Since ancient times, sages, worthies, immortals, and buddhas who have realized the fruit and attained perfection have never been saved without a master. Therefore master has passed it to master, mouth to mouth, and mind has sealed mind. The principle within runs through all as one thread. Only when it is like milk mixing with water, like glue joined with lacquer, when like qi seeks like and like voices answer each other, when water and sky are one color and lamp and moon shine on each other, can the way of master and disciple be fulfilled.
Assembly, I see many people in the world seeking masters and asking about the Tao, but most of them are a little off. They have the name of transmission between master and disciple but not the reality of the Tao being passed from master to disciple. So today, not sparing my teeth and not shrinking from slander, I will tell you the proper way of seeking a master and asking about the Tao. You must keep it in your hearts, so that in days to come, first as the disciples of others, you can follow this way; and later, when you become masters to others, your disciples will also follow the ancient pattern. Revering the master is how one honors the Tao.
Assembly, the foolish and blind in the world do not recognize their own minds and turn with things. Though they have thoughts of the Tao, they do not know the gate of the orthodox from that of the heterodox; though they have a mind for the Tao, they do not know the method of spiritual practice. They hear people say, “Nature is awakened to by oneself; life depends on a master’s transmission,” and act on these two lines. Or they meet one of those wandering Taoists in a tattered patched robe and straw sandals, a meditation cushion on his shoulder and a palm-leaf fan waving in his hand, passing through the towns—sometimes sitting at a street corner holding out his gourd to beg for rice, sometimes strolling along the road at ease and carefree, lodging at any of the Taoist temples and monasteries he comes to and borrowing a bed at any shrine he meets. His mouth talks of elixir formulas and his tongue plays like pipes and reeds: what the one aperture of the mysterious pass is, what the twin passes of the Spine Pass (Jiaji) are; up to the Niwan Palace and down to the Bubbling Spring point; guarding the center and raising the qi; setting up the furnace and establishing the cauldron; prolonging life and warding off illness, massage and daoyin (guiding and pulling exercises); the sixteen ingots of gold, the six-syllable formula, the Eight Pieces of Brocade (Baduanjin), Awakening to Perfection (Wuzhen Pian) and The Seal of the Unity of the Three (Cantong Qi); the metaphors in the alchemical scriptures of lead and mercury, dragon and tiger, silver and cinnabar, husband and wife, sons and daughters, trigram images, tortoise and snake, warm nurturing and bathing, forming the embryo, entering the chamber and sitting in the enclosed hut, sending forth the yin spirit, sending forth the yang spirit—so many that the three thousand six hundred side doors and eighty-four thousand demonic methods could never be counted to the end.
Assembly, these foolish and blind people have no wisdom in their minds; how could they tell the true from the false and recognize the orthodox and the heterodox, when all they do is listen to this kind of talk? Even more detestable is the gang who refine “thatch silver” and talk of cauldron-vessels, deluding people with sex and moving them with money. Do not say there is no such kind. And even if there is such a kind, could you ordinary mortals turn things to gold, or deluded disciples forget the objects of the senses? Suppose you see beauty and your mind stirs, face the object and your thoughts move, and in a moment you cannot hold on: the true mercury flows downward, prior heaven is already lost, the spiritual root once defeated, the utmost treasure is poured out with it; you have not prolonged your life, and even the root of life has died—is this not detestable? Those who burn thatch silver have many more tricks for swindling people, which I cannot bear to describe in detail lest I invite slander. But those who have received the precepts must listen to me describe the outline of seeking a master and asking about the Tao.
Assembly, this supreme Tao of august heaven is elusive and evasive, dim and dark; it is utterly vast and utterly great, utterly high and utterly honored; so great that nothing is outside it, so small that nothing is inside it. It can serve as warp and weft of heaven and earth, go out into the hidden and enter the dark; it enters water without getting wet and enters fire without burning; before it there is no antiquity and after it no present; it gives birth to heaven and earth, moves the sun and moon, and nurtures the myriad things; it gives birth to immortals and buddhas, sages and worthies. All crawling, stirring creatures that bear spirit, insects, grasses, and trees—there is no one who lacks it and no place where it does not exist. Ordinary days and months are all the wondrous Tao. Only because the common people use it daily without knowing it, and inferior people are deluded in mind and do not awaken, the one truth is lost and cannot be understood for ten thousand kalpas. Before father and mother gave birth to them, they do not know where their true spirit began; after essence and spirit depart, they do not know where this body ends. Turned upside down in the cycle of rebirth, they suffer the vexations of birth and death. That is why I point out the source and root, teaching people to seek a true master urgently and to hear the ultimate Tao early.
