《太平經》Vol. 71

Taiping Jing (Scripture of Great Peace), Scroll Seventy-One

The Nine Essentials of the True Dao: A Formula on Gain and Loss, No. 107

The Perfected One bowed again and asked about a matter: “Today the Celestial Master has appeared in the world as an embodiment of the Qi of Great Peace, transmitting Dao and De to bring forth the supreme sovereign. Only when the ruler above cherishes Dao and De can his benevolence extend down to ordinary people, even the lowly and ignorant. Its influence reaches throughout the Six Directions and the Eight Extremities, encompassing everything. Now, when the worthy receive the Master’s written teachings and study them, what should they regard as the ultimate aim and the furthest limit in their reflections on cultivating the Dao?”

The Celestial Master praised him: “How subtle and essential is the question the Perfected One asks! Those who seek to hear of the utmost depths, understand the advance and retreat of spiritual beings and distinguish what is true from what is false, yet remain foolish, obscured, and unenlightened, cannot grasp it. Only the Heaven-bright Master can record and reveal it. Very well. The Dao has nine grades, each with its own distinct name. I will now explain their meaning in detail for you, Perfected One. Listen and take note; do not forget.” “Yes, indeed.”

The first is called Primordial Qi and Wuwei (non-action); the second, Concentrated Stillness and Emptiness; the third, Visible Distinctions of Number and Measure; the fourth, The Spirit’s Journey Outward and Return; the fifth, The Great Dao’s Spirit Corresponding to the Four Seasons and Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water); the sixth, Stimulating Joy; the seventh, Society’s Designs; the eighth, Vast Spirit; and the ninth, Ancestral Spirits of the Household.

Each grade is divided into eighty-one heads, arranged in nine groups of nine. Their wording differs, but when applied in secret they share one great root: the spirit serves as the agent, and the person as its gateway. I will set out the formulas for you one by one, though they cannot all be fully prepared and recorded in advance. You must reflect on their meaning for yourself.

The upper three groups of nine, twenty-seven in all, can enable one to transcend the world. The middle three groups of nine, also twenty-seven, can make one a true spirit official. The lower three groups of nine, likewise twenty-seven, are mostly unreliable in their way, and their spirits are too refined to be used consistently. They leave people in a daze, bewildered; among them, those who lack refinement often lose control and speak wildly, as if their Qi had dissipated.

The foolish student, hearing the Master’s words, felt dazed and confused, unable to tell east from west. “Please distinguish these matters and explain them to this foolish student.”

First, Primordial Qi and Wuwei: In contemplating the body, do nothing at all. Simply imagine it as clear and luminous within, as if it were Qi dispersed and without form; make this your constant practice. Once this is achieved, there will be nothing one cannot do and nothing one cannot know. Before a person obtains the Dao, they are merely human. But once they attain the Dao, they transform into a spirit immortal, and their spirit ascends to Heaven, changing in accord with Heaven.

Note: This passage presents the formulas for the Daoist practice of the “nine grades,” with twenty-seven heads each for the upper, middle, and lower grades, corresponding to applications involving the body, the spirit, and the ordinary world. “Stimulating Joy,” “Society’s Designs,” “Vast Spirit,” and “Ancestral Spirits of the Household” are names of practices specific to the Taiping Jing. They are explained in more detail elsewhere in the text; here, they are only listed.

A Plain-Language Interpretation of the Taiping Jing

The second is “Emptiness and Naturalness”: Guarding the Body

Guard and preserve the body, penetrate emptiness, follow nature, and do not pursue the strange or unusual. Within, remain clear and pure; above and below should be like a single piece of flawless jade. Persist in this practice over time, and it can also serve as a way to transcend the world and escape the cycle of life and death. This belongs to the category of “Primordial Qi and Wuwei (non-action).”

The third is “Counting and Measuring”: Accumulating Jing and Turning the Gaze Inward

Count from the hairs on your head down to your toes. Examine and distinguish everything, inside and outside the body, one by one. Keep it all clearly in mind, without the slightest error. This too is a lesser method for transcending the world, ranked below “Emptiness.”

The fourth is “The Spirit’s Outward Journey”: Contemplating the Spirits of the Five Organs

Focus your thoughts on the spirits of the Five Organs and let them all enter and leave the body. You can see them coming and going and even speak with them. As your thoughts follow the spirits on their journeys, you can also see deeply into yourself. In this way, you can know what is auspicious or inauspicious. This is ranked below “Counting and Measuring.”

