of mind that cycles with birth and death.

Most essential is the word "mi" (secret, hidden). If one cannot be scrupulously secret, one cannot preserve one's true nature (zhenxing). If the true nature is not preserved, the mind cannot become clear, and if the mind is not clear, one cannot manifest one's original nature. Someone in the assembly asked: what counts as "mi"? The sage uses it to wash clean the thoughts of the mind and to gather the shen (spirit) and hide it in subtle recesses. "Mi" means being cautious and vigilant to the utmost. Only through meticulous, careful secrecy can one conceal oneself in obscurity, and this is the highest realm of mi.

For those who undertake to uphold the Central Ultimate precepts, the first through the hundredth precepts form the "great incantation" (dazhou) for purifying the body. To observe these precepts with care is to remove the restlessness of the body, so that body and mind become still, and to cast off frivolity and cultivate steadiness. Walking, sitting, standing, and lying down should all accord with proper dignity. One walks along the proper path, sits without leaning, stands upright, and does not lean against pillars or walls or rest one's body on a table. When lying down, one reclines on one's side with the body bent, and does not lie on the back or breathe loudly. Even if the breath makes a slight sound, it should be regulated and smoothed. Cultivating this respectful and courteous bearing is called "outer dignity" (waizhuangyan).

The hundred-and-first through the two-hundredth precepts form the "great incantation" for purifying the mind. One should carefully investigate these precepts so that the thoughts of the mind accord with the Dao, reflecting on them again and again and coming to understand them, so that every thought returns to what is true and every matter accords with principle, leaving no detail unexamined. One observes external things and also reflects upon oneself, striving to remove wild and deviant thoughts. Once the true mind is settled, the two-hundredth through the three-hundredth precepts form the "great incantation" for purifying intention (jingyi). The mechanisms of its operation and the principles of its movement and return must be strictly guarded and not disclosed. They lie hidden in a mysterious realm, subtle and difficult to conceive, and cannot be made clear through words or images. They can only be apprehended by the spirit and cannot be transmitted through speech. These precepts ultimately point toward the supreme and unsurpassed Wuwei (non-action) Dao.

You should know this is a secret cultivation practice for realizing the True and becoming an immortal. Listen once more and remember this carefully: the most profound Dao methods must never be disclosed carelessly. You all came here to cultivate the Dao and escape the cycle of birth and death. Is this a trivial matter? If heavenly secrets are not kept confidential, they will leak to those who should not know them. It is said that Perfected Zhang Ziyang once transmitted these methods to unsuitable people, and for this he suffered heavenly punishment three times. That is why the methods must not be divulged.

Moreover, cultivation aims to transcend rebirth and leave the mundane world, becoming a perfected being who will not perish through ten thousand kalpas. Is this not something that heaven, earth, and the spirits abhor, and that the transformations of Yin and Yang cannot tolerate? Your practice reverses the ordinary Way and runs entirely contrary to the rules of worldly life, so you must be cautious and thorough. Otherwise, your relatives may not support you, your clan may hold a grudge against you, your wife and children may not understand, and your friends may not trust you. Without a resolve that is brave and unwavering, you will easily lose your heart for the Dao.

XII. Repaying Debts and Averting Calamity

Since you have already left home and resolved to pursue transcendence beyond the mundane world, you should repent and dissolve the karmic debts you have incurred in this life, along with the grievances accumulated over many lifetimes. From now on, let these debts dissipate and stop continuing, so that you can free yourselves from the anguish of repaying old debts and mutual retribution.

Yet this approach still belongs to a lower level of practice. It is a means used by those of limited capacity to escape debts and grievances. They fear death and cling to life, and their aspirations are narrow and their understanding shallow. Their nature is not yet clear, and their innate original nature has not yet revealed itself. They attend only to the present and neglect the future. I will now describe one example of such heterodox practice (a path that deviates from the orthodox methods of cultivation), so that you may understand it.

There was a Daoist who took up religious life partway through his journey. He wandered about, visiting teachers and traveling widely, and along the way he met several companions. Together they vowed to build a hermitage and cultivate the Way...

A Daoist who had taken up the path late in life traveled widely, visiting teachers and practicing cultivation. Along the way they met several companions, and together they vowed to build a hermitage at Laoshan (Mount Lao) in Shandong and cultivate there. Later, when war broke out, the group came down from the mountain and settled at the foot of Wangwu Shan (Mount Wangwu) in Henan, where they lived in a place dedicated to practice and kept to quiet seated meditation.

Although the six lived together, their aspirations differed, and so did their levels of accomplishment. After a year, three of them left. The remaining three renewed their vow and pursued liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Then one of them passed away through zuohua (sitting transformation, a practitioner's serene death while seated in meditation). The other two grew even more resolute. Before long, another companion passed away in the same manner, leaving the Daoist alone in practice.

After entering deep meditation, the Daoist's spirit traveled to Mount Tiantai, where they suddenly encountered the companion who had passed away later. Both were delighted. The companion said, "Since we have met by fate, I want to tell you something. You should revise the vow you made two years ago. I first vowed to cultivate in order to repent, dissolve my karmic debts, and attain liberation. But in the past few days, my mortal lifespan came to an end, and I arrived outside the Gate of the Three Heavens to be examined. The examining official, the kaoduicao (the official in charge of evaluations), announced loudly, 'This person still has the root of unresolved enmity and cannot escape their calamity. Their name is not on the Heavenly Register, and they have no place on the Dantai (Cinnabar Platform). They cannot advance further and may only take up a post at the Sanyuan Dohui Fu (Three Primes Assembly Office) on Mount Yuntai.' Immediately, the gufeng haoqi (the strong, pure qi of the heavens) veiled the Gate of Heaven, and I could no longer see it. In the end, I arrived at the Sanyuan Fu."

"There I met the Sanguan Dadi (the Three Officials, Great Emperors who govern heaven, earth, and water). After consulting the registers, they said, 'Your aspirations are shallow. You have pursued only the pangmen zhi fa (side-door methods) and yet hoped to transcend the world. For now, we will pardon your confusion and ignorance. The mountain deity of the Tongbo Gong (Tongbo Palace) on Mount Tiantai has a vacancy, so you may temporarily fill that role. Once the netherworld bureaucracy has an opening, you will be permitted to take up the post formally.'"

I earnestly asked for guidance so that I might cultivate in secret. The Three Officials Emperor (Sanguan Di, the Three Great Officials revered in Daoism) kindly told me:

"When you sit on your meditation cushion, your mind is still cluttered with stray thoughts, and you have not reached emptiness and clarity. You have not yet seen through the body as illusory and the spirit as real, nor understood the principle that 'emptiness is not empty.' You only pray to erase the grievances of countless lifetimes and resolve the enmities of generations, but you have never truly investigated how grievances and karmic debts can be resolved and repented within the spiritual nature.

Do you think that the karmic debts accumulated through successive calamities and the enmities formed over many lifetimes will dissipate like wind if you merely speak of them with your lips and think of them in your heart? You must enter the path with firm resolve, study the highest vehicle of cultivation, possess a great capacity, and hold in your heart the wish to liberate all beings.

Those who cultivate the highest path can instantly extinguish ordinary thoughts, cause the myriad phenomena of heaven and earth to return to emptiness, and see the illusory forms dissolve, understanding that all beings and oneself are of one body. Yet the debts of past actions and the heavy grievances accumulated from them cannot necessarily be released through this alone. How can one treat lightly debts of property and of life? Therefore, the ancient Buddha, King Ali (an ancient king in the Buddhist scriptures), suffered the severing of his limbs and still repaid his past karmic debts with no hindrance in his mind, and only afterward attained the fruition of Shakyamuni Buddha. The Sixth Patriarch (Huineng, the sixth patriarch of the Chan school) likewise bore and resolved profound grievances before attaining the fruition of the Great Mirror of the Western Heavens.

Now, your aspirations are narrow and your capacity is weak. You are unwilling to repay the debts you owe and wish only to escape your suffering. You regard your body as too precious and fear that your enemies will come to you, subjecting you to punishment, beatings, death, or pain, and you wish only for your body to remain forever at ease. This selfish fear of repayment, even if your capacity is low, still belongs to inferior cultivation. As long as the roots of karmic retribution are not eliminated, they will sprout again after calamity, and as long as the causes of karma remain, you may meet again in a future life. Though you may call this renunciation, in truth it is only an escape from hardship."

You cannot escape suffering. Calamity after calamity keeps binding you, and generation after generation keeps repeating, because the vow you first made was weak and your aspiration was not great enough. To leave home and take up monastic life in this lifetime counts only as cultivating merit (fu), not as cultivating the Dao (Dao). By rights you should have entered saṃsāra and been reborn into a family of abundant merit. Only because you once recited the hundred scrolls of the Treasure Scriptures of the Supreme Lord and held the sacred name of Mi Luo for three years, with a sincere and single-minded heart, were you entered into the immortal registers and appointed to the office of Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Zhenren (Perfected). By rights you should have been formally conferred the post of clerk in the netherworld bureaus.

Now, in the human world, you have recited scriptures on behalf of the patrons who commissioned them, and you have not neglected a single assigned observance. The offerings you received you have all given away in charity. By rights your merit should be increased, you should be raised one rank, and you should be registered for appointment as deputy Mountain Spirit of a Cavern Heaven (Dongtian). Go quickly to take up the post, and continue cultivating in secret without slackening.

Hearing these words, I suddenly awoke, and I regretted that my own aspiration had not been far-reaching enough. Only then did I understand that a small aspiration brings a small fruit, and that a great vow brings a great reward. Now regret comes too late. I am about to enter the realm of your pure and luminous spirit to explain this matter to you, but we each keep to our own posts and do not dare to leave the mountain boundaries to wander. Daoist friend, you have come at a fortunate time. You may renew your great vow: whatever enemies or grudges you meet, do not refuse retribution, and persevere single-mindedly without retreat, so that you may accomplish a great fruition. If your heart holds the slightest attachment or fear, you will meet trials that tempt you to evade and withdraw, and even if you achieve something in the end, your rank will not be high.

When the speech ended, the person vanished. When the Daoist emerged from samādhi, he realized that until then he had only been concerned with preserving himself, following the lowly heterodox side paths (pangmen), and that in the future he would still be nothing more than a spirit guarding the mountain. He hastily burned his thatched hut, shouldered his meditation cushion, gourd dipper, and staff, and began again to investigate the nature of mind and to apply himself earnestly. He endured all manner of humiliation and hardship, practiced his various observances, drove out distracting thoughts, and tempered his body and mind. He also vowed that if he had a grudge against anyone, he would not shrink from knives and axes but would go forth and face it.

Regard this blood-and-flesh body as something that must come to an end, and keep your original nature and heavenly mandate pure and unclouded. Let no thoughts of attachment or obstruction remain in the heart, and let nothing disturb or frighten you. Body and mind were at ease and free of burden, bright and transparent, harmonious and pure, and he came and went at will. When fortune came, he did not insist on enjoying it, and when hardship came, he did not refuse to bear it. Holding to this aspiration, he continued his cultivation for many years.

Then one day, while he sat in quiet meditation (jingding), he saw a Daoist come to pay respects. Looking closely, he recognized him as a fellow practitioner whom he had once first guided toward transformation. The man's appearance was unchanged, but his expression was ashamed, and he did not dare to raise his eyes. The Daoist asked the reason. The man said that he had once followed deviant methods within a certain lineage and had not understood their principles. He had focused his shen-qi (spirit and breath) only on the Dantian (the lower abdomen, the site of cultivation). After long practice, he had become a "corpse-guarding ghost" (shoushi gui), a restless spirit clinging to the body and its form. His light extended only about a foot, illuminating his own body alone, while everything beyond was dark and invisible. Now, because the Daoist's light had grown brighter during quiet meditation, he had been drawn into this place of stillness. After a short while, he vanished.

The living Daoist, therefore, deepened his understanding of nature and principle. He realized that life-force (ming) is rooted within nature (xing). Each increase in understanding brought an increase in light; each increase in light brought an increase in wisdom; each increase in wisdom brought an increase in merit; and each increase in merit raised the level of his cultivation attainment by one step.

