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Cultivating the Triple World
Han Zhongli was one of the Eight Immortals of popular Taoist legend. His disciple Lu Dongbin, another of the Eight Immortals, is among the greatest and most beloved Taoist wizards of all time. There is a book called Annals of Transmission of the Way from Zhong to Lu, which consists of dialogues between these two giants on the practice of inner spiritual alchemy. Collected, edited, and disseminated by the Taoist Master Huayang, this text includes the following discussion.
Lu asked, “What is the principle of the Great Way that is hard to know and hard to practice?”
Zhongli said, “Since minor auxiliary methods easily produce visible effects, and they have been popularized by worldly people who never wake up all their lives, this has become such a trend that it has come to the point of spoiling the Great Way.”
Lu asked, “I already know about minor auxiliary methods. Can I hear about the Great Way?”
Zhongli said, “The Way basically has no question; the question basically has no answer. But when true energy divides, total simplicity is already gone. The Way produces one, one produces two, two produce three. One stands for substance, two stands for function, three stands for creation and evolution.
“The substance and function are not beyond yin and yang; creation and evolution are caused by their interaction. The higher, middle, and lower are the three fundamentals; heaven, earth, and humanity collectively realize one Way. The Way produces the two energies, the two energies produce the three fundamentals, the three fundamentals produce the five elements, the five elements produce all beings.
“Of all beings, the most intelligent and most noble are human beings. Only human beings search out the principles of all things and fulfill their own nature; finding out principle and fulfilling nature, we arrive at destiny. Fulfilling our destiny, preserving our lives, we conform to the Way, to become as stable as heaven and earth, and to last forever in the same way.”
Lu said, “Heaven and earth last forever, but the human life span is only a hundred years, and indeed few even live to be seventy. How can the Way only exist in heaven and earth while being remote from humankind?”
Zhongli said, “The Way is not remote from people, but people distance themselves from the Way by trying to nurture life without knowing how. The reason they don’t know how is that they don’t know the right timing to make effort. The reason they don’t know the right timing is that they have not understood the mechanism of heaven and earth.”
The “mechanism of heaven and earth” refers to the laws by which the universe operates. Humanity is born between heaven and earth. A human being is a microcosm that is influenced and regulated by the macrocosm. Unless you know natural laws, proper timing, and appropriate method, there is no succeeding in learning the Way. Polish away the temperamental nature of acquired habit, and fundamental essential nature appears of itself. Casting aside the ordinary mind, keep the true mind. Where does the true mind resort? To Nature.
The work of collecting the mind to nurture its essential nature was completed in one year. Wang Liping emerged from the dark room, the earth pit, the giant urn, and the graveyard, heading toward Nature itself.
Everything in the triple world of heaven, earth, and humanity is a partner in cultivation in the process of realizing the Way—sun, moon, stars, and plants; mountains and rivers; flowers, plants, and trees; birds and beasts; wind, rain, thunder, and lightning; heat and cold; spring, summer, fall, and winter; east, west, south, and north. Everything contains creation and evolution; everything conceals subtleties. Now, under the tutelage of the three old wizards, Wang Liping began intensive cultivation of the triple world.
The sun rises and sets, the moon waxes and wanes, the poles revolve, and the stars shift; spring gives birth, autumn kills, summer grows, and winter stores; seas dry up, and rocks emerge; dynasties change, and eras pass. The triple world of heaven, earth, and humanity, the middle of the three realms, fluctuates, one thing waning while another grows, alternately emptying and filling, with countless changes and transformations always going on. And yet all of it forms one single, complete system, wherein oppositions tend toward balance from imbalance and nurture imbalance within balance, producing regular and harmonious movement. Humanity, being in the midst of this, lives and acts in conformity to the commands of Nature, subject to many pressures from both Nature and society.
The forces not only differ in direction; they are also unequally distributed in time, and are of countless different characteristics. Some people’s senses can perceive them, while others’ cannot; some are beneficial to the human body, some are harmful. Modern science has made minute analyses of those forces that can be perceived, but it does not recognize the existence of countless imperceptible forces. Yet the effects of these forces on the human body and human life are even greater than are those of perceptible forces.
