《太上赤文洞古經註》

This is a commentary on the Taishang Chiwen Donggu Jing (The Supreme Lord’s Red-Text Cave Ancient Scripture), with commentary by Chang Quanzi of Guishan. It belongs to the upper section of the “Grasping the True” chapter.

Movement within movement comes from non-movement. Having movement means responding to causal occasions. Non-movement is embracing the Primordial and guarding the One (holding the original Shen [spirit] and concentrating without scattering). This is returning to the root and restoring destiny (returning to the root and recovering the true reality of life). Thus the scripture says that clarity is the source of turbidity and movement is the foundation of stillness. One must be pure and undivided, sincerely guarding the Middle Way. The myriad things are manifold, and each returns to its root. Returning to the root is called stillness. Ultimate stillness is non-movement.

Action within action comes from Wuwei (non-action). With Wuwei, Shen returns. Shen is originally clear and quiescent; when stimulated, it then penetrates. Only when unavoidable does it arise into function, responding to circumstances and meeting things with inexhaustible wondrous function. Remove cleverness and the artificial constructions of benevolence and righteousness; thus one follows heavenly principle. Tranquil and bland without limit, all wonders return to it.

When Shen returns, the myriad things are still. Concentrating Qi (vital energy) and attaining softness, one can be like an infant. Embrace and guard the harmonious true Qi, causing it to blend and become dense. Then all things attain long life. Knowing harmony is called constancy. When the mind directs Qi, this is called forcing. Forcing is the hard and rigid, the strong, the kind that moves toward old age and death.

When there is non-movement, Qi is stilled. When Qi is stilled, the myriad things are born. If Qi is cut off, Shen departs; the nine orifices and hundred bones (the body’s apertures and form) transform and perish into dust. What further doubt can there be?

Shen and Shen guard one another; thing and thing support one another. Their root returns to the root. Use emptiness to nourish emptiness; use fullness to nourish fullness. Why? Forget form to nourish Qi; forget Qi to nourish Shen; forget Shen to nourish emptiness. The empty chamber gives birth to light (the mind becomes empty and bright and gives rise to radiance). Auspiciousness and peace abide; Shen and Qi are harmonious and tranquil; the spiritual root is deep and firm. Thus one becomes the way of long life and enduring vision.

Silently awaken to it; I myself recognize it. The ultimate Dao (the Way) is mysterious and wondrous, not obtained by borrowing external things. Silent and obscure, without falling into responsive contact and without any interval, the spiritual light shines alone, utterly free from sense faculties and their objects. The substance reveals true constancy and does not follow the ten thousand dharmas. One can thus preserve life whole and return to the origin.

Enter into wujian. Wujian means having nothing. This is the teaching without words and the benefit of Wuwei (non-action). Perfectly penetrating and unobstructed, its responsive transformation is inexhaustible. It fills the ten directions (the four quarters, four corners, above and below), moving at every moment without interruption.

Not dying and not being born: the mysterious pearl (a metaphor for the Dao or the luminous original nature) is radiant, always bright throughout past and present. The myriad things are blended and completed; every dharma is equal; it is neither pure nor defiled; it has no beginning and no end. Therefore it is called not dying and not being born. It is one with heaven and earth.

The Taishang Chiwen Donggu Jing (Scripture of the Ancient Cavern of the Supreme Vermilion Script) teaches that through serene and wuwei (non-action) cultivation, one may attain unity with heaven and earth. Here is a simplified interpretation:

Heaven endures because of its clear emptiness, while earth remains eternal through tranquil stillness. If humans comprehend this principle and reach a state of profound stillness—maintaining simplicity and serenity, free from worldly attachments—they can merge with heaven and earth.

The essence of practice lies in:

1. When closing the eyes to external sights, the inner light expands boundlessly. Colors and forms disturb vision, but the true "Dharma Eye" (a realized state of perception) sees through all with clarity, discerning the fundamental radiance within the primordial chaos.

2. When withdrawing from external sounds, the mind becomes as clear as an abyss. All sounds are illusory, like storms that agitate the heart. Only by remaining undisturbed can one hear the celestial harmonies in silence, including the music of the immortal realms.

3. When both sight and hearing are relinquished, one enters the mysterious realm. Without relying on the senses or intellectual thought, this is the profoundest "Great Mystery" (Taixuan) of the Dao. This state is boundless—giving birth to all things yet formless and imageless.

4. In the state where self and objects are forgotten, neither "being" nor "non-being" exists. It is a primordial unity, containing all yet defying description by shape or direction.

5. The highest Dao is vast and inexhaustible, holding the essence of all things. When condensed, it is the subtlest Qi (vital energy); when expanded, it is pure serenity. Without form or name, it is the most revered. Ordinary people miss it through delusion, while sages attain it through awakening.

The text concludes: Though heaven and earth are immense, those who realize the Dao become one with them, sustaining the cosmic order.

