《龙门心法》Vol. 3

The laws of worldly life are fundamentally opposed to the practice of renouncing the world to cultivate the Way. Conforming to secular custom is not the same as reversing one's habitual tendencies, and a worldly Way that seeks harmonious accommodation does not accord with the principles of cultivation. To renounce the world and cultivate the Way, one must work on the dharma-body (fashen), the body that transcends the physical form and manifests one's original nature. One must first see clearly that the illusory scenes of the world and the many desires of the physical body are all unreal. Regarding affection for children and spouse, one should set aside attachment. Toward fame, wealth, fine food, elegant clothing, and the pleasures of carriages and horses, one should not linger, but like cutting through the vines that entangle a person, wholeheartedly leap out of delusion. Purify the mind and will so that they are not stirred by external things. This is called "resolute firmness" (ganglie), also known as the "demon-subduing pestle" (xiangmo chu) or the "demon-slaying platform" (zhanyao tai). It describes the practice of firmly severing deluded thoughts.

What is meant by "vigor" (yongmeng)? If one hesitates and wavers, with miscellaneous thoughts flying about, the mind and spirit (shen) lose their mastery, and numinous awareness (lingming) appears and disappears, sometimes obscured. The heart should be bright and clear like the autumn moon, and the spirit radiant like the morning glow, turning its light inward upon the self. If one delays and slackens, one will drift with the current. If one indulges in laxity, one's resolutions will change from morning to evening. The cultivator should open the breast wide and let the gaze become instantly clear. Concentrate on the practice, set aside worldly entanglements, and undergo tempering in cultivation, subduing evil thoughts. Regarding the urgent matter of life, death, and impermanence, one must not remain dim and inattentive. Instead, one must investigate it thoroughly, as if drilling through an iron wall or a copper barrier, and comprehend the retributions and destinies that heaven and hell signify. Therefore, having achieved resolute firmness, all of you must further achieve vigor.

What is meant by "vigorous advancement" (jingjin)? It means cutting away grievances with a resolute and decisive will, devoting oneself wholeheartedly to cultivating the mind and nature, and establishing the root of one's life. It means subduing distraction with a brave and steadfast heart, correcting the wavering state, and settling the spirit.

What is a deeper level of vigorous advancement? A student of cultivation should investigate birth and death. Before this body was born, where were you? After this body dies, where will you go?

All things in heaven and earth, and everything in daily life, cannot be separated from the Dao. What the eyes see and the ears hear is within the Dao, and nothing can leave the Dao. Things have a root and a branch, and this is their arising and ceasing. Affairs have a beginning and an end, and this is their arising and ceasing. If one concentrates on contemplation and diligently investigates, clarifying the root and branch of things, one can further understand the life and death of the body. Clarifying the beginning and end of affairs, one can further understand how thoughts arise and dissipate.

One should begin with concrete things, observe them carefully, and truly comprehend them. By extending from one thing to all things, and from one affair to all affairs, one comes to understand the key to the transformations of life and death and the principle by which thoughts arise and cease. In this way, root and branch, life and death, and arising and ceasing become connected as a single method of practice, and only then does one gradually approach the Dao.

Afterward, one must still quiet the mind, seek the Great Dao deeply, thoroughly understand its subtle and hidden places, grasp its profound mysteries, silently observe the mind of Heaven's Way, and secretly accord with the essential purpose of the Daoist school. Only then can the single point of numinous awareness within remain unobscured, tracing back to the source of the Dao, and one will not be confused when facing the myriad things or doubtful when handling the myriad affairs.

If one is unwilling to advance diligently and grows lax, this amounts to abandoning oneself, willingly sinking into the ranks of lowly ghosts, with no aspiration toward cultivation of perfection. Even if one sits cross-legged in quiet meditation for a hundred years, or extends one's lifespan by a thousand years, one will ultimately be unable to escape impermanence and will still fall into the cycle of rebirth.

What is meant by "relinquishment" (sheche)? It means abandoning former coarse practices, clearing away heterodox and external paths, and from then on setting out on the proper path of cultivation. Even if one sits cross-legged in quiet meditation for a hundred years, or extends one's lifespan by a thousand years, one will ultimately be unable to escape impermanence and will still fall into the cycle of rebirth.

What is meant by "shě chú" (relinquishment)? It means abandoning one's earlier coarse and shallow understanding, clearing away the claims of heterodox and external paths, and from then on beginning cultivation anew with single-minded devotion to the Way (Dao). The root within, that point of numinous awareness that is neither obscured nor changing, is the most fundamental and precious treasure. It transforms in countless ways and has no fixed form: when it meets different people and affairs, the methods it employs differ. It manifests its function in every matter, yet it is always difficult to grasp.

Following this subtle and fluid opportunity, one investigates and comprehends layer by layer, yet it remains hard to exhaust its deepest mysteries. It continually reveals itself in use, can be drawn upon without end, and never runs dry. Those who comprehend may verify it for themselves, while those who are dim and unenlightened remain far removed from it.

I am concerned that even if you have grasped one or two parts of the principle, you must hold fast to that understanding and continue to probe it more deeply. Do not abandon it and seek another understanding, for otherwise you will become inconstant and unstable. One should use the constant mechanism of numinous awareness to respond to the ever-changing things of the world. Only in this way can one understand the principle and manifest one's original nature, and, in the process of discarding old knowledge and accepting new, deepen layer by layer, advancing step by step toward a higher realm. If one cannot reach a state of firm self-reliance, one will be unable to penetrate the profound mysteries, to illuminate life and death, to transcend the mundane world, or to pull out the root of doubts that persist even through myriad kalpas.

What is meant by almsgiving (bushi)? Take, for example, an insight one has just reached yesterday, or a subtle principle one grasped through past contemplation. Whatever one has realized or attained may be offered to all sentient beings, or gathered back into the "millet grain" (a metaphor for the minute and refined state). Do not cling to these in the heart, lest they stir up the spirit terrace (lingtai), the seat where the mind and spirit dwell.

As it is said, the past mind cannot be grasped, the future mind cannot be grasped, and even the present mind cannot be grasped. Within this state where all three minds are beyond grasping, one may further seek the subtle principle of self-verification within the heart, and then the light of wisdom will be made complete.

Giving material goods is called cultivating blessings (xiufu); giving through the Dao's methods (fa) is called cultivating wisdom (xiuhui). Material giving will eventually run out, whereas the teaching I speak of can be given without end. Material goods can relieve the hardships of daily life, supply the food and clothing the body needs, and bring about outward adornment, but once they are spent, a person is again empty-handed. Giving through the teaching is different: it can be applied to worldly affairs and to practice beyond the world, and it can awaken others, freeing them from delusion and nurturing their spiritual roots (linggen), the foundation for cultivating the Way.

Yet the "wealth" spoken of here is not ordinary worldly property. Nourishing life and saving people, rescuing those in urgent need and supporting those in peril, warding off calamities, bringing stability to the state and peace to the people, as well as harmonizing water and fire, dispelling disasters and relieving misfortune, and the immeasurable powers by which one transmits transformation on behalf of Heaven, commands Yin and Yang, and connects Heaven and Earth, all belong to the "wealth" meant here. "Wealth" (cai) also carries the sense of "talent" (cai), as with the youth Shancai who attends Guanshiyin Bodhisattva.

You should understand that to obtain the treasures of Heaven, one must use the wealth of the world. This "wealth of the world" is not ordinary money but the dharma-wealth (facai) by which one liberates and assists others in their cultivation; it is also called divine treasure (shenbao), and through it one can resonate with and obtain Heavenly treasure (tianbao). In daily conduct, one should also give through the teaching. Those who can realize this are the accomplished ones who, though they pass through ten thousand kalpas, still possess innate wisdom.

What is meant by "lofty insight" (gaoming)? To transmit the subtle Dharma and transform sentient beings, one must first possess truly lofty understanding and a thoroughly penetrating wisdom. Everything under heaven and earth has spirit (ling). If one takes a single method as the only correct one, one has become attached to method. To fix a method in place is to make it rigid, and a rigid method cannot be called a living one. This shows that one's understanding is not yet lofty enough.

If one teaches others only with one's habitual methods, and meets the myriad things with unchanging principles, one becomes stiff and sluggish. It is like nailing an oar to a boat and then trying to row, or gluing the bridge of a zither and then trying to play it: one cannot respond to changing circumstances. Therefore, one should not assume that one's own method is necessarily right and others' necessarily wrong. Instead, one should act openly and uprightly, guide people according to time and circumstance, watch for the right moment before acting, and proclaim the Dao (the Way) with flexibility.

To measure a square object with a round rule is to be unable to turn it. Likewise, to teach the dull with principles suited to the clever is unfitting. One should discern the condition of the other person and explain things in a way they can understand, so that they gradually comprehend. One should also weigh whether they are able to practice, so that they slowly attain realization. When facing a clever person, to still use the methods meant for the dull is equally inappropriate. The teacher of the Dao must know both oneself and others, so that both the refined and the ordinary can grasp the teaching, and so that one attains fluid adaptability. The clever can see wisdom in it, and the benevolent can perceive compassion in it. To open the obstructed, settle the confused, resolve the doubtful, quicken the slow-witted, enable the deaf to hear the teaching, and enable the blind to understand its principles: only then can one be called lofty, and only then is one fit to lead in the salvation of beings.

What is meant by "humility" (qianxun)? When one has cultivated to a certain attainment and meets someone with discerning eyes, one will understand that however great one's wisdom, the mind must remain empty and luminous, and that external possessions and worldly affairs should not be clung to. If a practitioner believes they have already transcended the human world and entered emptiness, they will feel that no beings remain who need to be guided. Since antiquity, the Two Vehicles (erchengzhe, practitioners who seek only self-liberation), the lesser bodhisattvas, and immortals of lower rank have often fallen into this fault. They sink into it without knowing, and for this reason they are called narrow in capacity and deviated from the proper Way.

In truth, the Dao has no fixed form, and its subtle transformations cannot be fathomed. How could the limited understanding of a human being confine or grasp it? How could a finite being presume to be exalted? Laozi says that one who has attained the Dao does not dare to stand before all under heaven. Such a person does not contend for merit, does not boast of achievements, and does not display their Dao. In advancing, one takes yielding as the principle; in height, one takes lowliness as the foundation. By not placing oneself first, one preserves oneself, and by willingly stepping behind others, one ends up in front. One of superior De (Virtue/Power) does not regard oneself as virtuous, and one of true cultivation does not contend. Do not be arrogant, self-regarding, or willful. By giving to others, one becomes more abundant oneself, and by helping others, one's own store grows richer.

The Dao is originally difficult to name, and one can only force the name "Dao" upon it. Therefore, the higher one's cultivation reaches toward lofty attainment, the more one must practice yielding and withdrawal, preserving the simple and sincere De through a benevolent and gentle attitude. On one hand, one extensively practices compassion and wisdom; on the other, one gathers in one's sharpness and nurtures one's inner strength. The sharp weapons of a state should not be displayed at will. Without deliberately subduing others, one will be naturally respected. When this stage is reached, one must also understand the way of liberation (jietuo).