This shortcoming does not exist in the ancient cultures of China and other peoples. First of all, these cultures accepted the existence of such forces; what is more, they investigated these forces, using different methods, testing them and learning to operate them. The excellence of traditional Chinese culture is in its totalistic view, in which heaven, earth, and humankind are united into one; this view avoids partiality and bias. When it comes to the issue of what degree of perception they attained, and how they expressed it in words, that is another question.
Taoist culture is one of the main pillars of traditional Chinese culture. Its methodology and degree of attainment in perception of the universe and the human body is truly amazing to modern man. It may even be that Westerners appreciate its value more than the Chinese themselves do, seeing it as a lustrous jewel of human civilization.
Heaven, earth, and humanity are one continuity, one totality, one system, with humanity living in the middle. The Great Way works throughout the universe, unresisting harmony balancing itself.
Taoists have cleaved to this Way for thousands of years, using it to perceive the universe and to cultivate and refine the human being, leaving behind them an inexhaustible treasury of countless writings. The three old Dragon Gate Taoist wizards from Mount Lao were using the teachings transmitted by their spiritual ancestors to train their young disciple Wang Liping. Liping’s mentor now taught him an equilibrium exercise from the Spiritual Jewel techniques of inner exercises to master mental capacities.
This equilibrium exercise, one of the Spiritual Jewel Power exercise methods, is in the category of external exercises; it developed from elaboration of even older breathing techniques. The practitioner combines harmonic physical movements with strictly regulated breathing patterns, then goes on to use intent, energy, and the whole system of sensitive spots in the body to exchange energy masses with plants, animals, human beings, and other natural entities. It is called an equilibrium exercise because it enables the practitioner to attain a state of balance or equilibrium in the mutual opposition and antagonism of energy masses in the interaction between humanity and plants, between humanity and animals, among human beings, and between humanity and other natural entities.
This practice, in name, principle, and method, actualizes a kind of deep philosophical thinking. Considering the relationships between humans and other beings within the context of the total system of the universe, handling these relationships seriously in a comprehensive manner, the premise is to avoid disrupting the equilibrium of the total system while maximizing the expression and employment of useful energy in oneself to establish a new equilibrium between the self and the external world, with the purpose of nourishing life, strengthening the body, and increasing longevity.
The Wayfarer of Pure Serenity began this lesson by facing a huge pine tree. “See this tree?” he said to Liping, “Today we’re going to work with this tree. It is an enormous tree. It has been through years of fierce heat and bitter cold, blown by the wind and beaten by the rain. Its life force is truly powerful, containing something useful to our cultivation.
“In the human body are routes of energy circulation, routes of blood circulation, and routes of waste elimination. The tree also has routes of energy circulation, routes of water circulation, ways of absorbing nutrients, and ways of eliminating waste products. Equilibrium exercise mainly consists of methods of radiating and absorbing auras of ethereal force. Working with a tree involves exchanging energy with the tree to attain an equilibrium of yin and yang and the five elements in the human body.
“Trees have different color bases, associated variously with the five elements. The color base of this pine tree is green. Among the five elements, this corresponds to wood. In the human body, it corresponds to the liver. If people have liver disease, it comes from water weakness. When water is weak, wood does not grow. The kidneys manage water, and the color associated with water is black. The tree associated with black is the cedar. So to cure liver disease you first work with cedar to replenish kidney water, then you work with pine after that.
“Liver disease can also come from excessive fire energy, which causes a leakage of wood energy, so control of fire energy is needed to cure the liver effectively. Liver disease can also come from an excess of metal energy, which causes tension in wood energy. So it is also necessary to control metal energy to cure the liver. In any case, it is necessary to find a corresponding tree to work with. Only then can you harmonize the yin and yang and five elements in the human body, getting rid of sickness and strengthening the body.”
