Master of the Cave said: the state of the Self is called the Way. The Way has no name or form; it is just the essence, just the original spirit. Essence and life cannot be seen. They are contained in the light of the divine realm. The light of the divine realm cannot be seen. It is contained in the two eyes.
Since ancient times, those who realized spiritual immortality have passed on the Way by word of mouth, from one to another.
Since the one who figured out the Way became immortal, master of the Glorious Spring passed on the teaching to me. Then the southern and northern schools of Complete Reality followed, after which the Complete Reality School fully flourished.
The movement flourished in the sense that there were many students; at the same time it declined in the sense that the inner teaching deteriorated. This has continued up to the present day, so that now it is extremely superficial and diluted.
The degeneration of the teaching has reached an extreme. Extremes give rise to reversions. Therefore the master who compiled this knowledge bestowed his kindness to liberate people, especially setting up the teaching of a special transmission outside of doctrine, for those who had the highest capability to understand. For everybody who heard, it was a rare opportunity. Those who accepted it formed a religious association in their time. Everyone should respect and understand the effort of the master who compiled this knowledge and firmly hold on to the teaching when dealing with people in one's daily activities within society. Only then can one cultivate reality and realize one's essence.
Now I am bestowed with the honor to be your guide and will first reveal to you the secret of the Ultimate Golden Flower, and then, I will explain the rest in detail.
The "UltimateOne" is the term given to that which has nothing above it. The secret of the elixir of life consists in using action in order to attain non-action. One must not wish to leap over everything and penetrate directly. The doctrine I transmit directly brings up working with essence and does not fall into a secondary method. That‘s why it's wonderful.
The Golden Flower is light. What is light? It is symbolized by a golden flower, which hides the word light in it. It is the true energy of the prenatal "UltimateOne". This is what is meant by the saying, the lead in the homeland of water has only one taste.
The work of turning the light around depends entirely on the method of reversal, to concentrate one's thoughts on the divine realm heart. The divine realm heart lies between the sun and the moon (the two eyes). The Book of Inner Alchemy says: In the square inch field of the square foot house, life can be regulated. The square foot house is the face. As for the square inch field on the face, what can it be other than the divine realm heart? In the middle of the square inch dwells the splendour. In the purple hall of the city of jade dwells the divine being of Utmost Emptiness and Life. The one's who practice the teachings of social ethics call it the empty dwelling in the middle; The one's who follow the "AwakenedOne's" teachings call it the terrace of the spirit; The one's following the universal way call it the ancestral land, inner alchemy, the mysterious pass or the prenatal opening.
The divine realm heart is like a house, the light is the master of the house. Therefore once you turn the light around, the energies of the whole body appear at the court, as when a sage king has established the capital and found his throne, the ten thousand states will approach with tribute. Or as when the master is astute, men-servants and maids obey his orders of their own accord and each does his work. Therefore you have only to turn the light around; that is the deepest and most wonderful secret.
The light is easy to move, but difficult to fix. If it is made to circulate long enough, then it crystallizes; that is the Dharma body of the state of Self. This crystallized spirit is formed beyond the nine skies. This is what the texts of the Mind Seal called: Then you may silently contemplate the Supreme Ruler and in twelve years time may wing your flight above. In carrying out this principle there is no other method that brings more progress, one must only concentrate one's thoughts on it. The thread on heroic strength says: By purifying thought one can fly and will be born in the divine realm. The pure divine realm is not the wide blue sky but the palace of the Creative, born of the body. If one keeps this up for a long time there develops quite naturally, in addition to the body, yet another spirit-body.
The Golden Flower is the Golden Pill (Elixir of Life). All changes of spiritual consciousness depend upon the heart. This wonderful charm, although it works very accurately, is yet so fluid that it needs wisdom and alertness, and the most complete absorption and tranquility. People without this highest wisdom and alertness won't find the way to apply the charm; people without this utmost capacity for absorption and tranquility cannot hold on to it.
Master of the Cave said: "From the point of view of the universe, man is like a mayfly. But from the point of view of the great Way, the universe too, is like a bubble and a shadow. Only the original spirit or true essence is beyond time".
Vitality and energy degenerate along with the universe, but the original spirit always exists; this is the infinite. The creation of the universe is derived from this. When students understand how to guard and protect the original spirit, they reincarnate outside of dark and light and they are beyond the three worlds. This is possible only by seeing essence. This is what is called the original face.
When a human being reincarnates and takes shelter in an embryo, the original spirit dwells in the square inch (between the eyes), but the discriminating spirit dwells in the lower heart. The lower heart of blood and flesh has the shape of a large peach: it is covered by the wings of the lungs, supported by the liver, and held up by the bowels. If one does not eat for one day, the heart will feel very uncomfortable. If it hears something terrifying, it throbs; if it hears something enraging, it stops; if it is faced with death, it becomes sad; if it sees beauty, it is dazzled. But the divine realm heart in the head, does it ever move, even slightly ? You ask, can't the divine realm heart move ? I answer: How can the true intent in the square inch move! If it really moves, that is not good, for when ordinary men die, then it moves. But it is good when the light has crystallized in a Dharma body, gradually becoming consciously effective, and about to move. But that is a secret, which has not been revealed through the ages.
The discriminating lower heart is like a strong vassal or fierce general who bullies the feeble ruler and takes the law in his own hands from a far away position. As time passes, the affairs of state are upside down.
Now fix and keep attention on the original palace, like a brilliant ruler sitting high on the throne. The eyes start circulating the light like two ministers at the right and left wholeheartedly supporting. With the internal government strictly in order, then naturally all rebels will present themselves with lances reversed ready to take orders.
The highest secrets of the Way of the Elixir of Life are three; vitality-water, spirit-fire, and intent-earth. What is vitality-water? It is the true, one prenatal energy. Spirit fire is the light, intent-earth is the divine realm heart of the middle palace. The fire of spirit is the function, intent-earth is the substance, and vitality-water is the foundation.
Ordinary people get the sense of their bodies through the impulse of their heart. The body is not only the seven foot-tall physical body. There is a lower self in the body. The lower self functions in association with discriminating awareness. The existence of discriminating awareness depends on the lower self. The lower self is dark and is the substance of discriminating awareness. If discriminating awareness is not interrupted, transformation and transmutation of the lower self go on endlessly from generation to generation. Then there is the higher self, where the spirit is concealed. The higher self resides in the eyes during the day and lodges in the liver at night. When it resides in the eyes, it sees; when it lodges in the liver, it dreams.