The Daoist then emerged from meditation. He believed that he had cleared the Six Sense Organs (liugen: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) of attachment, that the Eight Consciousnesses (bashi, the eight types of consciousness in Buddhist teaching) had dissolved, that the Five Aggregates (wuyun, the five elements that constitute body and mind) were all empty, and that the Seven Emotions had been severed. He thought he was now qualified to take refuge in the Great Heavenly Venerable of Constant Clarity and Constant Stillness. Yet a mortal body, born of parents and nurtured by Heaven and Earth, is ultimately governed by fate (qishu) and by a term of life (shouxian), and his lifespan had reached its end.

The next day he came down the mountain and said to the people who guarded the mountain gate: "I take refuge in the Great Heavenly Venerable of Constant Clarity and Constant Stillness. However, this mortal body, born of parents and nurtured by Heaven and Earth, has run out of its fate, and its term of life has come to an end."

By the second day he had reached the foot of the mountain. He said to the people who had escorted him, "I am now going to take my leave of you and return." They asked, "Why are you leaving in such haste?" The Daoist adept replied, "The karmic debts I accumulated through my body, speech, and mind have all been settled. There are still four kinds of kindness I have not repaid, so I must be reborn once more to fulfill this vow." Having said this, he clasped his hands in salute, bowed toward the empty sky, and then sat upright and passed away.

Listen well, all of you. The path of cultivating the Dao (the Way) has its correct and deviant forms, and the vows one makes differ in scale. The attainments these three people reached in facing death and in looking back over their lives therefore differed in rank. One with lofty aspirations is a great person; one with narrow aspirations is a small person. Without great aspirations, the mind cannot be broad, and without a broad mind, one's capacity cannot be expansive. When one's wishes are not universal, one's capacity is narrow, and when one's knowledge is shallow and one's horizons are limited, the Qi (vital energy) one cultivates cannot become full and vast. Here, "Qi" refers to the inner bearing and attainment that a cultivator nurtures. If the Qi is not vast, it can fill only this illusory physical body. It cannot fill the Great Void (the boundless expanse of the cosmos), cannot stand between heaven and earth, cannot penetrate the sun and moon, and cannot reach all things. How, then, could this be called the grand and supreme Dao?

Assembly, human beings live between Heaven and Earth. We are warmed by the sun and moon, nourished by our parents, and taught by our rulers and teachers. These are the Four Kindnesses (Si En): the kindness of Heaven and Earth, of sun and moon, of ruler and teacher, and of parents. The Four Kindnesses are vast and profound, without limit, and hard to repay. Moreover, we are still bound to the physical body and suffer the many afflictions and hardships brought on by the Five Aggregates (Wuyun), namely form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness, which make up the human person and the activity of body and mind. We have not yet transcended them. Even if we cultivate both merit (fude) and wisdom, we cannot thereby attain lasting peace.

Assembly, since we have now taken refuge in the Three Treasures (sanbao), namely the Dao, the Jing (scriptures), and the Shi (teachers), why are we still unable to escape disaster and suffering? If merit and wisdom are still pursued as desires for wealth, honor, and ease, we are like people immersed in the deep sea of desire. The ancient sage said: "The river of love has a thousand feet of waves; the sea of desire has ten thousand layers of billows." Only when desire ceases and the mind becomes clear can the source of our original nature (benxing) appear.

You should understand this: people of all ages, together with flying birds, swimming fish, and living plants, all issue from the same source of original nature. To recognize that all things share one source with oneself is to repay the grace of Heaven. To live with unceasing vitality, to hold a vast and compassionate heart, and to be able to contain defilement and endure humiliation is also to repay the grace of Heaven. Whether creatures fly, swim, or grow upon the ground, all depend on the nourishment of the earth. To recognize and attend to this shared vitality is to repay the grace of Earth.

The ground of original nature is bright, and the heaven of original nature is full and clear. When we meet people whose minds are dark, we should open them with correct words and point out the path they have lost. When we meet people who are sunk in confusion, we should teach them the Dharma-law, help them clear away obstacles. This is repaying the grace of sun and moon.

We should respectfully follow the instructions of our teachers, act strictly in accordance with the laws of the land, and obey the decrees of the ruler. We should not exceed our proper station or violate moral principles. We should uphold the pure precepts, follow the scriptures, and pray for the long life of the sovereign and the prosperity of the nation. We should pass the correct Way on to later generations so that it may flourish. This is repaying the kindness of ruler and teacher.

Our bodies were received from our parents, so we should cherish our hair and skin and not allow them to be defiled. We should eliminate selfishness and discriminating thought, repent, and rescue beings suffering in the netherworld (youming). We should recall the toil of our past parents and pray for the release of the karmic knots accumulated over many lives. We should also repay the toil of our present kin through ritual worship and make amends for the faults caused by afflictions. May we in this life strive to practice filial piety without ever slackening. If we cannot deliver our parents, we cannot ourselves attain perfection. Respect the parents of all people as you respect your own, and cherish all children as you cherish your own. Thus may our seven generations of ancestors be lifted up, and our three generations of kin ascend to higher realms. This is repaying the kindness of parents.

Fellow practitioners, if even a trace of obstruction remains in your heart, how could you hope to behold the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing, the three supreme deities revered in Daoism), the Jade Emperor, the Three Officials and Four Sages, or the Five Elders and Seven Perfected? You often distinguish between "you" and "I," and you are accustomed to being governed by ignorance (wuming, the benighted confusion of unawareness). Your minds are narrow, and you cannot yield when matters arise. Your tolerance is shallow, and you cannot accommodate others. Without first clarifying the full course of events, you hastily judge right and wrong. You rejoice at honor and grow angry at insult. Your resolve lacks firmness and depth, and your thoughts are not bright. Your hearts lack generosity, and your conduct is lax and indolent. You treat small faults as unimportant, and at the slightest merit you become self-satisfied.

How can someone like this speak of repaying Heaven and Earth, the sovereign, teachers, and kin?

Friends, to repay the grace of Heaven and Earth, one must understand the Dao (the Way) by which they operate, grasp their intent, know their laws, and practice their De (Virtue/Power). Even where no one can see, one must not deceive, and one must thoroughly clear away every false and selfish thought. Let the light of wisdom shine everywhere, yet be able to embrace all manner of defilement. Be willing to keep suffering loss when loss comes, with not a trace of self-serving intent in the heart. Be willing to bear greater hardship when hardship comes, and cut off every scheming, opportunistic thought. When cultivation is solid, one's realm naturally becomes clear and expansive. When one's De is deep and one's Dao is lofty, ghosts and spirits will also respect them. When the mind-spirit is clear and wisdom manifests, the myriad things are moved and people turn toward them. Upward, one can communicate with the Imperial Throne (where the Lord of Heaven dwells); downward, one can command thunder and lightning. In times of drought, one prays for rain to nourish the common people; in times of flood, one prays for clear skies to end the disaster of water. Demons and evil spirits hide away, and mountain sprites and water goblins (mischievous spirits of mountains, forests, and marshes) flee. Upward, one prays for the nation to be secure and stable and for the ruler to live long; downward, one prays for peace throughout the realm and for the people to dwell in contentment and make their livelihoods. Only then can one be said to illuminate the essential purposes of Daoism and to propagate its teaching.

How much more so is this true of your parents, who carried you in the womb for ten months, nursed and raised you for three years, and endured countless hardships, so that their kindness is profound and boundless. When you grow up, they hope that you will care for them in their old age and attend to their affairs after death, and they also hope that the family will prosper. The ruler toils day and night. The Six Ministries and Nine Ministers (officials of the various government departments) divide the duties of governance, propagate moral instruction, pacify the people, suppress wickedness, and honor the worthy and value virtue. Teachers, for their part, enlighten the ignorant, correct deviations, take the earth as their model and follow Heaven, so that the Three Bonds (the ethical guidelines governing relations between ruler and minister, father and son, husband and wife) become clear, and the Five Constants (benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness) become understood. They enable people to know the difference between good and evil and to recognize what distinguishes humans from beasts. Are these kindnesses shallow?

Yet you, now at home, cannot provide for your parents, and once in office, you cannot plan affairs of state for the nation. The clothes you wear depend on the charity of others, and the grain you eat depends on the common people tilling the fields. Yet you merely drift with the current, muddled all day long, idle and loafing, eating and drinking at others' expense, able only to mumble incantations with your mouths. You neither cultivate your virtue nor observe the liturgy (keyi) and precepts. Your conduct often violates the rules, and your mind-spirit is confused and your thoughts scattered. You ascend the altar to pray for the nation, yet cannot move ghosts and spirits. You drive out evil to end epidemics, yet the plagues are not cured. Your talismans are ineffective, and your prayers for averting calamity are mere wasted effort. Worse still, when rain or flooding comes, such people instead curse the wind and rain and blame Heaven and Earth. Their conduct is wanton and reckless, and some even disobey their parents and violate clan ethics, break the precepts, and vent their anger on others.

Friends, look at the oxen, horses, donkeys, mules, pigs, sheep, dogs, and pigs, all of which have five sense organs and eyes, have male and female distinctions, and possess perception and spiritual sensitivity. Compared with them, humans have only one additional thing: a mouth that can speak.

At that time, the Vinaya master (Lǜshī, the precept-teaching elder) again instructed the assembly in verse:

Concentration and wisdom must be cultivated together, and the precepts must be held strictly, so that one can distinguish good from evil and their consequences. When the mind is not stained by the slightest attachment, its inner brightness remains clear forever. When afflictions and entanglements are dispelled and forgotten, the mind becomes naturally pure.

A person's lifespan is fixed by Heaven and is not easily changed. To be liberated from birth and death, one must practice with a sincere heart. Side paths, heterodox teachings, and strange techniques branch off in countless directions, so I earnestly exhort my fellow practitioners to comprehend the proper Dao (Dào) and to hold fast to right mindfulness.

The Four Debts of Gratitude (sì'ēn, the four kinds of kindness that should be repaid) have not yet been repaid, so the heart is burdened with shame. The three karmas of body, speech, and mind (karma produced by actions, words, and thoughts) have not been purified, so the work of the Dao is hard to accomplish. Wishing to repay the Four Debts, one must first uphold the precepts. Wishing to remove the three karmas, one must strive in cultivation of the True (xiūzhēn). Keeping the precepts naturally places one on the right path, and cultivation of the True ultimately leads to realizing that life is impermanent, like a floating cloud. Having realized impermanence, one can see through the emptiness of the three karmas and thereby repay the Four Debts.

Wishing to escape the mundane world, leave home, and transcend the dust, yet still being held back by greed, anger, and delusion (desire, rage, and ignorance), one will find it very hard to keep the precepts and to practice truly. Only when worldly thoughts are exhausted does the mind become pure, and only when one's innate nature is made manifest does the Dao draw near. Seeing that the physical form body (sèshēn, the body composed of visible forms) is not truly enduring, and observing deeply the myriad things, one finds nothing that lasts forever. When the mind holds no attachments, and the three minds of past, present, and future cling to nothing, taking refuge in the ten precepts (ten practice precepts) allows one to practice at ease.

Thirteen. Establishing Resolve and Making Vows

Assembly, from ancient times the sages, immortals, and Buddhas have seen through all the constructs and attachments of the world and understood that whatever has form and appearance is not eternally real. Therefore they resolved to transcend the dust, rise above the mundane, be liberated from birth and death, go deep into the mountains and forests, forget their own selves, and even disregard their lives in order to attain the supreme Dao.

All of you know only the names of the sages, worthies, immortals, and buddhas, but not the actual virtue of their conduct. You all wish to become sages and worthies, immortals and buddhas, yet you have not set down the corresponding aspiration. You all wish to attain the fruits of their realization, yet you are unwilling to cultivate the causal practices they cultivated. You all wish to reach their state, yet you have not raised the vows they raised. For this reason you often speak of attainment but fail to act, because you understand with your mouths but have not truly understood in your hearts.

The Dao has not been made manifest because no one has met those who truly understand the Dao. The Dao cannot be put into practice because there are no people who can practice it in earnest. People are called "Daoists" (daoshi), but how many of them truly understand the subtle points of Daoist cultivation? They are called "Complete Perfection" (Quanzhen), meaning wholehearted cultivation of perfection and of one's original nature, but who truly embodies the real meaning of Complete Perfection? No wonder filial piety grows ever more diminished, and the Dharma transmitted by the founding patriarchs gradually withers.