What is liberation? Disciples, you should broadly practice compassion and wisdom while guarding and nourishing the inner light. A truly powerful method need not be displayed before others. Without forcing anyone to submit, you will find that others naturally come to believe. At this point, one cannot but understand the principle of liberation.

What is liberation? Disciples, those who cling and refuse to let go do not understand the Dao (the Way) or De (Virtue/Power). A carefree mind is not bound by laws or concepts, and one who is not burdened by external things has a body and mind that are light and at ease. Inwardly complete and harmonious, one can teach according to each circumstance. With radiance blazing, one can still deliver the multitudes after long ages. Entering the mysterious gate of the Dao, one becomes the fundamental source to which all beings return.

One loves all things without treating the care of them as a boast, and delights in helping others without treating that aid as one's own merit. The wondrous Dharma can save sentient beings, yet it does not regard the saving of beings itself as the wondrous Dharma. The Great Dao can lead people beyond worldly affairs, yet it does not regard leaving the world as the Great Dao. One can both help beings escape suffering and share their suffering together with them.

Above, one can transcend the heavens, yet does not regard the celestial palaces as a place of ease. Below, one can universally rescue beings in the hells, yet does not regard the hells as a place of suffering without liberation. Meeting one who suffers, one helps them out of hardship. Meeting one who is joyful, one rejoices together with all. In ease, one can remind beings to see suffering, and in hardship, one can also point out ease and hope.

In the heavens, one rescues the celestial dragons and spirits so that they may hear the correct Way and attain awakening, accomplishing the merit of the immortal Dao. In the underworld, one rescues the spirits burdened with karmic offenses so that the souls in the dark realm may behold the light and be reborn in the human world. Among humankind, one guides devout men and women to cultivate the Dao within their daily lives, acting simply and uprightly, treating others with loyalty and fairness, becoming worthy and virtuous people who walk the great Way. This does not mean that scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants should all pursue lesser methods, stirring up essence and spirit, falling into demonic realms and evil paths, or indulging in asura-like strife.

The way of liberation lies in reaching a state of following ziran (naturalness) and using it freely, which is the Way of zizai (self-mastery, or freedom of being).

What is naturalness? Disciples, the subtle mystery of this naturalness is what the Heart Sutra calls "Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva who contemplates freely," that is, Guanyin Bodhisattva, who is able to contemplate the sounds of the world. Grasping the subtle principle of naturalness, one can illuminate one's own mind and attain freedom. Guanyin Bodhisattva dwells both in the Southern Sea and within one's own heart. Contemplation means seeing the wondrous form of the far shore, which is pure and empty, and experiencing the principle of void and natural being. In this way, one comes to understand the mystery by which true sound manifests.

Without a true teacher's guidance, how could one comprehend true emptiness and wondrous form (zhenkong miaoxiang), the real state that transcends both physical form and void? Friends, form is emptiness and emptiness is form. If one clings to emptiness or to form, the Dao (the Way) is not the true Dao. True emptiness and wondrous form is the constant Dao. It does not fall into emptiness, nor is it confined to form, and its subtlety is inexhaustible. It is one body with me and with the void, and there is no distinction between the void and it.

It enters metal and stone without obstruction, and enters water and fire without harm. Friends, study the Nine Chapters of Essential Dao Instructions (Jiu Zhang Dao Yao) closely, sit upright on the meditation cushion (putuan) and hold your practice steady, and realize the many wondrous forms. Let body and mind return to naturalness, and let the Three Families (sanjia), the three elements that unite in cultivation, be confirmed. Once practice is complete, if you save others, your merit is immeasurable. Your virtue is sufficient to move ghosts and spirits, demons have no opening to act, and goblins lose their power. In that case, why worry that people will not believe or will not come to take refuge?

This is the work of universal salvation and the aspiration to benefit others: diligently cultivate, first liberate yourself, then help others. If you wholeheartedly seek the true and constant Dao, bodhisattvas will naturally protect your practice. The Nine Chapters' wondrous text can free one from the dust of the world, so it must be contemplated with care. Offer the true and subtle principles in simple words, cultivate both nature and life (xingming shuangxiu, dual cultivation of nature and life), and do not shrink from hardship. Those of lofty insight should speak much of principle, yet remain benevolent and humble, and not boast of their abilities. Let go of outward appearances, forget the distinction between self and other, follow True Suchness and the Heavenly Heart (zhenru tianxin), and walk the great Dao. Be free and unbound, clarify the profound, and return to the supreme Dao of true emptiness. Warm it with gentle fire without harm, let the three names unite, and when the work is complete, you may ascend to the clouds.

The eighteen wisdoms shine with light.

Disciples, you have already received the three hundred major precepts prescribed by the Zhongji Jie (Zhongji precepts, a category of precepts within the Daoist discipline system), and you must cultivate them diligently in private, with your everyday conduct also conforming to subtle standards of decorum. These requirements are more finely detailed and profound than the Chuzhen Jie (Chuzhen precepts) you received earlier, so the key lies in working on your own mind.

Whenever a thought arises in your mind, maintain sincerity and reverence, examine yourself in secret, reflect upon yourself, and constantly remind yourself, so that the mind remains upright and free of bias. Clear away the stray thoughts within your heart, so that your mind is like the clear sky and bright moon with no clouds to obscure it, like crystal or glass without flaw, like a bright mirror without dust, and like a luminous pearl without dimness. Only when the mind attains a state of complete tranquility, luminous clarity, and purity may one speak of the Dao.

Wisdom and radiance, and the wondrous form of true emptiness (a realm that transcends shape and trace yet is subtle and real), all originally arise from upholding the precepts and entering samadhi (concentrated stillness). One must endure refinement, cut off obstructions, strictly keep the precepts, restrain selfish desires, and undergo cultivation, and then, with the aid of the Dharma gates, one may attain this realm. If one has received the precepts but seldom truly upholds them, and cultivates without rigor and precision, deceiving oneself instead, then there is absolutely no possibility of achievement. Why is this? Disciples, if cultivation is not strict and dense, it becomes a "cause of outflow" (a cause by which the merit of cultivation leaks away and fails to reach completion). How could one then realize the fruit of non-action (wuwei, a state in which one is no longer bound by the fabrications of deluded thought)?

The four characters "wisdom and radiance" refer to the realm that superior practitioners can apprehend through their keen capacity. Those of duller capacity find it difficult to enter directly, and so they should focus single-mindedly without distraction, concentrate the spirit at the qixue (energy points, the locations where one visualizes and guards the qi within the body), cultivate the zuqi (ancestral qi, the source qi spoken of in cultivation), nourish the xiantian qi (primordial, innate qi), and reach utmost emptiness and stillness, singular and undivided, so that the spirit is held within and returns to the Wuji (Ultimate Non-being). When the extreme is reached and the mechanism of the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) appears, wisdom naturally arises, and when one yang returns (the cultivation image of yang qi stirring and coming back), one can see one's original face, know the condition of ghosts and spirits, and understand the pivot of creation and transformation. This is what is called "wisdom."

Participating in the workings by which Heaven and Earth transform and give birth to the myriad things, like the sun and moon taking turns to shine, and accordant with the alternation of the four seasons, this is called hui (wisdom). The Dharma body (the embodied form of truth) pervades everything and encompasses the entire Dharma realm (the whole world in which all things exist), never departing from the state of awareness and contemplative illumination. When everything returns to radiance, this is called guang (light). To penetrate the myriad things without visible form, to perceive matters before any sign of them has appeared, to extend throughout the void without leaving a trace, and to surpass the sun and moon without casting a shadow, this is called ming (clarity).

If the observance of precepts is not rigorous, one cannot attain stillness. Without stillness, wisdom cannot arise. Without wisdom, radiance cannot manifest.

The Yushu Baojing (Precious Scripture of the Jade Pivot) devotes a single scroll to clarifying nature, pointing directly at the human mind so that the principle of nature becomes plain and the celestial mechanism is fully revealed, guiding living beings to awaken to the Dao through recitation. Yet deluded people are many and awakened people are few. Some merely open their mouths to chant, while their minds cannot uphold the scripture. Others are sincere in intention but cannot transform themselves through practice. In this way they fail the sages' original intent, and the precious teaching becomes empty talk. I must now expound the subtle principles on the scripture's behalf and indicate the method of turning the true mechanism, so that you may awaken all at once. All of you should be reverent, attentive, and listen carefully.

The scripture says: "Before the past one thousand five kalpas, my mind accorded with this Dao, and therefore I took my place among the Supreme Perfected (high-ranking immortals). My intention accumulated this merit, and therefore I was able to govern vast teaching."

It also says: "With a pure and tranquil mind, make vast vows; with the power of wisdom, subdue all the obstacles of demons."

It further says: "You celestial beings, if you wish to hear the supreme Dao, know that the supreme Dao is profound and subtle, and is not found elsewhere. Since you wish to hear it, the key lies in having no gap. Without a gap, and with nothing visible, this is the true Dao. When hearing and seeing both dissolve, only yourselves remain. If you cannot even say that you truly exist, how much less can you say that of the Dao? Hearing without hearing: what Dao is left to speak of?"

It also says: "To seek the Dao, enter with a sincere heart, hold to silence, and apply yielding softness. Applying sincerity may appear foolish; keeping silence may appear dull; applying softness may appear clumsy."

When one reaches this state, one can forget the body and forget the self, and even the act of "forgetting" no longer lingers in the mind. Those who enter the Daoist gate (Daomen) know when to stop. Those who hold fast to the Dao are cautious. Those who put the Dao to use attend closely to subtleties. When one attends to subtleties, the light of wisdom appears. When one holds fast with caution, sagely wisdom becomes complete. When one knows when to stop, the mind settles into peace. A settled and peaceful mind allows sagely wisdom to be complete, complete sagely wisdom brings forth the light of insight, and when that light appears, one can become one with the Dao. This is called true forgetting (zhen wang). To forget is to forget without clinging to the act of forgetting. When one forgets until nothing remains to be forgotten, this is the Supreme Dao (zhi Dao).

The Dao exists between heaven and earth, yet heaven and earth do not know it. Living beings with feeling and things without feeling are, at their root, one body and not distinct. It is also said: "One who awakens to the Dao can ascend to the ranks of the immortal realms." It is also said: "Ignorance can be turned into wisdom and turbidity can become clarity, and both are brought about by destiny (ming shu). Dull ignorance and murky turbidity can also change according to the local climate and terrain (feng tu) that one receives. Heaven and earth make the mechanism of this transformation so subtle that people cannot grasp its principle; this is called ziran (naturalness, spontaneity). Even when one is made to know that one originally did not understand, this too is called ziran. The mystery of ziran lies above human understanding, and it is mysterious precisely because people cannot fully know it. From the perspective of the Great Dao, however, there is no such thing as ignorance or turbidity." It is also said: "Whenever the teachings have been proclaimed, perfected adepts (zhi shi) who receive the scriptures should offer gold, silk, and precious goods as tokens, and only after swearing an oath before heaven should the transmission be made."