The fifth is “The Great Dao Spirit”: Human Spirits Emerging in Accord with the Five Phases and Four Seasons

When a person’s spirits leave the body, they correspond to the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) and the four seasons: blue-green, red, white, yellow, and black, each belonging to the same category as the spirits of the Five Organs. Divine attendants come and go, available for a person to command. This is called “Complete Dao” and can subdue evil spirits.

The sixth is “Stinging Joy”: Binding Earthly Spirits with Needles

Needles or other puncturing implements are used to bind the “spirits of the Earthly Way.” Each group has its own ritual practices, through which spirits come and attach themselves. This is half like the true Dao and half like an evil technique. It can lead people to delight in clever tricks and manipulations, so it should not be practiced regularly. Over time, it can make people sorrowful.

The seventh is “Society and Plotting”: Sacrifices to Heaven and Earth, the Four Seasons, the Land and Grain, and Mountains and Rivers

Through sacrifices to Heaven and Earth, the four seasons, the land and grain, mountains and rivers, and other powers, spirits are made to “descend upon a person” and possess them, leaving them dazed and speaking wildly. Such spirits are violent, vengeful, and deranged. They should not be invoked recklessly.

The eighth is “Oceanic Spirits”

These spirits are said to be vast and boundless, with no ties to anything. In reality, they are the essence and Qi of the world descending upon people and making them speak wildly. This practice is half true and half evil.

The ninth is “Household Ancestors”

Household ancestors—household gods or ancestral ghosts—are entirely a matter of seeing ghosts; there is no true Dao in it. Those summoned are mostly the ghosts of the dead. This is the lowest level within the Dao and is called “the inferior adept.”

Why Are the Higher and Lower Levels Different?

Those who attain the “higher Dao” can command the “lower Dao.” Those who attain the “lower Dao” cannot command the “higher Dao.”

The reason lies in how people practice:

• Those who guard the root—preserving Primordial Qi and what is fundamental—attain the higher level: the spirits of the body can come and go freely, and all of them can be seen clearly.
• Those who guard the center attain the middle level: they can see only half.
• Those who guard the branch and rely on spirits that travel outside the body attain the lower level: foolish people neglect the root and cling to the branch, relying exclusively on external spirits, and so fall to the lowest of these nine ranks.

The “nine modes” described above classify stages of cultivation from upright to deviant and from higher to lower. The first three still involve accumulating Jing (essence), guarding the body, and inner observation. The later ones are more concerned with sacrifices, possession, and household ghosts, whose drawbacks the text explicitly warns against.

A Plain-Language Interpretation of the Taiping Jing

(First section: Clear teachers and the transmission of the Way)

If people who study the Dao (the Way) cannot look inward as though gazing into a mirror and see their own Dao clearly, they will be unable to make progress. So all who study the Dao must find a clear teacher—a master who can truly show them the way through their confusion. Without one, they will lose their way. This is why a master’s teaching, passed down from one generation to the next, is more dependable than words carved in metal or stone. If someone disregards the proper line of transmission and makes things up on their own, danger and deviance will follow. Perfected Ones must be exceedingly cautious.

In ancient times, when sages learned the highest teachings, having a clear teacher was called renewal: being born anew, transformed from within. Without a clear teacher, it was called disordering the scriptures: learning and explaining the classics incorrectly. Thus sages and worthies served their masters and achieved success. Without the way of the master, no one can bring forth the Dao from nothing, by themselves. How true, how true!

Perfected Ones should understand how this works. People who live in the home district of a great worthy will tend to become great worthies; those who live among middling worthies will tend to become middling worthies; and those who live among the unworthy will tend to become unworthy. This is often how it goes, and that is what this means. Those who study this Dao should examine it carefully and investigate it thoroughly. This is an important gateway to the Dao of Heaven, so take great care. After practicing, return the Dao to humanity and entrust it to worthy and enlightened people. This is a divine secret and an essential teaching of the Dao.

Nine texts on the true Dao: teachings on gains and losses

Text 108: Instructions for cultivating goodness, removing evil, and enabling people to receive the Dao

A Perfected One asked a divine being, “What rules should one observe when receiving the Dao?”