Now that you have already taken refuge in the Three Treasures (Sanbao), namely the Dao, the scriptures, and the teachers revered by Daoism, and have received and upheld the precepts, it may be said that you have encountered those who illuminate the Dao. Yet you must still follow the sacred words I have spoken and put into practice the deeds of the sages, worthies, immortals, and buddhas. Only then may you be called people who truly practice the Dao.

Sages, immortals, and buddhas, before they attained the Way, were ordinary people just like you. They did not have an extra eye or an additional hand. What set them apart was only that they resolved on an aspiration, sought a method of cultivation that transcends the mundane world, and discerned the crucial matter of life and death. Such an aspiration made them far more discerning than ordinary people, and their minds far more expansive. Though their bodies remained those of ordinary mortals, their thoughts had already attained the realm of the sages.

The sages did not merely talk about transcendence; they truly established this aspiration in their hearts and put it into practice. For this reason, they possessed great responsibility and held a deep, compassionate heart. The so-called "great man" and "teacher of gods and humans" are such because their aspirations are extraordinary, and therefore their conduct is also out of the ordinary. Their practice is resolute and forceful, like the Sword of Wisdom (huijian, a symbol of wisdom and of the power to cut away delusion) resting upon the shoulder, their brows lifting to reveal dignity and power. Likewise, like the Precept Blade (jiedao, a ritual implement symbolizing the keeping of precepts and the subduing of evil thoughts) at the neck, their gaze is piercing and their majesty thunders. Heterodox practitioners (waidao, here referring to cultivators who have strayed from the proper Way) therefore grow fearful and retreat, and even evil winds grow timid, turning instead to take refuge in the correct path.

They ascended the Nine-Grade Lotus Dais (a symbol of the lotus throne of accomplished cultivation) and entered directly the throne of the Dharma King. The words they spoke became pure Dharma sounds, and those who heard them felt as though anointed with ghee, their minds and spirits made clear. Their bodies emitted fanqi (pure, sacred vital breath) and wondrous fragrance, and all who beheld them received liberation. Countless beings were transformed by their teaching, flowing together like a river formed from cream and curds.

Having attained the Way, their great aspiration was fulfilled, and they then made a great vow: not to cling to the notions of "self," others, sentient beings, and lifespan (what the scriptures call the marks of no-self, no-person, no-sentient-being, and no-lifespan). They sought not only their own liberation but also desired to help others attain liberation, universally transmitting the methods they had cultivated to all beings. Yet they did not judge sentient beings by their own standards of practice; instead, they put themselves in others' place and took the wishes of the common people as their own. "Common people" is another name for sentient beings, and all sentient beings are life that shares the same kind as oneself. One should use methods suited to sentient beings to rescue those of one's own kind. If one is unwilling to save sentient beings, then one is not truly willing to attain the Way.

The Qingjing Jing (Scripture of Clarity and Stillness) says: "Though it is called attaining the Way, there is in truth nothing that can be possessed as an attainment. It is called attaining the Way only for the sake of teaching sentient beings. One who comprehends this may transmit the sacred Way."

Everyone, sages, immortals, Buddhas, and ordinary people are no different from one another. The distinction lies only in the two words gong (impartial, public) and si (private, self-interested). Sages are fair and open, act with consideration for others, and do not seek profit for themselves. Ordinary people (fanfu) are biased and crooked, hypocritical and insubstantial, concerned only with themselves and indifferent to others. The sage's mind is clear and still, while the ordinary person's is murky, dim, and restless. The sage strictly restrains himself and is gentle and yielding toward others, whereas the ordinary person indulges himself and reproaches others.

The sage often worries that he has done something wrong, while the ordinary person looks only for the faults of others. The more weighty the responsibilities a sage takes on, the more cautious and meticulous he becomes. The ordinary person, even when shouldering matters of great risk, is often careless. Before his end arrives, the sage already contemplates where he will go after death. The ordinary person, though death draws near, still pursues only his livelihood.

The sage understands the chushi zhi fa (the otherworldly methods, which are ways of transcending worldly attachment and cultivating the self in pursuit of the Dao), and he also uses worldly affairs to temper his heart and nature. As a child he practices filial piety, and as a subject he practices loyalty. The ordinary person not only fails to understand the otherworldly methods, but does not grasp even the principles of the mundane world, let alone loyalty to the ruler or devotion to his parents.

These benighted people understand neither the principles of the world nor the methods of cultivating the Dao. They sink into drunken dreams all day, squander their lives, drift along with the current, and die in confusion. Some live by cutting corners, and others pass their days blindly. They bury a trace of genuine spiritual nature within the physical body. Though they pass through myriad kalpas, they remain adrift in birth and death, inverted and lost, forever changing form and being reborn, circling endlessly through lunhui (samsara), and they do not know when they will finally be free.

Everyone, now that you have taken the precepts, you have taken the first step. Only by taking this step can one hope to free oneself from suffering, and only by freeing oneself from suffering can one hope to transcend the mundane world. To leave suffering behind, one must first endure the hardships of cultivation; one who is unwilling to bear hardship will find it very difficult to truly escape suffering.

You should follow the true teachings of the sages, immortals, and buddhas, and not merely covet their reputations. Resolve to cultivate the aspirations they held, and do not merely speak of the fruits they attained. Plant the roots that lead to sainthood and buddhahood, and the corresponding rewards will naturally follow. Accumulate the virtue of the sages, immortals, and buddhas, and you will naturally come to comprehend their Dao (the Way). Practice what they practiced with your own body, and you will naturally realize their states and attainments.

If one's words and deeds do not match, and one speaks beyond what one has actually done, one remains an ordinary person who has not made progress. How could someone without such resolve ever hope to attain the Dao of the sages, immortals, and buddhas?

Practitioners of the Way must set lofty aspirations and make firm vows if they are to transcend worldly life. The following verses explain this.

Disciples, listen closely. Once you establish your resolve, you can escape the cycle of birth and death. First, endure hardship and discipline body and mind. Once you have survived the bitter circumstances, bitterness will give way to sweetness, as if you had died and been reborn. Resolve to sweep the dust from your heart and turn away from worldly desire, so that your mind turns toward transcendence.

Stand firm like the handle of the Dipper turned about, abiding in the immovable state of true emptiness (zhenkong), as pure as a white jade terrace. "True emptiness" refers to a state free of attachment, pure and unobstructed. Do not cling to conditioned action (youwei), or you will fall into heterodox paths (waidao). Nor should you cling to non-action (wuwei), or you will be led astray by other teachings. Neither grasp at existence nor at non-existence, but hold to the Mean. Neither settle in being nor in non-being, and cultivate through watchful awareness.

Once your resolve is fixed, do not be turned by external circumstances. Even when circumstances are perilous, let the mind remain undisturbed. Transform your surroundings through the method of the mind, so that the state of true emptiness becomes steady and unmoving. Wisdom will open from this, and light will fill everything.

Resolve not to be moved by worldly things. If you let external objects pull you, you will be controlled by them. Once you lose your mastery and fall into the hands of demonic obstacles, you will be carried along by the cycle of rebirth, and by then regret will come too late.

Resolve not to be obstructed by principles and events, and do not cling to or dwell on surface appearances. When you see principles clearly and understand affairs thoroughly, obstacles dissolve, attachments and delusions dissolve with them, and you attain liberation.

Resolve not to be moved by what the ears hear. Draw hearing inward and attend to the fundamental principle. Guard the ear carefully, so that you do not lose your true nature by listening to external conditions. In cultivating patience under insult, first learn to listen quietly and not let sounds stir the heart.

Resolve not to be moved by the forms the eyes see. Gather your outward gaze, turn it inward, and illuminate the mind until it is clear and pure. Guard against the eyes wandering outward and dispersing the spirit. Even when you are not looking at external things, keep the mind focused and undisturbed.

Resolve not to be moved by what the mouth speaks. When your words accord with the Great Dao, speak little and return to naturalness. Even when you teach, understand the principle beyond words. Even when you neither speak nor teach, your breath should remain long and steady.

Resolve not to be moved by flavors the tongue tastes. Killing and harming living beings provokes the disapproval of the gods and spirits. The "golden fluid and jade essence" (jinjiang yuye) and the "sweet spring" (lichuan) mentioned in cultivation refer to the clear, harmonious, and sweet fluids within the body. "Divine water" (shenshui) and "sweet dew" (ganlu) are likewise used as metaphors for nourishment that arises when body and mind are pure.

Resolve not to be moved by the fragrance or stench the nose perceives, for when the mind rises and falls with odors, it damages the constant, pure nature. Once you release attachment to smells, a pure "heavenly fragrance" (tianxiang) naturally arises in the heart, and you offer it to Heaven with a sincere and reverent mind.

Resolve not to let the body move about carelessly. Constantly maintain a upright bearing and cast off laziness. The scripture also says that lack of filial piety defiles one's nature and ruins one's spiritual roots. Those who cultivate the Way should keep their conduct dignified and sit reverently.

Resolve not to let your thoughts turn away from the right path. Each person, with a pure and sincere mind, should offer the "heart incense" (xinxiang) to Heaven.

Establishing the aspiration to cultivate the Dao, one must restrain one's conduct, not allowing the body to move without restraint, and constantly maintain a dignified bearing, never slackening into idleness. Lack of filial piety defiles body and mind and corrupts the spiritual roots; the Daoist practitioner should therefore conduct oneself with gravity and act with a reverent heart.

Establishing the aspiration to cultivate the Dao, one must not allow one's thoughts to run counter to others, nor give rise to anger or irritation without cause. One should subdue the deluded mind, act in accordance with principle, and keep the heart-qi calm and the spirit at ease.

Establishing the aspiration to cultivate the Dao, one must not alter one's resolve at whim, but remain sincere and upright, constantly holding to the original intention. The heart should harbor no miscellaneous thoughts, and the mind should not be drawn away by other affairs. Even when alone, one should be cautious and self-guarding, maintaining honesty and singleness of purpose.

Establishing the aspiration to cultivate the Dao, one must not be bound by emotional attachments. Affection is like a rope that readily binds body and mind; one must sever the ties at their root, cutting away even the first sprouts, and only then can one board the boat of the Dao.

Establishing the aspiration to cultivate the Dao, one must not follow arrogant and wicked companions. Such people's resolve is difficult to sustain, and they will cause others to lose their commitment to the Dao and forfeit their true heart. If one undermines the teaching community, how could one walk together with such people?

Establishing the aspiration to cultivate the Dao, one must not be misled by ignorant and blind teachers. When the six sense-roots (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind) meet the six sense-objects (form, sound, scent, taste, touch, phenomena), the heart should not cling to or linger in them. One must not be confined to any single method, so that one may perceive the true essentials of cultivation. To walk the heterodox side paths is, in the end, to fail to attain liberation.

Establishing the aspiration to cultivate the Dao, one should first receive the Initial Perfected Precepts (the elementary precepts of Daoism). Being able to uphold the ten precepts keeps the resolve from being corrupted. By subduing body and mind and observing the precepts, one will not lose the true Dao; and in daily walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, the Four Dignified Deportments should also be diligently maintained. The original text then repeats the teachings on not clinging to the six sense-roots and six sense-objects, not being confined to a single method, and on receiving the Initial Perfected Precepts and upholding the ten precepts.

Establishing the aspiration to cultivate the Dao, one should further receive the Middle Ultimate Precepts (the higher-level precepts of Daoism), and constantly observe oneself in subtle and hidden conduct, so that one may cultivate with ease. Let the visible physical form attain liberation, accomplish the Dharma-body (the pure body that embodies truth), thoroughly awaken to the Three Bodies (the levels of body and mind in Daoist cultivation discourse), and transcend the calamities of the kalpas.

Establishing the aspiration to cultivate the Dao, one should constantly think of repaying kindness. There are Four Great Debts of gratitude in the world (generally referring to heaven and earth, ruler and parents, and teachers), all of which one should seek to repay; even offering one's life to repay profound kindness is something that filial children and loyal ministers are welcomed by heaven and earth for doing.

Establishing the aspiration to cultivate the Dao, one should first remove falsehood and not feign deafness or muteness, nor deliberately deceive. One must be genuinely sincere and not deceive others; for even a trace of falsehood will sink a person into a state no better than that of beasts.

Establishing the aspiration to cultivate the Dao, one must abstain from killing, stealing, and licentiousness, and also give up the habits of wine, lust, wealth, and anger, as well as greed, delusion, and irritation. The six desires, seven emotions, and three poisons (greed, irritation, delusion) must all be cut off forever, lest one be deluded again and lose the original heart.