Wang Liping had already heard about this principle of the five elements fostering and overcoming each other from the Wayfarer of the Infinite, so now he took in the explanation of the Wayfarer of Pure Serenity with perfect clarity. He even knew what the Wayfarer meant by an “aura of ethereal force.”
The Wayfarer of Pure Serenity continued, “There are altogether nine kinds of equilibrium exercise. Starting today, we will study them one by one.” Then the Wayfarer walked over to the huge pine tree and stood about half a meter from it. “Watch what I do,” he said to Liping.
Standing with his feet at shoulder width, knees slightly bent, the mentor held his upper body in an erect position. Raising his arms, he extended them in front of him, straight but not stiff, his sides open, his palms toward the tree. Gazing straight ahead with his eyes nearly closed, the old wizard slowly bent and straightened his legs, moving up and down while maintaining his torso upright, both hands slowly sweeping up and down along the trunk of the tree. As he demonstrated the movements, the Wayfarer explained, “Pay attention to the attunement of the breathing. When you move upward you breathe in, and when you move downward you breathe out. As the physical movements are performed slowly, the breathing must be slow, subtle, deep, long, and even. At the same time, certain conscious thought needs to be added to this combination. The attention is placed in the palms of the hands, and you imagine the tree to be an enormous pillar of energy of a particular color. In this case, the pine tree I am using is a pillar of green energy. Imagine your palms emitting a mass of energy of the same color, exchanging it with the tree’s energy mass.” Now Wang Liping began the exercise, imitating the teacher. The old wizard stood by watching carefully, alerting him where he needed to pay attention, stopping Liping when he had gotten to the point where he could execute the movements correctly and had clearly experienced certain feelings.
In the mountains of that region, there are many varieties of trees, making it a good place to practice this exercise. Every morning at dawn and every evening at dusk, Wang Liping would perform the exercise for a period specified by his mentor, choosing a different species of tree, one after another. He also learned a number of different postures.
The Wayfarer of Pure Serenity was very serious about teaching, and his requirements were strict. For this exercise, he decided to add an extra challenge. Rigging a pulley up in the tree, he attached a rock to a rope and ran the rope through the pulley so that the rock could be raised and lowered by pulling on the rope. As Wang Liping performed the exercise, the old wizard held onto the rope in such a way as to keep the rock right over the youth’s head, thereby forcing him to control the speed of his movements accordingly, while keeping his upper body consistently erect. The old mentor worked the rope so that it took fully half an hour to go up and down once, so the movement was extremely slow, even more difficult than standing still; and since the breathing has to be matched to this pace, that added yet another degree of difficulty to the exercise. Over a period of four hours, Liping made the excruciatingly slow movement up and down just a few times. His knees burned with pain, his thighs turned to jelly, and his sacroiliac became numb. There was that rock over his head, however, and the sternest of his teachers there watching, so no matter how hard or painful it was, he had to continue steadfastly.
When the exercise period was over, Liping’s clothes were soaked with perspiration. He didn’t have the strength even to walk. The old wizard, his mentor, was pained by the sight, but how could he foster exceptional attainment in his disciple without such training? The aged Wayfarer half carried his youthful apprentice away, but in fact he himself had also had quite a workout.
After he got used to doing this exercise under the stone, Wang Liping had already achieved more than usual skill in tuning his body and breath and exchanging energy with trees in this exercise. Even without his mentor there, he was able to do it quite well.
Liping’s mentor wanted him to establish a solid foundation once he started working on equilibrium exercises, so he pursued a new tack with this subject. The three old wizards had discovered an extremely good place on the mountain. It was not a large spot, but it had five huge trees of different species, one in each of the four cardinal directions and one in the center. In the east was a pine tree, in the south was a paulownia, in the west was an aspen, in the north was a cedar, and in the center was a willow. Felicitously, they formed a natural array of the five elements and their associated directions, so it was a natural place for using the external five elements to refine the five elements within the human body.
When the three old wizards discovered this spot, they spontaneously looked at each other in amazement. The grand master, the Wayfarer of the Infinite, clapped his hands and said, “This is a boon from heaven!” Subsequently they rigged up a rope net among these trees, about half the height of a man; then they had Wang Liping walk under the net, his legs crouching but his upper body erect, the crown of his head just touching the net, so he could neither stand tall nor squat too low.
