《太上老君說了心經》

This passage from the Taishang Laojun's Scripture on Clarifying the Heart reveals that the foundation of Daoist cultivation lies in observing one's own mind. The core teaching is:

The heart-mind (Xin) acts as the master, governing all bodily movements and stillness. When the mind is restless and unsettled, one cannot comprehend the true Dao. Paradoxically, the mind is both the source of misfortune and the root of spiritual cultivation. Authentic practice does not involve forced stillness or indulging in random thoughts, but rather attaining the state of "no-mind" (Wuxin) — neither clinging to movement nor fixating on stillness.

When you thoroughly recognize your true mind, you awaken to your original nature; upon this awakening, the mind becomes unbound by any phenomenon. Only by releasing attachment to all thoughts can one return to authenticity. Even the concept of "emptiness" must be relinquished, because fixation on "emptiness" itself becomes an obstacle.

Taishang Laojun (one of Daoism's supreme deities) declares: After observing my mind through countless kalpas (cosmic time cycles), I attained the Dao — yet this so-called "attainment" is merely a provisional name, for in essence, not even the notion of "attaining" truly exists.

Laojun laments how sentient beings, failing to illuminate their minds and perceive their true nature, waste their precious time, exhausting their spirit (Shen) while remaining forever trapped in delusion. Only by following the sages' teachings and relinquishing attachments can one wander freely in carefree joy and return to original purity.

(Note: "Kalpa" refers to an immense cosmic time cycle in Buddhist/Daoist cosmology; "no-mind" denotes the natural state of non-artificial spontaneity)