Commentary on the Great Way - Part 2 ⒁

The great cultivator desires to obtain the elixir beyond the heavens first. One must temper oneself in anticipation of the birth of Yang, refine one's spirit into a wise sword, and draw golden water to evenly mix softness and hardness. In ancient times, when people gathered herbs and used fire, they relied entirely on this substance to eliminate the seven emotions and six desires and to get rid of the harm of the five thieves. If one does not refine oneself to eliminate the harm of thieves, one cannot always remain calm and composed. How could the soul and spirit be controlled? How could desires be irrelevant? If one wants to enter the room to perform good deeds and strike right by the stove, although the external fire ⑨ is diligent, the internal talismans will not respond. It is only because of the mismatch between hardness and softness that the wise sword has no sharp edge, and the demons are causing harm. The mind is restless, and desires arise. Therefore, it wanders around, causing the mercury fire to fly and the holy womb to fail to form. If one refines oneself to perfection, the mind will be free of distractions, the body will be as empty as the universe, spotless and free from all worries. When the heart is dead, the spirit becomes alive; when the body is weak, the qi flows. Only then can one seek the way of Yang and the work of the two seasons ⒁. [Note] ① Yang: Here it refers to the innate primordial energy. The essence of the acquired kidney is compared to the Kan hexagram, with external Yin and internal Yang. Refining the essence and transforming it into qi is to transform a bit of true Yang within this Kan. ② Divine spirit: that is, the form of god. This deity refers to the true intention and right mindfulness of a person, the innate original mind. Practicing true intention and right mindfulness can cut off selfish desires and distractions, thus it is called the Sword of wisdom. ③ Golden Water: It is a metaphor for the innate primordial energy. Alchemists refer to the refined essence as gold ore and the refined energy as gold. Therefore, gold comes from water, and thus it is called "gold water". ④ Softness and hardness: It refers to the balance of civil and military affairs. "Wu Huo" refers to a particularly concentrated and intense thought, which contains subjective consciousness elements acquired later in life and often needs to be coordinated with breathing. "Wenhuo" refers to a calm mind, free from subjective consciousness, and everything follows nature. ⑤ Gathering herbs and introducing fire: The two stages before and after a process in the transformation of essence into qi. Gathering herbs refers to the calm attention of the true intention after the true Yang energy has sprouted, maintaining its continuous growth and making it vigorous. When entering the fire, that is, when the true Yang is vigorous and strong, the true intention does not disperse. Guide it to rise in the reverse direction along the Du Meridian. In the level of the practice of returning from the acquired to the innate, the collection of herbs and the introduction of fire can be distinguished at the initial and shallow levels, but not at the advanced and profound levels. ⑥ The desires of the Seven emotions: The Seven beauties refer to the emotional characteristics of joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, fear and shock. This generally refers to the complex greed of human beings. ⑦ The Harm of the Five Bandits: The Five Bandits refer to the sensory perceptions and thinking of the human body, including the eyes, ears, nose, and heart. Because people's selfish desires are all caused by these senses, perceptions and thoughts, which in turn harm people's physical and mental health, they are called the Five Thieves. The number "five" is a general reference. Ancient people's interpretations were more or less the same, always referring generally to and. ⑧ Soul and Spirit: Ancient people classified the human spirit with the five internal organs, that is, the liver stores the soul and belongs to wood. The lung stores late and belongs to metal. The heart houses the spirit and belongs to fire. The spleen stores the mind and belongs to the element of earth. The kidney stores essence and belongs to water. The soul governs the nature in life, and the spirit governs the destiny in life. The soul is the body of the divine, and the spirit is the root of the essence. When the soul is active, the spirit is exhausted; when the soul is still, the spirit is nourished. ⑨ External fire: It refers to the consciousness (i.e., subjective consciousness) and the air inhaled through the mouth and nose after birth. ⑩ Inner Symbols: These refer to the signs and information indicating the generation of innate primordial energy during the fetal breathing state. ⑾ Demons: It refers to all kinds of evil thoughts and desires that are inherently evil. Mercury Fire: The god of the true spirit. 