But a true master is hard to see, and an excellent disciple hard to find. You should know that if a disciple lacks a true heart to leave the world, then even if he meets a true master, the ghosts and spirits will not let him see him; they cover his wise nature, so that even seeing him he cannot recognize him as true. If a master lacks a universal heart to save the world, then even if he meets an excellent disciple, the ghosts and spirits again will not let him see him; they cover his eye of the Law, so that even seeing him there is no affinity. That is why many miss each other face to face. Assembly, a master seeking a disciple is like dropping a mustard seed onto the point of a needle; a disciple seeking a master is like trying to catch the moon in the water. That a true master is hard to find and an excellent disciple hard to meet does not depend on gold, silver, money, or treasure; it depends only on sincerity of mind and thought.
Assembly, have you ever seen a master who has the Tao willing to transmit it recklessly to an unworthy person? Have you ever seen a person of high attainment seeking the Tao willing to bow recklessly to a master? Assembly, since a master will not transmit recklessly to people, such a master holds the ultimate Tao within and seeks out people of high attainment. Since a disciple will not throw himself recklessly upon a master, such a person has lofty and clear insight and keeps his mind attentive and his eyes open. Suppose such a person, who will not lightly throw himself upon a master or recklessly bow to a way, has a mind empty of obstruction and his aspiration in the dusty world; with a wide field of vision and a broad heart, when he meets a master who has the Tao, naturally he sees clearly beyond the eyes, can speak of it and see through it, and a word or half a phrase lands like the mustard seed on the needle. Suppose a master who will not recklessly take disciples or lightly transmit and speak falsely meets such a lofty and clear disciple—how could he fail gladly to question and answer, to discuss grandly and broadly, and to pass on by mind the ultimate Tao and by mouth the heavenly writings: the wondrous formulas and true explanations, the subtle and secret heavenly workings, the refined and mysterious hidden truths?
Assembly, true masters are not few, and disciples are many. Now I tell you: what do I mean by saying that true masters are not few? Assembly, what your six senses receive all has true masters. Suppose your ears hear good words: if you follow this good and are truly convinced in your heart, then this ear faculty is your introducing master and these good words are your master who transmits the Tao. The other five faculties are likewise.
Assembly, in learning there is no fixed master; the Tao alone is the master. Whenever your ears hear good words and good sayings, you must preserve your spirit and listen silently, as though sweet dew were sprinkled on your heart or clarified butter poured on the crown of your head, and silently feel in your heart gratitude to this person for opening your folly and delusion with compassion and skillful means, wishing that this person who proclaims good words may soon realize the mysterious work and attain the supreme Tao. Is this not being master and disciple? Suppose your eyes see all the scriptures and canons, the writings of the three teachings, true mantras and secret formulas, and your mind opens in awakening; you should then bow and praise them. These writings are your master who transmits the Tao, and your eye faculty is your introducing master.
Assembly, in seeking a master and asking about the Tao, you cannot hold to one method or rely on one path; only when you recognize it truly and believe in it fully will master and disciple naturally meet. Yet a master’s bridge of the Law is not a single technique. Mencius said: “There are many ways of teaching. There are those whom one transforms like timely rain; those whose virtue one perfects; those whose talents one develops; those whose questions one answers; and those who privately cultivate themselves from one’s example. And when I disdain to teach someone, that too is a way of teaching him.” Thus there are those who tilt their carriage canopies together and rejoice, meeting once and at once becoming close; there are those who stay strangers until their hair turns white, never knowing each other; there are those to whom it is transmitted as soon as they bow and bend the knee; there are those to whom it is transmitted only after they offer gold and swear oaths. Reverence is a gift not yet presented; reverence without substance is not reverence. What matters is to observe the disciple’s sincerity, trustworthiness, and earnest conduct, and his reverence for the master and honor for the Tao. So there are those to whom it is transmitted only after repeated tests, as when Zhongli Quan (Yunfang) tested Lü Dongbin ten times. There are those who are received only after humbling themselves, as when Liu Bei (Xuande) visited the thatched cottage three times. There are those who follow a master for many years without their hearts ever turning back. There are those whose sincerity is clearly known, yet who are deliberately tested with many hardships. This transmitting of the Tao and receiving of instruction—is it a small matter, is it something easily obtained? Thus there are cases where the Tao is not transmitted when six ears are present. For the Tao and methods of the higher vehicle cannot be transmitted to people of middling or lower capacity, and the Tao and methods of the middling and lower vehicles cannot be transmitted to people of superior wisdom. Therefore one teaches according to the person. When Ran You asked, “Should I act at once on what I hear?” the Master said, “Act at once on what you hear.” When Zilu asked, “Should I act at once on what I hear?” the Master said, “Your father and elder brothers are alive; how could you act at once on what you hear?” For Qiu held back, so he urged him forward; You was headstrong, so he held him back; each could not listen to the other’s answer. So when Gongxi Hua heard both, he became doubtful. Likewise, many of his disciples asked about humaneness, and the Master answered each differently—that is the point. Or again, when one person has faith and another merely overhears, one can speak to the one with faith but not to the one who overhears. Hence the saying: “If it is obtained easily, it will be regarded lightly.”