My disciples, this is the most profound and mysterious secret of the Jade Pivot Scripture (Yushu Jing), the supreme method of stillness and liberation. You have been reciting the scripture day after day without yet grasping its deeper meaning. If, while reciting and practicing, you can perceive its secret keys, your sagely wisdom will be complete and its light will shine forth.

The supreme Dao (the Way) that I speak of is so profound that it cannot be seen with the eyes or heard with the ears. Long ago, one thousand five hundred kalpas (jie) past, the Heavenly Venerable (Tianzun), a title of respect in Daoism for a high-ranking deity, awakened a pure and tranquil mind and made a vast vow to save all living beings and bring each of them to the most subtle state.

The essence of the Dao is empty and without substance. No sound can be heard from it, and no form or color can be seen in it. Therefore, when no sound is heard, one should forget the function of the ears; when no form is seen, one should forget the function of the eyes. The essence of the Dao is empty and without substance. No sound can be heard from it, and no form or color can be seen in it. Therefore, when no sound is heard, one should forget the function of the ears; when no form is seen, one should forget the function of the eyes. When both eyes and ears are forgotten, hearing and seeing dissolve together.

The ears and eyes have form and color, and they are the foremost gateways of the six sense faculties (liugen), which in Buddhist and Daoist thought are the six capacities by which we perceive the outer world. Clinging to the phenomena and thoughts of what is heard and seen is precisely the root of the afflictions of the six faculties. How could one then become one with the Dao in this way? If one can quiet the six kinds of sensory phenomena and sweep away the six consciousnesses (liushi), the six kinds of perceptual activity, then one can listen with the heart rather than the ears, and see with the spirit (shen) rather than the eyes. Thus, even without hearing, one understands; even without seeing, one perceives clearly. When one reaches the state of hearing nothing and observing nothing, one has become one with the Dao.

The Chiwen Dongu Jing says: "Forget what the eyes see, and light will fill the boundless expanse; forget what the ears hear, and the mind-spirit (shen) will always rest in deep stillness. When both the eyes and ears let go of their perceiving, one enters the gateway of all subtle wonders. One sees no fixed 'self' and hears no sound that can be grasped; transcending all relative distinctions is called the wondrous Dao."

The Nanhua Jing, another name for the Zhuangzi, says: "The breath comes to rest in the ear; the mind-spirit comes to rest in the tally (fu)." Here the "tally" refers to a token or marker used in practice to gather in the thoughts. The Yushu Jing says: "Forget the body and the self, and you have the key to entering the Dao. Enter with sincerity, where 'sincerity' means upholding the precepts (chijie). Hold to silence, where 'silence' means upholding the precepts and subduing the body and mind. In using silence, be like one who is unskilled with words; this means that after entering meditative absorption (rudings), one no longer clings to the perceptions of ear and eye. In using gentleness, be like one who is clumsy and slow; this means concealing wisdom deep within." The scripture adds: "If you seek the hearing and seeing of the Dao within your own bodily form, in the end you will neither see nor hear it."

The Diamond Sutra says: "Those who seek me through form, or seek me through sound, walk a deviant path and cannot see the Tathagata."

To enter the Dao, the essential point is to receive the precepts and enter meditative absorption, quietly and continually cultivating wisdom. Returning to the light from within delusion brings one to a state in which one does not cling to hearing or seeing, yet truly hears and sees. Therefore, a person who enters the Dao must understand when to stop, which means using the precepts to still distracting thoughts, and must also be careful...

To enter the Dao (rù Dào), one must first receive the precepts (shòu jiè), enter meditative absorption (rù dìng), and diligently cultivate wisdom (zhì huì) in secret. One must also turn from delusion toward clear understanding, reaching a state in which one does not cling to what the ears hear and the eyes see, and yet truly hears and sees the principles within them.

Therefore, a person entering the Dao must understand "knowing when to stop" (zhī zhǐ), which means using the precepts to quiet false thoughts. They must understand "knowing caution" (zhī jǐn), which means remaining careful and self-guarding even when alone, and advancing diligently in practice. And they must understand "knowing subtlety" (zhī wēi), which means not clinging to cleverness or intellectual talent, but perceiving the finest details. Stopping false thoughts depends on the precepts, being cautious and self-guarding depends on meditative absorption, and perceiving what is subtle and hidden depends on wisdom. If one can uphold the precepts, enter absorption, and cultivate wisdom, body and mind will become settled, the sagely wisdom will be purified and made complete, and its light will shine everywhere. When the light of wisdom illuminates all things, one can become one with the Dao, and this is called "true forgetting" (zhēn wàng).

"True forgetting" does not mean sitting still and placing oneself in an empty, unknowing state. It is genuine emptiness (zhēn kōng). Within true emptiness there still appears the "purple-gold wondrous form" (zǐ jīn miào xiàng), which symbolizes the perfect and marvelous realm that manifests within emptiness. This is the wondrous fruit of "emptiness that is not empty" (kōng zhōng bù kōng). If one does not fall into dead emptiness (wán kōng), that is, does not mistake emptiness for nothingness, then wondrous principles can appear within it. Forgetting all attachments does not mean that nothing remains. What manifests is precisely the true and wondrous Dao.

The scripture further observes that people differ in foolishness and wisdom, and their inner clarity and turbidity also vary. Although this is related to differences in environment and endowment, and belongs to the natural patterns of creation, its subtle transformations, and the workings of qi and fate, the foolish can still be foolish and the wise can still be wise. Heaven and earth do not deliberately make people foolish or wise. What matters is whether one can give rise to a pure and tranquil mind and establish vast aspirations: a willingness to transcend the mundane world and save others, while also hearing the Dao, cultivating oneself, and liberating oneself.

The method of self-liberation is to take refuge in the Three Treasures (sān bǎo), which in Daoism are the Dao, the scriptures, and the teachers, to receive the precepts, enter absorption, cultivate wisdom, and let its light shine forth. In this way, ignorance can be transformed into clarity and turbidity into lucidity. If one cannot uphold the precepts and enter absorption, wisdom cannot penetrate and there is no light to illuminate. Clarity may then become turbid, and wisdom may turn back into foolishness. The Diamond Sutra says, "The dharma I speak has no fixed, unchanging dharma," and this is exactly the principle at issue.

The wisdom light taught in the scripture shines brightly over the Supreme Mystery (tài xuán), the profound and mysterious realm described in Daoism, and pervades the Dharma realm (fǎ jiè), the whole world in which all things exist. It does not go beyond the aims of the Jade Pivot Scripture (Yù Shū Bǎo Jīng). The "Jade Pivot" refers to the true essential mechanism. To set in motion the teachings of the scripture, one must first turn the inner true mechanism, secretly accumulating merit and wisdom. The concern is only that people fail to open up and see their own "light repository" (guāng míng zàng), the wisdom light innately present within them. If they could not, how could they perceive the forms of ghosts and spirits, grasp the key principles of creation, take part in the transforming and nurturing of heaven and earth, move the sun and moon, gather the Dharma realm into the minute, and grasp the root of things before they become manifest? How could they become teachers who clarify the wondrous Dao and advance to the realm of the Celestial Immortal (tiān xiān)?

As a verse puts it: to see the inner light repository is to hear the root of the supreme Dao; without upholding the precepts and meditation, how can one obtain the deep light of wisdom? Clinging to outward form is not true form; releasing attachment to sound allows one to truly hear. Through listening, reflection, and practice, one enters the mysterious realm and freely receives the sound of the Dao, flowing endlessly like the tide.

Disciples, the preceding discussion addressed the path of cultivation that leads to the light of wisdom. The Jade Pivot Scripture (Yushu Jing) says that even hearing and seeing must be dissolved. When one does not cling to what is heard or seen, the wondrous function is exhausted, and spiritual powers manifest of their own accord.

The Yinfu Jing (Scripture of the Hidden Talisman) says: "The deaf may see; the blind may hear." The ancient immortals said: "Listen quietly and you will not hear the thunder; gaze intently and you will not see Mount Tai." The Zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean) describes how great the virtue of ghosts and spirits is: we look at them but cannot see them, and listen to them but cannot hear them. The Nanhua Jing (Scripture of Nanhua) says one should neither look nor listen, and should let the spirit keep to stillness. The Cantong Qi (Seal of the Unity of Three) says that the ears, eyes, and mouth are the three treasures, and that one should close them so that the refined Qi does not leak outward. The true person hides in the depths, drifting back and forth while guarding the measure of the compass. Many classics speak to these subtle principles, and their teachings cannot be exhausted. The Great Bodhisattva Guanshiyin (Avalokiteshvara) entered samadhi (sanmodi), a state of meditative absorption in which the mind is concentrated and unified, through hearing, contemplation, and cultivation.

The ears are the gate through which essential Qi (jing) most easily leaks away. The jing spoken of here is not the jing of restless desire born of later experience. It is the true Qi (zhenqi), the original vital energy contained in the primordial Taiyi (Supreme One), and it is also the jing that reveals true primal vitality. If one listens inwardly and gathers the sense of hearing, the jing does not scatter outward and instead gives rise to wisdom. The eyes are the gate through which shen (spirit) most easily leaks away. The shen spoken of here is not the activity of later-acquired thought and deliberation, but the innate, numinous awareness and the primordial spirit (yuanshen). If one illuminates inwardly and withdraws the gaze, the shen does not disperse outward and instead gives rise to the quality of wisdom.

When one is able to uphold the precepts and enter the state of concentration (ding), wisdom arises. When wisdom arises, water and fire blend. When water and fire blend, Kan and Li, the trigrams symbolizing yin and yang, join. When Kan and Li join, Heaven and Earth become peaceful. When Heaven and Earth are at peace, metal and wood unite. When metal and wood unite, the hun and po souls converge. When the hun and po converge, jing and Qi transform. When jing and Qi transform, spiritual powers manifest. When spiritual powers manifest, light is emitted. When light is emitted, merit is complete. When merit is complete, the dharma body (fashen), a true body beyond form, is accomplished. When the dharma body is accomplished, the embodiment of the Dao (daoti) is revealed. When that embodiment is revealed, its wondrous function operates. When the function operates, sentient beings are liberated. When beings are liberated, the power of their vows is fulfilled. When that power is fulfilled, the great task of cultivation is completed, and when the great task is completed, the fruit is attained.

This single gate is the true method, and the other two vehicles are not true methods. From beginning to end, cultivation never leaves the single character "cheng" (sincerity).

The Doctrine of the Mean says, "Without sincerity, there are no real things." Here "things" (wu) refers to the body of the Dao: it is elusive and hard to grasp, yet contains genuine existence; it is profound and remote, yet harbors a subtle essence. This subtle essence is real and not empty, and within it there are credible grounds. "Trustworthiness" (xin) is "sincerity" (cheng). The Book of Changes says that "essence and qi condense to form the myriad things," and the Great Learning speaks of "investigating things to extend knowledge." In both, the word "things" connects with this same meaning. The "essence" (jing) in the Book of Documents' phrase "refine the one" (jing yi), and the "centre" (zhong) in "sincerely hold fast to the centre" (yun zhi jue zhong), also point to the same principle.