13. Holy Womb: It is the substance formed by the condensation of spirit and qi, also known as Dan. Man is born from nothing and is given by his parents, so he is born from the mother's womb as an ordinary one. Cultivators, with great wisdom, return the acquired to the innate, creating a new beginning of life for themselves. Therefore, the condensation of the spirit is called the holy womb. Youdaoplaceholder0 The function of the second pentad: The alchemists divide the process from extraction and refinement to circulation into the "six pentad", and the "first pentad" is the beginning of the emergence of new drugs. Because they are too young to be used, they cannot be picked. The "two hou" are vigorous medicinal seedlings that are neither old nor tender. They should be picked at the right time. If they are picked too old, they cannot be used. Therefore, the function of the "two hou" is highly valued. [Translation] Those who set grand goals in their cultivation should seek the primordial elixir from the void of nature. One must start with self-cultivation to calmly await the emergence of Yang energy. Moreover, one must refine the wisdom sword with the righteous energy displayed by the true intention, eliminate all obstacles that hinder the cultivation of Yang energy, and also, with the true intention as the main focus, adjust the balance of civil and martial arts, softness and hardness to collect and refine the Yang energy. In ancient times, when cultivators were gathering herbs and making fires, they relied entirely on this wise sword with the true meaning suspended high to cut off all kinds of evil thoughts and distractions, as well as all kinds of bad thoughts and behaviors caused by the temptation of external objects to their sensory thinking. If one cannot achieve success in self-cultivation and eliminate all kinds of harmful thoughts and distractions that are detrimental to the body and mind, the mind cannot remain calm under any circumstances. Since the mind cannot be calm, how can the restless soul be subdued? Will the desires that arise from this not cause trouble again? If so, then when you start to meditate and practice, although you can mobilize your subjective consciousness to observe and your breathing to cooperate, because your heart cannot be pure to the point of being spotless or calm to the point of being void and chaotic, the news of the emergence of the innate Yang energy will not appear accordingly. This is all because you have only the fierce fire but no true gentle fire, you have hardness but no softness, you have the acquired but no innate nature, and your true intention cannot hold your ground. This is like wanting to use a sword. However, a sword has no sharp edge, so it is powerless against demons. Evil thoughts that are evil by nature are like demons. If you can't get rid of them, they will continue to disturb people's minds. If the mind cannot be at peace, there will be more evil thoughts and distractions. So, when you are just about to enter a state of tranquility or have just entered a state of tranquility, evil thoughts and distractions start to seep in. At this point, without your true intentions in place, it's very easy for you to run away again along with evil thoughts and distractions. The wandering thoughts and distractions from the inside out consume a person's primordial spirit. In the application of cultivation methods, the primordial spirit is called mercury fire, and thus is regarded as mercury fire flying. The sacred fetus of immortals is the condensation of internal and external medicines. As an internal medicine, it is the unity of essence, energy and spirit within the body. Since the mercury fire within the body has been lost and the spirit is not at its abode, The qi also dissipated, so the foundation of the holy womb could not be built. If the refinement has been perfected, then there will be no distractions in the mind. The physical body will blend with the universe's void due to the unobstructed conditions created by the empty and clear state of mind. But such a state of being free from distractions must be spotless, without even right mindfulness, and everything must return to emptiness. Only then can one truly achieve self-cultivation and perfection. There is no room for leniency in the cultivation of alchemy. Only when the human heart dies after birth will the primordial spirit be born. Only when the physical body is in harmony with the void can the primordial energy operate. Only when such conditions are met can one seek the skills of nourishing, gathering, refining and regulating qi. Otherwise, it's all empty talk. [Understanding] The supreme practice of cultivation begins with self-cultivation. Once the practice is done, the martial arts can be executed as smoothly as a ship sailing with the wind. Because it directly enters the primordial state, it is also called the method of sudden enlightenment. Why is the practice of refinement so important and so wondrous in subsequent cultivation? I once published an article titled "Self-Cultivation and Self-Nurturing" in the 10th and 11th issues of Wudang in 1995, specifically discussing this issue. The origin of the universe's natural generation of all things is the void primordial energy, but according to its generation function, it can also be manifested as essence and spirit. Essence governs destiny, and god governs nature. Just as a person is born by the essence of his father and the blood of his mother, this is acquired later in life. When the coarse blood of the father and the blood of the mother interact with each other, the innate void spiritual energy seeps in, differentiating the essence of the father and the blood of the