Assembly, the Law this poor Taoist taught yesterday from the teaching seat said that the substance of the Tao is non-action and the body of the Law is the ultimate reality; but you must understand that the substance of the Tao does not lie outside the ordinary body, and the body of the Law is within the physical body. The firmness of the physical body is adorned by outward merit of deliberate action; the clarity and stillness of the body of the Law is adorned by inner merit of non-action. When inner and outer are both clear and both are understood, the spirit is liberated: supreme and highest, indestructible true emptiness, great light, great perfection, unsurpassable; ten thousand spirits pay homage, the thunder is at one’s command, the Three Realms stand guard, the Five Emperors attend to welcome one, and penetrating wisdom shines through all. And this is not something cultivated by merit of deliberate action.
Assembly, when you secure the essence and nourish the qi, the qi abides and the essence congeals. With the fire of wisdom and the wind of wisdom, essence transforms into qi, steaming through the four elements and harmonizing ten thousand spirits. When the true fire has no smoke, the qi is clear; when the true water does not leak, the spirit is still. When the qi is clear, it transforms into spirit; when the spirit is still, it merges with emptiness. With the utmost emptiness and firm stillness, the primordial truth is restored, and through the nine reversions and seven returns, one returns to one’s destiny and goes back to the root. Going back to the root, destiny is established; with destiny established, nature is preserved. With nature preserved, the substance of the Tao is manifest. With the substance of the Tao manifest, the body of the Law appears. From within deliberate action one cultivates the substance of the Tao of non-action; from within the useless one cultivates the useful body of the Law. The physical body has a lifespan; the body of the Law has wisdom-life. Lifespan depends on heaven and not on oneself, so the physical body has the cycle of rebirth, birth and death, and the recurring turns of calamity. Wisdom-life depends on me and not on heaven, so the body of the Law has sovereign power and freedom, liberated and unhindered. Assembly, the lifespan of the physical body is limited and fixed karma is hard to escape; when heaven orders death, one cannot but die. The wisdom-life of the body of the Law is inexhaustible and its spiritual powers vast; only by realizing the unborn does one attain long life.
Assembly, even if the physical body lived ten thousand years, it would only be called a monster, not the Tao. The body of the Law always remains, whether coming or going; “hearing the ultimate Tao in the morning, what harm in dying in the evening?” The body of the Law dies but does not perish, so it is called long life, immeasurable life. The physical body is born and dies again, so it is called a short-lived, impermanent ghost. Assembly, if you awaken to the body of the Law, you can enable short-lived living beings to obtain long life. Assembly, if you cling to the physical body, you will instead cause even the blessing of immeasurable life to fall into the cycle of rebirth. Assembly, you need only see through the physical body, and all ten thousand concerns are empty; refine and cultivate the body of the Law, and not a speck of dust stains it. Do not let the body of the Law be wrapped up by the physical body; let only the physical body be delivered by the body of the Law. Is this not the great turning of the wheel of the Law, the fortune of the Tao moving without moving? The expounding of the teaching and spreading of the Tao that I now speak of relies entirely on the constant turning of the wheel of the Law, to make the Tao of the patriarchs shine again. If I did not point out your body of the Law, who would protect it? Assembly, if the teaching is not expounded, the Tao is not understood; if the Tao is not spread, the Law is not practiced. It is people who can spread the Tao, not the Tao that spreads people. If only each of you will recognize the person who spreads the Tao, carry out the method of spreading the Tao, and speak the workings of understanding the Tao, why worry that the tradition will not flourish or that the ways of the patriarchs will decline!
This poor Taoist did not read much in youth nor study widely in his prime; I am versed neither in the Confucian nor the Buddhist teachings. It is only that, since I began traveling to seek teachers, whenever I came upon a good place I would go and investigate it and inquire into it.
Assembly, what do you think the good places I investigated and inquired into were? Mountains or rivers? Hermitages or caves?
Assembly, this poor Taoist has roamed beyond the world for several decades, seeking teachers throughout the land for thousands of li, climbing high to mountain peaks and going deep into the forests, asking about the Tao and seeking the true, paying homage to the spirits and visiting the sages, and there were always opportunities; but not for a single day did I leave my own proper business. Mountains, rivers, forests, and springs—never for a moment did I set my own truth among them, or for a single hour let my own Tao run loose. What I investigated was my own innate knowledge of the good; what I inquired into was nothing but my original nature of wisdom. When inner investigation has gone on long, innate knowledge stands revealed alone on the Cinnabar Terrace; when inner inquiry has gone deep, the nature of wisdom produces brightness in the empty room. With a master of the house within, what harm in receiving guests and visitors? With the true source within, I therefore wish to expound the teaching and spread the Tao.
