《太平經》Vol. 55

Instructions for Practicing Diligently and Studying Broadly, Chapter Eighty-Two

Can the Great Mandate be known? In fact, it can already be known. After meeting an enlightened master, the great confusion one had before is dispelled. Yet there are still things that cannot be avoided, so I hope to offer a few more reminders. The meaning of my Dao can be seen with your own eyes. When you obtain the scriptures, read them; you may often worry that you have not learned them well. Read them until they are familiar, and naturally you will understand them all. If you do not carefully reflect on their deepest meaning and study them closely, then even obtaining my books will be of no benefit. What difference is there between obtaining them but failing to put them into practice, and never obtaining them at all? How is seeing food but not eating it any different from having no grain? Seeing water but not drinking it cannot quench your thirst. Acting this way does not harm others; it harms only yourself. How could you fail to take care?

Thus the sages apply themselves to thought, and the noble cultivate learning without pause, day and night, gladly following the ceaseless turning of Heaven. Only when the many rivers converge do they form the rivers and seas. You must remember my words: I have earnestly admonished you. Attend carefully to every scroll; its meaning can be seen. Join the worthy in doing good, and never keep it to yourself. When there are few people in the market, what one seeks cannot be found. In the same way, without broad learning, one’s vision is unclear. Therefore, people must be shown the True Dao. If they do not grasp its essential meaning, they will doubt the Dao and their faith will not be firm. This is where each person’s difficulties lie. So reflect deeply on its meaning, and use it to save and support yourself.

(The above concerns guidance on longevity.)

Knowing Prosperity and Decline, and the Method for Restoring the Years of Life, Chapter Eighty-Three

Heaven grants human affairs, each according to its own patterns. Every mandate has its proper destination, and the Dao has its time for being put into practice. Some things come earlier, others later, and their gradual progression can be foreseen. It is like the sprouting of the myriad things in the month of Zi, their growth in the month of Mao, their branches drooping in the month of Wu, their ripening in the month of You, and their ending in the month of Hai. Though events can be foreseen, their outcome is not assured. Each matter has a point at which it can be acted upon. When its signs first appear, before the matter has yet responded, prepare the way for it in advance.

The signs shown by Heaven usually come beforehand and never lag behind. When the right person is found, the way is opened; protection and support are granted. This is how it works. If the way is not opened and put into practice, one’s undertakings will not succeed; that means the person was not the right one. This is clear proof that the Dao examines before it speaks, and never misses. If someone is the right person, the way is clearly opened for them; if not, it is closed. Once careful discernment identifies the right person, illness and calamity can be removed, strange signs will disappear of themselves, and the peoples beyond the borders will submit of their own accord. There will be no need for weapons; all will pass away by itself. The myriad things grow...

An Accessible Interpretation of the Taiping Jing

Everything in the world should have a fitting way and arrangement. The right person will take it up and make it work; the wrong person will only keep their abilities hidden and fail to accomplish it. If something has not fallen into the right hands, it cannot be forced or pushed through. What does not belong to you cannot be seized by force. Land that is unsuitable cannot be made to yield by force: whatever is planted there will not grow well, and people will blame the seed, when in fact it was planted in the wrong place. How could it last?

The six directions and eight regions each have things suited to them, and what is seen differs from place to place. Metal Qi is suited to the west, and Wood Qi to the east. Each flourishes in its proper place and withers when displaced. Thus, things must be rooted in the earth to grow; they cannot hang in the sky unsupported. The sun, moon, and stars, in turn, must be rooted in the heavens to shine. The Dao works the same way: when the right person is present, the stars shine brightly in the sky. If a star falls to earth, it gives no light—that is what it means to be out of place. Thus even amid the disorder of the ordinary Way, there is something that can be done. When the Dao reveals itself, one must not act rashly. If someone is the right person, the Dao will become clear; if not, it cannot be put into practice.