Dreams are the wanderings of the spirit. It traverses the nine the divine realms and nine earths in an instant. If you are dull and withdrawn on awakening, that is a sign of being detained by the body, which means being chained by the lower self. Refining the higher self is brought about by turning around the light, which is a means of preserving the spirit, a means of controlling the lower self, and a means of interrupting discriminating awareness.
The method used by the ancients for escaping from the world consisted in refining away the dregs of dark in order to return to the pure Creative. It is just a matter of dissolving the lower self and completing the higher self. Turning the light around is the method of dissolving dark and controlling the lower self. Except for the secret of turning the light around, there is no other exercise to return to the Creative. The light itself is the Creative; to turn it around is to return to it. Just persist in this method, and naturally vitality-water will be sufficient, spirit-fire will ignite, intent-earth will stabilize and thus the holy embryo gestates.
A dung beetle rolls a pill of dung, from which life emerges, by the pure effort of concentration of spirit. If now an embryo can grow in a dung ball, and shed its shell, why then should not the dwelling place of our divine realm heart also be able to create a body if we concentrate the spirit upon it?
Once the spirit of true essence has descended into the palace, it divides into the higher and lower self. The higher self resides in the divine realm heart. It is light and has a light and clear energy. It is that which we have received from the great emptiness, that which is identical in form with the primordial beginning. The lower self is dark and has a heavy and dense energy. It is bound to the heart of flesh.
The Higher Self loves life. The lower self looks toward death. All sensuous desires and impulses of anger are the doing of the lower self, which is also called the conscious spirit. After death, it enjoys feeding on blood. When alive, it suffers. Darkness returns to darkness, through the principle of like attracts like. If the learner refines the dark lower self completely, then he will become pure light.
Master of the Cave said: what is the origin of the term turning the light around? It began with this adept sage. When the light is turned around, the energies of the divine realm and earth, dark and light, all congeal. This is what is called refined thought, pure energy or pure thought.
When one begins to apply this charm, it is as if in the middle of existence there is nothingness. When in the course of time the work is completed and beyond the body there is a body, it is as if in the middle of nothingness there is existence.
Only after concentrated work of a hundred days will the light be genuine, only then will it become spirit-fire. After a hundred days, from a point of real light in the light, suddenly a millet pearl is born by itself, just as an embryo forms from the intercourse of a man and a woman. Then you should attend it calmly and quietly. The turning around of the light is the firing process.
In the original creation there is light light, which is the determining factor. In the material world it is the sun; in a human being it is the eyes. Spiritual and consciousness energy runs away or leaks mechanically through the eyes. Therefore, the Way of the Golden Flower depends wholly on the method of reversal.
Turning the light around is not just turning around the essence of one body, but turning around the very energy of creation. It is not stopping wandering thoughts only temporarily, but directly emptying the turning of the wheel of a thousand ages.
Therefore the duration of a breath means a year according to human reckoning and a hundred years measured by the long night of the ninefold underworld.
After a baby gives the first cry at birth , he grows up according to the circumstances, and until his old age he will never look backward. When his light energy fades and disappears, he enters the ninefold underworld. The thread on heroic strength says: "Through pure thoughts one can fly; through emotions one falls". When students take little care of their thoughts and give too much way to their emotions, they fall into the lower ways. Only through observing clearly and making ones breathing quite, can one reach perfect enlightenment. This is application of the method of reversal.
In the Text of Hidden Correspondences it is said: "The eyes are the key". In the Basic Questions from The Inner Classic of the divine ruler of the East it is said: "The essence of the human body flows upward and fills the empty apertures". If one understands this, one has the key to attaining immortality and transcending the world. This is a practice that pervades the three religions of the system of social ethics, the practice of following the Universal Way, and the practice of following the "AwakenedOne's" teachings.
The light is not in the body alone, nor is it only outside the body. Mountains, rivers, sun, moon, and the whole earth are all this light, so it is not only in the self. All the operations of intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom are also this light, so it is not only outside the self. The light of the divine realm and earth fills the universe; the light of one individual also naturally extends through the divine realms and covers the earth. Therefore, once you turn the light around, the divine realm and earth, mountains and rivers, are all turned around.
The essence of man fills upwards to the eyes, that is the great key of the functioning of the human body. You should think about this. If you do not practice meditation every day, this light flows out, who knows when it will stop? If you only sit quietly for a quarter of an hour, you get rid of ten thousand ages and a thousand lives. Inconceivably, the ten thousand dharmas all revert to stillness with this wonderful truth.
When the practice is started, one proceeds from the shallow to the deep, from the coarse to the fine. It's always better if there is no interruption. The effort is the same from beginning to end, but its experience during the process is personal and only known to oneself. Only when you return to the state of the unbounded ocean and the empty sky, and one accepts ten thousand dharmas just as they are, then you have got it.
What the sages have passed on has not departed from inner illumination. The one teaching about social ethics called it: ultimate knowledge, The "AwakenedOne" called it: the observing mind, the one who figured out the Way called it: inner observation, it is all the same.
Anyone can talk about inner illumination, but one cannot master it if one does not know what these words mean. It means returning from the lower heart to the origin of form and spirit. Within our six-foot body we must strive for the body, which existed before the laying down of the divine realm and earth. Nowadays people sit and meditate one or two hours, still immersed in their lower self, and call this inner illumination. How can anything come of it?
The two founders of the practice of following the "AwakenedOne's" teachings and the practice of following the Universal Way have taught that one should look at the tip of one's nose. But they did not mean that one should concentrate on the tip of the nose. Neither did they mean that while one's eyes are looking at the tip of the nose, one's thoughts should be concentrated on the middle yellow court. Wherever the eyes look, one's attention follows. How can one direct one's attention at two places at the same time. This is just like taking the finger pointing at the moon for the moon itself.