Assembly, this poor Taoist is not versed in letters and is ashamed before the jade caskets of the Three Caverns; I have read few alchemical scriptures and have no ambition for the precious formulas of the immortals. It is only that my plain heart loves idleness and my nature delights in leisure. Delighting in leisure, I quietly shut the six gates, investigate wisdom-life within, and go deep into the inaudible and invisible; loving idleness, I cast aside all affairs, seek the unborn alone, and rise high into the vast void. Where would I find the time to study letters and recite alchemical scriptures? So to this day I know nothing of anything and am incapable in every way; my mouth is clumsy and cannot speak cleverly, my mind is empty and cannot compose flowery phrases. All I can do is take the great treasure of the Law, the treasury of the true Dharma eye—the plain talk the sages of the three teachings never finished saying and the true words they would not say—and speak some of it for you to hear. That is merely going through the motions: the humble custom of taking the teaching seat, the old practice of discussing the scriptures, the stock form of opening the hall, the stock-in-trade of a Quanzhen Taoist. But there is a kind of Taoist who does not know this poor Taoist’s true heart and often mocks me with doubts whenever he sees what I do: “Does this poor Taoist not know that the Tao is originally wordless, so why teach the Law? The scriptures originally have no words, so why open the hall? The teaching values non-action, so why take such trouble?” How pitiable, how pitiable—this person has taken the wrong road.
Assembly, though it is said that the Tao is wordless, had it not been for the Primordial Heavenly Worthy (Yuanshi Tianzun) speaking the scriptures and expounding the teaching, how could you living beings engage in spiritual practice today? Had it not been for the Heavenly Worthy of Numinous Treasure (Lingbao Tianzun) transmitting the scriptures and establishing the teaching, how could you living beings walk the Tao today? Had it not been for Lord Lao the Most High (Taishang Laojun) conferring the scriptures and founding the teaching, how could you, the assembly, meet here today? Assembly, this person is badly mistaken. And if he mocks this poor Taoist with doubts, he is even more badly mistaken.
Assembly, this poor Taoist originally has no Law to teach, no scripture to discuss, no teaching to expound, and no Tao to spread. But in those days the Primordial Heavenly Worthy taught the Law in twelve divisions, the Heavenly Worthy of Numinous Treasure taught the Law in twelve divisions, and the Heavenly Worthy of the Tao and Its Virtue (Daode Tianzun) taught the scriptures in twelve divisions; these are called the thirty-six divisions of the venerable scriptures of the Most High.
Assembly, it is the three Heavenly Worthies who told me to teach the Law. What is the evidence?
Assembly, the Lord of the Teaching who spoke the scriptures is the Primordial Heavenly Worthy; so the Primordial Heavenly Worthy once taught the Law. In the Fragrant Grove Garden he repeatedly discussed the snares and traps of the secret essentials; so the Heavenly Worthy of Numinous Treasure also once taught the Law. He taught the Law in twelve thousand heavens, in five thousand words and more that fuse the wondrous Tao of the Three Powers; so the Heavenly Worthy of the Tao and Its Virtue also once taught the Law. He took his seat and taught the Law, silent and soundless; the Jade Emperor radiated light with inexpressible joy, the Five Elders asked questions without end, and the Lord of Clear Brightness, the Lord on High of the Vast Heaven, the Four Great Perfected, and countless multitudes in the Assembly of Jade Light all stood in attendance at his side.
Assembly, the Three Pure Ones could teach the Law, and the Lord on High, the Four Sovereigns, the Nine Sovereigns, and all the multitudes of heavenly immortals could hear the Law; and of the other heavenly emperors and divine lords who begged the Heavenly Worthies to teach the Law, countless and boundless, the Heavenly Worthies still would not teach them.
Assembly, if the Law should not be taught, then the Primordial Heavenly Worthy was meddling in those days; if the scriptures should not be discussed, then the Heavenly Worthy of Numinous Treasure was meddling in those days; if the teaching should not be expounded, then Lord Lao the Most High was meddling in those days. And what then is meant by “establishing the teaching according to each place,” by “Quanzhen expounding the teaching,” by “Quanzhen continuing the teaching”? This person should go and doubt and mock the Heavenly Worthy who first taught the Law, the Patriarch of the Tao who first discussed the scriptures, and Lord Lao who first expounded the teaching. Today this poor Taoist is merely acting under the Heavenly Worthies’ gate according to their old practice; this is called proclaiming the treasure of the Law and carrying out what the teaching prescribes, nothing more. The common saying goes, “Under the gate of a teaching, one wishes the teaching to prosper.” This person is ignorant, going against the Tao and lost from the root; should he not be enlightened? The Tao is originally wordless, but without words how can the Tao be made clear? The Law is originally beyond speaking, but without speaking how can people be saved? If the teaching is not proclaimed, the true treasure is buried in dust and the mysterious lineage does not revive. You are a Quanzhen Taoist of our school who wears the yellow cap; if you do not praise and protect it, you are already at fault, and yet you dare to talk nonsense, insulting the Three Treasures, ridiculing the Heavenly Worthies, betraying the lineage and forgetting the ancestors, slighting the scriptures and ruining the teaching. This poor Taoist will of course let you be; I only fear that the Patriarchs of the Tao and the Heavenly Worthies of our own school will sigh with feeling and say, “Yet another unworthy descendant has come forth to ruin our family law.” The Heavenly Worthies are still compassionate and merciful, but the celestial lords of the Thunder Department on either side may well lose their temper!