mother, and thus forming a person's life. The innate one thing is divided into the subsequent void and the void. But for these two things, their nature is manifested through their destiny, and their destiny exists through their nature. In terms of God. In the natural void, it is the primordial spirit of a grand Duke. The composition of a person gives the primordial spirit of the Grand Duke a "private" existence within this role-playing individual, thus the individual refers to itself as "myself" or "I". In the innate laws of nature, the spirit of "self" is merely a manifestation of a certain transformed form of the innate primordial spirit. When manifested to human beings, it is their nature and conscience. In the practice of alchemy, it is called true intention or primordial spirit. This title is reasonable, but it is often difficult to distinguish it from the primordial spirit of the Void in exposition. Therefore, the principle of "self discrimination" is formulated, and the true meaning of "self" and the primordial spirit are called the "clear spirit". This distinction regards the primordial spirit of the Void as the spirit of Wen Dun, which is the pre-heaven. Regard the deity that constitutes "self" as a deity of the harmony of Yin and Yang (i.e., the interplay of the sun and the moon, and the harmony of Yin and Yang) that is innate and acquired, and acquired and innate, as the deity of reason. The spirit that constantly loses thinking and dispels consciousness in the later stage of life is called the consciousness spirit. However, the innate primordial spirit, the middle and bright spirit, and the acquired consciousness spirit are not clearly distinguishable from each other. Instead, they are the three ends of a continuum: the primordial spirit is the starting point of the "self" that creates human beings. To understand God is the middle end of the "self" of becoming a person, and to recognize God is the end of the "self" of showing off others. If compared to a tree, the primordial spirit is like the nutrients in the soil beneath the tree roots, the enlightened spirit is like the roots that absorb nutrients to maintain and safeguard the tree's life, and the consciousness spirit is like the branches and leaves of the tree. As for trees, the reason why they can grow naturally lies in the harmonious circulation of the primordial spirit, the clear spirit and the consciousness spirit. Especially the "consciousness spirit" part of the trunk, branches and leaves, they can exchange the most suitable information, energy and matter for their survival with the external nature such as sunlight, rain and dew, wind and snow, and seasons according to their nutritional and root capabilities, and sprout when necessary. It hides when it should, and thus can fulfill the life limit bestowed upon it by nature. However, people often cannot be like this. The display and showing off of the divine are always prone to doing everything for oneself. They do not make fair, reasonable and moderate exchanges with everything outside, but rather want to give less and gain more. In fact, the laws and regulations of nature will never allow such unreasonable phenomena to exist. The extreme self-interest of the consciousness spirit is also integrated into the causal logic of the laws and regulations. The consciousness spirit wants to give less but cannot give less. The various greedy thoughts strengthened by the consciousness seed pay the fundamental life of the "spirit" - the primordial spirit. Suppose that the primordial spirit of the Void and the acquired spirit of a person are like an unbreakable rubber band, and its elastic tensile force is determined by the void. As long as it does not exceed the limit of this elastic tensile force, the two heavens will always be closely connected, and life will not come to an end. But the consciousness often desperately pulls this rubber band, causing its elastic tensile force to exceed the limit and eventually break apart. The greater and more intense the pulling force is, the faster and more rapid the separation will be. This is the principle of cause and effect that the selfish and greedy desires of the "self" of the consciousness can bring harm to life. Self-cultivation means to restrain the extreme and self-interested behaviors of the consciousness and spirit, and to maintain the most reasonable exchange with the external nature like a tree, conforming to heaven, things, people and oneself, benefiting heaven, things, people and oneself. Integrate the consciousness spirit, the understanding spirit and the primordial spirit into one. The most important thing in self-cultivation is to discover the enlightened spirit and cultivate it. Because the Clear God is the only god that can maintain the same nature as the primordial spirit after the primordial spirit creates a person. After birth, a person's consciousness and spirit are vigorous, and the clear seeds are often obscured and not understood. It's not that they understand the spirit but fail to grasp it, but rather that they are always adept at infusing themselves in social circles, not wanting to have a high hall at home. As long as the deity is slightly willing to be filial and kind, when one turns back and returns home, one will immediately see the enlightened Deity. It's not that the enlightened God