The Lotus Sutra says that a treasure is hidden within the human body. Therefore the sages cleanse their hearts and gather in their spirit (shen), concealing it in deep recesses. All of these teachings point to the same treasure: one must first cause the mind and spirit to withdraw and be gathered in, and only afterward can it manifest. An ancient song says, "If one can keep not a single thing in the heart, then before the eyes it will be as clear and simple as in the age of Fuxi, the sage-king of high antiquity." Since this is so, why cling to spiritual powers and wondrous functions, or to the light of wisdom?

What is called spiritual power and wondrous function is the skillful working by which the perfected person (zhenren), who keeps the precepts and cultivates the Dao, personally manifests and expounds the correct teaching in order to save all beings. Such a person gathers in deluded thoughts so that people return to their original authenticity. Relying on the light of great wisdom, the perfected person extends the arm of wisdom to rescue beings, freeing them from suffering and bringing them into stillness and purity. They lengthen the lives of those whose years are short, turn calamity into peace, and stabilize the state so that the multitudes may prolong their lives and preserve their vitality.

This power can also make beings simple, good-hearted, and upright in conduct. It removes demonic and deviant forces, drives away violent and rebellious people, and destroys demons and monsters. It causes beings to hold compassion in their hearts and refrain from taking life, and it helps them guard against disasters and dissolve grudges and entanglements. It dispels darkness and brings light forth, heals hundreds of illnesses, and removes old ailments. It turns people from ignorance to wisdom, returning them to the right path and away from wrong ones. It lessens people's desires and quiets their hearts, gathers in their emotions, and returns them to their original nature. It grants free and unbound liberation, lifting people beyond the mundane into the realm of the sages. It causes people to accumulate blessings, dispel calamity, attract auspiciousness, and remove karmic offenses. It enables people to rise above the world and attain the Dao, leaving suffering behind to ascend to the true realm. For those who cultivate the supreme vehicle of the Dao, it can even lift them up to the heavens, widely guide beings, roam freely through the eight directions, and transcend the celestial palaces.

May all sentient beings transform from their mundane bodies into a Dharma-King body (a body that has realized the Dao, the Way, and possesses full magical power). As for how they will leave suffering and attain truth, cultivate the supreme vehicle, ascend to the heavenly realms, universally deliver all beings, roam spiritually through the eight directions, and transcend the heavenly palaces, these realms are difficult to fathom.

Such a state may be called shentong (supernatural powers beyond ordinary understanding), but when its essential mechanisms are not disclosed to the world, it is called miaoyong (marvelous functioning). The shentong spoken of in the cultivation of jie (precepts), ding (concentration), and hui (wisdom) is not the deliberate display of extraordinary techniques. It is the wondrous functioning that arises from cultivation: the transformation of the six consciousnesses (the six faculties of perception: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) into six penetrations, which allow one to comprehend heaven and earth, spirits and ghosts, humans, and all things. This marvelous functioning is effective yet leaves no trace. By employing a single essential mechanism, ten thousand transformations manifest.

It can move heavenly demons, earthly fiends, ghosts and specters, evil people, and monsters, and this too is called miaoyong. In the cultivation of jie, ding, and hui, the practitioner enters stillness, and the power of concentration and wisdom gives rise to light. This is the auspicious sign of the xiantian yi qi (the primordial source-qi of Daoist teaching) fully manifesting. Upward, the practitioner reaches the heavenly palaces and pays court to the ancestral qi above the Sanqing (Three Pure Ones, the three supreme deities revered in Daoism). Downward, the practitioner reaches the underworld and pardons sinful deceased souls in the depths of the Jiuquan (Nine Springs). When scriptures are expounded and teachings given, the heavenly deities are transformed and submit, the Five Emperors descend, and the gods attend as guards. They stand in orderly ranks and respectfully hear the correct teaching, cultivating their spirits and returning to emptiness and stillness.

Once a practitioner has attained liberation, they still harbor compassion and aid the suffering souls of the netherworld. Thus the celestial attendant Jingluo offers praise, Dizang (Ksitigarbha, the venerable deity who teaches and rescues in the netherworld) manifests radiance, the ghost judges obey orders, and the underworld submits. The souls are pardoned and reborn, hear the correct teaching, are removed from the registers of ghosts, and at last are reborn together into the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

In this way one can save oneself and save others. One makes vast vows that all people may hear the Dao (the Way) and, using the correct teaching as a medicinal prescription, universally rescue sentient beings so that all beings, and every thing with spirit, attain liberation. Even clods of earth, wood, and broken tiles can resonate with the Dao, and the conditions of all things become clear and penetrated. Supernatural powers operate unnoticed, as though heaven, earth, and the myriad things were within oneself. Marvelous functioning manifests naturally, and mountains, rivers, and the stars and Dipper all return within the methods of the Dao.

Heavenly demons all respectfully submit and bow low in welcome. Earthly fiends all transform into gentle and kindly beings, their hearts filled with reverence. Fierce ghosts and specters, upon hearing the teaching, are liberated and ascend, no longer receiving blood sacrifices. Asuras and outsiders also follow the correct teaching and return to the orthodox path. Wars are forever stilled, grievances are vindicated, and enmities dissolve. Teaching through virtue (de) rather than subduing by force, evil people all become good. Transforming through sincerity rather than bullying with techniques, deviant people all turn upright.

Reversing the handle of the Northern Dipper to direct yin and yang, even spirits and ghosts cannot fathom it. Reversing the mechanisms by which the myriad things are taught in order to transcend the mundane world, even heaven and earth cannot perceive it. Though divine power manifests universally, the fashen (Dharma body, the pure body achieved through cultivation) remains solid and without visible form. Though the supreme and unsurpassed marvelous Dharma is widely proclaimed, it has no sound to be heard. The void is my Dharma realm, and I am the Dharma body of the void. Vast and boundless, I am one with Heaven. Upright and expansive, my mind is the same as that of the immortals and buddhas. Master Cheng said: "Release it, and it fills heaven and earth; gather it in, and it retreats and hides in the subtle recesses." This is precisely the realm described. This is the supernatural power of purity and liberation possessed by the parents of all beings and the Dharma masters of the Daoist school, together with the marvelous functioning of wuwei (non-action) and naturalness.

Disciples, when you do not cling to outward forms, your wisdom can reach far and wide, and when you follow your innate nature and move with it, your wondrous functioning is inexhaustible. The key lies in sustained cultivation in everyday life, never abandoned because of busyness or urgency. This is what is meant by Dao (the Way) and De (Virtue/Power). Why abandon the precepts to study talisman methods, or discard a precious jade tablet to cling to wǔ fū stones (stones that resemble jade but are not genuine)? Would you choose to remain without wisdom and never study the supreme Way?

Alas, since you have entered the Mysterious Gate (xuanmen) of Daoism, you should pursue the highest cultivation. Every person carries a subtle essential key within the heart, and everyone is inherently luminous. Only because obstacles are so numerous do people regard the precepts as empty words. Even if one keeps many precepts, if they are interrupted often and the mind wavers, one's concentration will not be deep. One should deepen concentration and make the vow to keep the precepts sincere, guided by the principle of neither forcing nor neglecting. Persist day and night without fail for three to five years. When concentration is deep and precept-keeping is mature, spirit-like penetration will naturally appear, and when the mind-spirit penetrates, wondrous functioning becomes real. To wield spiritual powers and attain wondrous functioning, you must still advance continually with sincere devotion.

If one is fixated on outward forms and single-mindedly pursues spiritual powers, one is like being trapped in a ghost cave and is not walking the correct path. Heterodox and sideline schools mostly remain at the level of outward traces, and clinging to emptiness or clinging to form is likewise not true cultivation. Neither clinging to emptiness nor clinging to form: in stillness, one is not bound by the body, and in response, one can penetrate. When put to use, it is luminous, and the mind-spirit naturally shows its distinctions. Many who cultivate the Dao have lost the central, upright Way for precisely this reason.

I do not mean to be presumptuous. Alas, I simply disclose the heavenly secret directly: when spiritual powers manifest and wondrous functioning becomes clear, one can become a Great Dharma King (dà fǎ wáng) whose influence pervades heaven and earth. This does not depart from the constant, true Dao of stillness. Evil teachings can be brought back to rectitude, and wicked people can turn toward goodness. Rebellious persons may one day attain filial piety and brotherly duty, and fierce, unruly people may all become gentle and kind. Wisdom is like a bright mirror, and the light of wisdom is like the divine; the heart-mind becomes wholly luminous. The Six Penetrations (liù tōng, the six spiritual powers spoken of in Buddhist and Daoist traditions), used together without leaving a trace of dust, can make the earth, mountains, and rivers seem to turn to gold.

Do not grow lax, and do not treat the precepts lightly. The precepts are like a stairway to heaven, ascending one step at a time. The divine is difficult to fathom, and wondrous functioning is immeasurable, yet none of it departs from precepts, concentration, and the true, constant Dao. Within the Gate of True Suchness (zhēn rú mén) there is an aperture that penetrates to heaven, and within pure fasting and purification a sacred fragrance emanates. As long as you cultivate sincerely and do not abandon yourselves, you are continuing the correct path of immortal cultivation handed down since antiquity.

Friends, since ancient times, sages, immortals (xian), and buddhas have all undertaken long years of austere cultivation, such as the nine years of facing the wall, in order to penetrate the great matter of human existence and its causes and conditions. What they most urgently sought was how to be liberated from birth and death, transcend the mundane world, and subdue the mind within.

Have you not heard? Human life is like a spark struck from flint or a flash of lightning, or like fallen blossoms carried away on flowing water. Once impermanence arrives, not even a moment can be held back. Sinful karma and meritorious virtue follow a person of their own accord, and within the cycle of rebirth one endures the corresponding retribution. Before one has finished speaking, the breath in the throat may already have ceased; before the words have left the mouth, the tongue may have stiffened and fallen silent. At that point, having nothing at all, where could one find a place to rest? In darkness all around and with no clear direction, what could one rely on to establish one's destiny?

Those of deep merit may still be reborn in the human world, but those who have committed evil deeds will fall into Fengdu (the underworld of Daoist legend). When the reward of one's blessings is exhausted, one re-enters the cycle of rebirth; when the retribution of one's karma ends, one may even be reborn as an animal. Over countless kalpas, entangled grievances remain hard to escape, and sins accumulated over many lifetimes are hard to erase. People remain lost in delusion age after age, drunk on life and dreaming through death. Enemies take revenge on one another until, in the end, they are reborn as beasts with horns and fur. These matters are truly painful and grievous to contemplate, and they inspire both pity and dread.

If one lacks firm resolve and does not hold fast to one's original mind and innate conscience, one should take the thorough understanding of life and death as the goal and penetrate one's former ignorance and delusions. When one meets a person of resolute determination, he will glare and rise up as if gripping a sword that slays demons. A truly responsible person, however, will release the vast, flowing qi (vital energy) within his chest and cut down wicked thoughts in his heart.

You must see through this: before your parents gave birth to you, where did your life have its foundation, and how did it receive its existence from the transformations of Heaven and Earth? You must also understand where it will return after death, awaken to the "Three Bodies" (three bodily forms concerning life and the realms of cultivation), and comprehend the Three Periods of past, future, and present. Trace the three lifetimes, and they seem like yesterday's events, just as tomorrow will become today's morning.