The Dao is deep and hard to fathom. Those who lose it fail; those who attain it flourish. To know whether you are prospering or declining, look to whether the Dao can find a place to reside and whether the spirits can be stirred to action. Within, there is evidence of long life. Use this measure to examine things, and you will not go wrong. This is a sacred scripture concerning the means of prolonging life; its Dao is of the greatest importance. How could one fail to reflect deeply on it? So pass it on to the benevolent and worthy, and let them put it to the test and test their own lives by it. If they are the right people, worthy and wise people will gather, the sacred scripture will arrive, and wondrous methods will emerge of their own accord. Everyone will rejoice—then you will know they are the right people. Judge its effects by this test. If this does not happen, or if someone catches a glimpse of it but cannot put it into practice, then the Dao must not be passed on carelessly to later generations. It may indeed be passed on, but first ask whether the person is suited to it, and let them reflect for themselves on whether the Dao is theirs to follow. Do not forbid them, and do not compel them to listen. Observe whether they succeed: the Dao must not be transmitted in vain. Yet ability is less than effort, and effort is less than working on without pause. Everything under Heaven succeeds or fails through testing. Heaven, Earth, and the spirits all test people, and people, too, imitate the Way of Heaven and test one another. Those who encounter what is good have a good destiny; those who encounter what is bad have a doubtful destiny. From ancient times to the present, to move Heaven without utmost sincerity is called forcing the issue. One might obtain something this way for a time, but what is gained through force is not genuine and does not truly belong to the person. How could it be seized by force? Such actions bring disharmony, opposition, and confusion. Human destinies have three grades; the Dao should be brought back to the common people.

Brief notes on specific terms: “Six directions and eight regions” broadly refers to the layout of the world in all directions, including above and below. “Sacred scripture” here means a classic that conveys teachings on prolonging life and attaining the Dao. “Human destinies have three grades” is a common expression in the Taiping Jing, referring to upper, middle, and lower grades, or to good, middling, and bad ones.

Taiping Jing, Volume 55: A Discourse on What Is and Is Not in Accord with the Meaning of the Dao (Plain-Language Interpretation)

Those who can put the scriptures into practice should be entrusted with them. Those who cannot may send them to the capital and display them in the marketplace, so they can circulate openly. But this must be done with care: do not seal off the transmission, lest later generations have no one to carry it on and the books fail to endure.

If sages or Daoist practitioners have no suitable heir and no fitting title, they should likewise entrust the teachings only to those capable of putting the Dao into practice. The Great Dao has its own distinctions between what can and cannot be practiced. Whether a person is suited to it is like a great tree taking root in the mountains or a river flowing into the sea: it is simply their nature, and cannot be stopped. Those who follow Heaven’s will prosper; those who oppose it perish.

When divine books are meant to appear in the world, they cannot be kept hidden. If they meet the right person, they will naturally spread. If they meet the wrong person, that person will be like the deaf and blind, ill at ease in body and mind, with no light in their eyes. It is a joy to read attentively this discourse on whether something accords with the meaning of the Dao.

The central heavenly realm and the allotted years of long life are all contained within it. The Qi of Great Peace has already appeared. From it arise the people’s compassion, caution, and goodness, and through it the wise, the sages, and the discerning find joy. The remarkable writings from distant lands have also been entrusted to us. Strive to put them into practice and persevere in self-cultivation: through this, enlightened kings and sage rulers will flourish, while the tribes beyond the borders will retreat and submit. The people will receive great good fortune, and the destiny of heavenly longevity has begun. There is no need to blame yourselves any longer. The old will pass on in accordance with their allotted fate, while the young carry on from this day forward.

May this book be transmitted for ten thousand generations without interruption, with descendants teaching one another day after day. It is called the True Text: it will remain unchanged for ten thousand generations and bring good fortune to people. When the Dao is fully practiced, success follows naturally, and blessings and prosperity come of their own accord; no one would dare refuse them. A great person who receives it can bring peace to a whole state; a middling scholar can become a worthy minister; an ordinary person can escape danger and avoid calamity.

The passage above is a plain-language interpretation of the section in the scripture titled “A Discourse on What Is and Is Not in Accord with the Meaning of the Dao.”