《靈寶文檢》Vol. 5

Preface to Lingbao Textual Examination

Since ancient times, luminous pearls have lain hidden in the depths of the sea, awaiting the right moment to shine; fine jade has been stored in boxes, and when it is time to sell, one must find a discerning merchant who recognizes its worth. Thus, exceptional people have often appeared in the world, encountering extraordinary events, while gifted individuals of uncommon ability have left behind books of lasting value.

In my daily reading, a passage or scene sometimes stirs my feelings. From time to time, this has led me to reflect on tracing the Dao back to its source. The Dao arose from Kunlun and took its ancestral origin from the Supreme One. Alongside Confucianism and Buddhism, it is revered as one of the Three Teachings. Confucianism takes learning as its foundation and is called the Teaching of Names; Buddhism takes purity and stillness as its foundation and is called the Buddhist Teaching; Daoism takes sincerity and truthfulness as its foundation and is called the Teaching of the Immortals. Though their schools follow different paths, their sources converge and their currents return to one body. Setting Confucianism and Buddhism aside for the moment, let us consider Daoism alone: its subtle mysteries are the Dao’s truth, and the solemn order of its rites and forms is the Dao’s sincerity. Without truth, the Dao cannot be transmitted; without sincerity, it cannot be imparted. In general, the Dao is transmitted through people, and people are made manifest through the Dao. People can realize the Dao, and the Dao can bring people to fulfillment.

Moreover, the Dao is transmitted through its methods, and those methods are imparted through the heart-mind. The numinous quality of the human heart-mind is the numinous quality of the Dao-heart. Without the right person, the Dao does not circulate in vain. In ancient times, those who refined the Dao possessed only its spirit; today, those who study the Dao possess only its form. Form appears outwardly, while spirit is hidden within; what is hidden within must take shape outwardly. Thus the human way can open onto the way of the immortals, and the way of the immortals can open onto the human way. The human way, in silence and obscurity, inwardly accords with the way of the immortals; the way of the immortals, clear and radiant, responds to and reaches the human way. Though the two may seem separated by the distance between Heaven and Earth, their principle lies within the space of a single heart-mind. Those who attain the Dao do not let it perish: by transmitting it to others, they raise it ever higher. Those who inherit the Dao do not obscure it: by making it manifest in the world, they deepen it ever further. Thus its movement encompasses everything, and its use extends everywhere. Vastly, it joins its De with Heaven and Earth and its brightness with the sun and moon; amply, it is as though present above us and at our sides. People are never apart from the Dao, nor the Dao from people. Seek it, and it responds; call upon it, and it is numinous. Therefore I say: the Dao is founded on truth and sincerity. Trace its source, and it reaches back through a thousand ages; purify its stream, and it will continue for ten thousand years.

If this is so, where can the Dao be seen and where can it be attained? I received it at the side of Master Chen, known as Hánpǔ, who had withdrawn from the world in Mianyi.

Ah, how extraordinary! The Master had returned to the root and gone back to the origin, living in seclusion among the woods. He is my teacher.

This passage is the preface written by Qing Dynasty Daoist Yang Benxing in the first month of 1840 (the Gengzi year of Daoguang reign) for the Lingbao Wenjian (Spiritual Treasure Literary Collection). The general meaning is:

Though this reclusive master (referred to respectfully as "Gong") lives in seclusion, the great Dao (the Way) does not become hidden because of it. The Dao is vast and boundless, yet this master's De (Virtue/Power) is even more magnificent. He possesses both dignified solemnity that commands reverence and exemplary conduct worthy of emulation. With a heart full of compassion and mind storing the "art of benevolence" (renshu, methods for aiding the world), we have received his enlightening grace and bathed in his auspicious radiance—truly these are blessings we dare not forget.

Now that the master's work is complete, I compose this brief preface to illuminate his merits. May the master discern my sincere intent and not take offense at my plainspoken words, for this would bring me great relief.

The term "Gong" here is an honorific for highly virtuous elders, while "renshu" refers to methods for relieving worldly suffering. The phrase "bathing in auspicious radiance" metaphorically describes receiving blessings as if immersed in benevolent light. Yang Benxing adopts a humble tone to express reverence for this senior Daoist scholar, simultaneously demonstrating the Daoist tradition of honoring lineage transmission and venerating teachers—a hallmark of cultivation practice.