Establishing the aspiration to cultivate the Dao, one should not remain at the middle or lower vehicles of practice, for reliance on merit alone will one day come to an end. One should resolve to cultivate the pure, liberating Way of the Great Vehicle, and accomplish the vows and practice of the Supreme One Vehicle.

Establishing the aspiration to pursue arduous cultivation, the resolve must not regress; one must eliminate a thousand faults and ten thousand transgressions. When the principle of nature and life is clear, wisdom naturally manifests, and blessings become boundless. One should cultivate the pure, liberating Way through lofty virtue, vow to accomplish the Supreme One Vehicle, and persevere in arduous practice without retreat, thereby eliminating faults and karmic offenses.

Inner nature is clear and bright, wisdom is boundless, and merit has no end. Virtue is lofty and vast, each thing resting in its proper place as heaven and earth do.

Resolving firmly, one takes refuge in precepts, concentration, and wisdom (upholding the precepts, cultivating concentration, and opening wisdom), and enters the supreme gate of Dharma, where nothing obstructs. Here there is no concealment, only great luminosity; no defilement or discrimination, and no fear. One cultivates the method that transcends birth and death, unbound by extinction, increase and decrease, or the alternation of opposites. Formless and non-acting, it is not limited by rank or category. It has no boundary, does not exalt one thing while denigrating another, and yet is supremely precious. Transcending the three realms of desire, form, and formlessness, one reaches the Sanqing (the Three Pure Ones, the highest heavens revered in Daoism), bathes in the pure Brahma-Qi (the originally pure Qi), and ascends to the precious station of the Dao.

Resolving to take refuge in the Yuanshi Tianzun (the Heavenly Worthy of Primordial Beginning, revered in Daoism), and using the Three Treasures of Dao, Jing (scripture), and Shi (teacher) as a mirror, one constantly examines one's own mind. Having made this resolve, one transcends the calamities of the mundane world, thoroughly awakens to body and mind, and from then on is no longer subject to rebirth. Sincerely we vow: may we, from this day forward, resolve to rid ourselves of falsehood and deception; may we entrust body, mind, and life to emptiness, contemplate Zhenru (true suchness, the unchanging real nature), and see through the emptiness of delusion. May we learn the Supreme Vehicle, with minds unattached to any form, and keep the six roots (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) pure, unmoved by the six dusts (form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and phenomena). Resolving to transcend the calamities of the mundane world, thoroughly awakening to body and mind, may we no longer be reborn.

Sincerely we vow: may we, from this day forward, resolve to rid ourselves of falsehood and deception; may we entrust body, mind, and life to emptiness, contemplate Zhenru, and see through the emptiness of delusion. May we learn the Supreme Vehicle, with minds unattached to any form; may the six roots be pure and unmoved by the six dusts. Reverently upholding the Divine Scripture, may we first cut off the obstacles to cultivation. May we dissolve the entanglements of conscious cognition, comprehend the true principle, and never allow the most precious Dao to be led astray by demons. May mind and life both return to the void, and may life not drift and wander. May we understand birth and death and transcend the world. May the Dharmadhatu (the realm shared by all things) be vast and boundless, and the Dharmakaya (the pure essential body realized by the cultivator) be vast. When the Dharmakaya is complete, the Dharmadhatu is empty; though the Dharmadhatu is empty, it is vast and unobstructed.

May we first free ourselves from birth and death, and also help others, so that self and others are not separate. May we universally deliver all beings and regard all living things as ourselves. May our vows be firm and complete, and may we attain the true mechanism of cultivation, able to reverse the cycle of birth and death. Even if blades and axes wound the body, we will not shrink from them; even if water and fire assail us, our resolve to cultivate will not waver. We vow to bear the three calamities, the eight difficulties, and the five sufferings (all kinds of disaster and pain), without turning back or retreating. Even when the strength of our vows is exhausted, our aspiration will not be destroyed, and no heavenly demon can obstruct it. May our hearts be firm and complete, and may we attain the true mechanism of cultivation, able to reverse the cycle of birth and death. Even if blades and axes wound the body, we will not shrink from them; even if water and fire assail us, our resolve to cultivate will not waver. We vow to bear the three calamities, the eight difficulties, and the five sufferings, without turning back or retreating. Even when the strength of our vows is exhausted, our aspiration will not be destroyed, and no heavenly demon can obstruct it.

Even when encountering great calamities such as the Yangjiu Bailiu (the fated cycles of disaster), we will not abandon our vow. Even if the body is destroyed and the form perishes, we will not change our aspiration. Even if stones rot and the great sea dries up, our resolve will not decline; we will hold our vows with the firm concentration and wisdom of vajra. Even if we sink into the Avici hell (the hell of uninterrupted suffering), we will not decline the retribution we deserve, nor will we flinch. May we bear the consequences of the evil karma we have created, enduring suffering with a patient heart. May we recognize the nature that has been deluded since beginningless time, and enter the pure, undefiled, constantly tranquil state of samadhi. With utterly sincere hearts we vow to save the three paths (the three evil destinies: hell, hungry ghosts, and animals), and may we enter the realm of great luminosity without obstruction.

With compassionate thoughts we will aid all beings. May we become good physicians, healing the sufferings of the world; may we raise a boat of compassion on the sea of suffering and help beings escape illusory realms. Heaven, earth, and all things are the true manifestation of the Dao, and within the Yuanshi Zuqi (the primordial ancestral Qi, the original vital energy from which all things arise) are all the spirits. Sages, immortals, and buddhas all take utmost sincerity as their foundation. We universally exhort the multitude to walk together with one mind and one practice, and to be liberated together from the bonds of the mundane world.

Disciples, I now go over one by one the resolute aspirations you once set and the great vows you once made, and I repeat my admonitions to you. You are the eminent disciples who bear the teaching of Daoism, the immortal youths who propagate the traditions of our lineage, the spirit children who continue the Dao (the Way) lineage, and the Daoist adepts who cultivate in order to break through the Heavenly Pass. The immortals of the Ten Continents and Three Islands have all heard and known of this. Each of you should consider carefully, and it is wise to settle your cultivation aspirations early.

Alas! If you do not liberate yourselves in this life, in which life will you do so? Time flies, and the days and months pass like a shuttle. Since you left home, you have let the years drift by and wasted your time. Now your hair is white as frost, your skin is wrinkled, your teeth are gradually falling out, your sinews are stiff, and your skin has grown slack. Alas! When the bones grow soft, one cannot walk far. When the blood and Qi (vital energy) are depleted, one lacks the strength to carry heavy loads. When Jing (essence) is exhausted and kidney Qi declines, the eyes grow dim. When Shen (spirit) is weary and the mind is disordered, the spiritual nature becomes hard to settle. When the Hun and Po (the ethereal and corporeal souls) weaken, hearing declines. Though stomach Qi may remain strong while spleen Qi is weak, one's appetite gradually diminishes.

You must understand that this body is fundamentally illusory. No matter how robust it may be, it will ultimately meet death; only the timing differs. Deafness, blurred vision, a dry mouth, loose teeth, an aching waist and a bent back, graying hair and withered temples, stiff sinews and numb limbs, and a declining will with a disheartened mind are all death notices sent by the King of Hell, summoning you to answer his call early.

Do not fixate only on your wives and children or on the trivial matters of daily life. Do not let your vision be so narrow that you cling to the present like beasts, attending only to what lies before you and ignoring the next life. Should the ghost messengers come to seize your souls today, you would have to follow them, even if you were unwilling. Do you imagine that, because you have left home to cultivate the Dao and separated yourselves from worldly life, you can evade or escape death? Why not see through these principles and cultivate early, so that you may seek liberation?

At the threshold of life and death, the ability to let go of attachments and depart with composure is what reveals the bearing of a great man and an extraordinary gentleman. You must firmly establish your resolve, bring forth your abilities, and devote yourselves to cultivation after leaving home. Otherwise, your spirit will grow timid and your countenance will wither. The four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, which make up the body (a general summary in Buddhist and Daoist traditions of the material constitution of the body), will each disperse, and the sight, hearing, and wisdom of a lifetime will scatter with them. A person becomes garrulous and drifts without roots, and ultimately sinks into hell. Alas, all of you! If cultivation does not grasp the correct Way, one will inevitably come apart.

To cultivate without establishing resolve is like watching a puppet show. Once the gongs and drums fall silent, the play is over, and then you will see where you can go. Only resolve allows one to transcend the mundane world; without aspiration, nothing can be accomplished. Only by resolving to cultivate the true Dao can one manifest extraordinary power, so that even the mighty divine strongmen should not be underestimated.

To cultivate the wondrous Dao (the Way) of qingjing (tranquility) and wuwei (non-action), one must first have firm resolve and also achieve ease in everyday conduct. If one can do this, one can come to embody the Dao of nature; if one cannot, how can one claim to have already accorded with nature? If one cannot even properly carry out the duties the world expects, how can one speak of being at ease?

The immortal master said, "Whoever wishes to cultivate the xiandao (Way of the immortals) must first cultivate the rendao (human Way); if the human Way is not yet cultivated, the Way of the immortals remains far off." The Confucians say, "One must first put the family in order before one can speak of governing the state." Putting the family in order is like cultivating the human Way, and governing the state is like cultivating the Way of the immortals. If one cannot govern one's household, how could one govern a state? The Buddhist tradition says, "One should exhaust the ordinary mind, and beyond this there is no other view of the sages." The "ordinary mind" spoken of here refers to the human relationships governed by the Three Bonds (sangang) and Five Constants (wuchang). If one can fully put the way of being human into practice according to these, the human Way is cultivated, and cultivating the Way of the immortals becomes not difficult. Even if one does not attain to sagehood, perfection, or buddhahood, one will more readily achieve some accomplishment.

So how should one go further in cultivating the Way of the immortals? If you can fully put the above way of being human into practice, the human Way has already been cultivated, and cultivating the Way of the immortals is not difficult; even if one does not attain sagehood, perfection, or buddhahood, one will more readily achieve some accomplishment.

How may one enter the path of cultivation toward immortality? Disciples, once you have entered the mysterious gate of Daoism, studied to become Daoist priests, received a master, and been given secret instructions, you begin sitting in meditation to calm the mind. You believe that the cultivation of the mundane world is complete and that immortality is only days away. You do not realize that you have not yet shown your master the proper reverence, and that the oral formulas you received are not sorted into the correct Way and the side paths. In your haste you begin practice recklessly, and as soon as you begin you already seek proof of results. After two or three days of sitting without any sign of change, you give up. You then seek another master, hear a few words, and return to sitting. Your resolve to seek the Dao cannot last even two or three days, yet you expect results immediately and cannot control your stray thoughts. With a mind this confused and understanding this shallow, even if you practice a little, it is only wasted effort. Your thoughts wander, your mind and spirit cannot settle, and your cultivation becomes like a dream.

Even after twenty or thirty years of sitting, you remain an ordinary person, and at the end of your life you may still not understand how far your cultivation has reached. To let time pass in this way is like trying to catch the moon in water or pluck flowers from a mirror. Immortality may seem easy, but where are the ready-made immortals? It is pitiful that you are manipulated by blind teachers and deceived by heterodox outsiders, and I will say no more of this. I urge you only to study again and again the chapter on "strict observance of the precepts," along with the teachings on vowing to repay one's debts of gratitude. First, rectify your intentions and remove afflictions, ignorance, and other disturbing thoughts. Single-mindedly turn toward the Dao, take refuge in the Three Treasures (the Dao, the scriptures, and the teachers revered by Daoism), recite the true scriptures, and cultivate in accordance with the precepts.

First, sit in quiet meditation for one hundred days in the Hall of the Ten Directions (the hall where Daoists from all directions practice and worship), until your bearing is dignified, your body and mind are steady, your affairs are not disordered, and your posture is upright. Afterward, rise and bow in worship, respectfully request a true master, and vow not to cultivate the lesser vehicles. Sincerely take refuge and wish to hear the supreme, true, and great pure Way.

Then one must perform the ceremony of obeisance and respectfully request a true master (zhenshi). One takes a vow: not to study the shallow Lesser Vehicle teachings, but to devote oneself wholeheartedly to taking refuge, to hear the supreme and true Mahayana teaching of the pure, liberated, and natural wondrous Way, to comprehend the principle of life and death, and to be forever free from the cycle of rebirth. Only after this may one receive the Ten Precepts of the Initial Perfected (chuzhen shijie), the precepts received upon first entering the Daoist community.

