Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
The “Precepts of Initial Perfection” are the golden rules and jade laws that all who enter the Tao must observe; they are the gateway to the Tao and the starting point of cultivating it. They include the Five Precepts, the Eight Precepts, the Ten Precepts, and the Nine Precepts for Female Perfected.
The Explanation of the Precepts of Initial Perfection explains in great detail the purpose of establishing these precepts: namely, to establish the heart of the Tao, spread the Tao, and establish virtue.
In the Precepts of Initial Perfection (Chuzhen Jielü) by Wang Changyue of the Qing dynasty, those entering the Tao first receive the precepts of taking refuge in the Three Treasures: first, take refuge with your body in the Great Tao of the Ultimate of Nothingness (Wuji) of the Most High, so as to escape the cycle of rebirth forever—this is called the Treasure of the Tao; second, take refuge with your spirit in the Venerable Scriptures in Thirty-Six Sections, so as to hear the true teaching—this is called the Treasure of the Scriptures; third, take refuge with your life in the Great Masters of the Law within the Mystery, so as not to fall into false views—this is called the Treasure of the Masters.
The Five Precepts of Initial Perfection are the foundation of the Precepts of Initial Perfection: the first gate for entering the Tao, a good prescription for purifying the mind, and the pivot between leaving the world and entering it. Everyone who enters the Tao must grasp their meaning firmly.
The Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection
The Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection require believers to let “the ten evils not arise, be without thought and abide in non-action, keep a single thought on cultivating the Tao, cast off the ordinary mind, and take the precepts as their teacher.”
The first precept: Do not be disloyal, unfilial, inhumane, or untrustworthy; exhaust your devotion to sovereign and parents, and extend sincerity to all conduct.
The Text of the Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection explains: Of the ten thousand scrolls of immortal scriptures, loyalty and filial piety come first. To serve one’s sovereign with one’s person and labor diligently in the affairs of the realm is to repay the kindness of protection. To cultivate oneself, act with care, and serve one’s parents well is to repay the kindness of birth and upbringing. To serve one’s teacher as one serves one’s parents is to repay the kindness of instruction. People live by these three as by one, and this is the greatest repayment of one’s origins. Further, to look up without shame before heaven and look down without embarrassment before others, and to revere and trust the gods, is to repay the kindness of creation. Together with the three above, these are called the Four Kindnesses. As for praying for the country and prolonging its blessings, removing demons and warding off harm, and transforming the people toward goodness so as to supplement what the ruler’s influence has not reached—this is the loyalty of one who has left home. While one’s parents live, one guides them to cherish their blessings and turn toward the Tao; when they die, one moves their spirits to a blessed realm. As for oneself, one leaves behind all loves and attachments, ends all worldly ties, concentrates the mind single-mindedly, and studies the Tao diligently. When the work of the Tao is accomplished, then kin from a hundred million kalpas are all delivered; above, one can repay the fourfold kindness, and below, one can relieve the sufferings of the three evil paths—this is the filial piety of one who has left home. As for the inhumane, they deceive their own hearts and act recklessly, overstepping propriety and doing wrong. The untrustworthy are boastful and vain and mislead the crowd with fine words. One must know that the greatly loyal do not obscure their hearts, down to not deceiving a single thing; the greatly filial do not go against principle, down to loving all as one body. Thus a single word that deceives the heart is not loyalty, and a single deed that goes against principle is not filial piety. Therefore loyalty and filial piety are the first of all precepts, the source of all conduct, and the first task of the student. If one can keep and practice them as above, one can exhaust one’s devotion to sovereign and parents and extend sincerity to all things.
The second precept: Do not plot harm in secret, harming others to benefit yourself; practice hidden merit and help all living beings widely.
The Text of the Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection explains: Plotting harm in secret means secretly getting others to do wrong and stirring up lawsuits—leading people into traps and the net of the law while taking pleasure in it oneself. Thoughts of harming others to benefit oneself are beyond counting. If one turns the light inward and illuminates oneself, and transforms people toward goodness, then one bestows hidden merit widely and helps all beings universally—this is the first principle of entering the Tao.
The third precept: Do not kill living creatures to gratify your palate; practice kindness and compassion, extending even to insects.