Have not the sages and worthies of ancient and modern times, and those who attained the Dao (the Way) and became Zhenren (Perfected), been able to grasp and raise Heaven and Earth, hold fast Yin-Yang, transform and nurture the myriad things, and extend their grace to all beings? Is this not rare and precious?

Though the myriad things are many, all are upheld and preserved by those who have attained the Dao. The universe is within their palms, and the ten thousand transformations arise from their own selves. Where is exhaustion or end? And how could words exhaust its flaws?

The sage directly proclaims the wondrous Dao and universally manifests the light that shines upon all. Fearing only that ordinary people of later ages would not believe and would fall into doubt, he therefore gave forth greatly humble words; if words cannot exhaust the principle, then words are to be regarded as flawed, disordered, and erroneous.

This is the lower section of the “Chapter on Dwelling in the World.”

Cultivating and nurturing that Dao without images—precisely because it is without images, it constantly endures. When true Qi (vital energy) rises as vapor, the seasons have no cold or heat; when pure Yang flows and pours forth, the people have no death or birth. Therefore it is said: the lamp of the heart shines brightly and illumines everywhere, and the Dharma body (true body) constantly abides. If the candle of wisdom is not bright, how can the countenance of the Dao be borne and made manifest?

Guarding that bodyless Dao—precisely because it is without body, true nature is preserved intact. When Heaven and Earth and Yin-Yang unite, sweet dew descends, moistening and flourishing the myriad things. If a person can be calm, quiet, and harmonious, making the precious vase (a metaphor for the Dantian, the energy center, in the body) firm, the jade nectar (a metaphor for fluids and Jing-Qi, essence and vital energy) fragrant and sweet, and true water (a metaphor for prenatal Jing and Qi) descend to nourish the wondrous body and restore youth, is this not excellent?

Complete Perfection (Quanzhen; true nature and true life) mutually assists, and thus one can endure. Water and Fire complete each other (the Yin-Yang of heart and kidney unite); Hun and Po (ethereal and corporeal souls) guard each other; lead and mercury (metaphors for Jing and Qi) congeal; they are refined into the great medicine and formed into the Golden Elixir. With radiant brilliance it illumines every hidden place; pure white returns to plain simplicity; through Wuwei (non-action) one returns to simplicity; long life without extinction; throughout life free from danger—such a one is called a Zhenren (Perfected).

Heaven attains the true Dao and therefore endures. When Heaven obtains the pure and undefiled Dao, it can cover all beings, encompass the myriad phenomena, pass through kalpas while pure, quiet, and concentrated, mirror the myriad things without self-interest, respond without speaking, and its wondrous function is inexhaustible; it is high and distant, empty and vast, broad and all-encompassing, enduring and unchanging.

Earth attains the true Dao and therefore endures. When Earth obtains the true Dao, it can nurture the myriad things, making their roots deep and their foundations firm; quiet and Wuwei, it therefore endures.

Humans attain the true Dao and therefore enjoy long life. Only when the body dies but the Dao does not perish is there true longevity. If people in the world can awaken to the true meaning and attain the wondrous origin (the mysterious primal source), unite with the Dao in truth, remain free from danger throughout life, rank with the sages and worthies, and ensure that descendants continue sacrifices without interruption—what could surpass this?

The reason people in the world cannot endure is that they have lost that image-less Dao and dissipated that bodyless truth.

This scripture depicts the pitiable state of humans deluded by desires and losing their original nature:

Human senses become saturated with various cravings—the mouth lusts after delicacies, the nose chases fragrances, eyes and ears indulge in sensual pleasures. These external temptations disturb the inner mind, causing the original nature to go astray. People become led by material things, thoughts chasing one after another, the mind outwardly pursuing, allowing perverse Qi to invade the heart. Judgments of right and wrong, gains and losses, honor and disgrace keep the spirit unsettled. The pure original nature and external objects mutually deplete each other, leaving one exhausted throughout life, trapped in the net of karma (cause and effect) yet unaware of turning back—is this not truly pitiable?

The body craves comfort, clad in fine silks; the mind sinks into wrong views (erroneous perceptions), lost in idle fantasies all day. Growing old without understanding life's true meaning, sacrificing one's vital essence for external things, being led by worldly concerns—such people are as confused as placing objects upside down, how lamentable indeed!

Such individuals cannot harmonize the various parts of their being with their true nature, thus being essentially "dead" already. In truth, humanity's inner essence is originally pure and luminous, transparent and bright like empty space, yet sadly polluted by countless desires. Failing to return to observe one's original heart, allowing the pure nature to dissipate, sinking into endless confusion. Unable to awaken to the true self, they instead take rebirth in other physical forms, losing their source and corrupting their inner being. Forever trapped in the bitter sea of birth-death cycles without liberation—how utterly pitiful!

(Note: "Net of karma" refers to the bondage formed by karmic cause and effect; "myriad kalpas" denotes an extremely long timespan; "other metamorphic forms" indicates reincarnated physical embodiments.)