Assembly! Empty space is vast, and within this gate of precepts and concentration are the steps of the ladder to heaven; the sea of suffering is boundless, and within this light of wisdom is the boat that ferries across the sea. If you do not stride out and go forward, the journey of ninety thousand li will hardly be completed. If you do not straighten your spine and do the work, the orthodox teaching will hardly be heard in a thousand kalpas. If your practice is not thorough and your will not firm, how can your merit be complete and your virtue full?
Assembly, let not a hair leak from the thoughts in your mind, and the primordial qi in your body will naturally fill you and blend in harmony. When your virtue subdues ghosts and spirits, only then can you escape the retribution of the cycle of rebirth; when your Tao penetrates heaven and earth, only then can you leave the road of birth and death. Having climbed high onto the shore of the Tao, turn around and you are home; having entered deep into the inaudible and invisible, in the blink of an eye you return to your original form.
Assembly! Who has ever not died? Where do you see long life? Could the one who does not die be the ordinary body? Long life has nothing to do with this filthy substance. Where is Pengzu today? Yan Hui still endures through ten thousand kalpas. The one who does not die is my body of the Law; long life is my primordial qi. Even the Tathagata has his time of quiescent extinction, entering deeply into the realm of nirvana; even the Most High has his day of flying ascent, rising high into the Heaven of Great Red. Where the Tao remains, the person remains; where the Law abides, it is as if the body abides. “One who dies but does not perish enjoys longevity”: the nameless name, indestructible through ten million kalpas. “Giving life without possessing” is emptiness: the formless form, undiminished through a thousand generations. Of the countless bodhisattvas, numerous as the sands of the Ganges, beyond measure and beyond counting, which one did not go in and out through this mysterious pass? Of the countless multitudes of immortals and sages, inconceivable and beyond discussion, which one did not come and go by this great road? The heavenly highway is plain and clear, yet deluded people doubt it and do not believe. The buddha-land is clear and pure, yet the obstructions of ordinary people are hard to dispel. It is still because their blessings are shallow and their sins deep that, though they have eyes, they are worse than the blind. And often because their enmities are deep and karma heavy, though they are alive, they are as good as dead. Walking flesh and moving corpses, they have over the beasts only the ability to talk; wine sacks and rice bags, they have over the birds and beasts only the ability to walk. One morning, when their allotted span runs out, the ghosts come to seize them, heedless of whether one is a Quanzhen Taoist priest; not off by half a word, they check the record of sins, and they do not recognize a man without virtue, an evil person.
Assembly! Everyone dies, but one should die well: clean and pure, clear and bright, coming and going freely without restraint. Everyone dissolves, but one should dissolve well: pure and spotless, free and unencumbered, transforming perfectly and freely beyond fathoming. Before returning home, bid farewell to everyone. When the time has come, let go and depart. Stark naked, the infant appears, the vast qi above the crown of the head, ten thousand rays of auspicious light; perfectly round, the wondrous form flies up, in mid-sky colored clouds and white cranes—so many immortal scenes. The primordial spirit at last returns to the blue void, the true bones are lodged in a grotto abode, and the great man’s work is done! Leaving an immortal’s name among people and handing down a book of words on the Tao into the Taoist Canon, so that a thousand years later people know there was such a person—this is “one who dies but does not perish enjoys longevity.” So that after a billion kalpas the Tao still prevails—this is the body of great perfection, great merit, and great blessing.
Assembly:
Nature and life lie with oneself; one cannot rely on others.
If you do not cultivate yourself, no one else can necessarily do it for you.
If this body is ill, it cannot necessarily be healed.
If this mind is burdened, the burden cannot necessarily be removed.
The rising and ceasing of thoughts cannot necessarily be caught.
Deluded fancies and selfish intentions cannot necessarily be swept away.
Deep and heavy ties of attachment cannot necessarily be renounced.
The formless body of the Law cannot necessarily be recognized.
The precepts and their articles cannot necessarily be carried out.
Vexation and ignorance cannot necessarily be extinguished.
So many obstructions cannot necessarily be removed.
The ingrained habits of the worldly dust cannot necessarily be dissolved.
True words and wondrous methods cannot necessarily be followed.
Sin and blessing, cause and effect, cannot necessarily be believed.
The ordinary mind and the ways of the world cannot necessarily be forgotten.
Clinging to forms at every turn cannot necessarily be emptied.
Side doors and heterodox ways cannot necessarily be distinguished.
Conditioned illusions and falsehoods cannot necessarily be seen through.
All affairs and all things cannot necessarily be responded to.
Every circumstance and every realm cannot necessarily be escaped.
Perfected people and enlightened masters cannot necessarily be found.
The Great Tao of empty space cannot necessarily be entered.
The multitudes of living beings cannot necessarily be saved.
The power of one’s original vow cannot necessarily be fulfilled.
Assembly, it is only because in you:
Pride and arrogance cannot be transformed; good words and kind speech cannot persuade you.
Doubt and disbelief cannot move you; heavy karma and deep sins cannot be pulled out.
Anger and slander cannot be set right; love of flattery cannot be bent.
A base and violent temper cannot be opposed; treacherous schemes and dangerous calculations cannot be dissuaded.
Loyal hearts and direct remonstrance cannot get through to you; confusion, folly, and delusion cannot be broken.
Having eyes without pupils, you cannot be pointed the way; walking the Tao improperly, you cannot be received.