The Text of the Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection explains: Not killing living beings is a way of preserving benevolence and love. Birds and beasts and other creatures receive nature and life just as we do: they have mates, the feelings of parent and child, nests and dens to live in, and thoughts of food and drink. How do their love and hate, joy and fear differ from ours? To cherish a heart of compassion that cannot bear to kill them and eat them, and so to realize compassionate conduct—is that not good? Or it may be that, though one’s heart is benevolent to people and loving to creatures, one’s circumstances mix one with ordinary people, and there are inconveniences. Then do not intend to kill, do not kill with your own hand, and do not watch the killing—keep these three purities as the rule and eat and drink as circumstances allow; then how is there any killing of living beings? Moreover, the sages and worthies never insisted on whether or not to eat meat, yet their benevolence and love extended to all things without distinction of this and that. They opened three sides of the net, kept far from the kitchen, fished with a line but not with a net, did not shoot at roosting birds with the arrow, did not kill when hibernating creatures stir in spring, and did not break what was still growing. Their virtue and kindness were universal, treating people, insects, grass, and trees with equal benevolence. Can those in later times who do not eat meat truly do as much? One should also know that whether one’s food and clothing in this life are plentiful or scant is determined by how much one cultivated and accumulated in past lives. If one can be frugal with what one is allotted today, one’s blessings in the future will grow beyond measure. If one can truly do this, then “kindness and compassion extending even to insects”—how could that be empty words?
The fourth precept: Do not indulge in lewdness that ruins your true nature and defiles the numinous qi; guard your true chastity and let it suffer no breach.
The Text of the Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection explains: Not indulging in lewdness is a way of guarding against disorder in human relations. Those who leave home and transcend the world all do so because of good fortune from past lives, and so they alone rise above ordinary human relations. If they can abruptly end worldly ties, cut off sexual desire, and practice the Tao diligently, they will attain the rank of immortal, blessings will reach their nine generations of ancestors, and good fortune will flow to the whole family. The scripture says: “Immortals and Taoist priests are not born with a numinous constitution; they become perfected by accumulating essence and nourishing qi.” This is what it means.
The fifth precept: Do not ruin others’ achievements or separate them from their own flesh and blood; use the Tao to help others, and bring harmony to the nine generations of kin.
The Text of the Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection explains: Not ruining others’ achievements means that when you hear of someone’s good deed, you praise and support it, and when you hear of their faults, you cover them, so that they succeed and do not lose their virtue. Not separating others from their flesh and blood means that when you see relatives in discord—parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers, teachers and friends, estranged by conflict like two stars that never meet—you should counsel them with the Tao and bring them to harmony, not drive them apart. Then human relations are not abandoned, and both the Tao and righteousness are fulfilled; this is truly the key road to ascending to perfection.
The sixth precept: Do not slander the worthy and good, or show off your talents and exalt yourself; praise the good qualities of others, and do not boast of your own abilities.
The Text of the Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection explains: Sincerity is the gate to entering the Tao; speech is the voice of the heart, and false speech comes from an insincere heart. If the heart is insincere yet one calls it the Tao, this is called turning one’s back on the Tao; seeking the Tao in this way leads nowhere. To slander the worthy and good when one meets them, to show off one’s talents and exalt oneself, and to boast of one’s abilities—none of these befit an upright person. One must praise the good qualities of others; then one may hope to accomplish one’s own merit. Diligence in this is truly a deep precept for those who study the Tao.
The seventh precept: Do not drink wine or eat meat, breaking the rules and violating the prohibitions; harmonize your qi and nature, and devote yourself to purity and emptiness.
The Text of the Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection explains: Not drinking wine is a way of guarding against the derangement of one’s nature. Wine was originally used for rites, to foster harmony and good feeling. The ancients, as host and guest, bowed a hundred times all day and never became drunk, showing that there was moderation. People in later times, insatiable in their cravings, drank without restraint in pursuit of drunkenness, until their bodies were thrown into disorder and rites and laws were lost; some fell ill, some brought on disaster, never realizing their error. As for eating meat against the prohibitions: the ox has its merit, the dog its loyalty, the wild goose its order, and the carp and eel pay homage to the Dipper—how could one bear to eat such flesh? If one can extend this heart, abstain, and not eat it, one can harmonize one’s qi and nature, move the true spirits to respond, devote oneself to purity and emptiness, and one’s work in the Tao will be renewed daily and one’s mysterious attainment will become ever more manifest.
The eighth precept: Do not be insatiably greedy, hoarding wealth without sharing it; practice frugality, and be kind and caring to the poor.