After practicing like this for two months, Liping could walk in this “horse step” all around the area within the five trees. He could even carry a bowl of water on his head, prancing about at a rapid pace without spilling a drop, keeping the surface of the water level as a mirror.
With the five trees arrayed around the spot, as one walked among them, the five elements in the human body corresponded to the external five elements in the trees. Liping’s mentor had him walk along a certain prescribed route, based on the interrelations of the five elements to tune the internal five elements within the human body, using the external five elements to exert a pull on the internal five elements, so as to arrive at equilibrium of the internal five elements, in order to get rid of diseases and prolong life. By varying the route, and adding different hand positions and matching breathing patterns, it was also possible to bring out latent capacities hidden in the human body and cultivate extraordinary powers. From these very ordinary trees in the natural world, Wang Liping was ultimately able to elicit and to absorb unusual capacities.
Trees are the largest of plants; just as trees can be classified according to affinity with the five elements, so it is with other plants, which also contain vital energy and can be used for Taoist exercises. Depending on their own physical condition and need for power, practitioners use a specific form of equilibrium exercise to take in that vital energy, exchanging energy bodies.
Animals, like plants, can also be differentiated in terms of the five elements, and humans can use a relationship with them to cultivate themselves. Wang Liping’s mentor gave him specific instructions on exercising with each species.
One day the Wayfarer of Pure Emptiness called Liping to him. Pointing to a basket on the ground, he said, “There’s something in the basket. Take a good look!”
Peering through the slats, Liping saw a long snake coiled up in the basket, creeping up the side. Unconsciously he started. People of the north aren’t used to snakes and are likely to be frightened if they see one. Wang Liping asked his mentor what the snake was for. The old wizard replied that it was for doing exercises. Liping didn’t understand what he meant.
The teacher explained that the subtlest equilibrium exercise is paired cultivation, which requires a partner of some sort. There is nothing in the triple world that cannot be an object or a partner in paired cultivation. The snake is a kind of animal that usually lives in places that are shady, cool, and moist, so its nature is extreme yin. Paired cultivation with a snake makes it possible to develop extraordinary capacities in the human body.
When the old wizard had finished this explanation, Liping saw the wizard’s lips convulse, emitting an eerie sound much like the hissing of a snake. The snake in the basket immediately lay down quietly, completely immobile. Directing his disciple to have no fear in working with the snake, the old wizard taught Liping a method of paired exercise. After several days of practice, Liping noticed extraordinary sensations.
One moonlit night the Wayfarer of Pure Emptiness led Wang Liping to the mossy opening of a small mountain cave. Ordering his apprentice to stand a ways back from the cave, the old wizard began to make a sound with his mouth. Before long, snakes of all sizes came out of their hiding places, slithering toward the mouth of the cave from all directions. Liping saw the snakes stop near the cave, glistening with a cold light under the moon, coiling on the mossy ground, their tongues darting out every now and then.
No longer afraid, Wang Liping first steadied his spirit. His mentor told him to exercise in the manner he had been taught, so Liping took up the appropriate posture and began to work. Closing his eyes, he relied on only inner sensations to exercise in tandem with the snakes.
The snakes, a dozen or more of them, began to circle Liping, all moving in the same direction, following the movement of his hands and the movement of his energy. Slow at first, they speeded up, then gradually slowed down again; and then they began to dance and frolic about, shimmering in the moonlight.
Liping then switched the technique he was employing. Immediately the snakes stopped cavorting and lay motionless on the ground, finally becoming so still they virtually seemed dead.
When four hours had passed and it was time for Liping to conclude his exercise, the snakes revived and left, each going the way it had come. Seeing that Liping had mastered the techniques of this exercise, his mentor, who had been there watching over him all along, felt a surge of happiness in his heart.