Therefore, set aside the tangle of scattered thoughts, leave only a single point of numinous awareness, sweep away all attachments, and let the innate wisdom-nature alone remain. Enter the Xuanguan (the mysterious gate, the pass where profound principles are realized in cultivation). Once this one gate is penetrated, all the hundred openings are connected. When one sees the true principle, the past, present, and future become clear, and one can also transcend the Three Realms (the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the formless realm). Once liberated, one is no longer bound by the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). When the mind is still and clear, the Four Great Elements (earth, water, fire, and wind, which constitute the body) also return to emptiness and stillness. Entering the gate of all wonders and ascending to the realm of the Three Treasures, one moves freely and transforms without end.

Lightly turning the celestial mechanism, even ghosts and spirits cannot fathom its mysteries. Steadily holding the handle of the Dipper in reverse, even Yin-Yang cannot govern its power. Roaming freely in the Brahma-qi Milo (the vast, pure celestial qi spoken of in Daoism), one attains a state of clear emptiness and remoteness, forever distant from worldly calamities and free from all bonds. The great task of Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) cultivation is thereby accomplished. The path of practice must be walked one stage at a time, and right and wrong cannot be attained suddenly without refinement. The Dharma body of marvelous existence (the pure Dharma body realized through cultivation) must be found through the pass of wisdom, and the close and meticulous work must also be carried out step by step. How could perfect accomplishment be gained without realization?

Friends, the Dao (the Way) is transmitted by sages, but cultivation depends on oneself. De (Virtue) is accumulated by people, while good and evil are judged by Heaven. Have you not heard that Heaven divides creation out of the One, and that humans establish the standards of conduct from within their own hearts?

Everyone must strive, cultivate quickly, and seize the moment without delay. Those who have not yet awakened should not lose their good affinity with the Dao. Those who have awakened will ultimately return to the blue heavens. Those who have not yet awakened will not fall into hell because of it.

Friends, this is like knocking on a door with a golden brick: even if the door does not open, the golden brick remains in your hand. Upholding the precepts and cultivating the Dao, even before awakening, preserves the discipline of conduct. In the end one will not sink into the netherworld and will still be reborn among humans. The karmic causes of past lives do not vanish, and cultivation will ultimately bear fruit as retribution. Even if one turns over just a little, one still holds in hand a fundamental foundation to rely upon.

Disciples, if you wish to comprehend life and death, do not seek it outside yourselves. Only when you truly understand life and death will you recognize the true primordial power (zhenyuan) inherent in your own being, the original qi and root of your true nature. I have spoken at length, yet my words cannot substitute for the methods of practice. If you can personally experience what I mean, the principle will naturally become clear to you.

Investigate life from the standpoint of death, and understand death within life. The key to passing between life and death lies in transforming your own thoughts and realizing it for yourselves; no one else can do this for you. Seek stillness within movement, and observe movement within stillness. The signs of motion and stillness depend entirely on the innate knowing of the heart to illuminate them. The principle must be asked of your own mind; you cannot rely solely on a teacher to tell you. Remember my words and you will not go astray; failing to act on them, you will inevitably drift off course. This lamp of mine that illuminates the dark path has guided countless lost travelers, and this raft of mine that ferries people out of the sea of suffering has carried many who journeyed far. Do not hesitate. Once you recognize the true principle, you must hasten through the night and advance diligently without delay.

Then, in the silent courtyard, these verses rose up:

While alive, where is one's homeland? After death, to what place will one return? One should quickly awaken to the present Dharma body (fashen, the true nature that embodies the Great Dao, Dadao) and not waste one's days with empty hands. Birth and death, and the principle of their unbroken succession, must all be investigated with full attention; the great matter of cultivating the Way must not be taken lightly. Before death comes, first observe death in the heart; the vitality of life can be sought precisely through investigating death.

The principle is not found in rivers or mountains, nor need one seek it far away toward the northwest or southeast. It seems it is not outside the body, but within one's own small square-inch heart. Uphold the precepts, concentration, and wisdom (holding to moral discipline, stilling the mind, and increasing insight) and enter the Mysterious Gate (xuanguan), the gateway within inner practice that leads to the Great Dao. In practice one must not be divided in mind; concentrate wholly on penetrating life and death. Once you single-mindedly awaken to life and death, even barriers as impenetrable as iron walls and bronze ramparts will not be hard to break through.

Cultivation is truly bitter and arduous, like a boat navigating a shallow sandbar. Suddenly the tide rises and a fair wind arrives at the same moment, and in an instant the boat has passed through Nine Dragon Bay. Once you grasp the true principle, you must press on through the night; seek external support, and in the end you will find none. Only by practicing alone in quiet clarity, reaching the realm of luminous emptiness and freedom, will you be untroubled by hunger and thirst, and be able to endure as long as heaven and earth.

Disciples, the void is vast. Upholding the precepts and cultivating meditative absorption are like a staircase that leads up to heaven, and the sea of suffering is boundless, so the light of wisdom is the boat that carries one across. If you do not step forward, the long road of cultivation will be hard to complete. If you do not stand tall and persist in practice, even after a thousand kalpas you will struggle to hear the true Dharma. If practice is not rigorous and the aspiration is not firm, how could merit and virtue ever be made complete?

Disciples, if not the slightest lapse occurs in the thoughts of your mind, the primordial qi (vital energy) within your body will naturally become abundant and harmonious. Only when your De (Virtue) is sufficient to move ghosts and spirits can you hope to be spared the retribution of rebirth. Only when your Dao (the Way) penetrates heaven and earth can you walk the path out of birth and death. Once you reach the shore of the Dao, a single turn brings you back to your original home. Once you penetrate deeply into Xiyi (the profound realm of the Dao body, so subtle that it is hard to perceive), in an instant you return to your original true nature.

Friends, consider this: who can achieve non-death, and who can truly attain long life? By non-death, I do not mean that the physical body will never die. By long life, I also do not mean that the form will endure. Where is Peng Zu now? Can the spirit of Yan Hui remain after ten thousand kalpas? What I call non-death here is my Dharmakaya (fashen), the nature that transcends the physical body and embodies the Dao-method. What I call long life is my Yuanqi (yuanshi zhi qi), the primordial Qi on which life and cultivation depend.

The Tathagata (a Buddhist honorific for the Buddha) also showed the manifestation of stillness and entered Nirvana. Laozi (Lao Dan) also ascended and transcended the Great Red Heaven (Dachitian), the celestial realm of Daoist cosmology. As long as the Dao endures, so does the person; as long as the Dharma is transmitted, it is as though the self remains. To be remembered after death is true longevity, a name that is not destroyed through thousands of kalpas and cannot be confined by any label. To live without clinging to possession of the form is what it means to have a form, and this form is an appearance that is not harmed through hundreds of lifetimes and has no fixed shape.

Sages as countless as the sands of the Ganges all enter and exit through this mysterious gate (xuanguan), the aperture leading to the Great Dao. Immeasurable immortals and buddhas all travel back and forth along this great Way. The road to the heavens is clear and plain, yet deluded people hesitate and refuse to believe it. The Buddha-land is pure and tranquil, yet the obstacles of ordinary beings are difficult to remove. This is simply because their blessings are thin and their sins are heavy: even when the great Dao lies before them, they are like people with eyes who cannot see.

Many people, burdened by heavy karmic grievances, are as good as dead even while alive. They only drag their bodies about, like walking corpses, and their only advantage over animals is the ability to speak. By day they are drowsy, and by night they sleep, lacking even the vitality of plants that stand upright with branches and spread their leaves. When their allotted years are exhausted and the ghost messengers come to summon their souls, even if you call yourself a Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoist, and even if you recite the scriptures without a single error, you will still be judged an evil person for lacking virtue (De).

Friends, everyone dies. What matters is to die peacefully and completely, with body and mind pure and unburdened by attachments, coming and going with ease. Everyone also parts from others in time. What matters is to separate with composure and clarity, without clinging, and to follow change in ways that are difficult to fathom.

Before the end, one should take leave of those gathered around. When the appointed hour arrives, one lets go of everything and departs freely. The scriptures describe such a scene: the physical body seems to transform into an infant, pure and unblemished, while a vast upright qi (haoran zhengqi) and myriad rays of auspicious light rise from the crown of the head. A perfected immortal form (xianxiang) lifts into the air, with colored clouds swirling and white cranes flying through the sky. As visions of immortal realms appear, the yuanshen (the original spirit, the fundamental spirit of a person) returns to the realm of clear emptiness (qingxu). Amid the auspicious light, the zhengu (the bones left behind by a cultivator) are interred in a cave abode.

In this way, the cultivation undertaking of a great man is brought to completion. He leaves an immortal name among people and transmits his words on the Dao to the world, so that people a thousand years later still know that such a cultivator once lived. This is what is meant by saying that, though the body dies, the spirit does not perish, and therefore it is called longevity. If his Daoist methods continue to be transmitted and practiced for countless kalpas afterward, this is great perfection, great merit, and great blessing.

Friends, the nature and life of a person can only be cultivated by oneself, and no one else can do it in one's place. If you do not practice yourself, there may be no one who can practice on your behalf. Thoughts that arise and vanish without end may not be grasped for you by anyone else. Delusive thoughts and selfish intentions may not be swept away. Deep attachments of love and worry may not be given up. The formless, unmarked dharmakaya (fashen), the pure original nature realized through practice, may not be recognized. The precepts and rules of practice may not be kept. Afflictions and ignorance (wuming), the confusion of not understanding the truth, may not be dispelled. Worldly habits may not be transformed. The many obstacles to practice may not be removed. The true words and wondrous methods may not be followed. The causal retribution of sin and merit may not be believed. Ordinary thoughts and worldly sentiments may not be forgotten. When making vows, if one clings to outward appearances, one may not be able to let go into emptiness. Heterodox and external paths may not be clearly distinguished. Deliberate, purposive action, which is all illusory, may not be seen through. Faced with various things, one may not respond appropriately. Dwelling in various realms, one may not transcend them. Perfected persons and enlightened teachers may not be found. The void Dao may not be entered. Friends, in this very life you may not liberate yourselves, and the vows of your initial aspiration may not be fully fulfilled.

Friends, why is this? It is only because you disciples who uphold the precepts (jie) are arrogant and self-satisfied, and even your teachers may not be able to transform you. If you are willing to heed good words, there is a chance of being saved. The initial aspiration and the vows may still not be fully realized.

Disciples, why is this so? It is because your precepts have grown lax, and you are proud and self-satisfied, so you cannot be taught. When kind words are offered to you, you do not listen; when doubts linger and you refuse to believe, you cannot be made to reflect. Your sins are too deep to be pulled out on your behalf; anger and slander cannot be stopped even by persuasion; you love only to hear flattery, so honest counsel cannot change you. Your temperament is violent, and no amount of advice gets through to you; your hearts harbor schemes and calculate at every turn, so you cannot abandon these vices. Loyal admonitions, however earnestly spoken, still fall on deaf ears.