Why must this be done in this way, friends? Because cultivating the Dao requires first transforming one's own temperament. Only after hearing the Dao teachings may one ascend the meditation cushion (putuan) to settle the mind and cease thoughts, set aside worries and emotions, and devote oneself wholeheartedly to cultivating the mind-ground, releasing worldly affairs. Afterward one receives the Three Hundred Great Precepts of the Central Pole (Zhongji sanbai dajie), the precepts for further practice. Through careful investigation and thorough understanding, one comes to see that the great matter of human life and its causes lie within oneself and are not to be sought outside the mind. Only after such deep and sincere contemplation, when cultivation is complete and one receives confirmation of the empty, natural Dao, may one advance further from the attainments already achieved.

One must not invert right and wrong, nor argue stubbornly out of ignorance. Some people, having learned only a few sanctuaries, or having obtained a single hermitage and taken one or two disciples, consider themselves accomplished and grow arrogant. They do not place the precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom in their hearts. They neither emulate the precept masters who keep the rules strictly and maintain dignified conduct, nor live in harmony with fellow practitioners. Though they barely know how to read and grasp only a little of the principles, without truly transforming themselves they presume their own greatness and claim to practice the supreme method.

They carry fans and write a few phrases about refining elixirs, hang up a bag and fill it with a few alchemical classics, and stuff a gourd full of herbs they have gathered, using these things to swindle money from ordinary people. They falsely claim these are alchemical formulas transmitted by extraordinary immortals from the sea, and with the money they obtain, they buy wine and meat. They speak full of wild boasts, yet understand nothing of the pulse, the blood and qi, or the principles of yin and yang. They merely cobble together a few prescriptions at random and falsely claim that they are performing good deeds and earning merit.

Idling away the day in chatter and laughter, debating affairs from north to south and east to west, rushing hither and thither, concerned only with seeking food and clothing, such conduct disgraces the rules of the Taishang Great Dao and harms the reputation of the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Dao. Those who violate the precepts and break the commandments sow the seeds of transgression. When their offenses accumulate to the extreme, they will inevitably be called to account by the Celestial Bureau (Tiancao), the heavenly office in charge of punishment, and will sink into hell forever. How truly lamentable and painful!

There is also a kind of person who, having only just entered the Dao gate, has narrow aspirations and limited desires. They wish only to rely on seated meditation (dazuo) for ease, yet are unwilling to subdue their thoughts and regulate their breath, nor willing to relinquish craving and sever entanglements. They drag their feet, cling to outward appearances, and fix their minds on surface display. Constantly hoping that their practice will show results, they press to circulate the breath and the Jing (essence), insist on pursuing particular cavities (qiaoxue), and as a result their minds become confused. They mistake false thoughts for right thoughts and remain unawakened for a long time. They refuse to seek instruction with humility, to visit teachers and learn, or to examine matters carefully and discern clearly. Over days and months their illusions grow ever deeper until they become beyond rescue. Some even harm themselves, lose their lives, and fall into the cycle of rebirth. If one takes the Wuji (Limitless Ultimate) Great Dao, the root substance beyond all visible form, to be something within the physical body, and mistakes the shishen (consciousness-spirit), the discriminating mind that thinks and reflects, for the yuanshen (primordial spirit), the true spirit, and lets consciousness lead one about, how could one ever be freed from birth and death?

Disciples, you must remember my words: all heterodox paths, deviant methods, and side tracks should be swept away as early as possible and resolutely let go. Keep your body, mind, and intentions steadily focused on refining them according to Heaven's mandate and your original nature. Above all, do not crave immediate results. Simply contemplate and comprehend within your heart, and resolve to follow this path of cultivating the mind-nature to the end. Even when you meet obstacles as impenetrable as walls of bronze and iron, seek a way to break through them. When the time is ripe, a way out will appear on its own. It is like fruit that falls naturally once it is fully ripe. At that moment, the mind will suddenly awaken and penetrate to Heaven and Earth.

If your blessings are shallow and your affinities thin, accumulate virtue, do good works, build up merit, and advance with courage and vigor. If you do not awaken in this lifetime, continue into the next. If you still have not awakened then, keep cultivating through a thousand lives and ten thousand lives, and in the end there will surely come a day of awakening. Make this vow so that the aspiration for awakening never retreats across lifetimes, and you will surely become a sage of great compassion and great vows, and ultimately attain the Dao (Dào).

Enjoying the blessings of the mortal world is easy, but cultivating the pure bliss that transcends worldly life is difficult. You have resolved to cultivate the Way of transcending the world. This is the correct path, not the heterodox methods that dwell on deliberation and refining, seeking to live forever without dying. Even if such practices were continued for a thousand generations, they would amount to no more than "ghosts who guard the corpse while gazing at the mountain," clinging forever to the physical body.

The Wuji Pure Stillness Dao (the cultivation path whose aim is purity, stillness, and non-action, returning to Wuji (Wújí)) does not seek quick results, nor does it covet immediate accomplishments. It does not prescribe whether one practices for three years or nine. Its root is seeing one's nature (directly realizing one's original nature). In practice, changes and signs may appear every day, or even every moment: saliva in the mouth may become moist and fragrant, the hands and feet may grow firm, the head may take on a sense of fullness, the brain may feel as if the gate of Heaven has opened, warmth may arise in the abdomen, and the joints of the whole body may crack. These are only phenomena of the lower and middle levels of practice, however, and one must gradually bring one's cultivation back to the fundamental root of the Great Dao, and so to non-action (wúwéi).

The essence of the Dao is originally empty and originally without form, which is why it is called "Wuji." If practice strays from this ultimate destination, and one takes the visible signs that appear along the way as one's attainment, one becomes a heterodox outsider. Thus, even if the deviation is only slight at the start, in the end it will be far off the mark.

If one pursues the outward forms and the surface appearances, fixating on how to set up protective spirits, how to establish the cauldron, prescribing the rising of lead at the hour of zi and the descent of mercury at the hour of wu, advancing the Yang fire and retreating the Yin talisman, and then practicing the work according to the trigrams and seeking verifications at set times, yet failing to understand the return to the Dao-body (returning to the original, natural Dao), these are all merely minor arts of lower rank.

Clarity and stillness through non-action (Wuwei) is the subtle Dao that accords with what is natural and returns to the Source, and it differs greatly from the practices described above. Take the recitation of the Huang Jing (Imperial Scripture), for instance. To generate the aspiration and resolve to transcend the mundane, to vow to rise above worldly concerns, this initial heart-mind is like the "Jade Maiden scattering fragrance." Once the heart's incense is released, it can move the beings of the Six Destinies and bring those who hear it to awakening and deliverance. The generating of the aspiration is itself the cultivation work (gongfu); the beings who benefit from smelling the fragrance are the efficacy of the practice.

Another example is the "Jade Emperor emitting light": one gathers the heavens, the earths, and the boundless worlds into illumination, like boundless mirrors reflecting one another and merging. This is the efficacy of practice. Removing obstructions is the gongfu; the seventeen kinds of light and thirty kinds of merit are the efficacy. What the chapters on "Merit" (Gongde Pin) and "Retribution" (Baoying Pin) describe is precisely the retribution of merit and demerit that the reciter obtains.

If in the past you were frivolous and impatient, with scattered delusive thoughts, your mouths never stopping, your hands never still, your feet wandering without end; if you could not sit steadily, tossed and turned in sleep, gazed about with restless eyes, and moved back and forth like a gust of wind, these are not the conduct of a cultivator of the Dao. They are like an oxen not yet pierced through the nose, or a horse without a bridle, that does not walk the correct path.

Undergoing the precepts, donning the Daoist robe and headcloth, carrying the alms bowl and wearing shoes, and outwardly presenting the appearance of a Quanzhen Daoist, then following others in learning how to conduct affairs, listening to explanations, and observing how others carry themselves, so as to abandon one's former rough and impatient habits and learn to be a composed person who keeps to propriety: these are all the discipline of upholding the precepts. To transform one's temperament, so that one's bearing displays the demeanor of a person of the Dao and naturally inspires reverence in those who see it, this is the outward form that the upholding of the precepts takes.

If one earnestly practices refined cultivation, concentrates the mind on contemplation and understanding, and brings one's thoughts into accord with the Dao, seeking only to illuminate the mind and see one's nature (to realize the original mind and recognize one's innate nature) without pursuing external proof, worrying only that one's effort is insufficient and not worrying that the results will fail to arrive, then when the time is ripe, enlightenment will naturally dawn and one will fully understand. Conversely, if cultivation is not single-minded, and the heart is divided, frequently interrupted and wavering, and sincerity is lacking, then the spirit will struggle to concentrate; if thoughts are impure, the breath will struggle to gather. When the spirit is scattered and the breath is restless, and the thoughts are unsubstantial, from where would the results come?

Since you have now resolved to escape the cycle of rebirth with a great aspiration, you should broaden your heart and diligently apply yourselves, placing the results in the background; this is the proper way. It is like a good physician prescribing medicine, who values harmony and moderation, whereas a mediocre physician prescribes only for quick effect, ignoring the root. Seeking to see results early, even if they appear for a time, may injure one's primordial qi; if the root cannot be restored in time, various changing illnesses often follow. If the patient does not understand the reason for this, regret will come too late.

Friends, if you can uphold the precepts day and night, follow the Daoist liturgical rites (keyi) in your devotions, remind yourselves constantly and attend to your inner state at every moment, what is there to fear about failing to see results? Even when your heart has already begun to open and your vision has become clear, you must still set aside self-attachment and calm the deluded mind, and draw near to those of virtue (de) in order to verify and elevate your understanding. Above all, do not cling to the "notion of self" (wo xiang, attachment to the self) and forget others, nor cling to others and forget oneself. If you can keep both of these attachments from arising, reaching the state of "emptiness of the four marks" (the non-attachment to self, other, and all other distinctions), then the fruits of merit and cultivation will naturally manifest in time.

Friends, cultivation of the Way depends entirely on this one sincere heart. If you cling to the appearances of "others," you will forget yourself. When you no longer distinguish self from other and no longer give rise to two opposing thoughts in the mind, the Four Marks (attachment to self, person, all beings, and lifespan) can all return to emptiness. Afterward, the fruits of cultivating virtue and accumulating merit will arise naturally.

The Way is pursued wholly through a single mind. When intention is sincere and thought is focused, the Dao draws near with ease. If stray thoughts recede and the mind settles into stillness and emptiness, then wherever you practice, you may come to sense responses. The mind must be calm and false thoughts must be extinguished. When the mind has quieted like cold ashes, one's true nature will emerge and stand firm like a grain of bean. "True Fire Qi" (zhen huo qi) is a term of practice that refers to the inner true qi and the control of the fire-timing (huohou); it illuminates all things, as the sun shines in the sky.

One must strictly uphold the precepts and observe conduct, examine the efficacy of cultivation in meditative absorption (ruding), and use the light of wisdom to clearly perceive the inner transformations. The saying "within the interior, a grain of millet contains heaven and earth" means that the subtle realm of inner cultivation, though as small as a grain of millet, can encompass heaven and earth. Such experiences are difficult to explain to those who do not understand. Listen to the teaching with your whole heart, for the careless and restless will find it hard to become immortal. One should practice the disciplines according to the precepts, steady the resolve, and cut off stray thoughts. Sit quietly in the mountains to cultivate in seclusion, gather the spirit (shen) in, and do not let the mind become coarse and scattered. When the Four Marks are emptied and the inner heart is still, no opposing mind arises, and then the Dao can connect with the heart.

Now I tell you this heavenly secret: whether cultivation bears fruit depends on whether you apply your heart. Diligent practice brings responsiveness; cultivate meticulously and deeply at every moment. Observe quietly within the heart, and let no one else know even a trace of it. Do not cling to the states you have reached. Only when you achieve this will there be true inner realization. Like a foolish cat guarding its hole, clinging and waiting stirs up ignorance (wuming); if you are led astray by delusion, you will take the metaphor of "the embryo completing and giving birth to the sacred infant" (tai yuan chan sheng ying) as a delusive thought. Gold Duke (Jin Gong), Wood Mother (Mu Mu), Azure Tiger (Cang Hu), and White Dragon (Bai Long) are symbolic designations within Neidan (internal alchemy); the appearance of the Three Flowers (san hua) above the crown and the rising of the Five Qi within the body likewise describe the phenomena of practice. If one does not understand these true messages, the Spirit Terrace (ling tai, the seat of the mind-spirit) will become blocked, and true nature will also struggle to penetrate.