refuses to be enlightened. Just like children being contaminated by the bad social atmosphere, even if the parents are kind people, seeing them heartbroken and constantly sighing, what can be done if they don't listen to your advice? Therefore, the merit of self-cultivation is first and foremost like the current "severe crackdown" struggle in society. The consciousness God knows that the "severe crackdown" involves his own evil deeds and it is not easy for him to escape, so he escapes home. The Wisdom God takes advantage of the situation to guide and teach him a lesson, making the consciousness God submit to the control of the Wisdom God from then on. Shen Shen was also well aware of his sin and was willing to mend his ways, make up for his SINS with his deeds, and from then on, he would do everything as Ming Shen commanded. But the mind is prone to bad habits by nature, and the slightest negligence can cause old ailments to recur. This is because before the eyes of the enlightened spirit, the enlightened Spirit will constantly notice and instruct. The consciousness spirit will gradually put away its bad habits and eventually be completely under the command of the enlightened Spirit. Eventually, the actions of the consciousness spirit will become the actions of the enlightened spirit, and the consciousness spirit and the spirit will become one. This is the process and ultimate goal of self-cultivation. When one recognizes the unity of the divine and the spiritual, it is the refinement of oneself to perfection. When the refinement has reached perfection, the spirit within the body touches and communicates with the spirit of the void, thus it is called sudden enlightenment, thus it is called true entry into the primordial state. The process of self-cultivation is arduous and lengthy, which is why the ancients said, "Self-cultivation is the most difficult." This is actually also a process of gradual enlightenment. When one's refinement is proficient, one can obtain the medicine with ease. Therefore, the ancients said, "Restoring the elixir is the easiest." It is reflected as the effect of sudden enlightenment. It can also be considered that gradual enlightenment is a process of critical understanding of principles and things, while sudden enlightenment is a sudden and thorough realization of inspiration. In fact, sudden enlightenment is accumulated through gradual enlightenment, a transformation from quantitative change to qualitative change. Without gradual enlightenment, one cannot achieve sudden enlightenment. Talking without conditions is blinding or self-deceiving. In the state of practice, "although the external fire is diligent, the internal talismans do not respond" is a manifestation that the consciousness spirit has not been in harmony with the enlightened spirit. The "external fire" is in the desire that does not follow the objective, that is, consciously wanting to bring out the "internal fire", so "the talismans do not respond". And the "uniform combination of hardness and softness", although it involves the shared use of the enlightened spirit and the consciousness spirit, at this time, the consciousness spirit is merged with the enlightened spirit and is under the command of the enlightened spirit, which can make "the mind free of distractions, spotless, and all thoughts empty". Therefore, the soul and spirit are restricted. Desire is irrelevant. "When the heart is dead, the spirit is alive." The dead heart is the extreme behavior of the consciousness spirit. It is not that the heart is truly dead, but that the heart is in harmony with the heart of the Tao, and the spirit of cognition returns to the spirit of understanding. The living god does not merely refer to the overly powerful God. It is the primordial spirit, the unity of the enlightened spirit and the consciousness spirit. It is not a truly extraordinary god, but a god of non-gods, a god of nature. "Weakness of the body leads to good fortune of qi." This is a prominent feature of the dual cultivation of life and nature in immortals reflected in their destiny, and it is an inevitable sign of the harmony of spirit and qi. If one merely talks about "the death of the heart", it is bound to fall into the trap of stubborn emptiness. Therefore, "heart death" is to block the external consumption of the consciousness spirit and instead use it internally, connecting essence and energy, and using the spirit fire to refine essence water and transform it into energy to circulate throughout the body. When the meridians throughout the body are unobstructed, the orifices are open and the pores are open, it indicates a sign of physical weakness. Not only is physical weakness more conducive to the transformation and transportation of the vital energy within the body, but it also connects with the Tai Xu at the same time, thereby receiving the nourishment and casting of the Tai Xu's vital energy. This is what is called the harmony of heaven and man, the unity of the inside and outside. This is true for those who have obtained medicine, those who have made elixirs, those who have formed a fetus, and those who have ascended to immortality. The author, Mr. Kong De, authorizes this website for exclusive publication and recording. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use for other purposes is prohibited.