You are dim and deluded, and cannot break through your attachments. You have eyes but do not see clearly, as though you had none, so there is no point of entry for enlightenment. Your conduct is wild and unrestrained, and cannot be bound. Illness and suffering cannot be cured on your behalf; misfortune and calamity that descend upon you cannot be averted for you; when your allotted span and your tribulations arrive, they cannot be pardoned. The retribution of the cycle of rebirth cannot be undone for you, and the punishments of the king's law and of the netherworld cannot be waived. The torments of the netherworld, such as the mountain of knives and the forest of swords, cannot be watched over or resolved on your behalf.

The Compassion Raft (cihang, a metaphor for ferrying people out of the sea of suffering through compassion) and the Wisdom Raft (huifa, a metaphor for wisdom as a boat) cannot carry you across. The Golden Elixir and the Wondrous Treasure (jindan miaobao, a term in Daoist cultivation for the supremely subtle practice or attainment) cannot be entrusted to you. Even if one grasps the secrets of Heaven, it cannot change you; even if one possesses spiritual powers, it cannot liberate you.

Disciples, you should resolve sincerely, cultivate diligently, strictly uphold the precepts, and refrain from transgression. Seeking single-mindedness in meditative absorption (rudìng), with a sincere heart and no second thoughts, is true turning of the heart toward the Dao (the Way).

Once you turn your heart toward the Dao, repentance can wash away faults, and by taking refuge in and upholding the Great Dao, entanglements and attachments will gradually be cut off. When the mind is clear and empty, one draws near to the mysterious gate that leads to Heaven; when the heart is luminous, the darkness of the underworld dissipates. Passing through great calamities and cosmic trials, one can escape the cycle of rebirth, and facing the impermanence of life and death, one can firmly grasp one's own being. When one's thoughts accord with the Wuji Great Dao, one can clearly attain the supreme dharma-body (the state that transcends form and embodies the Dao), and calmly receive boundless blessings. Countless beings, too, may each be saved, and one's vast vows will at last be fulfilled; one's lifespan will be long enough to endure together with Heaven and Earth.

Once you understand your own mind, obstacles can be removed; once your sincerity is firm, even metal and stone can be pierced; once you are humble, you will not be stained by trivial things; once you persevere, you will not have your Dao-heart seized by the myriad demonic obstructions. Holding goodwill, resentment and evil intentions will be dissolved; with a sincere heart, evil spirits can hardly disturb you. Illuminating the mind allows one to stand equal with the sages and to penetrate the principles; awakening to one's own mind allows one to attain the realm of immortals and Buddhas and achieve complete enlightenment. When the mind is empty, one can perceive profound principles; when the mind is clear and pure, one can recognize subtle phenomena and open wisdom; when one contemplates with the mind, one can penetrate emptiness (zhēnkōng) and silently unite with it; when thoughts are settled, one can understand life and death and no longer create karmic transgressions.

When the heart dwells in justice, one can face ghosts and spirits calmly and is not deceived or obscured by them; when the mind is upright, one can subdue demons and reveal their light; when the heart is sincere, one can awe evil forces and increase wisdom; when one delights in giving, one draws close to the celestial deities and strengthens the power of one's vows; when the heart is compassionate, one can transform the foolish and dull and extend broad protection; by means of dignified and upright qi, one can subdue the fierce and no longer be afraid. Being able to endure, one will not lightly abandon anything, and the breadth of one's bosom will naturally expand. With no attachment in the heart, one does not linger on outward forms and enters the realm of awareness; forgetting the mind of distinction, one can see through the formless and dissolve the division between self and others. A compassionate heart allows one to perceive all people and, by cultivating oneself, to extend this to all beings; a heart free of attachment will not be held by external circumstances, and one's conduct will be harmonious and flexible.

Whoever possesses a perfectly penetrating heart is not bound by the Three Realms (the Desire Realm, the Form Realm, and the Formless Realm), and the mind naturally has no hindrances. Holding the intention to benefit beings and to rescue the world, one can pass through all kinds of calamities; maintaining a pure and tranquil heart, one can dwell harmoniously within boundless realms and ultimately attain great perfection.

Fellow practitioners, my teaching today has concluded, and the daochang (practice hall) is complete. I keep thinking of you. When a father and son climb the mountain together to cultivate, the father cannot pass his cultivation skill directly to his son, and the son cannot practice on his father's behalf. Though you travel the same path of cultivation, only each person knows the warmth and chill, the gains and losses, of their own practice, and every step must be taken by oneself.

So in my teaching I have no fixed method that never changes. I prescribe according to the illness and treat the symptoms as they appear. Once the illness is healed and the symptoms are gone, there is no need to keep the prescription. A boat is needed to cross a river, but once you reach the far bank, there is no need to keep thinking of the boat. A needle and thread sew clothing, but once the garment is finished, there is no need to cling to the needle and thread. Do not add unnecessary steps, which would only create confusion.

You should simply strive forward on your own, steadily and faithfully keeping the precepts (jieli). When your cultivation reaches its depth, even the thought of keeping the precepts can be let go, yet beyond the precepts you must advance further still. When your skill is deep and your fire timing (huohou) is ripe, the patriarchs (zushi) will naturally lift you up and lead you to the true Dao. In practice, you must never be without your own judgment, relying blindly on your teacher and fellow practitioners, clinging to names and forms, and following others year after year.

You must also firm your resolve, free of doubt, and devote your whole mind to it, without regret even if it costs your life. When your fire timing is ripe, have you not heard the saying, "Heaven does not fail the diligent heart"? The Great Dao is originally still and unmoving. If a person can respond to it with a sincere heart, they can come into communion with it.

Disciples, once you have resolved to press forward without looking back, you may be said to have lofty aspirations, the kind of people the Dao (the Way) school can cultivate. Patriarch Qiu (Qiu Chuji) left behind a "Silent Verse" (wusheng ji), a gatha not readily shown to the public, meaning one not easily transmitted to the masses. Now I will set it out for you, and you must listen to it with utmost sincerity.

The verse says: "Life and death are impermanent; one must awaken by oneself. When death comes, even one's own kin cannot attend to oneself. Do not entrust yourself to others; even once one has become an immortal, one must still cultivate oneself and deliver oneself. Do not be controlled by the six dust (liuchen, the external realms of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma) or the six consciousnesses (liushi, the discriminating functions of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind). Do not cling to any one fixed method, and only then can the mind abide constantly. The constant mind has no attachment or grasping."

The verse goes on: "Life and death are impermanent; one must awaken by oneself. When death comes, even one's own kin cannot attend to oneself. Do not entrust yourself to others; even once one has become an immortal, one must still cultivate oneself and deliver oneself. Do not be controlled by the six dust or the six consciousnesses; do not cling to any one fixed method, and only then can the mind abide constantly. Yet constancy is itself nothing to be called constancy. Understand dependent origination and do not be deluded, for conditions are countless. In the causal ground (yindi, the stage of cultivation), realize that the self-nature is fundamentally empty. At the fruition stage (guowei, the realm attained through cultivation), when one awakens to emptiness, who could illuminate it and dwell within it? From then on, the key to ending birth and death is settled, and one's name is struck from the register of transmigration. If anyone seeks the method of cultivation in accordance with the precepts, the gods will naturally know in secret."

"The Longmen mind-dharma (Longmen xinfa, the teaching of the Longmen lineage on cultivating the mind) originally has no fixed dharma, and I have earnestly spoken this principle to you. Do not cling to dharma; sweep away attachment, and only then can you see the true meaning of the verse. Carefully contemplate the Dharma body (fashen, the essential body that transcends form) of which I speak, and the void becomes a treasury of inexhaustible riches. When a single thought arises, what it gives rise to is endless. The Dao is stored within the body and can prolong blessings. When the mind-dharma is fully integrated, the dharma is the mind. Dharma and mind have no end and no separation, and they transform beings over the long term."

End of the Biyuan Tanjing

Twenty-Second Inquiry: Penetrating the Subtle Mechanism

Disciples, this numinous, luminous nature that is clear and never clouded is my Yuanming Zhenren (the True Person of Primordial Life, the original and genuine life-substance). How could it be easy to see?

Since antiquity, sages, worthies, buddhas, immortals, past patriarchs, and perfected who attained the Dao have pursued this matter through long and arduous investigation. Some faced the wall for nine years, and some sat in seclusion (zuo huan) for six years. They traveled famous mountains, roamed blessed lands, sought out teachers and companions, inquired into the Dao, listened to scriptures, practiced with hardship, and penetrated deeply...

Since ancient times, sages, immortals, buddhas, patriarchs, and countless others who have attained the Dao have pursued it in many ways. Some faced a wall in silent meditation for nine years, some sat in quiet chambers for six years, and others diligently investigated and sought the Way over many years. They visited famous mountains and blessed lands, wandered in all directions, sought out teachers and friends, asked about the Dao and listened to scriptures, and practiced asceticism, almsgiving, and the accumulation of merit. All these practices aimed to probe the great matter of one's own life and death and of xingming (the dual cultivation of nature and life). People do not know where they come from or where they go after death, so they drift and sink through birth and death and find it difficult to escape the cycle of rebirth (lunhui). For this reason, people make vows, accumulate merit, and put their practice into action.

Some take the cutting off of stray thoughts and the forgetting of desire as a method of transcending the world. They sit in meditation for three or five years and wear out many meditation cushions, but have they truly achieved even a moment of cessation of thought or the forgetting of emotional attachment? The saying "two and five return to ten" is likewise a term from neidan (internal alchemy).

Some take "boiling lead and refining mercury" (pengqian lianhong), a metaphorical expression for neidan practice, as a method of transcending the world. They perform their cultivation at fixed times and apply techniques such as "morning zhun, evening meng" (chaotun mumeng) and "withdrawing the talisman, advancing the fire" (tuifu jinhuo). But have they truly refined what is called "seven returns of the jade fluid and nine returns of the golden fluid," and can they grasp the right moments to gather in and to release? These are all neidan terms.

Some visualize and contemplate, quietly worshiping the Supreme Deity above the Three Heavens. Some hold salvation rituals (liandu) to rescue souls in the netherworld and to deliver the spirits of the dead beneath the Nine Earths. Some summon spirits and generals and wear fulu (talismans and registers), calling themselves zhenren (perfected persons). Some raise qi, open the gates of the body, and circulate jing (essence) and qi, calling this the wondrous Dao. There are also those who diligently recite scriptures and worship without pause, who make elixirs to heal illness and injury, who refine medicines for consumption in hopes of ascending to immortality, or who imitate the way of Yin-Yang by practicing the arts of caibu (sexual cultivation).

Still others rely on the bellows-like breathing within the cauldron vessel (dingqi), using shen-intent to circulate the "true lead" (zhenqian) in order to prolong life. Some regulate the fire timing (huohou) in the cauldron furnace, adding or reducing ingredients, refining herbal and mineral substances, and accumulating merit through almsgiving. Some are physically weak or sick, yet hold to the way of the Golden Elixir (jin dan) and wait for a fortunate person to transmit it to them. And some, feeling that their karmic affinity is shallow, take risks by undertaking difficult deeds, like letting go of a hand at the edge of a cliff.