The divine being said, “The Dao has weighty precepts, and they must be observed with the utmost care. As you are about to attain the Dao and near completion, you will form bonds with the gods and dwell alongside the spirits. You will come and go in one another’s presence, loving one another like parent and child. The Dao is a matter of the utmost importance. Some people regret having received it and then try to take another person’s Dao away. So first they test people to see whether they are steadfast. If you join with someone in deceiving others or making them speak falsely, then once you have obtained their words, you must guard them closely and never pass them on. Only then may you attain longevity, and, in time, the true Dao. Once it is passed on, the Dao vanishes. It will also lead people to cherish life and abhor harm. Perfected Ones, hear this directly from me: if you divulge it, then on that very day the meaning of the Dao and the spirits will vanish, and your body will die immediately.

“The Dao of empty, unobstructed profundity must always lead people to cherish life and abhor killing. Keep your mouth closed and do not divulge it; only then can you endure for countless ages.

“The Perfected One asked the divine being again, ‘I wish to hear the prohibitions against divulging it.’

“The divine being said, ‘It is as follows: if a great person divulges it, they lose their position; if a middling person divulges it, their Qi (vital energy) is cut off; if a lowly person divulges it, their lineage is extinguished. Why? Because Heaven and Earth…’ (The text continues with an account of the harms caused by revealing the Dao and how they correspond to the order of Heaven and Earth.)”

It is precisely because people set themselves apart and pursue only their own interests that spirits and gods pay special attention to whether they can keep the precepts. This statement must be understood in reverse: if even Heaven and Earth cannot fully comprehend “severing the caverns”—the method of cutting off wicked openings and guarding the vital passages—then how could anyone become divine or attain longevity? Remember this well: what I tell you today must be examined closely, treasured, and treated with caution. The Perfected One repeatedly assented, not daring to speak carelessly, then bowed and asked to hear more: “If great wickedness seeks to ruin a person, what means does it use?”

The Divine Man said: “As soon as an evil thought arises in someone’s heart, great wickedness comes to deceive them. It is auspicious to shut your ears tightly and refuse to hear its words; once you listen to them, danger and calamity follow.

“If a ruler listens, he will suspect his ministers of disloyalty and plotting rebellion. If a minister listens, he will suspect the ruler of trying to deceive him. You are now to become a sage and a ruler. If petty people hear such words, they will come to think themselves supremely exalted. A father who listens will loathe his son, and a son who listens will loathe his father. These are all flowery words that confuse the heart: they say a person is both good and bad, disrupt government, and provoke unpredictable shifts of anger and delight. This is the greatest treachery and wickedness, and it is bent on taking people’s lives. From ancient times to the present, all who have studied longevity have been unable to get past this snare of words.”

The Perfected One asked, “What should be done?”

The Divine Man said: “Shut your ears and keep your mouth closed. These words are treacherous and wicked; they must never be heard. If you listen, the true Dao will depart, and when it departs, you die. If you wish to live long, be especially wary of such words. I have already tried several times to protect you from them. You nearly fell into this great wickedness more than once! I constantly set my heart straight and no longer trust what it says. Great wickedness is always intent on watching people, to see whether they are steadfast and upright. If someone is not steadfast, great cunning wickedness may sometimes enter their belly and stir their heart, making them act recklessly. Then they are constantly swinging between anger and delight and cannot control themselves, misled and driven on by wickedness. Countless people have perished this way. Examine the matter carefully, and keep the weighty precepts firmly in mind; your heart must not waver. This applies not only to those who study the Dao: ordinary people’s unpredictable anger and delight are the same kind of thing. Be cautious and seek refinement for yourself.”

The Perfected One assented. Then he said, “I myself once fell under the influence of great wickedness. It kept urging me to run about recklessly, saying that it would make me ruler of the human world and that later I would fly up to Heaven as an immortal. I believed it and was overjoyed. But afterward, for three months, I suffered episodes of madness and saw ghosts and spirits.”

A Plain Language Interpretation of the Taiping Jing (Scripture of Great Peace)

Never forget my words, even after ten thousand generations. Even if you reach a dead end, do not criticize Heaven. Heaven’s admonitions are all like this; there will be no further marvels. The Perfected One respectfully assented, not daring to stray beyond the rules and measures.