The Text of the Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection explains: A person’s poverty or riches are all fixed by fate at the beginning of life. If one is destined to have wealth, it will come back even when used up; if one is born to poverty, one will not be rich however widely one seeks. If one understands this principle, one leaves all seeking and getting to naturalness: one does not wrongly take wealth that is not one’s own, nor carelessly obtain wealth that is not righteous. Wealth that one ought to have, one takes according to one’s lot, and does not fall into insatiable greed. There are also those who hoard without sharing and so bring disaster on themselves. But those of our fellowship must first see through the illusion of what they have accumulated, so as to be kind and caring to the poor; keep carefully to frugality, pass the days as circumstances allow, and not torment themselves with greed. Always keep the ground of the mind empty and at ease and let material desires dissolve; in time one will merge with the Tao in truth of itself.
The ninth precept: Do not keep company with the unworthy, or live amid disorder and filth; aspire to those better than yourself, and dwell in purity and emptiness.
The Text of the Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection explains: Those who have newly left home with a beginner’s mind cannot yet stand alone. They must live in a public monastery or join with Taoist companions, supporting one another in turn so as not to go astray. But friends are of three kinds: companions of cloud and rosy mist, good and understanding friends, and wild and strange friends. Those who have high aspirations, refine the ground of the mind, examine sin and blessing, cut off worldly feelings, roam free beyond the world, and, sharing the same aims, seek one another out and become friends—these are called companions of cloud and rosy mist, because their hearts are like clouds and rosy mist that worldly affairs cannot hold back. Then there are those who study the scriptures and hold lofty discussions—these are called good and understanding friends, because though they do not refine the mind, neither can they do evil. And there is a kind that does not tend the ground of the mind, does not study the scriptures, and pays no heed to sin and blessing; their words are perverse and false and their deeds wild and violent; touch them in the slightest and they start a fight; they brag of their strength and show off their talents, rely on force and on winning, bully the good, and band together into cliques—these are called wild and strange friends. When these three kinds of people leave their bodies behind, each has a place prepared for them, and each receives recompense according to their deeds. The companions of cloud and rosy mist ascend into the formless and roam the dark reaches of the Jade Capital, becoming divine immortals or heavenly officials. The good and understanding friends, their worldly hearts not yet exhausted, do not leave the human order. The wild and strange friends, having received ten parts of offerings with no merit whatever to repay their debt of food, fall into hell or into animal births, suffering in the cycle of rebirth. When it comes to that, what use is regret? Among these three kinds of friends, choose carefully! Let students reflect on this and each seek what is beneficial. Aspire to those better than yourself and dwell in purity and emptiness, so as not to betray the hearts of the parents who let their children leave home, nor fail the purpose of the sages who opened the teaching to save people. Understand this thoroughly, and you may hope for success.
The tenth precept: Do not speak or laugh frivolously, or act without sincerity; be grave and sparing of words, and make the Tao and its virtue your task.
The Text of the Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection explains: The ancients said: “The dignified, careful, and grave, if not rich, will be honored; the frivolous, shallow, and base, if not short-lived, will be poor.” Careless talk, shrugging the shoulders and fawning smiles, twisting learning to curry favor with the world—these are the ways of petty people and truly do not befit an upright person. Moreover, to be grave and sparing of words, with one’s bearing and movements in proper measure, is the key to advancing in the Tao, and truly what the accomplished ought to do. If one can keep to this strictly and practice it with effort, why worry that one will not reach loftiness?
Having received the Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection so as to realize the fruit of a Perfected, one must advance still more boldly and diligently, keep one’s words and deeds without the slightest transgression, and only then is one permitted to receive the Three Hundred Great Precepts of the Central Ultimate decreed by Lord Lao the Most High. If one merely recites them with the mouth while the heart goes against them, speaks purely but acts impurely, or begins diligently and ends idly, giving up halfway, this is called knowingly transgressing, and the sin is graver still, all the more beyond repentance; one sinks forever into perdition. The heavenly statutes of Nüqing are without mercy; even if the Most High appeared again, he could not save you. Immortals-in-training who study the Tao, reflect on this and be careful!
The details follow below:
The ritual guide, the high priest (gaogong), the liturgists, and the ordinands set out from the main hall, chanting “Heavenly Worthy Who Expounds the Teaching of Complete Perfection,” and proceed in procession to the reception hall. The ordinands perform the full prostration, and after three bows, the ceremonial guard, the liturgists, and the high priest go in front, with the great master and the ordination master behind. On reaching the main hall, the envoy performs the full prostration, the ordination master offers incense three times and leads the ordinands in three kowtows, and then the envoy helps the ordination master to his seat.