All of these practices, when one loses sight of one's original nature and mistakes illusory forms for cultivation, become side paths (pangmen).

O disciples, if you wish to cut off thoughts and forget feelings, you must first investigate clearly where thoughts arise and where feelings come from. Only when you can grasp them, recognize them, and point to their precise place can you speak of beginning to cut off thought and forget feeling.

But I ask you: what is it that is able to grasp, seize, recognize, and point to these things, and that sets about cutting off thought and forgetting feeling? Even if you cut off thought and forget feeling so single-mindedly that you wear through your meditation cushion, thoughts remain thoughts and feelings remain feelings. To use thought to cut off thought is like placing another head on top of one's head. To use feeling to forget feeling is like seizing a thief and then letting him go. It would be better to also forget "what it is that wants to forget feeling." Forget the method of cutting off thought, forget the method of forgetting feeling, let both of these intentions vanish together, and enter the "gate of all subtleties" (zhòngmiào mén), the profound and minute realm of the Dao. This is the supreme principle.

O disciples, when I use a method to cut off thought, I fail to realize that the method itself is a thought. When I use a method to forget feeling, I fail to realize that the method itself is the root of emotion. Therefore, relying on oneself alone to cut off thought is not as good as letting thoughts come to rest of their own accord. Relying on oneself alone to forget feeling is not as good as letting feelings fade naturally. In other words, seeking from outside is not as good as returning to oneself and seeking within.

Practitioners of the Way, some of you take "boiling lead and refining mercury" (terms from internal alchemy used to describe cultivation) and "drawing and adding the fire timing" (regulating the advances, retreats, and timing within the process) as concrete procedures, and you compare them with the hexagram images and line statements. In doing so, you split apart and damage the Supreme Ultimate of primordial unity, which was originally whole and complete. You take borrowed names for actual functions, and you take metaphors for methods of practice.

Others speak wildly of the upper, middle, and lower Dantian (energy centers), and blindly guess at jing (essence) and qi (vital energy). They also describe the seven emotions and nine orifices as a mechanical apparatus. They misread the "seven characters" and "nine characters" of the scriptures, along with words like "return" (fan) and "revert" (huan), as meaning seven or nine times, seven or nine cycles, seven or nine stages, seven or nine years, or seven or nine revolutions. Some busy themselves drawing diagrams, others trace out all manner of images, and still others sit bolt upright, fixated on the names and locations of the Muddy Pellet (Nini), Tail Gate (Weilu), Dantian, Crimson Chamber (Jiangshi), Yellow Court (Huangting), and Jade Pool (Huachi). They repeat practices such as raising water and lowering fire, nourishing and bathing the fire, and sealing it closed. Today they say it is the union of Kan and Li, tomorrow the hexagram Tai, the Heaven-Earth hexagram, and the day after, the joining of the hun and po souls. This year they cultivate one kind of infant, and the year after they produce the same infant again. After nine years of this, they remain people who do not understand life or death, and who create karma for nothing.

They still do not know where they have gone wrong. Shaking their heads and counting on their fingers, they tell others: "On that day I formed the sacred embryo, my nourishment of the fire was correct, and the timing of my bathing was appropriate. Why, then, after the sacred embryo has completed its ten months, has no infant been born? Could it be that your fortune and mine are too thin and our sins too heavy, so that the gods and spirits will not let me attain it?" They even cradle their bellies, shamelessly, eyes wide, pretending to shed tears.

Consider that people of shallow roots and dim understanding like this do not know their own minds and do not grasp their own nature. They drift about day after day in confusion, so how could they understand the principles of the Way? Yet such a person, after all, has a heart that aspires upward toward the Way. It is only that they have been deluded and blinded, and have not awakened to the crux of cultivation.

The essence (Jing) and Qi within your bodies are originally the primordial Qi and primordial Jing of Heaven's prior endowment, treasures that neither increase nor decrease. If you move and circulate them, they do not thereby grow; if you leave them unmoved, they do not thereby diminish. This luminous, clear-awake, never-dimming true power is the Primordial Shen (Yuanshen). Since it is called the Primordial Shen, why then speak of it as an "infant"? It is because, over the many lives you have passed through, your karmic offenses have not yet been erased, your obstructions have not yet been released, the root of your mind is not yet pure, and the foundation of your nature is not yet luminous. If you do not promptly repent your transgressions, change your habitual tendencies, seek a teacher, study, and awaken to the Great Dao, but instead use the true mind that is originally useful to do what is without benefit, spending your limited years waiting for an invisible "infant," what meaning would there be in that?

Friends, the awareness by which a person within themselves distinguishes good from evil, right from wrong, proper from deviant, arising from ceasing, self from other, and real from false is this "infant." Yet the infant itself does not discriminate between good and evil, right and wrong, proper and deviant, arising and ceasing, self and other, or true and false. It clings to no form. It merely gives rise to thoughts in response to external circumstances, gives rise to wisdom in response to thoughts, and gives rise to awareness in response to wisdom. Because it knows the good, it knows the evil; because it knows the right, it knows the wrong; because it knows the proper, it knows the deviant; because it knows arising, it knows ceasing; because it knows itself, it knows others; because it knows the real, it knows the false.

It originally has no form of "self," yet it is not empty of anything. It is simply that single point of luminous spirituality that functions in the world as perception and responds to myriad affairs. If we speak from the standpoint of Taiji Hunyuan (the Supreme Ultimate Primordial Chaos, the origin before Yin and Yang divide, undifferentiated and whole), this awareness may also be called non-knowing. Yet this awareness is conscience (liangzhi): the Buddhist tradition calls it "good advisor" (shanzhishi), wisdom that can lead people to discern the correct Way, and the Daoist tradition calls it the "Infant Primordial Shen." In sum, what all of you have spoken of is that single point of empty, luminous awareness, the nature-body that never dims.

You have only seen Daoist practitioners (xiudao zhi ren) enter the yuan, a cloistered place for closed-door quiet cultivation, and sit in meditation. You have heard them say they are "gestating the embryo" (huaitai), a Neidan (internal alchemy) metaphor that likens the inner work to a fetus. After ten months of quiet cultivation, have you ever seen any of these Daoists truly manifest the image of an infant, or emit light from their bodies?

Some people, before entering the yuan, do not understand the conditions of Heaven and Earth, of ghosts and spirits, or of Yin-Yang. They do not know the blessings and calamities of the human world or the good and ill fortune to come, and they do not even know when they were born or when they will die. After they leave the yuan, they still know nothing. If they cannot see clearly even their own birth and death, and cannot deliver themselves, how could they deliver others?

If one's own life and death remain unclear, and good and ill fortune cannot be foreseen, and one is still bound by Heaven and Earth, then while alive one wears clothes, eats food, and bears suffering just like ordinary people, and after death one is buried in the earth and returns to decay like any common mortal. Seen in this light, does entering the yuan and sitting in meditation not amount to wasted effort?

Practitioners, cultivation begins by letting go of discriminating thought and attachment, and only then entering the yuan (the enclosure for seated cultivation, or the state of cultivating within it). Settle the entanglements of desire first, and only then begin sitting in meditation.

When lustful thoughts have been quiet for a long time, kidney qi becomes abundant, and what is called zhen qian (true lead, the essential qi held in the kidneys) is able to rise. When anger has been quiet for a long time, the heart-mind becomes empty and still, and what is called zhen gong (true mercury, the heart-mind spirit) is able to descend. When food and drink are arranged appropriately and in keeping with the season, the spleen and stomach grow strong, and true mercury and true lead can be stored securely.

When emotions return to emptiness and stillness, lung qi becomes moist; when the temperament is settled, liver qi becomes full and vigorous. When kidney water is abundant, the eyes are bright and the pupils are as black as lacquer. When heart fire is calmed, the saliva in the mouth becomes plentiful, and swallowing it is as sweet as sweet wine (li jiu). When the Hun Shen (ethereal soul-spirit) is clear, liver qi flows smoothly and the sinews and bones become light and supple; when the Po Shen (corporeal soul-spirit) is steady, the fluids of the lungs circulate freely, and the hair and beard grow black. When the spleen and stomach are strong and harmonious, the tongue and throat are clear and nimble, and the voice carries full and resonant. When the orifices of the body are open and the qi and blood are abundant, one can avoid all manner of illness; when the five flavors of food and drink are kept light, upright qi will arise.

By observing the changes of the seasons and solar terms and practicing daoyin (guiding and pulling, a regimen of breathing coordinated with bodily movement), external pathogens such as wind, cold, heat, and damp will find it hard to enter. By restraining the six desires and seven emotions, subduing one's temperament, and calming the thoughts of the mind, demons and spirits will be unable to disturb you. By investigating the Great Dao, innate liangzhi (innate moral knowing) will appear, and one's true nature will become clear. By awakening to zhenru (true suchness, the unchanging real nature), the sheshen (physical body with form) can be seen as empty, and the fashen (dharma body, the pure nature that transcends form) will manifest. First liberate yourself, and then liberate others; in the end, one must first liberate oneself.

Practitioners, once one reaches this state, one has truly taken the first step through the gate. From then on, sitting in stillness within the yuan, one can penetrate the Way of Heaven above and comprehend the patterns of the earth below. The conditions of ghosts and spirits and the pivots of the movements of heaven and earth can seem to be grasped within a single breath.

Fellow practitioners, reaching this stage is only the beginning of entering the threshold of the Great Dao. Once you enter seated stillness practice (circle-sitting or quiet sitting), you can reach upward to the Heavenly Dao (tiandao) and look down to discern the earth. The conditions of ghosts and spirits and the key principles of the turning of Heaven and Earth seem to appear within a single breath, and the transformations of creation seem to lie in your hand. All these states arise from upholding precepts and entering samadhi. When you enter stillness you are still an ordinary person, but when you emerge from it you become a sage, possessing the dharma-body (fashen), a body that transcends the mundane and belongs to one who has cultivated the Dao.

When you understand the Great Dao, your vision rises, and you see through the fact that all the various conditions (yinyuan) of the world are illusory and impermanent. With a staff (here a metaphor for the support one relies on in cultivation), your heart and mind grow broad, as though you could gather Heaven and Earth into empty space. Before others' thoughts have stirred, you already know them; before events have occurred, you already perceive them. This is called the Six Spiritual Penetrations (liutong), the six kinds of supernatural powers spoken of by cultivators, and your wisdom is inexhaustible. Heavenly demons (tianmo) all come to bow in submission and secretly protect you, and practitioners of heterodox paths from the ten directions (shifang waidao), who differ from the orthodox Daoist methods, take refuge in the Great Dao and are filled with reverence. Though a mustard seed is small, it can contain Mount Sumeru (Xumishan), a mountain that Buddhist and Daoist texts use as a symbol of something immensely large; though a grain of millet is minute, it can hide the worlds of the ten directions without anyone knowing. Wisdom is boundless, heavenly demons bow in submission and secretly protect you, and the heterodox practitioners of the ten directions take refuge and are filled with awe. Within a mustard seed one can contain Mount Sumeru, and within a grain of millet one can conceal the worlds of the ten directions. When you manifest, the earth, mountains, and rivers allow you to roam freely; when you withdraw, your body can shrink to the size of a speck of dust or a grain of rice, settling wherever the mind wishes.