The Spirit Person said, “It is just as you say: you have already attained the Dao. Those who do good make progress day by day; those who do evil decline. Hold fast to this frame of mind, and you will fulfill the divine precepts. Once your work is complete, you may ride clouds and dragons and travel throughout the eight directions, to the farthest reaches. The Great Dao is level and open, and you have already attained it. Your allotted lifespan is long, without end.” The Perfected One repeatedly assented.

The Spirit Person said, “The Dao is truly vast; it has no distinction between inner and outer. But you must always fear being harmed by great evil, and must not listen to evil words. Where does evil meet its downfall? In ancient times, emperors who loved and studied the Dao and refused to heed evil words could live for countless ages. Those who listened to and acted on evil words brought ruin upon themselves. My Dao has myriad aspects, and you must understand the benefits and dangers of them all.” The Perfected One assented.

“Now that I have received the words of the Spirit Person, can I become immortal in an instant?” The Spirit Person said, “If you do not give yourself strict warnings, your work will end in disaster, and you will not attain the Dao.”

The Perfected One asked, “Was I fortunate to be born with an allotted destiny, and thus to meet the Spirit Person?”

The Spirit Person said, “Yes. People are born into six ranks, each with its own destiny: first, Spirit Persons; second, Perfected Ones; third, Immortals; fourth, Daoists; fifth, Sages; and sixth, Worthies. All of them assist Heaven in governing. Spirit Persons govern Heaven; Perfected Ones govern Earth; Immortals govern wind and rain; Daoists guide transformation and teach what is auspicious and inauspicious; Sages govern the people; and Worthies assist Sages in managing the registers of the people and make up what is lacking in the Six Directions. Thus each person is born with a particular destiny. One of noble destiny cannot become lowly, and one of lowly destiny cannot become noble.

“If you want to know the truth, consider a fish: though it lives in water, it cannot use the water’s vital energy to fly. A dragon, too, rides upon water; by means of water’s vital energy it ascends to the blue clouds and becomes a heavenly messenger. Noble and lowly status truly have their allotted destinies; foolish people speak recklessly. The greatest of the ancient sage emperors no longer recorded falsehoods spoken among the people, because they knew that some things could never come together or be made possible. It is like teaching a person without the Dao to fly: can they fly? Only those who attain the Dao and become Immortals can fly. Ordinary people may joke among themselves, saying, ‘I can fly,’ but in truth they cannot. Those who speak such falsehoods are like …”

The final sentence appears to be unfinished in the source. Its visible meaning is that people speak idly of being able to fly, though they cannot.

Taiping Jing, Volume 71: A Plain-Language Reading

Main meaning of the passage:

The Perfected praised him, saying, “Well said! At last, I have come to understand this matter.”

The Divine Person said, “You seem rather dull. Can the mandate of Heaven really be obtained by forcing the matter?”

The Perfected asked, “Then, can this Dao be learned?”

The Divine Person replied, “Yes. Those who are destined by Heaven to learn it will surely attain great liberation and great blessings. Those of middling virtue who learn it can also attain longevity. Even the most dull-witted, if they put it into practice, can gain at least a little more life.

“If you want to know what results to expect, compare it with ordinary people studying to become officials. A person of great worth who studies may attain high office; one of middling worth may gain a middle-ranking post; even a fool who studies may become a minor clerk. Does a minor clerk not also serve the common people? So, you should still encourage yourself to study.”

The Perfected answered repeatedly, “Yes, yes. I have never dared to slacken in my practice.”

The Divine Person said, “Good. Strive to have faith in and uphold this Dao. All things under Heaven and Earth each find what suits them; nothing is false or baseless.”

The Perfected answered again, “Yes. Let me honor Heaven and respect Earth, revere those above me and care for those below me, and act in accord with the four seasons and the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). I will do what should be done and dare not act wrongly.”

The Divine Person said, “Excellent! You have grasped the true meaning of the Dao. I will not repeat my instruction.”

Note on the title: This passage belongs to a kind of admonitory writing concerned with “bringing about goodness, removing what is improper, and guiding people to receive the precepts of the Dao.” Through a dialogue between a Perfected and a Divine Person, it explains the relationship between learning the Dao, one’s heavenly mandate, virtue, longevity, and good fortune. It also emphasizes basic precepts such as honoring Heaven and respecting Earth, revering those above and caring for those below, and following the four seasons and the Five Phases.