Later the Wayfarer of Pure Emptiness also taught Liping methods for working with other animals, such as badgers, weasels, rats, and so on. Liping practiced each one of them in the fields at night until he had mastered them all. All the exercises with small animals are practiced at night because the animals are pure yin entities and are mostly nocturnal. Yet these little bundles of vital awareness have a lot of spiritual energy; sometimes they can be seen worshiping the moon on quiet, windless nights, and some of them have attainments in developmental exercises.
According to the Taoist theory and practice of three realms, every living thing with form and substance has an aura of ethereal force. But this is still viewing the issue from the level of the lower three realms— people, events, and things. If we rise higher to the level of the middle three realms—heaven, earth, and humanity—the mode of existence of events and phenomena rises to a higher level, and we encounter this issue immediately. It is at this level that the gravity with which Buddhists and Taoists view the taking of life has its profound logic.
One clear moonlit night the Wayfarer of the Infinite called off the midnight exercises. Instead he led the other wizards and their young apprentice down the mountain to a hill at a bend in the river. Gazing fixedly for a while, at length the Wayfarer turned to his disciples and said, “Do you see the energy in this hill?” The other two Wayfarers replied that they saw a blue energy, very powerful.
Now the old master said to Wang Liping, “This spot is very good. Yin and yang energies merge and combine here. When pure energy is rising on a mountain, that is the best condition for refinement work. Let’s do our exercise here.” Then the grand master gave Liping a detailed account of the method for practicing with mountains. When he had finished, all four of them began the exercise.
Wang Liping had been taught methods of developing mental capacities and had already attained the minor cycle; the aperture of his celestial eye was opened, and he had also successfully practiced various methods of equilibrium exercise. Now as he practiced this teaching tonight, after just two hours he had already seen the blue energy rising over the mountain, gazing with his celestial eye. As he used this energy to develop himself, the power in his body grew in a rapid spurt. After four hours had passed and the four of them had concluded the exercise, Liping told the old wizards that he had really seen the energy and had made tremendous gains from working with it.
One day the Wayfarer of Pure Serenity took Wang Liping to a small reservoir, where he had already prepared a large plank. The Wayfarer had Liping sit cross-legged on the plank, then eased it out into the water, where it gradually came to a stop in the middle of the reservoir. Liping sat on the plank in a state of silence, doing inner work; following his mentor’s instructions, he raised his work to a whole new level.
After four hours had passed, and the Wayfarer was sure that Liping had reached the right state, he disturbed the surface of the water with his hand, sending a wave of ripples toward the center of the reservoir. When the ripples approached the plank, Wang Liping’s reflection in the water was shattered; he himself just felt a shudder in the heart, and his body stirred. When the ripples had passed, the surface of the water again became smooth as ever, and Liping’s body and mind returned to their former state of quietude. The Wayfarer tested him in this way several times, and Liping successfully sensed the ripples each time. Seeing that his attainment was quite deep, the Wayfarer had Liping conclude the exercise and paddle in to shore. The young apprentice told his mentor all about the sensations he’d had on the water, finding it quite beyond his understanding.
When they had returned to the wizards’ abode, Wang Liping was finally given an explanation of the principle of this exercise. As the youth practiced paired cultivation work with all sorts of things and beings, his inner and outer accomplishments grew together. Now the yang celestial soul and the yin earthly soul in his body had both been strengthened and sensitized. From the point of view of ordinary people, shadows and reflections are unreal, things that have form but not substance, of no value to the human being. From the Taoist point of view, however, these “unreal shadows and reflections with form but no substance” also have ethereal force, which can be felt by the human body on contact. People who have not been refined by inner work are insensitive to these impressions, but those of high attainment can sense even such subtleties quite clearly. This is why Liping’s body and mind stirred when his reflection was disturbed in the water. When one gets to the “middle three realms,” shadows and reflections are no longer insubstantial forms; now they not only have form, they also have substance. This is the principle underlying the practice of curing illness by working on people’s shadows, as Wang Liping later learned from his mentor.