What then is really meant by this? The idea of focusing on the tip of the nose is very clever. The nose must serve the eyes as a guideline, but the nose itself is not the issue. If one's eyes are wide open, one looks into the distance, so the nose is not seen. If the eyelids shut too much, so that the eyes close, then again the nose is not seen. When the eyes are open too wide, one's attention is easily scattered outward. When they are closed too much, one easily gets lost in dreamlike states. Only when the eyelids are lowered properly halfway, is the tip of the nose seen in just the right way and therefore it is taken as a guideline.
The main thing is to lower the eyelids in the right way, and then to allow the light to come in naturally; you don't need to make any special effort. Looking at the tip of the nose serves only as the beginning of the inner concentration, so that the eyes are brought into the right direction for looking, and then are held to the guideline: after that, one can let it be. That is the way a mason hangs up a plumb-line. As soon as he has hung it up, he guides his work by it without continually bothering himself to look at the plumb-line.
Stopping and observing is a followers of the "AwakenedOne" method that originally was not secret. One looks attentively with both eyes at the tip of the nose, sits upright in a comfortable position, and focuses the heart around the center, which is also called the Yellow Middle in the practice of following the Universal Way. It not necessarily means the center of the head. It is only a matter of fixing one's attention on the point which lies between the two eyes. Light is something extremely volatile. When one fixes the attention on the mid-point between the two eyes, the light naturally enters. One doesn't need to direct the attention to the middle castle. These few words include all essential points. As for the rest, matters of entering and exiting stillness, the prelude and the aftermath, one can check the book Small Stopping and Observing for a reference.
Focusing around the center is a very subtle expression. The center is omnipresent; the whole universe is contained in it. This indicates the crucial point of Creation, and through this one enters the gate. One takes focusing as a hint, so that one doesn't become rigidly fixed. This expression is alive and subtle.
Stopping and observing are inseparable; they mean concentration and insight. When thoughts arise, you don't need to sit still as before, but you should investigate this thought: where is it? Where does it come from? Where does it go? Repeat this inquiry until you realize it cannot be grasped, then you will see where thoughts arise. After that you don't need to seek out the point of arising any more. Having looked for my mind, I realize it cannot be grasped; I have pacified your mind for you.
This is right observation. What opposes this is incorrect. Once one realizes it cannot be grasped, one keeps practicing stopping followed by observing and keeps practicing observing followed by stopping. This is the double cultivation of stopping and observing. This is turning the light around. The turning around is stopping, the light is observing. Stopping without observing is called turning around without light; observing without stopping is called having the light without turning it around. Remember this.
Master of the Cave said: the doctrine just requires that one practices with a pure heart. One does not seek verification; that will come by itself.
Generally, beginners suffer from two problems: oblivion and distraction. There is a solution to get rid of them, which is simply to connect the heart to the breath.
The character for self and the character for heart make up the character for breath. When the heart is stirred, there is movement of energy. Energy is basically transformed activity of the heart. Our thoughts are very fast. When a wandering thought takes place in a moment, inhalation and exhalation respond to it. Therefore inner and outer breathing follow each other like sound and echo. Daily we draw ten thousands of breaths and have an equal number of wandering thoughts. As the clarity of the spirit leaks away, one becomes like a withered tree or dead ashes.
So should one have no thoughts? To be without thoughts is impossible. Should one not breathe? It is impossible not to breathe. The best way is to find medicine for this illness, which means to have heart and breath rest on each other.
Therefore, turning the light around is connected with tuning the breath. This method only uses the brightness of the ear. There is light of the eye that is the united light of the external sun and moon. There is also light or brightness of the ear, which is the united essence of the internal sun and moon. Essence is where the light congeals and settles. Essence and light have the same origin but have a different name. So clarity of hearing and seeing is just the result of spiritual light.
When you sit down, lower your eyelids, establish your intention and then let go. However, if after you let go, you are not able to achieve your intention, then be attentive to the sound of your breathing.
One should not be able to hear one's breathing; just listen to its silence. Once it's audible, the breathing is coarse and superficial. Then be patient and breath lightly; the more you let go, the subtler it becomes. The subtler it is, the more quite it becomes.
After a long time, all of a sudden this subtle breath will be interrupted, true breathing manifests and the mind-body can be discerned. If the mind is light, the breathing is subtle. Once the mind is unified, it moves breath-energy. If breathing is subtle, the heart is light. Once breath-energy is unified, it moves the mind. Stabilization of the mind must be preceded by cultivating breath-energy, because it is difficult to control the mind. Therefore breath-energy is used as a handle, and this is what is called maintaining pure breath-energy.
My fellow students, you may not understand the nature of movement. Movement here refers to making something move by pulling its strings, and is only another name for control. If one can make the mind move merely by pulling, should one not also be able to bring it to rest by pure tranquility?
The sages who observed how the heart and breath-energy are connected, set up this method in order to benefit later generations. In the Book of the Elixir it is said: "The hen can hatch her eggs because her heart is always listening". This is an important magic spell. The way a hen gives life to an egg is through giving it warm energy; warm energy can only warm the shell, but cannot penetrate the inside. Therefore she conducts this energy inward with her heart. This is the act of listening with single-minded attention. When attention penetrates, the energy enters, and the warm energy brings life to the egg.
Even when a hen at times leaves her eggs, her head is always inclined to listen and the attention of her spirit is never interrupted. With the attention of her spirit never ceasing, the warm energy is uninterrupted day and night, so that the spirit comes alive. The awakening of the spirit is accomplished because the heart has first died. When a man can let his heart die, then the original spirit awakens to life. To kill the heart does not mean to let it dry and wither away, but it means that it has become undivided and gathered into one. The "AwakenedOne" said: "When you fix your heart on one point, then nothing is impossible for you". The heart easily runs away, so it is necessary to purify it by means of breath-energy. Breath-energy easily becomes rough, therefore it has to be refined by the heart. If you do this, how can the mind fail to stabilize?
Generally speaking, the two afflictions of oblivion and distraction just require uninterrupted daily quiet practice until the heart spontaneously comes to complete rest. If one is not seated in meditation, one will often be distracted without noticing it. When you become aware of it, it is the time to get rid of distraction. Oblivion of which you are aware and oblivion of which you are unaware, are a thousand miles apart. Oblivion of which you are unaware is real oblivion; oblivion that you notice is not complete oblivion, because there is still clarity in it. Distraction comes from letting the mind wander about; oblivion comes from a mind that lacks clarity. Distraction is easy to cure but oblivion is hard to cure. Using the metaphor of illness, one that involves pain or itch can be treated with medicine, but oblivion is a symptom of paralysis, where there is no feeling. Distraction can be counteracted, confusion can be straightened out, but oblivion is a state of darkness and stupidity. Distraction and confusion at least have some direction, but oblivion means that the lower self is in complete control.