My friends, this supreme, true, and wondrous Dao of non-action at the highest level (Wuwei) begins, above all, with investigating its subtle principles and comprehending the mechanisms of Heaven. Therefore, you should set aside for the time being the many practices that are either fruitless or unnecessary: blind cultivation, idle sitting, refining lead and mercury (qianhong, i.e., alchemical substances), visualizing and contemplating, delivering the souls of the dead, conferring offices and registers, raising the breath and waving fans, chanting scriptures and reciting liturgies, burning herbs in the cauldron, ingesting and gathering medicinal substances, and the cauldron-and-vessel practices of Yin-Yang (yinyang luding). You must sincerely vow before Heaven that from today into the future, you will only wish to understand the mystery of birth and death, and of coming and going, as soon as possible, to escape the suffering of reincarnation and the cycle of life and death, to stay far from all attachments and extremes, and to hear this wondrous Dao. Alas! The phrase "keep apart from all extremes" is addressed precisely to you. It is an important expedient gateway (fangbian menjing) for investigating subtle principles and comprehending the mechanisms of Heaven.

Disciples, what does "edges" mean, and how must one be free of them before one can hear the subtle Dao? When I say "leave behind all edges," I am speaking directly to you. It is a convenient method for investigating profound principles and grasping the secrets of Heaven, that is, the mysteries of nature.

What are the "various edges"? They are blind cultivation, blind sitting in meditation, "boiling lead and refining mercury" (pengqian lianhong, a method of practice using the refining of lead and mercury as metaphors), and other side paths of this kind. Why are they called "edges"? These side paths do not stand at the center, nor do they accord with the orthodox Way. They are like a table: they all remain on its four edges and cannot enter the center. Even one who reaches the center still cannot leave the table. To leave the table is to enter the empty, vast Dao. To remain bound to the table is to remain constrained by concrete things, and so one has not yet reached the Dao. Is this not what "edge" means?

"Edge" also carries the senses of remoteness, deviation, boundary, and shoreline. Side paths depart from the central Way, and deviation means they do not accord with the orthodox Way. Once there is a boundary, one cannot be vast. Once there is a bank or cliff, one cannot be penetrating and clear. If one clings to this physical body and regards it as a thousand-year cypress or a pine that endures for ten thousand generations, one will be trapped and will confine the true master, the inner true nature. This is like abandoning the lamp to search for fire, clinging to the false and losing the real. Is this not a deviation to one side? Even if one attains some accomplishment, one becomes no more than a person who seeks only personal liberation. Without seeing one's original nature, even if one attains a fruit-position, once the blessings are exhausted one will fall back into transmigration (lunhui) and will struggle to transcend the Three Realms (the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm). What benefit could such a person then bring to other beings?

Attaining immortality or Buddhahood, or becoming a sage or worthy, depends on setting aside self-centered thoughts, attending to others, and making great vows to liberate all beings. Some practitioners who sit in meditation today cannot even free themselves, so how could they save anyone else? Such people are called "zì liǎo hàn" (those who seek only their own liberation). Have they ever truly understood the Dao (the Way) and the principle of universal salvation? Instead, they cling to a single narrow method of cultivation, which is truly regrettable.

The Zhēn Jūn (True Lord, a respectful title for a perfected deity in Daoism) uses verses to reveal the key to cultivation. He teaches people to let go of self-interest and not to cling to any one method, so that side paths return to the orthodox Way and deviant teachings turn toward the correct Dharma. In this way, what was once limited becomes open and unobstructed. The vast world expands until it links heaven and earth, and bounded channels extend without limit or edge. Even the unfathomable fǎ shēn (Dharma body, the true body that transcends physical form, a term used in both Buddhist and Daoist contexts) can expand to a state with no distinction between self and others. The scripture says: "Cannot be seen, cannot be heard; when one is free from all attachments, this is called the subtle Way."

Practitioners, to contemplate the Great Dao (dadao), one must first open the mind and free it from constraint. Ask where life comes from and where it returns after death. Draw near to teachers of clear understanding and friends of sincere wisdom, cultivate broad goodwill, and examine these questions with care.

A human life is like a bowl of tea. The tea is held within the bowl, and because the bowl limits its form, the water takes on the flavor of the tea. If the tea is poured into the sea, it disperses into the vast waves. When one tries to trace one's origin, one finds that the tea already carries its flavor, and if one calls it water, the water again shows form and color. Yet within this great sea, the origin of the human being is still contained. So what, then, is my origin?

Keep seeking persistently and meticulously until you reach the state of "seeing without seeing and hearing without hearing." After long accumulation of practice, the mind will one day naturally open wide, the vision will suddenly clear, and one will be able to see one's original face (benlai mianmu) and grasp the subtle heavenly mechanism (tianji). When this single point of true nature (zhenxing) appears, one will believe that the Dao has not failed humanity.

The original text ends by repeating the earlier lines about the mind opening wide, the vision becoming clear, and the true nature manifesting.

Disciples, the sages, immortals, and Buddhas attained the Dao and ascended long ago. To understand their minds, one must first grasp the principles they taught. Once the principles are understood, one can comprehend their methods and act accordingly. To do what sages, immortals, and Buddhas do is to possess the foundation for becoming a sage, immortal, or Buddha.

Where do the minds of sages, immortals, and Buddhas reside? They reside in the innermost depths of every person's heart. Where do the principles lie? They lie in the everyday life right before our eyes. Where are the methods of cultivation? They are recorded in the scriptures and classics (Jing). What sages, immortals, and Buddhas do is not outside worldly life but within it, and their attainments are rooted in that sage-immortal-Buddha heart.

To realize that the minds of sages, immortals, and Buddhas are within one's own heart is to be able to understand their principles. To understand the principles is to grasp the methods of cultivation, and to grasp the methods is to be able to practice them accordingly. When the principles are understood, the correct Way (Dao) becomes firmly established; when the methods are grasped, one can clearly perceive the various conditions of causation (yinyuan); and when what has been learned is put into practice, meritorious works are accomplished. In this way, the vitality of the Heavenly Dao flows on without end and endures through myriad kalpas. One should know that such a person already possesses the nature and wisdom of sages, immortals, and Buddhas, that is, possesses the heart of a sage, immortal, or Buddha.

Afterward, one takes further vows of the Middle Ultimate Precepts (zhongji jie), the precepts of Daoist discipline, to open and expand one's spiritual nature and to make the Mysterious Gate (xuanguan, the cavity or passage within the body and mind that leads to inner transformation) clear and bright, so that one can more deeply comprehend the principles of sages, immortals, and Buddhas. Taking yet further the Celestial Immortal Precepts (tianxian jie) and studying profound and subtle meanings with diligence, one brings wisdom to full and complete understanding, and is then able to thoroughly grasp the Way of sages, immortals, and Buddhas.

Once one attains a state of liberation and unhindered freedom, one can respond to circumstances and transform accordingly: one may be round or square, large or small; may advance or halt, go forward or back; may live or die, bend or stretch; may go out or come in. One may become a sage, an immortal, or a Buddha, or manifest in the Four Births and Six Paths (sisheng liudao, the various forms of life and realms of transmigration described in Buddhism), even among the heavens or the hells. One may teach according to the situation in which one finds people, save living beings across long kalpas, and whose transformations are immeasurable, appearing in different forms to preach through example. It is like a boundless bright mirror reflecting the shapes of all things, where each image contains and interpenetrates the others. In this way, one can carry out the works of sages, immortals, and Buddhas, achieve the body of a sage, immortal, or Buddha, and attain the fruit of a sage, immortal, or Buddha.

Disciples, when your cultivation reaches this stage, it is called penetrating the subtle principles and comprehending the secrets of Heaven (Tianji).

In antiquity, the Yellow Emperor lost the Mysterious Pearl (Xuanzhu, symbolizing profound principles or the original, true nature of the mind) in the Red Waters. He first sent Li Zhu to search for it, but Li Zhu did not find it. He then sent Qi Gou, who also failed. Finally he sent Wangxiang, and Wangxiang did find it. Li Zhu symbolizes the fleshly heart-mind of later acquired existence, that is, the mind that thinks through discrimination and opinion, and so it could not find the Mysterious Pearl. Qi Gou symbolizes practices of affection and desire, of purifying body and speech, and of fasting and maintaining simplicity. If one seeks only through these outward actions, one likewise will not find the Pearl.

Why, then, could Wangxiang find it? "Wang" means "without," and "xiang" means image or form, so "Wangxiang" signifies having no trace or fixed form. For this reason the text speaks of the "Mysterious Pearl" rather than a visible, luminous pearl. Confucius said: "What transcends form is called Dao (the Way); what lies within form is called qi (vessel)." The Supreme Elder Lord (Taishang Laozu) also said: "Looking inward at one's mind, one finds that the mind has no fixed mind; looking outward at one's body, one finds that the body has no fixed body."

Disciples, the supreme principle is originally the true reality. The sages, immortals, and buddhas all rest their cultivation on not clinging to outward appearances. If one clings to form in cultivation, it is like the Yellow Emperor seeking the Pearl through wisdom, fasting, and a vegetarian diet alone. The Yellow Emperor lost the Pearl, and in the end it was found by Wangxiang. Ordinary people who wish to realize subtle principles must likewise come to understand them through non-mind and non-attachment.

I have now set forth the heavenly secrets in full and clarified the mind-seal (xinyin, the essential teaching of transmitting mind through mind). You must examine yourselves carefully and remain vigilant at all times, lest the Mysterious Pearl be lost in the Red Waters and you no longer know where to find it again.

Thereupon, the disciples who had received the precepts bowed their heads together in taking refuge and respectfully listened to the verses (gatha), teachings expressed in rhymed verse:

"Ten thousand scrolls of immortal scriptures cannot exhaust the principles of cultivating the Dao (the Way). This single piece of writing, which points directly to the original mind, has already revealed its essential meaning in full. I urge you not to become absorbed in complicated methods, for the Dao lies in the heart, not in books. If you cling to outward forms in investigating profound principles, your distracting thoughts will only multiply. If you sit in meditation with a deliberate mind set on quick achievement, you may instead stray into error. Many people take the wrong path, and few keep to the correct one. The zhenren (Perfected Person) has no fixed appearance or form, and the tianji (Heavenly Mechanism, the subtle workings of the great Dao) manifests everywhere. If you grope blindly and disregard what lies before you, do not abandon the proper road and wander into side paths."

At that time, after Kunyangzi and the assembly jointly dedicated the merit of their practice (turning it toward a shared aspiration), the disciple Shi Shouping compiled these teachings into a booklet and asked the lüshi (here, the master presiding over the ordination) to write an inscription on it to guide later students. The master said, "That is unnecessary. Simply let this book be passed from hand to hand among people. After one hundred and seventy years, someone will naturally arrange and revise it into the Biyuan Tanjing (Scripture of the Jade Garden Platform)."