The ordination master takes his seat and offers incense, and the attendant announces the theme: “The jasper palaces rise tier upon tier in nine levels; auspicious clouds and propitious qi rise thick in homage. The swirling wind spreads vast for three thousand li; the incense smoke of the seven returns reaches everywhere. Reverently facing this splendid altar, we chant praises according to the rite.”
The cantor chants the hymn: “From the golden censer rises auspicious qi; the smoke of jade seal-script congeals. Dragons coil and phoenixes dance, forming auspicious clouds; the dense mist reaches through to Grand Clarity. A single thread conveys our sincerity; may the divine carriage halt and deign to accept this fragrance.” He intones: “Heavenly Worthy Whose Incense Clouds Convey Our Faith.”
The attendant announces the theme: “The purple qi came from the east and the Great Tao shone forth; the ordination with precepts transmitted at Hangu Pass has come down to this day. We invite the master to expound the purport of the Dragon Gate, to save all living beings and return them to the right and true. We humbly beseech the ordination master to show great compassion, proclaim the wondrous precepts, and enlighten humans and gods.”
The ordination master speaks: “Excellent, excellent! I have lodged in the mysterious gate for decades, and thinking on the precepts and conduct of the Tao chills me to the heart. It is easier for the thousand-year iron tree to bloom than to regain a human body once it is lost, even in ten thousand kalpas. The Great Tao of the Void Sovereign, secret and numinous texts; the high sages and heavenly Perfected, jade statutes of the Pure Capital—revered by a thousand spirits, practiced by ten thousand sages. Without bones of gold and a form of jade, they may not be lightly transmitted, nor lightly received. Today the disciples below the altar have, of their own faith, sought to receive the great precepts. Know that the wonder of the time having come lies in this one act; the great spreading of the mysterious tradition in the future begins today. Disciples below the altar receiving the precepts! You have left your parents far behind to come to the true teaching, all because your roots of goodness are deep. Therefore your minds are clear and bright, open to sin and blessing, and you easily understand good and evil. The Most High has said: ‘Those who walk a road cannot go forward without feet; those who ascend to a hall cannot enter without a door.’ The first foundation of studying the Tao must be the precepts, and conduct is the way in. As the saying goes, a journey of a thousand li begins beneath one’s feet. Now that you have left home, if you do not keep the precepts but act as you please, knowing no prohibitions and breaking the rules at every move, then your study will have no method and your progress in the Tao no order. Gradually good karma will cease to arise and evil thoughts will grow; the true immortals will not come to receive and guide you, and demons and ghosts will follow you. Whatever methods you practice, you will meet many demonic obstacles and be unable to attain the Tao. Therefore you must first keep the precepts and tame your mind. Let your movements follow the rules, without losing dignified deportment. Help people and benefit all things; correct yourself and correct others. Act without contending; when offended, do not retaliate. Always attend to nature and life, and do not fix your thoughts on fame and gain. After long and thorough practice, you will naturally draw close to the Tao, and your blessings will surely grow and your calamities vanish. Wisdom will grow day by day, heart and spirit will awaken, merit will be complete and the Tao fulfilled; you will rise bodily as a flying immortal and roam and feast in the Jade Capital—all of this begins here. How great are the precepts! Were it not for good affinities from past lives, how could you have met the sages’ teaching so early? I will now proclaim to you the Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection of the Heavenly Worthy the Void Sovereign. Purify your three karmas of body, speech, and mind, and listen carefully to the words of the teaching. The first precept: Do not be disloyal, unfilial, inhumane, or untrustworthy; exhaust your devotion to sovereign and parents, and extend sincerity to all things. Can you keep this precept?”
All answer: “We will keep the precept and practice it.”
The master says: “Of the ten thousand scrolls of immortal scriptures, loyalty and filial piety come first. Of boundless virtuous conduct, benevolence and trustworthiness are the root. If you do not exhaust your devotion to sovereign and parents and extend sincerity to all things—how could there be in heaven immortals who are disloyal and unfilial, or a sacred Tao that is inhumane and untrustworthy? Therefore the Most High says first: loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and trustworthiness are the root of entering the Tao. Exert all your heart and strength, give your life and your person, to serve sovereign and parents. First you must extend this heart to love all things with compassion, without the mind that discriminates between self and others; only then are you a disciple of the precepts. If one is disloyal to the sovereign, unfilial to parents, inhumane to creatures, and untrustworthy to friends, such a person is lacking in the great root—how could they enter the Tao? Guard against this with all care. The second precept: Do not plot harm in secret, harming others to benefit yourself; practice hidden merit and help all living beings widely. Can you keep this precept?”