In distraction there is still some presence left of the higher self, but oblivion is ruled by pure darkness. If you become sleepy when you practice quiet sitting, this is oblivion. Repelling oblivion is simply a matter of tuning the breath. The breath in this case is respiration, not the true breathing. Nevertheless true breathing can also depend on it. Whenever you sit, you should quiet your mind and purify your energy. How can the mind be made quiet. It is done by using the breath. Let only your heart know the inhalation and exhalation, not your ears. If it is not heard, then the breathing is light; then the mind is clear. If it can be heard, then the breath-energy is rough which means the mind is cloudy. Cloudiness means oblivion, and one becomes sleepy. This is the way nature works.
This is the way nature works, even so, it's important to understand how to focus the mind on breathing. It is focusing without focus. One should maintain a subtle looking and listening. This sentence has a profound meaning. What is looking? It is using the light of the eyes to illuminate the Self; the eyes are only looking inward and not outward. Not looking outward yet being alert is inward looking; it is not that there really is such a thing as looking inward. What is hearing? It is using the brightness of the ears to listen to the Self; the ears listen inwardly only and do not listen to what is outside. Not listening to what is outside yet being alert is inward listening; it has nothing to do with listening to inner talk.
This kind of listening means listening to the sound of silence. This kind of looking means looking at the invisible. When the eyes do not look outside and the ears do not listen outside, they are closed off and have a tendency to race around inside. However, only by inward looking and listening can you prevent being distracted by the outside world and prevent inner racing through which one enters oblivion. This is the united essence and united light of the internal sun and moon.
When you sink into oblivion and become sleepy, you should stand up and walk around. When the spirit has become clear one should sit down again. It is best to sit in the early morning when you have free time, for as long as it takes to burn an incense stick. After noontime when there are many things to do, it's easy to fall into oblivion. Also, there's no need to fix the length of time of meditation; it is only essential to set aside all entanglements and sit quietly for a while. In the course of time you will attain absorption and not become oblivious or sleepy.
Master of the Cave said: even though your practice gradually matures, as there are many pitfalls in front of the cliff of withered trees, so there are many pitfalls in your practice. These pitfalls are recognized only when they are personally experienced. Now is the time to speak about them.
My school differs from the Zen school in that it has confirmatory signs for each step of the way. First I would like to speak of the differences and then of the signs of verification. When you are going to practice this doctrine, first see to it somehow that you don't have much on your mind, so that your mind can be alert and free. Make your energy harmonious and your mind comfortable, then enter into quietude.
In this quiet state it is essential to get know the mechanism and the aperture. Don't sit inside nothingness or indifference. As you let go of the ten-thousand entanglements you become alert and self-possessed. One should not be too concerned about attaining a result. Those who take it too seriously tend to have this problem. This does not mean that one shouldn't be conscientious, but signs of verification will appear between existence and non-existence. One can attain it through focusing without focus.
Now awakened, let go and be yourself. Make sure you don't fall victim to the ensnaring world. The ensnaring world is where the five kinds of dark demons operate. For example, when one meditates and one's state is closer to dry wood and dead ashes, rather than the bright spring of the great earth. In this way one sinks into the world of darkness. The energy is cold there, breathing is rough, and many images of coldness and decay present themselves. If one tarries there long one enters the world of plants and stones.
Nor must a man be led astray by the ten thousand ensnarements. This happens if, after the quiet state has begun, a train of thoughts suddenly appears. You find you cannot get rid of them even if you want to, and you even feel comfortable going along with them. This means the master is enslaved by the servant. If this continues for a long time, you enter the world of form or the world of desire.
At best one reincarnates as a human, at worst one reincarnates into the animal realm. For instance, a fox may be able to roam in the mountains enjoying the wind and the moon, the flowers and fruits, and taking his pleasure in coral trees and jeweled grass. But after three to five hundred years, or at most a couple of thousand years, his reward is over and he is born again into the world of the six states of existence. All of these are wrong paths. When a man knows the wrong paths, he can then look for signs of verification.
Master of the Cave said: there are many signs of verification. These signs cannot appear if one only works for oneself; one must have a desire to help other people to reach the other shore. One cannot receive these signs if one does not have a high valuation, does not relinquish arrogance and does not practice the teaching.
When there is uninterrupted continuity in quietude, a sense of joy appears as if one is intoxicated or freshly bathed. This is a sign that light energy is harmonious in the whole body; then the Golden Flower begins to bud. Once the ten-thousand flutes are all silent, and the bright moon is in mid sky, one has the feeling that this great earth is a world of light and brightness. This is a sign that the heart is open and the Golden Flower is blooming.
Furthermore, the whole body feels strong and firm so that it fears neither storm nor frost. Situations that for other people are just commonplace moments, make my vital spirit shine even brighter, when I meet them. This is like a house built of yellow gold with a terrace of white jade. Mortal things in this world become alive again with my one breath of true energy. Red blood becomes milk. The seven foot-tall physical body is like a pure golden treasure. That is a sign that the Golden Flower is crystallized.
The first stage of verification corresponds to the signs mentioned in the thread on Contemplation, which include the setting sun, the great body of water, and the trees in rows. The setting of the sun means that in chaos the foundation is set up. Highest good is like water, pure and spotless. It is the ruler of the great polarity the ruler emerging from the East. True nature is also symbolized by wood, so the thread represents it with the image of a row of trees. A sevenfold row of trees represents the light of the seven apertures.
The second stage means setting up the foundation on this. The whole earth becomes a jewel ground of ice crystals; the light gradually solidifies. Therefore a great terrace arises and then The "AwakenedOne" appears upon it. When the golden essence appears who is it but The "AwakenedOne"? For The "AwakenedOne" is the golden immortal of great awakening. This is a verification of the second stage.