Do not disparage the precepts. The precepts are not shallow; they are the foundation for entering the Way of Wuwei (non-action). They are like a raft that carries you across the sea through the waves, or like a ladder leading up to heaven. Do not boast and grow arrogant, nor slander others or argue over right and wrong. If you are unwilling to uphold the precepts, you may choose for yourself; why obstruct others and cause them confusion? If you can praise them with your mouth and rejoice in your heart, then you are truly promoting the mysterious teaching (xuanjiao) and protecting the Dharma. If you give rise to a mind of disparagement, you will invite heaven's punishment; the retribution of karma has indeed been true since ancient times.

Alas! You could clearly be a good person, yet you refuse to be one. You could clearly speak kind words, yet you refuse to speak them. You clearly have the great Way to cultivate, yet you refuse to cultivate it. Why, then, obstruct others and cause them confusion?

Slandering the orthodox Way (zhèngdào) brings heavenly retribution, and the principle of karmic cause and effect has always been true. Alas! To refuse to do good, refuse to speak good words, and refuse to cultivate the Great Dao, but instead play at clever tricks that backfire: without upholding the precepts and practicing concentration (dìng), how can one receive the lineage transmission of Taishang (Tàishàng)? Without cultivating merit and wisdom together, how can body and mind attain liberation? Acting blindly without understanding the principles, how can one see the crux of the matter? Without removing obstacles and ignorance, how can the mind become open and expansive?

Less sin is better than more, and careless speech is worse than silence. The supreme Dao (the Way) is not the same as heterodox teachings, so how can you be allowed to treat it lightly and bandy words about? Peddling oral transmissions everywhere for profit does not blur the clear distinction between the weight of sin and the weight of merit. If you persist in delusion, your path will lead only to death, and in rebirth you will become a pig or a sheep, slaughtered for the retribution of your karma. The yin and yang spirits of heaven and earth cannot be escaped, and the fasting periods of the Five La (wǔlà) and Three Yuan (sānyuán) festivals will also examine people's good and evil. Know that the movement of sun and moon and the transformation of yin and yang are not chaotic or obscure. They naturally illuminate the deluded, and people's hearts understand this well. Do not slander the orthodox Way.

The scripture repeatedly counsels with a compassionate heart: one should take refuge early and keep the three thousand grand precepts (sānqiān dàjiè). When the mind has no obstruction, one can let go of attachment to right and wrong, and whether sitting, lying, walking, or standing, cultivation runs through all of them. From then on, the fire of karmic sin dies down like an empty flame, and the light of night seems to shine on the Dharma hall. Cultivating through precepts, concentration, and wisdom leads to liberation. Keeping the precepts requires sincerity and steadfastness, and one must personally experience the process of cultivation.

If one suspects the precepts are a deception and goes against the Dao, one will bring upon oneself the retribution of having one's tongue pulled out. Once practitioners of cultivation attain awakening, their doubts dissipate, like wind scattering floating clouds and leaving the sky clear. Transcending the calamities of the mundane world and cultivating freely, one suddenly cuts off useless entanglements. Practicing according to the Keyi (liturgical regulations), one does not shout loudly or tilt one's head or body when paying homage to the Heavenly Venerables (Tianzun). Inner intention and outward conduct are in accord, and qi and spirit remain undisturbed. Even as an ordinary person, one has already accomplished the Dao.

Attaining the Dao is neither difficult nor easy; the key lies in ridding oneself of restlessness so that the mind becomes clear, as wind sweeps away the clouds. Transcend the mundane world, cultivate at ease, and cut off useless entanglements. Practice according to the Keyi, reverently worship the Heavenly Venerables, and maintain upright bearing with an undisturbed mind and spirit. When inner and outer are united, one has accomplished the Dao even as an ordinary person. Attaining the Dao is neither difficult nor easy. The precepts and their observance both lie in the heart; amid the cycle of birth and death, one should transcend through precepts and concentration (jie ding). Having already taken refuge, one should not neglect the precepts and become obstinate and benighted.

Chapter Fifteen: Preserving Life and Prolonging Existence.

Friends, a few days ago I sat on the lecture seat and repeatedly urged you to be vigorous and courageous, to make great vows, and to single-mindedly seek early understanding of the great Dao of life and death. I told you not to hold narrow aspirations or imitate the Two Vehicles (èr chéng dào, the Buddhist paths that seek only one's own liberation) that cling to life and fear death. Today I speak of the mind-method of preserving life and prolonging existence. Could it be that what I say now contradicts what I said before, that I am babbling and thereby confusing sentient beings?

The "preserving life" I speak of does not mean clinging to the physical body, nor does it concern only jing (essence) and qi (vital energy), or teach you to protect the acquired span of your years and extend the brief life before you. The "preserving life" here is what the Zhōngyōng (Doctrine of the Mean) calls "what Heaven confers is called nature" (tiānmìng zhī wèi xìng): guarding the nature that Heaven bestowed upon humanity, abiding in the constant Dao, and waiting upon the Mandate of Heaven. It corresponds to the Buddhist "wisdom-life" (huìmìng, the life of awakening and wisdom), and also to the Daoist "Life-Star" (běnmìng xīng, the star that represents one's destiny). The "life" here refers to an enduring life whose nature does not perish when the form dies. A scripture also says: "How does one attain longevity? One must possess the Vajra-indestructible body." The Mandate of Heaven is originally one; a person should cultivate body and mind and quietly await it. By exhaustively investigating principles and fully manifesting one's nature, one reaches the Mandate. This is the essential point of establishing the root of life.

The "prolonging" is not the expelling of disease, the extension of years, or the making of the physical body immortal. It is letting the true nature endure through myriad kalpas without decay, and letting the Dharma body (fǎshēn, the eternal essence that transcends the physical body and never perishes) abide across past and present, becoming the root that transforms and nourishes all beings. If one looks only at the physical body, then even if cultivation lets one live a few more years, one has merely postponed death, and this is not the true Dao.

The "life" I speak of preserving through cultivation is making oneself one with Heaven and Earth and level with the myriad things. Heaven and Earth change, yet my nature does not change. All things have an end, yet my nature has no end. Heaven, Earth, and the myriad things all pass through cycles of calamity and the succession of ages, yet my true nature remains clear, constant, numinously empty, and luminously transparent. It stands beyond form, cannot be destroyed, and is not moved by change. This is the "life" to be preserved and the "existence" to be continued. It is the constant Dao by which Heavenly Principle operates and life is born again and again.

What this section records are words spoken out of necessity, straight from the heart. Those who truly understand, and who can grasp the silent, soundless principle in the Xuanzuo (Mysterious Seat) teaching, will perceive its meaning.

The Great Dao (Dao, the Way) is vast and boundless. It encompasses Heaven and Earth, is present everywhere and at all times, and dwells within all things. In daily life the Dao manifests at every turn: in what the eyes see and the ears hear, in walking, stopping, sitting, and lying down, in eating, breathing, advancing, and retreating, in dressing and eating, and in clear skies, rain, cold, and heat. Yet you are obscured by external things and bound by your innate endowment (qifu, inherited disposition). Though you dwell within daily affairs, you cannot perceive it. The Dao appears clearly within emptiness, like a shadow or an echo, and still you lose your way at every step before it.

Now, borrowing the names of the founding masters of the Three Teachings (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism), and moved by a compassionate wish to deliver all beings and benefit all living things, I cannot refrain from saying a few more words to you. I therefore proclaim to all beings that there is no second principle of the Dao. Any other principle would not be the correct awakening of the Great Vehicle (Dacheng, Mahayana), which is the Way of thorough enlightenment.

The spiritual nature within you, which is called huiming (wisdom-life, the inner life of wisdom), is originally one. Huiming is only a provisional name for the Dao-body (daoti, the essential body of the Dao), and their source is the same. Because one source manifests in different forms, the three are included and returned to a single unity. Huiming appears constantly, yet you cannot see its form. It is always hidden, yet you do not know where it lies. It preaches the Dharma every day, yet you cannot hear its voice. Are you not like the foolish one who searches for fire while facing a lamp, or who looks for the ox while riding on its back?

Fellow disciples, why do I teach you to uphold this scripture? I worry that you do not understand this wisdom, and this wisdom is the Numinous Treasure (Lingbao, the Daoist term for precious talismans and the true and wondrous Way). I know that you often go against it. You are not yet like the old practitioners who have seen their own minds and nature and understood the principles. Even when you encounter this wisdom, you do not know how to apply it, and when you do apply it occasionally, you cannot bring it to full effect.

Once a person's life is lost, it is like the Primordial Heavenly Lord (Yuanshi Tianzun) leaving his lecture seat, the Yellow Emperor (Xuanyuan Huangdi) losing his dark pearl, the Patriarch Iron-Crutch Li (Tieguai Li) losing his crutch, or Master Zhang Guo, the Mysterious Gentleman (Tongxuan Xiansheng), losing his blue donkey. At that point, one has things to say but cannot speak them and can only feel one's nose in vain. Though thoughts may stir in the mind, there is no key to understanding the principles, and one departs in confused darkness.

Therefore, I carry on the sacred intent of the Primordial Heavenly Lord in proclaiming the teaching, and I revere the compassion and virtue of Patriarch Qiu (Qiu Chuji), and so I explain and enlighten you in this way. You should quickly investigate and awaken to the wondrous principles of protecting life and prolonging existence. Have you not heard of the Scripture of the Wondrous Taishang Dongxuan Lingbao Scripture for Dispelling Calamity and Protecting Life? If you can read this scripture and awaken through it, then your wisdom-life (the wisdom of cultivation and the root of life itself) will extend on without end and be renewed endlessly. If you merely recite the title by rote as an offering, this does not amount to true awakening. Such a person finishes reciting and then sets it aside, unable to savor the meaning of the scripture in detail.

The scripture says: "Since beginningless time, sentient beings have had their minds constantly driven by the body, and their thoughts shift along with the circumstances of the external world. People become absorbed in passion without cease, drift upon the river of love, and sink into the sea of desire. They cling to illusory, formed bodies and things, and forget their original face. The Dao is originally without form, yet people cling to seeing it as having form; the Dao is not empty nothingness, yet people cling to emptiness. Confused by emptiness and form, people invert being and non-being and never come to understand the principle. How then could they escape birth and death and leap out of the cycle of transmigration?

"If someone understands what true emptiness is and what is not mere nothingness, and also understands that the appearance of form is not substantially real, does not cling to the view of emptiness, and is able to remain far from all kinds of doubt and affliction, then such a person can purify the six roots (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) and remove the obstacles to cultivation. This is the fundamental purpose of our Daoist school. Now this teaching is proclaimed and transmitted to sentient beings, and therefore the scripture is titled Protecting Life. May this teaching universally liberate sentient beings and spread throughout the world, so that people will transmit and recite it. Anyone who recites and propagates this scripture will be accompanied by countless protective deities—the Flying Celestial Kings, the Demon-Breaking Vajra Guardians, the Dharma-Protecting Spirit Youths, the Compassionate Perfected Who Relieve Suffering, the Golden-Eyed Fierce Beasts, and others—who will guard this scripture and enable each sentient being to be free from all kinds of attachment."

Friends, how could the physical body itself understand what emptiness is and what is not emptiness, or what is form and color and what is not? Only when one recognizes that neither emptiness nor form should be clung to can one see through all things without obstruction and enter the many profound gateways of practice. Therefore, I will first explain the subtle principles of the scripture to you, so that we may protect your huiming (wisdom-life, the wisdom and life-root gained through cultivating the Dao).

The masters of past generations were compassionate. They feared that disciples would take the physical body to be their true self, that they would be driven and manipulated by this illusory body and bustle about without rest, and that they would thereby lose the root of cultivation and forfeit their precious wisdom. When studying this scripture, you should nourish your linggen (spiritual root, the inner spiritual foundation) and cultivate your yuanben (primordial root, the root of life and of cultivation). When the foundation is firm, the Dao can grow.