Assembly, sometimes the Tao is transmitted among thousands and tens of thousands of people, and the wise obtain it while the benighted find it difficult. It is recited aloud and clearly, the mysterious workings openly divulged: those with a mind for it receive and remember it, while for those without the affinity it passes by their ears like the wind. Assembly, the Buddha Shakyamuni held up a flower before the assembly and said, “I have the wondrous, bright, true nature, the wondrous mind of nirvana, the treasury of the true Dharma eye. Can any of you see it?” Only Kashyapa smiled at the flower.
Assembly, Kashyapa and Shakyamuni openly repaired the plank road while secretly crossing at Chencang: before the assembly they secretly transmitted the hidden Tao, sealing mind with mind and passing it from mouth to mouth. Assembly, no one knew what was transmitted and what was received. Assembly, Confucius, in the presence of all the sages and worthies, said to Zengzi: “Shen! My Tao is one thread running through all.” Zengzi said, “Yes.” There were many disciples; was it that the sage transmitted the Tao before the multitude and Zengzi received the Tao among the multitude? The others did not recognize their own minds, so though they encountered it they did not encounter it, and did not know what was transmitted or what was received. Zengzi deeply understood his own nature, and so he naturally and tacitly accorded with the sage’s mind. Long ago Xuanyuan, the Yellow Emperor, sought the Tao from Guangchengzi. He sought it earnestly again and again, and Guangchengzi did not answer. Then he withdrew and grew even more reverent; after living in retirement for three months, he went again to invite him, approached on his knees from the downwind side, humble, modest, and yielding, and asked about the Tao with an open mind. Only then did he obtain a few plain, proper words, spoken to the Yellow Emperor face to face; whether he practiced them or not was up to him. This is called each fulfilling his own way.
Assembly, in our Taoist school, the Tao Te Ching and the Zhuangzi contain so many wondrous meanings; the Liezi (True Classic of Perfect Emptiness) and the True Classic of Wenshi (Guanyinzi) contain so many true words; the Three Caverns and Four Supplements and the thirty-six divisions contain so many scriptures! Who can sweep clean the ear faculty to hear the wondrous meanings of the sacred scriptures, and open wide the field of vision to awaken to the Great Tao through words and explanations? Without awakening, the mind is not bright, and even if one meets a sage master, one will not recognize him.
Assembly, before you go to seek a master, you must first seek within yourselves. Before you go to ask about the Tao, you must first ask your own minds. If you do not practice according to the precepts, it is utterly impossible to obtain a master and have the Tao sealed. In the end, I want each of you first to cut out entirely the mind of pride and arrogance, and then to split open entirely the mind of jealousy and slander. When you meet people, do not boast of your abilities, for there may well be someone as able as you. If you happen to meet a clear-eyed person of high attainment, a truly resolved seeker, and with a word or half a phrase he cuts you off at the waist, how will you break free? Naturally, when the snow melts the corpse is seen, and you cannot escape one who knows. Now I urge you all: seeking a master and asking about the Tao is not a matter of hastily knocking your head a few times before a master and calling him “Master” a few times. All of you must quickly repent, promptly correct your former mind of slighting and disdaining the Tao, revere the treasure of the Law, and keep your eyes open to seek a master. When your heart is true and your thoughts earnest, the immortals and Perfected will come without being sought, regardless of distance or of early or late.
A poem says:
To seek a master, you must master yourself; to ask about the Tao, you need a sincere heart.
Only with a sincere heart does one awaken to the Tao; with earnest thoughts one meets good causes.
Hard to encounter in ten thousand kalpas, it has come down to now through a thousand lives.
If you can understand this universal teaching, you will suddenly awaken to the root before birth.