Now there are three signs of verification that can be tested. The first is that, when one has entered the state of meditation, it is like one's spirit is in a valley. When one hears someone else talking, it is as if one hears it from about half a kilometer away, yet clearly. It sounds like an echo in a valley. One definitely hears it and yet it is not oneself that hears it. This is the state of the spirit in the valley. One can verify this at any time.
At times the following can be experienced: in the state of quietness, one's vision becomes hazy, because of too much brightness. It's like opening one's eyes while being in a cloud and one doesn't see one's body any more. This is called: the empty chamber produces white light. Inside and outside, are permeated with light. This is a very favorable sign.
The third experience is when in the state of quietness, the energy of the physical body becomes soft and pure like silk or jade. It feels as though one is floating upward and cannot stay sitting. This is the spirit returning to the divine realm above. Eventually, after a long time, one is able to ascend there.
Although these three experiences can be verified now, it is not possible to explain them completely. Each person has his own particular verifications according to his faculties and capacities. This is what the followers of the "AwakenedOne" text Stopping and Observing calls the emerging manifestations of good roots. Verifying these things is like when drinking water, only oneself knows whether the water is warm or cold. In the same way one can only rely on oneself to see the truth of these experiences.
If you have verified the prenatal energy from your own experience, you gain this energy, and then the elixir, which is also called the real millet pearl immediately crystalizes. One pill returns, and then another pill, going from vagueness to clarity. There is prenatal energy in every moment, which is called a pill, and there is also the general prenatal energy, which extends from one pill to infinity. One pill has it's own power. Above all, it relies on a strong will.
Master of the Cave said: when you follow the teaching of turning around the light, a man doesn't need to give up his ordinary occupation in doing it. The ancients said: Deal with things that come up; see through things that arise. If one is mindful when handling one's affairs, the light is not scattered by things, but turns around naturally. This is a formless way of turning around the light, which works. Moreover, there is also the true method of turning around the light.
When dealing with things, if one can turn one's own light inward upon one's Self, from moment to moment without any attachment to oneself or other people, this is turning the light around wherever you are. This is the best use.
In the early morning, it is best if one can rid oneself of all attachments and sit quietly for a few hours. If one uses the method of turning one's own light inward upon one's Self during one' daily activities, and this can be continued without any interruption, then after two or three months, the immortals in the pure divine realm will surely come to attest to your experience.
Master of the Cave said: the immortals of the universal way have left behind a secret spell for freedom. Through four glyphs the spirit crystallizes in the original cavity. In the sixth month white snow is suddenly seen to fly. At the third watch the sun's disk is radiant. In water blows the wind of Wind. Traveling in the pure divine realm, one returns to Earth and absorbs the virtue of Earth. And the still deeper secret of the secret: The land that is nowhere, that is the true home.
The poem above expresses all the mysteries. The essence of the Great Way is expressed in the four glyphs action through non-action. Only non-action prevents a man from becoming entangled in forms and images. Only action through non-action prevents a man from sinking into indifferent emptiness and dead nothingness. The work of action through non-action is just focusing around the center; the essential mechanism of action through non-action is in the two eyes. The two eyes are like the handle of the big dipper, which manages creation and operates dark and light.
From beginning to end, the great medicine depends on one thing: the metal in the midst of the water, that is, the lead in the water-region. Before, we spoke of the turning the light around, indicating thereby the initial mechanism to control the inside from outside. This is to aid one in obtaining the Master. It is for pupils in the beginning stages. They go through the two lower transitions in order to gain the upper one. Now as things gradually become clear and one becomes familiar with the mechanism, the pure divine realm no longer withholds the Way, but reveals the ultimate truth. Disciples, cherish it, cherish it. More effort, more effort!
Turning the light around is a general term. The further the work advances, the more the Golden Flower blooms, and the subtler the method of turning around the light becomes. Previously one controlled the inside from the outside; now one abides in the center and controls the outside. Before, the assistant administered for the master; now its service is under command of the master. The situation is now reversed.
Before you enter quietude, first tune and concentrate body and mind, so that you are quite free and at peace, letting go of the ten thousand entanglements, so that nothing whatsoever hangs on your mind, and the divine realm heart takes its rightful place in this center. Then lower the lids of the two eyes as if you received a holy edict, like a minister summoned to appear before the ruler. Who would dare disobey?
Then with both eyes one illumines the Palace of Water. Wherever the Golden Flower goes, true light comes forth in response. The symbol Fire is light outside and dark inside; its origin is the Creative. Darkness enters the Creative and becomes master ☲. The result is that the heart is aroused by things, is directed outward, and is tossed about on the stream.
When one turns around the light inward upon one's Self, is not aroused by things, dark energy is arrested and the Golden Flower radiates, which is pure light energy. Things of a kind attract each other. Thus the light energy of the symbol Water leaps upward. Then it is no longer the light energy of Water but the light energy of the symbol the Creative (the pure divine realm), responding to the light energy of the Creative. As soon as these two substances meet each other, they unite inseparably; they intermingle and move quickly, to and fro, up and down. In one's inner temple there is an immeasurable emptiness. The whole body feels wondrously light and buoyant. This is the state, which is called Clouds fill the thousand mountains.
Then the movement becomes traceless; rising and falling become imperceptible. The channels are stilled, energy stops; this is true intercourse. This is the state, which is called The Moon pervades the Ten Thousand Waters. When the divine realm heart suddenly begins to move in the midst of the darkness, this is the return of light energy. This is Living Midnight. However, this must be explained in detail.
When a person looks at or listens to something, their eyes and ears pursue things and get stirred up, only to stop when things are gone. This activity and rest are all subjects, but the divine realm ruler becomes their slave. This is living with demons. But now if you make yourself live with a human being in all activity and rest, this human being is the divine realm ruler, who is a real human being. If when he moves, one moves with him, then the movement is the divine realm Root. When he rests, one rests with him; this rest is the Moon Cavern. Even when he alternates movement and rest for no clear reason, just go along with him. When he rises and falls, rise and fall with him. That is what is called leisurely going to and fro between the Root of the pure divine realm and the Moon Cavern.