The junzi (noble person) accords with the Tiandao (Heavenly Dao), and so is able to preserve life. To regard long life and short life as having no difference is the principle by which life is prolonged. The junzi reveres the Tiandao, and therefore the huiming endures and life is renewed without ceasing, transforming and flowing onward until one attains the jingang bu huai zhi ti (vajra-indestructible body) and accomplishes the fashen (Dharma body), which is true-constant and free of outflows, a cultivated body that transcends arising and ceasing and has no deficiency.

Friends, the catalog of scriptures collected in the Three Caverns and Four Repositories (a Daoist classification of texts) contains five thousand three hundred true writings. All of them speak of prolonging life and preserving vital nature (xingming), so that one may escape calamity and transcend the mundane world. Those who cling to outward forms cannot truly protect their lives; only by realizing emptiness (zhenkong) can one truly prolong life.

Wisdom-nature (huixing, the inner wisdom nature) and wisdom-life (huiming, the life of wisdom) are inseparable, and the light of wisdom is the lamp of wisdom (huideng). If the light of wisdom is to shine constantly, the wisdom-life must be settled and enduring; and the enduring of the wisdom-life depends on stillness and settledness (jingding), so that the lamp's light naturally remains bright. When one awakens to suchness (zhenru), the lamp of wisdom shines without cease, and by turning this light back upon oneself one can also skillfully liberate all beings. What is called "light" is not a visible, substantial radiance; what is called "brightness" is not a brightness that can be named. It is simply the wisdom-life that people already possess, and only when wisdom opens is the word "light" borrowed to describe it.

Form and emptiness, life and death, in the mundane world depend on one another. Only by awakening to emptiness-nature can one protect life and prolong it. To prolong life is to go beyond the bounds of calamity; once one has transcended calamity, what is there still to speak of death or non-death? Sentient beings sink into suffering, passing through calamity life after life, only because they have lost their wisdom. As the lamp of wisdom and its light shine widely, you should quickly grasp the root of upholding the precepts. Now let me try to offer the wondrous methods of protecting life and prolonging it, explaining them to you through stillness and emptiness.

Disciples, the scripture says: "When it is used, it cannot be seen, and then nature and life are preserved; when it is seen, it cannot be used, and then life is extended." "Only by eliminating the restless mind, without extinguishing the mind of awareness, can life be prolonged; only by eliminating the mind that clings and abides, and concentrating the spirit on the empty, quiet mind, can nature and life be preserved. When one can prolong life, the wisdom-life will not be cut off, and the Great Medicine (dayao) can be refined; when one can protect life, one can attain non-birth, and the Great Elixir (dadan) can be refined." The "Great Medicine" and "Great Elixir" here are terms of Daoist Neidan (internal alchemy) cultivation, referring to the inner accomplishment produced by practice.

The scripture also says: "Heaven's mandate is not constant; it is obtained by following the Way and lost by not following it." And: "Man receives his mandate from Heaven and should cherish the bright virtue Heaven bestowed; though Zhou was an ancient state, its mandate was able to renew itself continually." These passages all speak of the true principles of protecting life and prolonging it, that is, the great Way that establishes the root of life.

Disciples, if you can awaken to this, you have grasped its subtle meaning. Now I hold nothing back, and will tell you all the precious principles and speak plainly of the mysteries within them. Please consider carefully these four lines of verse: "The length of life has its fixed measure; the coming and going of life is originally without birth. To prolong life and protect it, there is no need to seek some other method; when the method returns to no-method, that is the city of the Dharma King."

Friends, as I explained yesterday, the body of the Dao (the fundamental reality of the Great Dao) is non-acting (Wuwei), and the Dharma body (the purified original nature and wisdom-body that the cultivator realizes) is truly real and not illusory. But we must understand that the body of the Dao is not outside of daily life, and the Dharma body dwells within this physical body of ours. The form body (sheshen, the visible flesh) that is solid and healthy is the adornment of outer, purposeful merit, while a pure Dharma body is the adornment of inner, non-acting merit.

When both inside and outside are pure, and both are fully understood, the spirit is liberated and enters the supreme state of the indestructible true emptiness, the great light, and the complete perfection. This merit cannot be surpassed. It causes myriad spirits to come to pay homage, commands thunder and lightning, wins the protection of the Three Realms and the welcome of the Five Emperors, and brings clear and penetrating wisdom. These states are not achieved through the cultivation of purposeful effort.

Friends, when one firmly guards the jing (essence) and nourishes the yuanqi (primordial vital energy), the jing can gather and condense. Through practices such as regulating the breath (tiaoxi) and moving the fire (yunhuo), one transforms jing into qi, warms and nourishes the four elements (earth, water, fire, and wind, the basic constituents of body and mind), and harmonizes the spirits. When the true fire is smokeless, the qi becomes clear; when the divine water does not leak, the spirit becomes still. When the qi is clear, it can transform into spirit, and when the spirit is still, it can unite with the realm of emptiness. When stillness and emptiness reach their utmost, the primordial true nature (yuanzhen, the original authentic nature of a person) is restored. Through inner alchemy practices such as the Nine Returns and Seven Restorations (jiuhuan qifan), life returns to its root. Once life has returned to its root, its foundation is firm and the true nature is preserved. When the true nature is preserved, the body of the Dao becomes manifest; when the body of the Dao becomes manifest, the Dharma body appears.

Friends, this is how one realizes the non-acting body of the Dao through purposeful cultivation, and how one accomplishes a useful Dharma body in what seems useless. The form body has a lifespan, while the Dharma body has a wisdom-life (huiming, the life of spiritual insight and wisdom). Lifespan is arranged by Heaven's mandate and cannot be controlled by oneself, so the form body inevitably undergoes cycles of birth and death and passes through calamities. Wisdom-life, however, is governed by oneself and is not subject to Heaven's mandate, so the power of the Dharma body is self-sufficient and its liberation is unobstructed.

Friends, the lifespan of the form body is limited, and fated karmic retribution is hard to escape; when Heaven decrees death, one must die. The wisdom-life of the Dharma body, however, is boundless and inexhaustible, with vast spiritual powers, and can forever transcend the cycle of calamities. Because wisdom-life is governed by oneself and not subject to Heaven's mandate, the power of the Dharma body is self-sufficient and its liberation is unobstructed. The lifespan of the form body is limited, and fated karmic retribution is hard to escape; when Heaven decrees death, one must die.

The Dharma body (fashen), which transcends form and embodies the true nature and the root of wisdom, has an inexhaustible wisdom-life (huiming) and vast spiritual powers. Only when one attains a state in which one is never again bound by birth and death can one be said to have truly attained long life. Disciples, even if the physical body endures for ten thousand years, it is merely a strange, monstrous thing and cannot be called one who has attained the Dao. The Dharma body, whether it comes or goes, always endures. "Hear the Dao in the morning, and it is no loss to die in the evening": this is a true saying of the Supreme Sage. The Dharma body passes through death yet does not perish, so it is called long-lived. The physical body dies and dies again, and is therefore impermanent.

Disciples, if one comprehends the Dharma body, one can enable those who were originally short-lived and governed by impermanence to all attain long life. If one clings to the physical form, one will instead cause the Dharma body, which in itself possesses immeasurable life, to fall into the cycle of rebirth. The essential secret comes down to a single sentence: see through the physical body, let all anxious thoughts return to emptiness and stillness, cultivate diligently with a sincere heart, and do not be stained by worldly dust. Do not let the Dharma body be bound by the physical body; see through the physical body so that the Dharma body may attain liberation. Is this not the great transformation that drives the flourishing of the course of the Dao?

What is being discussed today is the promotion of filial piety (xiaodao) and the propagation of the Great Dao, which depends entirely on unceasing transmission and practice. To make the way of the patriarchs shine again, if one does not point out the Dharma body that each sentient being possesses, who will be able to uphold it? It is said that if teaching and transformation cannot be propagated, the Dao cannot be made manifest; if the Dao cannot be made manifest, the teachings cannot be put into practice; and if the teachings cannot be put into practice, the Dao cannot be propagated. The Supreme Sage said: "It is people who can broaden the Dao, not the Dao that broadens people." So long as each of you recognizes and takes up the role of propagating the Dao, practices the methods of propagation, and clarifies the key to awakening to the Dao, why should you worry that the lineage of the Dao will fail to flourish or that the patriarchs' exemplary manner will decline?

As a child I had little schooling and limited experience, and I understood neither the Confucian nor the Buddhist teachings. I simply went in search of Daoist learning, wandering through the world for several decades with one aim: to investigate the root of the Dao (the Way). What I examined was the innate liangzhi (innate moral intuition) within me, and what I pursued was the wisdom-nature (huixing) with which a person is born. Through long inward investigation, the liangzhi appeared in the Dantian (energy center), the region that symbolizes the core of body and mind in internal alchemy (neidan). Through deep inquiry into one's original nature, the wisdom-nature arose within a state of empty stillness. Since the mind already has a master, what harm is there in receiving guests and attending to worldly affairs? And since the heart holds a true principle, I am willing to explain the teachings and propagate the great Dao.

My students, I am not skilled at writing, and I am also ashamed of my ignorance of the texts gathered in the Sandong Yaohan (Jade Casket of the Three Caverns), a Daoist scriptural compendium. In my youth I read a few alchemical scriptures, but I never had the chance to copy the precious oral formulas left by the immortal perfected. I am by temperament lazy and fond of leisure and quiet. I often contemplate the principles of nature and life (xingming), reaching into the profound and remote realm of stillness, and I set aside many worldly matters to guard my zhenyuan (true essence), the vital essence that is the source of life. How, then, did I have the leisure to read Confucian books or study alchemical scriptures? Even now I am not good at writing, and my speech is clumsy. I can only use plain and crude words to tell you, in a rough way, these supremely great and true principles and these most profound and secret mysteries.

Yet the Dao has never been spoken, so why preach it? Scriptures have never required learning in order to be understood, so why deliberately open a hall to lecture on them? Teaching esteems wuwei (non-action), so why suffer the trouble of creating disputes? The Dao is something everyone can realize, and it never leaves a person even for a moment. Whether one lives at home or has left home, one can awaken and investigate it. Why must one abandon the mundane world, leave home, and seek out teachers and companions? People simply have not yet understood the great matter of life and death, so they busy themselves seeking food and drink and running about, and some even travel to the ends of the earth, hoping to find a way to return to their origin and restore their primal life source.

Fortunately, the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), namely Jade Clarity, Highest Clarity, and Great Clarity, transmitted the scriptures and expounded the Dao. They established the religious teaching, set up altars to transmit the Dharma, propagated its doctrines, and passed down its lineages, and these teachings have survived to this day. The Confucian masters Zhou Dunyi, the Cheng brothers, Zhang Zai, and Zhu Xi received and clarified the essential meanings of the sages' classics and revealed methods for cultivating the mind. The Diamond Sutra, the Shurangama Sutra, and the Heart Sutra set forth the true meaning of Buddhism, along with the profound principles of purifying body and mind and detaching from desire. The three teachings share a common concern, which is the Way of nature and life, and the cultivation they describe arises from a compassionate heart that relieves suffering and rescues people from distress.

Now I have humbly taken my place among the disciples of Qiu Zu (Qiu Chuji, the founding patriarch of the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) school). I merely follow the rules of the religious community, proclaim its precious teachings, and transmit and expound its doctrines. My students, I am only an ordinary person. I have no supernatural powers and understand only the practice of cultivation in daily life. I awaken people for the sake of those in the Daoist community who keep precepts and cultivate diligently, not for those who peddle oral formulas, beg for alms to get by, idle away their days, and live off others' support while failing to understand the great matter of life and death. Therefore I have no choice but to rouse my spirit and strive to save all beings: above, to flourish the religious teaching, and below, to benefit living beings. This is done for the sake of the multitude, not for myself.

The founding of our Longmen school arose from the awakening and vigorous elevation of the primordial spirit (Yuanshen), with the aim of universally saving all beings. Outwardly, it seeks to flourish teaching and transformation; inwardly, it seeks to benefit the multitude. It was originally for the sake of the masses, not for oneself.