All answer: “We will keep the precept and practice it.”
The master says: “All secret plotting and scheming, instigating trouble, and framing others is called plotting harm in secret. Seeking only to fatten oneself without regard for others’ poverty, seeking only one’s own satisfaction without regard for others’ resentment, is called harming others to benefit oneself. Such people have no heavenly principle at all, with hearts like snakes and scorpions—how could they enter the Tao? You must be upright and open, embrace compassion widely, treat all things with a benevolent heart, benefit and help all, and accumulate merit and good deeds; only then are you a disciple of the precepts. If you still plot harm in secret, you will surely incur heaven’s punishment. Guard against this with all care. The third precept: Do not kill living creatures to gratify your palate; practice kindness and compassion, extending even to insects. Can you keep this precept?”
All answer: “We will keep the precept and practice it.”
The master says: “All living creatures, however small, share the same nature and life. That is why the Buddhists say: all that wriggles and has spirit possesses Buddha-nature. How could one go against heaven’s virtue of loving life, slaughtering creatures to indulge one’s mouth and belly, piling up enmities over kalpas and grudges over many lives, so that retribution never ends and rebirth never ceases? After receiving the precepts, if you violate this, enmity will answer enmity—how could you escape the Three Realms? You must always hold the heart that all things are one body, keep compassion in mind, and give up killing forever. No creature of any kind may be harmed; always cherish and protect them. Only then are you a disciple of the precepts. Guard against this with all care. The fourth precept: Do not indulge in lewdness that ruins your true nature and defiles the numinous qi; guard your true chastity and let it suffer no breach. Can you keep this precept?”
All answer: “We will keep the precept and practice it.”
The master says: “The three highest medicines are spirit, essence, and qi. Guarded firmly and stored securely, they are called the true spirit. Ordinary beings act rashly, sunk in lewdness and confusion. Wine, sex, wealth, and anger leak away essence and harm spirit. Losing the true, the numinous root decays, the supreme treasure is spent, the body withers and the spirit scatters, the true spirit is defiled, and one merely waits for old age and death. After you receive the precepts, you must guard your true chastity with a firm heart, always thinking of the Tao and meditating on the true. Embrace the origin, guarding the One; cut off evil thoughts to protect the true spirit, and remove deluded thinking to guard the supreme treasure. Keep to this without slackening, and the ground of the mind will be cool and clear. With the numinous and true gathered in the body, everything is the Tao. Guard against this and be careful! The fifth precept: Do not ruin others’ achievements or separate them from their own flesh and blood; use the Tao to help others, and bring harmony to the nine generations of kin. Can you keep this precept?”
All answer: “We will keep the precept and practice it.”
The master says: “In heaven and among humans, helpfulness comes first. You must support good works and help bring fine deeds to completion. If others’ kin are in discord, transform and guide them with kind words. To ruin others’ achievements for one’s own gain, or separate people from their closest flesh and blood—such are treacherous, jealous petty people, hated alike by heaven and earth, ghosts and gods; how could they enter the Tao? You must always keep the Tao in mind, correct yourselves and transform others, help people toward goodness, and treat all things with sincerity. First bring harmony to the nine generations of kin, and then to all; all must be at peace and in harmony, to become one body. This is the way of fellowship with others; guard against this with all care. The sixth precept: Do not slander the worthy and good, or show off your talents and exalt yourself; praise the good qualities of others, and do not boast of your own abilities. Can you keep this precept?”
All answer: “We will keep the precept and practice it.”
The master says: “Petty people are generally sinister: when they see worthy and good people who surpass them, they speak slander and strange words, defame others, and then show off their own talents and praise their own virtue. This is diminishing others to display oneself; how could such bad people enter the Tao? After you receive the precepts, you must be humble and yielding and never conceal others’ goodness. When you meet people of the Tao and virtue, or those whose words and deeds are lofty, fine, and kind, you should respect and praise them. Even if you have merit of your own, do not be proud or boastful. This is being good at placing oneself low and not dwelling on one’s merit, and being helpful at all times; only then can you enter the gate of the Tao and its virtue. Guard against this and be careful! The seventh precept: Do not drink wine or eat meat, breaking the rules and violating the prohibitions; harmonize your qi and nature, and devote yourself to purity and emptiness. Can you keep this precept?”
All answer: “We will keep the precept and practice it.”