When one moves before the right time, while the divine realm heart remains still, one moves prematurely. When one moves after the divine realm heart has moved, one moves too late. Once the divine realm heart is stirring, one must immediately raise the true intent to the Palace of the Creative. Thus the light of the spirit sees the summit. This is acting in accordance with time. The divine realm heart rises to the summit of the Creative, it floats upward of its own accord. Then suddenly it becomes silent, and one should quickly use the true intent to guide the divine realm heart into inner alchemy, as the eyes behold the central yellow dwelling place of the spirit.
When the divine realm heart is silent, not a single thought arises; when looking inward, one suddenly forgets that one is looking. At that time body and mind are in a state of great freedom. All the ten thousand entanglements have vanished without trace. Then one no longer knows where the furnace and cauldron in the dwelling place of the spirit are. One can't even find one's own body. This is the time when "the divine realm enters earth" and all wonders return to the root. This is the crystallized spirit going into the original cavity.
At the beginning stage of turning around the light, the scattered mind becomes collected; the six senses are not active. This is called nurturing the root source, adding fuel to continue life. When it is collected, one feels light and free and without any support of effort. This is called the spirit sitting quietly in the ancestral aperture, taking possession of the primordial. Then all shadows and sounds disappear and one is firmly established in great quietude. This is taking refuge within the original cavity, where all that is miraculous returns to its roots. There are three stages in all, which can also be seen as nine stages; this is a later development. For now I will speak of three stages in one. During the nurturing and initial quieting, collecting is also nurturing, and taking refuge is also nurturing. At the end, nurturing is also taking refuge. The stage in between can be figured out by analogy. Don't distinguish different points of the body, they will distinguish themselves. This is the formless aperture where a thousand and ten thousand places are one place. Don't distinguish time (past or future), time will manifests itself. This is being out of time when all units of time become like one moment.
As long as the mind has not attained absolute tranquility, it cannot move itself. If it moves anyway, it is false movement, which is not movement by itself. Therefore, it is said: If, when stimulated by external things, one moves, it is human desire. If, when not stimulated by external things, one moves, it is the true movement of the pure divine realm. Do not mistake the false movement of the pure divine realm for the pure divine realm itself. Because it still comes from desire.
Desires are based upon external things, which are thoughts that are out of place and these thoughts move from one to the other. When not a single thought arises, then true awareness is born. This is true intent. When in great quietness the celestial mechanism suddenly moves, is that not movement without thought? This is what is meant by action through non-action.
The first two lines of the poem at the beginning of this chapter, refer entirely to the activity of the Golden Flower. The next two lines refer to the interchange of sun and moon. The sixth month stands for the symbol Fire. The white snow flying, is the true darkness within Fire about to return to Earth. The third watch is water in Water. The sun is the single light in the center of Water, about to shine and return to the Creative. Herein lies the operation of spiritual alchemy known as taking from Water to fill in Fire. The next two lines explain the function of the dipper handle, the whole mechanism of rising and descending. Does not in the water refer to Water ? The eyes, as the breeze of Wind, shine into the chamber of Water and beckon the vitality of dominant light. That is what these lines mean. In the pure divine realm means the house of the Creative. Traveling and returning, one absorbs the virtue of Earth. This shows how the spirit penetrates the energy, how the pure divine realm penetrates the Earth. This is nurturing the fire.
Finally, the two last lines point to the deepest secret, which cannot be dispensed with from the beginning to the end. This is the washing of the heart and the purification of the thoughts; this is bathing. The learning of sages begins with knowing where to rest and ends with resting at the highest excellence. It begins in the infinite and returns to the infinite. In the practice of following the "AwakenedOne's" teachings, not attaching one's identity to anything is considered the essential teaching; the whole work of completing life and essence in the practice of following the Universal Way lies in the expression to bring about emptiness. In short, the three teachings are not beyond one saying, which is that a spiritual pill enables one to pass from death to life. What is the spiritual pill? It just means to be not attached to one's heart in all situations. The deepest secret in the practice of following the Universal Way is bathing. Thus the whole practice described in this book does not go beyond the words making the heart empty, that's all. This single statement can save decades of seeking.
If you do not understand how three stages are included in one, I will use the followers of the "AwakenedOne" teaching of contemplating emptiness, illusion, and the center as a metaphor. Emptiness is the first of the three contemplations. All things are looked upon as empty. Next is illusion. Though you know that things are empty, the ten thousand things are not destroyed, but one attends to one's affairs in the midst of the emptiness. But though one does not destroy the ten thousand things, neither does one cling to them; this is contemplation of the center. While practicing contemplation of the empty, one also knows that one cannot destroy the ten thousand things, and still one does not notice them, this includes all three contemplations. Since the skill resides in the realization of emptiness, when one cultivates it, one knows that emptiness is empty, illusion is also empty, and the center is empty too. In practicing contemplation of illusion, the skill is attained in action; so while illusion is of course illusion, emptiness is also illusion and the center is illusion too. One stage of practicing contemplation of the center, is contemplating emptiness; instead of calling it emptiness, you call it center. When practicing contemplation of illusion, instead of calling it illusion, you call it center. When practicing contemplation of the center, you also call it center.
I sometimes speak only of Fire, other times in addition to Fire I also speak of Water. Although I use different words, the meaning is still the same. In the beginning of this writing, I mentioned that the essential mechanism is all in the two eyes. The essential point of the mechanism is using it; you use it to manage Creation. This does not mean that only the two eyes are used for Creation; all the six senses and seven orifices are storage for light, so how could we use only the two eyes and leave out the rest?
To use the light of Water , you use the light of Fire to illumine and absorb light, then it becomes clear. Sun and moon are originally one thing. The darkness in the sun is the vitality of the true moon; the moon cavern is not on the moon but on the sun. That is why it is called the moon cavern; for otherwise it would be enough just to say the moon. The white of the moon is the light of the true sun. The sunlight being on the moon is what is called the root of the divine realm. Otherwise it would be enough just to say the divine realm. When the sun and moon are separated, they are but half; only when they come together do they form a whole. This is like a single man or a single woman, who cannot form a family if they live separate; only when they are husband and wife, we can speak of a family.
But it is hard to symbolize the Way using things of the world. If a man and a woman are separated, they are still individuals, but if the sun and moon are separated, they do not form a complete whole. What I am saying just brings out the point of communion, so I do not see duality; you just cling to the separation, so you see only one point of view instead of the whole.