Sickness, suffering, and vexation cannot be healed; the calamities of your fortunes cannot be averted.
Fated to your lot and your calamity, you cannot be spared; the retribution of the cycle of rebirth cannot let you go.
The law of the realm and the punishments of the underworld cannot exempt you; the mountain of knives and the trees of swords cannot spare you.
Though there is a ship of compassion, it cannot ferry you; though there is a Golden Elixir, it cannot be given to you.
Though there are heavenly workings, they cannot turn you; though there are spiritual powers, they cannot be transmitted to you.
Though there is the light of wisdom, it cannot shine on you; though there are spiritual powers, they cannot save you.
When birth and death reach their end, you cannot be kept; repent and turn your heart around, and naturally you will attain it yourself.
Heaven, high and far, can naturally be reached; hell, dark and deep, can naturally be escaped.
The cycle of rebirth and the turns of calamity can naturally be shed; the impermanence of birth and death can naturally be avoided.
The Great Tao of the Ultimate of Nothingness can naturally be cultivated; the supreme body of the Law can naturally be realized.
Endless blessings can naturally be enjoyed; countless living beings can naturally be saved.
Great vows and grand resolutions can naturally be fulfilled; if only you have faith, you can naturally practice it.
If only you have a true heart, naturally you can complete it.
If only you have a constant heart, naturally you will gain.
If only your mind is clear, sages and worthies can be seen, and naturally you will penetrate.
If only your mind is resolved, immortals and buddhas can be seen, and naturally you will awaken.
If only your mind is empty, wondrous principles can be seen, and naturally you will see through.
If only your mind is limpid, the wondrous form can be seen, and naturally you will see to the bottom.
If only your mind illuminates, true emptiness can be seen, and naturally you will be transformed.
If only your mind is concentrated, birth and death can be seen, and naturally you will attain.
If only your mind is even, King Yama can be seen, and naturally you will be without sin or karma.
If only your mind is impartial, ghosts and spirits can be seen, and naturally you will have hidden merit.
If only your mind is universal, bodhisattvas can be seen, and naturally you will have the power of vows.
If only your mind is upright, goblins and monsters can be seen, and naturally you will have light.
If only your mind is sincere, heterodox demons can be seen, and naturally you will have wisdom.
If only your mind is kind, the fierce and evil can be seen, and naturally you will be without fear.
If only your mind is compassionate, there is nothing that cannot be seen, and naturally you will have awakened illumination.
If only your mind is empty, there is no form that cannot be seen, and naturally there will be no self and others.
If only your mind is grandmotherly, there is no place that cannot be seen, and naturally there will be no living beings.
If only your mind is no-mind, there is no realm that cannot be seen, and naturally there will be no one with a lifespan.
If only your mind flows perfectly and freely, there is no matter that cannot be seen, and naturally there will be no hindrance.
If only your mind is set on benefiting living beings, there is no kalpa that cannot be seen, and naturally there will be great perfection.
Assembly, today’s teaching of the Law is finished, and the place of practice is complete. I wish only that you, the assembly, fathers and sons, will climb the mountain, each striving on his own. The Law I have taught is no law at all. It is only medicine given to suit the illness: when you are sick you see a doctor, and when the illness is cured you need not take medicine again. It is like crossing a river, when you must use a boat; once you reach the shore, you must not keep thinking of the boat. Or it is like a needle leading the thread: when the clothes are sewn, you need not look for needle and thread again. Do not add feet to a painted snake, or paint a tiger and end up with a dog. Only honestly and faithfully practice the precepts, and when the work is in hand, you will naturally be lifted up and received by the patriarchs. Never be without your own resolve, leaning on your master and relying on your fellow Taoists, clinging to names and attaching to forms, following at others’ heels all day long. You must hold your heart firm, give rise to no doubts, be of one heart and one mind, and have no regrets until death; then it is the moment when the fire timing has arrived. Have you not heard that august heaven does not fail those who labor with a devoted heart? Assembly, the Great Tao is silent and unmoving, yet when people move it, it responds and penetrates. Only if you are willing to go straight ahead without turning back is it called resolve; only if you set out far and are sure to arrive is it called a heart of vows. If you are one who would reach the highest, remember this, remember this.
Birth and death are impermanent, and you must awaken yourself; when you die, even your own family cannot look after you.
Do not rely on others for yourself; even the divine immortals saved themselves.
Dwelling neither on the six dusts nor on the six consciousnesses, relying on no single method, the mind abides constantly.
Constantly abiding in impermanence, constantly abiding in nothing; knowing causes without obscurity, causes are countless.
Investigate clearly on the ground of causes that one’s own nature is empty; when awakening to emptiness at the stage of fruition, who can help?
Know that causes have no bounds and all bounds are empty; that is the one road that was there from the beginning.
From today, finish off the mechanism of birth and death; from now on, strike out the register of rebirth.
If you can seek practice according to the precepts, heaven will certainly not fail you.
The Heart Method of the Dragon Gate—its method is originally nothing; picked up at hand, it is spoken as one book.
No need to cling to the method; it must be swept away; only then will you see where Kunyang is truly found.
Not clinging to Kunyang’s teaching of the body of the Law, empty space is itself a storehouse of many treasures.
The more it moves, the more comes forth, endlessly; the Tao stored in the body prolongs blessing and fortune.
When mind and method flow together, the method is the mind; when method and mind are empty, that is the ferry across the long river.