The Longmen school began with the Yuan-dynasty Patriarch Qiu (Qiu Chuji), who revived Daoist teaching, and it has now endured for four hundred years. In these years, individuals of outstanding talent have been rare, and men of resolute aspiration hard to find. In a time when Daoism was in decline, I devoted thirty years to sincerely cultivating the precepts (jielü) and observing the rules, traveling about to visit teachers and seek the Way. Heaven fulfilled my wish: I met my master at Mount Wangwu and received the teachings at Jiugong Mountain, studying and practicing for more than twenty years in all. Later, as the Way flourished, I was fortunate to encounter a prosperous age under the reigning dynasty, when officials and gentry delighted in doing good, and scholars and merchants delighted in giving alms. I also met like-minded people with the karmic affinity to cultivate the Way, and so, seizing the opportunity, I opened an ordination platform in the capital to transmit precepts. Over the past eight years, the enthusiasm for seeking the Way has gradually risen. Those with affinity, both monastic and lay, have come to take refuge and receive precepts, cultivating meditative absorption (chanding), and they have proceeded directly toward the pure and mysterious Way.

I have relied only on a small spark of spiritual clarity and a sincere heart, quietly and earnestly carrying out my duties. Through heaven's grace I received a true opportunity, and so I presumptuously ascended the Dharma seat, temporarily serving as a precept master (lüshi), one who oversees the precepts and lectures on their Dharma. As for widely propagating the Mysterious Gate (Xuanmen) and establishing monasteries that expand the propagation of the Way, this has long been my aspiration.

Do not believe those doubtful, mocking claims that are sufficient to mislead people, nor should you simply cling to your meditation cushions with mouths shut and teeth clenched, assuming the appearance of cultivators, for in time this will only delay yourselves. Such people say they practice "always responding, always stillness" (changying changjing), yet what exactly do they respond to? If they cannot even take care of their own lives and natures (xingming), how can they take care of the lives of others?

Seventeen: Saving People Through Life

Listen carefully, all of you. The precepts and scriptures come from the Daozang (the Daoist Canon, a comprehensive collection of Daoist scriptures). Transmitting the precepts according to the proper ritual procedures is not empty pretense. Proclaiming the teachings aims to save all living beings, so I hope you who are confused will not slander them. I also urge my fellow practitioners to broaden their hearts, endure humiliation, cultivate the true Dao, and together advance the teachings.

When concentration (dingli) and wisdom are cultivated together, merit and virtue grow deep. When one saves all beings universally, they are led out of the sea of suffering. Those who receive the precepts must first remove their obstacles, and once the obstacles are gone, the heart becomes bright. Why worry that the light of wisdom is insufficient? One need only worry that it burns too brightly. Restrain your sharpness and preserve your body and mind, and wisdom will endure. Do not cling to prolonging the life of the physical body, and also transcend the illusory appearances of the world. Hold fast to simplicity, nourish your original nature, and learn wuwei (non-action). Only then can the huiming (the inner spiritual life, the life of the awakened mind) continue, and in the end return to the vast realm of the Dao.

If you cling only to the physical body and do not understand what endures after the body dies, and if you are unwilling to save others and seek only your own liberation, how can you hope to receive the guidance of the immortal masters? The clothing you wear and the food you enjoy so comfortably, who prepared them for you? Even grain and flour piled as high as a mountain could never be consumed in full. If you fail to repay even a drop of kindness, the guilt you accumulate will swell like a flood and drag you down into the Avici Hell (Abi diyu, the hell of unrelieved suffering described in Buddhist and Daoist texts).

Some people deceive others, covet offerings and comfort, and remain dissatisfied even when warmly clothed and well fed. They speak with glib tongues, claiming to have already attained the Dao and promising to lead others to ascension. Those who support such people give even more diligently after hearing this, foolishly hoping to gain a chance at immortality through them. Among ordinary people, how many can awaken on their own? And when, exactly, will ascension finally come?

Those who are wise and awakened are not jealous. In stillness, they first save themselves through wuwei; in action, they proclaim the Great Dao and guide their fellow practitioners. Countless words, when traced to their root, come down to a single word: wu (awakening). It is through awakening that one can save others universally, and the heart that saves others must be sincere and steadfast. By proclaiming the Great Dao and clarifying the teachings, the traditions of the patriarchs are made to flourish, and in the end one attains liberation, reaches the realm of true emptiness, and harmonizes one's nature and mind.

Seventeen: Saving People Through Life

You, my disciples, when I proclaim the teachings and advance the Great Dao, I do not do so for myself, nor for the sake of any sect, but in order to realize the Dao, emulate the Way of Heaven, and save all living beings. Had the sages of the Three Teachings (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism) not been concerned with living beings, why would they have established teachings, transmitted scriptures, opened platforms to lecture on the Dao, and revealed the truth to save the world?

Disciples, when I teach and propagate the teachings, I do not do so for my own sake, nor for any single school alone. I do it to comprehend the Dao (dào), to model myself on the way of Heaven, and to save all living beings. If the sages of the three teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism of ancient times had not been concerned for living beings, why would they have established teachings, transmitted scriptures, expounded truth from the lecture platform, and, teaching according to each person and devising means of guidance, poured out so much benevolent compassion?

Disciples, within the Confucian school, the Most Holy Teacher Confucius is revered as the founding master. His De (Virtue) accords with the Supreme Ultimate (Tàijí), and he gathered the essence of the Great Dao. He was not obstinate or dogmatic, did not center himself on the self, and showed no partiality toward others. He edited the Book of Documents and set in order the rites and music; he elucidated the Book of Changes and practiced ritual propriety; everywhere he promoted the moral teaching of the Spring and Autumn Annals and widely propagated filial piety and principled reason. He transmitted the lineage of the Dao to Zengzi and Mengzi, shouldering the weighty task of transmission and becoming the teacher of Confucians through the ages and the master of popular moral instruction. Had there been no Zengzi and Mengzi to carry on the transmission from the Zhou dynasty onward, and no Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Zhu Xi, and others of the Song dynasty to expound and safeguard Confucianism, how could Confucianism exist today?

Buddhism began with the Buddha Shakyamuni of the West. He practiced austerities in the Snowy Mountains, gave up his throne and left his family, subdued body and mind, and perfected his practice. He realized that the five aggregates are all empty and purified the six sense faculties, and he manifested many wondrous forms to teach beings throughout the ten directions. In the time of Emperor Ming of the Han, it is said, the emperor dreamed of a golden man, and so he sent envoys to invite the Buddhist teaching; a white horse carrying scriptures came from the West to the Central Plains. The Buddhist scriptures total five thousand and forty-eight fascicles, among them the Diamond Sutra (Jīngāng Bōrě Zhēnjīng). Buddhism thereby entered the East, the Buddha was called "Tathagata" (Rúlái), and the lineage of the teaching was transmitted to the Sixth Patriarch. People revere the Buddha images and sages in Buddhist temples and value the Mahayana teaching that holds compassion at its heart. Without the scriptures transmitted by the Buddha, how could people today universally pay homage to the golden-bodied arhats?

The Dao is established as its foundation by the Three Pure Ones (Sānqīng, the three supreme deities revered by Daoism). It is vast and boundless and difficult to describe; it is profound and unfathomable and impossible to exhaust. The scriptures call it "Tathagata" (Rúlái), the lineage of the teaching was transmitted to the Sixth Patriarch, and people revere the Buddha images and sages in Buddhist temples and value the Mahayana teaching that holds compassion at its heart. Without the scriptures transmitted by the Buddha, how could people today universally pay homage to the golden-bodied arhats?

The Dao is the fundamental law established by the Sanqing (Three Pure Ones), the supreme deities revered in Daoism. It is vast and boundless, so it is difficult to describe in words, and it is profound and unfathomable, so it is difficult to investigate. The scriptures contain subtle and abstruse principles, transmitted through successive generations of sages and perfected beings. They manifested bodies, taught the methods, and endured long ages of refining their resolve. They rescued the multitudes from the sea of suffering and saved the people of the world across the generations. These teachings were conveyed by the Three Officials (Sanguan: Heavenly Official, Earthly Official, and Waterly Official) and were transmitted through altars opened at the Five Ultimates (Wuji, the five directions or extreme realms in Daoist cosmology).

The Pure Yang Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin) was the master of the Three Teachings and held command over the Five Thunder Rites (Wulei faling). He manifested his spiritual power everywhere, widely opened the Mysterious Gate, and harbored great compassion and great benevolence and filial piety. He sought no fame or rank and left behind only the continuation of incense offerings. He passed his Dharma lineage to Patriarch Qiu (Qiu Chuji). Patriarch Qiu diligently cultivated the Great Dao and nurtured his benevolent heart. He once received the Dan Scripture (danshu) at the Phoenix Palace, the imperial palace. Later he founded a school and transmitted precepts, so that the precepts of purity and stillness flourished within the Longmen School (an important branch of Quanzhen, or Complete Perfection Daoism). He endured countless hardships and vowed to rescue all people, and for this reason he was honored with the title Perfected Lord Changchun (Changchun Zhenjun). He was later repeatedly elevated and revered as the Venerable Lord of Radiant Response (Mingying Tianzun). His grace illuminated every realm of existence, so that all beings received his great benevolence. He cultivated merit, established virtue, and displayed various spiritual powers, all with the aim of rescuing living beings and leading everyone together toward the Dao.

O disciples, the rescue of others must be carried out with sincerity and earnestness: first save yourselves, and then go on to save others. Today, the Perfected Lord Jiaoxiang (a title for a revered Daoist deity) has also been repeatedly honored and called the Venerable Lord of Radiant Response. His grace illuminates every realm of existence, so that all beings receive his great benevolence. He cultivated merit and established virtue, and displayed various spiritual powers, all for the purpose of rescuing living beings and leading everyone together toward the Dao.

Those who cultivate the Way in order to aid the world must practice with genuine diligence, first liberating themselves and only then liberating others. Today the teachings of Daoism have fallen into obscurity and its lineages have grown faint because the root illness has not yet been cured.

Why can the Great Dao not flourish, and why has the teaching declined? It is because the followers of Quanzhen (Complete Perfection, one of the traditions of Daoist practice) "cannot save themselves, and only seek to save others." These eight words are the fundamental fault by which Quanzhen has ruined its own reputation. If those who preach the teaching cannot follow its methods in their own practice, yet urge others to do so first, who will be convinced?

What does it mean for a Quanzhen practitioner to be unable to save themselves? To save all beings, one must first save the beings within one's own heart. What are the beings within one's heart? They are stray thoughts and delusions. The Quanzhen practitioner carries countless delusions and stray thoughts in the mind, as if an innumerable multitude of beings dwelled there. From dawn to dusk, the body sits on the meditation cushion, yet the mind wanders through the world: as soon as one delusion fades, another arises. The seven emotions (joy, anger, sorrow, worry, grief, fear, and shock) surge without pause, and the six desires (the various cravings) pull endlessly. The three poisons (greed, hatred, and delusion) bind the spirit, and the eight consciousnesses (a Buddhist term referring to the different levels of mental awareness) are overturned and thrown into confusion.

Delusions are like floating clouds that cover the sun, coming and going; they are like the waves stirred by a fierce wind, churning in every direction. Day and night, from morning to evening, has the mind ever been truly still even for a moment? Year after year, not a single thought has ever settled. It is not only while sitting on the cushion that this is so; even while walking the road, and even in dreams, at what moment has one truly set aside the deluded mind and held onto right mindfulness?

When the spirit cannot come to rest, one cannot be saved oneself; when the thoughts cannot be unified, the Dao cannot be understood. Therefore, the followers of Quanzhen must cease their stray thoughts and settle the inner mind, so that the heavenly heart (the originally clear and luminous nature of the mind) may appear and the light of wisdom may shine forth. If the Quanzhen practitioners can accomplish this, only then may they be called companions who share the same aspiration. To save oneself first and afterward to save others is the proper order.

"Then how can such transformation be made effective? One must possess nine qualities and essentials of cultivation: resoluteness, courage, diligence, renunciation, giving, clarity, humility, liberation, and naturalness. Disciples, you should focus your attention without scattering it, settle your spirit, and clear your thoughts. Fellow practitioners who have the affinity, listen carefully as I explain these nine essentials one by one.

What is meant by resoluteness? The methods of renouncing the world and cultivating the Way are fundamentally opposed to the ways of secular life, and the directions of compliance and opposition are not the same. Disciples, you should focus your attention without scattering it, settle your spirit, and clear your thoughts. Fellow practitioners who have the affinity, listen carefully as I explain these nine essentials one by one.

What is meant by resoluteness? The methods of renouncing the world and..."