The text of the Mind Seal says, restore the ancient habits, and chaos will be brought into harmony; a hundred days and the work will be achieved. In general, setting up the foundation requires a hundred days before you have real light. You students are still working with the light of the eyes, not the fire of spirit, not the fire of essence or the torch of wisdom. When you have turned the light around for a hundred days, vital energy will naturally be sufficient for true light to rise spontaneously, so true fire naturally exists in water. If you carry on the practice this way, you will naturally achieve intercourse and formation of the embryo. You are then in the divine realm of unknowing, and the child thus develops. If you entertain any conceptual view at all, you will immediately enter a misleading path.
A hundred days of setting up the foundation does not literally mean a hundred days; one day of setting up the foundation does not mean one day. One breath of setting up the foundation does not refer to respiration. The glyph for true breath is made up of the characters for Self and heart. The Self and the heart sustaining it, is the true breath, which also refers to the original spirit, original energy, and original vitality. Rising and descending, parting and joining, all arise from the heart; being and non-being, emptiness and fullness, are all related to thoughts. The one true breath requires a lifetime to maintain, not only a hundred days; so a hundred days is also one true breath.
A hundred days is just a way to show how important the engagement of the true breath is. Engaging the true breath during the daytime, you benefit from it at night. Engaging the true breath at night, you benefit from it during the day. A hundred days of setting up the foundation is a teaching from the divine beings. The sayings of the immortals all correspond to the human body and the sayings of real teachers correspond to students. This is the mystery of mysteries, which is inexplicable; you will know it when you see your essence. Therefore, students must seek the teaching of a true teacher. Everything that emerges naturally from the teacher's essence proves effective.
If you are able to perform the correct technique, the method of turning around the light works whether you are walking, standing, sitting, or reclining. Previously I quoted the saying, the empty chamber produces white. Isn't light white? There is an explanation of this; for one who hasn't seen the light, this saying serves as a guidepost. If one has seen the light and later searches for white light with intent, then one falls into discriminating awareness, which is not the light of essence.
The glyph for thought is made up of the characters for now and mind. So a thought is what is present in one's awareness in the heart. This awareness in the heart is light and can also be medicine. Whenever people look at things and perceive them without discriminating, this is the light of essence. It is like a mirror reflecting without intending to do so. A moment later, it becomes the light of discriminating awareness. A mirror is not a mirror if it still contains the previous image. If there is discriminating awareness in light, then what kind of light is that?
My fellow students, originally you have the light of essence. When this turns into thought, then it becomes discriminating awareness. Then the light is obscured and cannot be found. It is not that there is no light, but that the light has become discriminating awareness. This is what is meant by the saying of the divine ruler of the East, when sound moves, it does not produce sound, it produces echoes.
The introduction of a manual on how to understand the thread on heroic strength says, neither in objects nor in discriminating awareness, only pay attention to the senses. What does this mean? Objects are external things, or the so-called material world. This has no actual connection with us. If you pursue objects, you are mistaking things for yourself. Things must have an attribution. Transmission of light is attributable to doors and windows; light is attributable to the sun and moon. If one takes them for oneself, in the end you'll find out it's not you. As for that which cannot be attributed to anything, what else is it but yourself?
Light is attributable to the sun and moon. However, the awareness of the light of the sun and moon cannot be attributed to anything. Sometimes there is no sun or moon in the sky, but there is never an absence of the awareness that sees the sun and moon. If the awareness was absent, then how could that which discriminates the sun and moon be considered one's own? When both light and darkness are forgotten, I do not know where the discrimination is, that discriminates light and darkness. Therefore there is still attribution; this is internal dust. Only the real awareness of seeing cannot be attributed to anything. But when one sees with discriminating awareness, this is not the right awareness; then this seeing also has an attribution, which refers back to the discriminating awareness of the wandering consciousness, alluded to in the Surangama text where it says, Ananda, what makes your consciousness wander are your mind and eyes.
When one first begins to study the awareness of seeing through "the eight attributions", one understands that the first seven can be attributed to something. Not being able to understand the awareness of seeing yet, the practitioner uses it as a crutch. But ultimately as long as the awareness of seeing still carries the eight consciousnesses with it, it can still attributed. Only when this last point is broken through, does one reach real awareness of seeing, which cannot be attributed anymore.
When turning the light around, it is the primary unattributable light that needs to be turned around, so that not a single discriminating thought is applied. What causes you to flow and wander is just the six roots (sense organs); but what enables you to attain enlightenment is also just the six sense organs. But the fact that internal and external stimuli and discriminating awareness are not used at all, means that rather than using the sense organs, one uses the awareness of seeing in the sense organs.
Now if you turn the light around without falling into discriminating awareness, you are using the original essence in the sense organs. Herein lies the hairs-breadth's distinction: using one's mind is the light of discriminating awareness; let go, and it is then the light of essence. A hairs-breadth's difference in the beginning leads to a thousand miles difference later, so discernment is necessary. If discriminating awareness is not interrupted, the spirit does not come alive; if the mind is not emptied, the elixir does not crystallize. When the mind is clean, that is the elixir; when the mind is empty, that is the medicine. When the mind doesn't stick to anything at all, it is said that the mind is clean; when it doesn't keep anything in it, it is said that the mind is empty. If emptiness is seen as empty, emptiness is still not empty. When one is empty and one pays no attention to emptiness, this is called true emptiness.
Whenever the energy of the vital spirit leaks out, or the vital spirit moves and mixes with things, that is all Fire. Whenever you gather back the spirit's consciousness, quiet it down and hold it in the center, that is all Water. When the seven apertures run outward, that is Fire; when the seven apertures turn around inward, that is Water.
The dark (inside the Fire symbol) follows the stimulation of the senses, while the light (inside the water symbol) reverses this and withdraws from the senses themselves.
Water and Fire are dark and light, dark and light are essence and life, essence and life are body and mind, body and mind are spirit and energy. Once you withdraw to rest your vital spirit and are not affected by internal and external stimuli, then this is true intercourse, as when you sit in profound silence.