Assembly, this poor Taoist is an ordinary man without spiritual powers; I teach people to awaken simply by the work of ordinary daily life. It is only because the people of our Taoist school drink wine and eat meat, sell formulas and beg for donations, and cannot even manage their food and clothing properly—how could they understand birth and death? First, they cannot make people revere them; second, they cannot move ghosts and spirits. Idle and loafing, like vagrant ruffians, eating food for nothing and wearing clothes for nothing, they say they are following their affinities but in fact they are making karma. So I had no choice but to rouse my own spirit and make a plan for universal salvation: above, to revive the tradition; below, to benefit living beings. It was originally for others, not for myself. I also thought that the root of disaster in our school comes from within the school itself: many unworthy people and few upright ones, making people not revere the Tao and inviting people to slander the Tao, and so it cannot revive. And I thought that since Patriarch Qiu Changchun expounded the precepts and revived the Mysterious in the Yuan dynasty, for four hundred years to now his precepts have not been practiced. Thirty years ago I resolved to go seeking teachers, and heaven granted my wish: on Mount Wangwu I met my master, and on Mount Jiugong I received the Law, and I practiced it in secret for more than twenty years. Heaven opened the fortunes of the Tao, and I have met with a flourishing age under the Qing dynasty, with a sage ruler above and many worthy ministers at court. I also met with a past affinity and found like-minded companions; when the time for congealing the true had arrived and the opportunity was right to act, I opened the altar in the capital. To this day, for eight years the thunder has rolled and the wind has stirred a thousand true ones: feathered Taoists and the multitude of the Tao, lay practitioners and good people, all who had an affinity with the Tao, without exception, taking refuge in the gate of precepts, concentration, and wisdom, have entered directly into the wonders of clear emptiness. And when has this poor Taoist ever set out with intent to do it or applied force to accomplish it? It is only that this one spark of spiritual mechanism, sincerely and silently at work, moved heaven’s grace and met its opportunity, so that I presumptuously ascended the seat of the Law and undeservedly acted as precept master. As for greatly expounding our school and universally spreading the Tao and its methods, that is this poor Taoist’s long-held wish. One must follow heaven and wait for the right fortune, and act when the time comes.
Assembly, do not believe the words of those who make karma with their doubts and mockery, clinging to the meditation cushion, shutting their throats and clenching their teeth, putting on the appearance of the Tao and ruining their own futures. If everyone learned from such people, then “constantly responding and constantly still”—responding to what? “Great compassion and great vows”—vowing what? “To save living beings”—saving what? Assembly, this kind of corpse-guarding ghost, the self-absorbed hermit, looks after only his own nature and life and cannot look after the nature and life of others; even his own nature and life, after sitting thirty or fifty years, are still born and die again, die and are born again. How could he leave the world and save others!
Assembly:
The precepts and scriptures come from the canon; ordination with precepts according to the rules is no falsehood.
Only in order to expound the teaching and save living beings, I willingly accept the ridicule, insult, and slander of the ignorant.
I urge you all to broaden your capacity, enduring insult and cultivating perfection to revive the tradition.
Cultivating concentration and wisdom together, your blessings and virtue grow deep, universally saving the deluded from drifting.
Every one who receives the precepts must first cut off obstructions; only when obstructions are removed does light begin to shine.
Do not worry that the torch of wisdom will not be bright; worry only that its rays will rise ten thousand zhang high.
Concealing light and preserving life, wisdom lasts long; not dwelling on prolonging existence, one leaves illusory forms.
Embracing purity and nourishing simplicity, in accord with non-action, wisdom-life is prolonged and returns to vastness.
If one rigidly seeks only for oneself, one knows only to cling to sitting and does not know death.
Since you are unwilling to save others, how could an immortal master seek to save you?
Ready-made clothes and food at ease—yet a single mouth and a single body are hard to provide for.
A grain of rice is like a hill or mountain—how can it be digested? A drop of water becomes a great wave that sinks one into the Unremitting Hell.
They coax people into making offerings in pursuit of pleasure, caring only to have clothes and not go hungry.
With clever words they say, “My Tao is accomplished; flying ascent and release from the corpse—my work is not in error.”
“If I succeed, would I not save you?”—and the lay supporters, hearing this, grow ever more devout.
Ordinary people of the world do not awaken in their minds, foolishly hoping for gold in the water.
How many Taoists can awaken by themselves? Those who awaken by themselves are not jealous.
In movement they act to benefit all people; in stillness, through non-action, they accomplish their own salvation.
Having saved themselves, they also save all universally, and the heart of universal salvation is firm and steadfast.
Teaching the Law to benefit living beings, a lion-king, liberated in true emptiness, the mind dwells nowhere.
Great is the power of vows, lofty the power of the Law; by the grace of the Tao’s benefit, heroes are aided.