I have often reflected that the source of the Tao has its own orthodox lineage, and that the ten thousand methods do not go beyond the one mind. Expanded, it becomes the five thousand words of the Tao Te Ching; condensed, it is the sixteen-character teaching handed down like fire passed from one piece of kindling to the next. All those who divide into separate schools and houses are, for the most part, merely taking different paths to the same destination. Yet those in the world who yearn for the Tao vainly journey to Mount Kongtong in search of instruction; they “shave the hair and wash the marrow,” wishing to exchange their mortal bones, yet have no elixir; they seek to establish their destiny and find the truth, and speak of the mysterious workings, yet never awaken. They do not understand that in principle what matters is a single-minded heart, and in method what is sought is one thread running through all; to grasp the essential teaching within, one depends entirely on instruction handed down from master to disciple.
In the leisure left by my official duties, I have set my heart on the Tao for many years. I have always kept the Heart Method of the Dragon Gate (Longmen Xinfa) by Perfected Wang, who founded the White Cloud Temple anew at the beginning of our dynasty, studying its substance and function morning and evening, until suddenly I gained a faint glimmer of understanding. I then spoke with my close friends Zhang Gengyun, abbot of the White Cloud Temple, and the adept Qin Yunqiao—the three of us fellow followers of the Tao—lamenting that the work existed only as a manuscript copy and could not circulate in the world. The two gentlemen said: “The Perfected’s name is inscribed in the Purple Palace, and his repute is weighty in the divine capital. Since this text survives, students who wish to study it closely will be able to keep their feet firmly on the ground. Truly, as it is said, the humane see it and call it humaneness; the wise see it and call it wisdom.”
“An altar is now being opened for ordination with precepts, and those throughout the world who boldly seek the Tao have all gathered here. It may first be expounded to them, and afterward given to the printers.”
I gladly agreed, not daring to keep it hidden and hoard it; the monastery donated the funds, wishing to carve the blocks and circulate it. Looking back from the beginning of the Shunzhi reign of our dynasty to the start of the Tongzhi reign, the Perfected’s hidden virtue has long accumulated, and now its hidden light can at last be brought forth—for this I cannot rejoice enough.
My only wish is that those who grasp its spirit and bring it to light will no longer need to seek wondrous medicines in the seas of Penglai or the heaven within the gourd, nor yearn for the splendor of feathered wheels and jade trees. That would be my own private good fortune. Hence this preface.