In relation to the divine realm Cycle, energy is not the main thing; the secret is in the heart. All popular methods of practicing the divine realm Cycle, are like trying to help the shoots grow by pulling them upward. The Divine Realm Cycle is maintained without minding, carried out without deliberate intention. Look up at the sky; it is always changing through the 365 days, yet the polar star never moves. Our heart is also like this; mind is the pole, energy is the myriad stars revolving around it. The energy in our limbs and throughout our whole body is basically a network, so do not exert your strength to the full on it. Refine the conscious spirit, remove arbitrary views, and then after that medicine will develop.
This medicine is not material; it is the light of essence, which is none other than the primordial true energy. It always appears after great concentration. There is no method of gathering the primordial true energy; those who speak of gathering are quite mistaken. When you have experienced this primordial energy for a long time, eventually one's heart is filled with light. When the heart is empty, and all indulgence is ended, you are liberated from the ocean of dust. Talking about dragon and tiger today or water and fire tomorrow, are all illusions in the end. The spells I learned from my teacher Huolong are as I explained; I don't know about the teachings of other the threads of the universal way.
There is a cycle in each day, there is a cycle in each hour; where Water and Fire interact there is a cycle. This interaction is like the revolving of the pure divine realm. As long as you are unable to stop the operation of the mind in the moment, as a consequence there are times of interaction and times of non-interaction. Yet the revolving of the pure divine realm never stops for a moment. If you are actually able to unite dark and light in tranquility, the whole earth is light, positive, and harmonious; when your central chamber is in the right place, all things simultaneously expand to fulfillment. This is the method of bathing spoken of in alchemical classics. What is it if not the great cycle?
The firing process of the cycles differs in scale, but ultimately there is no way to distinguish great and small firing. When you reach the point where practice is fluent, you do not know what Water and Fire are, what the pure divine realm and Earth are, what is interaction, what is one cycle or two cycles, or where to find any distinction between great and small. It is all the operation of one body; though it appears to be most great, it is also small. Each time it takes a turn, the universe and the ten thousand things take a turn with it. It is in the square inch but it is also most great.
The firing process of the gold elixir should ultimately become natural. If it is not natural, then the pure divine realm and Earth will revert on their own to the pure divine realm and Earth; the ten thousand things will go back to the ten thousand things: no matter how hard you try to unite them, you cannot. Then it is like a season of drought, when dark and light are not in harmony. Even though the pure divine realm and Earth go through their cycles every day, in the end you will see a lot that is artificial. If you can operate dark and light, turning them into similar things, then naturally all at once clouds will form and rain will fall, the plants and trees are refreshed and the mountain rivers flow freely. Even if there is something offensive, you can drop it all at once. This is the Great the pure divine realmly Cycle.
Students ask about living midnight. This is very subtle. If you insist on defining it as true midnight, that would seem to be sticking to forms; but if you do not focus on forms and do not point out true midnight, by what means can the living midnight be known? Once you know living midnight, there is definitely also true midnight. Are they one or two, not true or not alive? It all requires you to see the real. Once you see the real, everything is true, everything is alive. If your seeing is not real, what is living, what is true? As for living midnight, when you see it at all times, finally you reach true midnight; your mood is clear and light, and living midnight gradually blooms into ever-greater awareness. At present, people do not yet clearly know the living; just test it out when you head for the true, and the true will appear, while the living will be sublime.
Because of the eagerness of my heart to liberate the world, I sincerely spoke a lot. The "AwakenedOne" also pointed directly to life and death to show what is most valuable. The one who figured out the Way also suggested that all trouble comes from the lower self, and transmitted the teaching of the valley spirit, but people could not recognize it.
Now I will give a general explanation of the road of finding the truth: The pervasive principle of the Yellow Middle conveys the great changes of dark and light.
When one establishes the right state, that is the mysterious pass. You stabilize your breathing at midnight, noon, and in between.
The light returns to the primal opening, ten thousand spirits become calm. The medicine produced from the river source is the one breath emerging.
It passes through a veil and transforms into golden light; The single disk of the red sun incessantly shines with brilliance.
Common people mistake the vitalities Water and Fire ; Conveying them between the heart and the kidneys, producing separation.
How can the human way meet the divine realm Heart? If in accord with the celestial, the way is naturally met.
Let go of the ten thousand attachments, so nothing comes to mind; this is the true infinity of the primordial.
The great void is silent, signs are gone; At the pass of essence and life, you forget discriminating consciousness.
After discriminating consciousness is forgotten, you see basic reality. The water-clarifying pearl appears, mysterious and unfathomable.
Endless afflictions disappear all at once. The jade capital sends down a nine dragons decree;
Walking in the sky, you arrive at the gateway of the pure divine realm: Controlling wind and lightning, you make the thunder rumble.
Focusing the spirit and steadying breath are for beginners; retreating to hide in secrecy is eternal calm.
Two poems, which I used when I initiated the chaste woman who practices silent inner cultivation long ago, both contain the Great Way. After midnight and before noon doesn't refer to the time, but to Water and Fire. Settling the breath means returning to the root and the Yellow Middle with each breath. Sitting means that the mind is unmoved. The mid-spine where the ribs join does not refer to vertebrae; it is the great road directly through to the jade capital. As for the double pass; this is difficult to put into words. Thunder in the earth rumbles, setting in motion rain on the mountain means the arising of true energy. The yellow sprouts emerging from the ground refer to the growth of the true medicine. These two little verses express everything you need to practice the Great Way. If you understand this, you will not be confused by others.
In old times the one teaching about social ethics and his student virtuous student climbed the Great mountain and looked out over the great surrounding area of where we are. His student was fascinated by the view of a white horse running in the far away distance. The one teaching about social ethics suddenly put his hand in front of his student's eyes to block his view, so that spiritual energy would not leak out of his student's eyes. How could one not turn around the light?
Turning the light around is a matter of single-minded practice: just use the true breath to stabilize awareness in the central chamber. After a long time working with this you will naturally commune with the spirit and attain transmutation. Quieting the mind and stabilizing energy is the basis. When the mind is forgotten and the energy congeals, this is a sign of effectiveness. The emptiness of the mind and quietness of breath is the formation of the elixir. The unification of mind and energy is incubation. Clarifying the mind and seeing its essence is understanding the Way. You should each practice diligently; what a pity if you waste your time. If you do not practice for a day, then you are a ghost for a day; if you do practice for a single breath, then you are a realized immortal for a breath. More effort! More effort!