At this point, Liping reviewed the “eight trigram mental balls” taught him by his mentor, practicing over and over again. Once he had built up from one to nine energy balls of different colors, they whirled around his body, above and below, left and right. Wang Liping determined the positions of the eight trigrams, set a fixed direction and order, and then ran from one position to the next, so lightly and swiftly that he virtually flew, his upper body remaining erect and balanced throughout, blending different hand positions and different breathing patterns into an infinitely varied flux, while those nine colored energy balls revolved around him, above and below, left and right, according to regular patterns.
Once he was capable of doing this, Wang Liping was able to mentally extract his own internal organs, whirl them around in the air, massage them, and put them back into his gut. This exercise, which strengthens the internal organs, is simply inconceivable to an ordinary person without the requisite mental training.
As Liping cultivated the three realms intensely, his accomplishments became finer day by day. The Wayfarer of Pure Serenity also transmitted to him methods of exercise while sleeping and natural circulation of energy, part of the Spiritual Jewels techniques for developing mental capacities.
Sleeping exercise is one of three kinds of Taoist work, to be done at leisure. The practitioner is physically in a sleeping position, but mentally in an active state, so that it is possible to work even while sleeping. “The body is still, but the mind is in movement,” attention inducing energy to flow, stabilizing the spirit and strengthening the body. Sleeping exercise is divided into eleven forms; when a certain degree of efficiency is attained in each form, then they are combined into a total system, which produces an equilibrium of yin and yang throughout the whole body.
The method of natural energy circulation is one of the auxiliary techniques of the Spiritual Jewels system. It is also called the method of natural absorption of energy. There are no limitations of time or place in doing this practice, but it is best to do it where there are lots of flowers and trees and fresh air.
The basic method of work is to walk naturally, with matching attention and breathing. For example, one walks three steps with each inhalation, and three steps with each exhalation. After this pattern of breathing becomes natural, then one increases to six steps with each inhalation and six steps with each exhalation. The ratio is further increased, to twelve, then twenty-four steps with each inhalation and each exhalation, in such a way that both walking and breathing remain natural and relaxed, without any sense of strain.
Once this practice has been mastered, another method of training is introduced. Now one walks three steps while breathing in, three steps holding the breath, and three steps breathing out. This pattern of inhaling, stopping, exhaling, and stopping is repeated over and over, while walking according to the prescribed pattern. When that has been mastered, then the period of energy circulation is again increased, so that one walks six steps inhaling, six steps holding the breath, six steps exhaling, and another six steps holding the breath. Then this is again increased until one can go twelve steps, then up to twenty four steps, with each interval.
Just as the circulation of energy through breathing is matched with walking, the thought must also be matched. When breathing in, one imagines breath-energy being absorbed through the skin from all directions. When breathing out, one imagines breath-energy radiating out from the whole body in all directions. When holding the breath after inhaling, one imagines the body has become a single whole. When holding the breath after exhaling, one imagines one is in the clouds.
As Wang Liping followed the instructions given him by his mentor, he was able to use both walking and sleeping for doing exercises, plunging his whole body and mind into continual inner work.
Delighted to see their young apprentice making such progress in his training, the old wizards took him deeper into the mysteries of Taoism. Liping had already learned basic principles such as the Infinite, yin and yang, the three fundamentals, the four forms, the five elements, the six energies, the seven treasures, the eight trigrams, the nine chambers, and so on. He also knew the ideas of old Taoist classics like Lao-tzu and Chuangtzu, and had even memorized some of the most important passages. The old wizards, the grand master, and the two mentors now began to teach him about many important texts in the Taoist canon, such as the The I Ching or Book of Changes, The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, the Book of Hidden Correspondences, the Book of the Yellow Court, and the Book of Pure Serenity. They also talked about the ancient Taoist adepts, their practices, activities, and teachings.
In school, meanwhile, Wang Liping was studying ordinary subjects such as language, mathematics, nature, geography, history, and biology. What he was learning from the three old wizards, in contrast, was immensely broader, richer, and deeper.
One night the Wayfarer of the Infinite taught Liping some practical principles of Taoist exercise transmitted in their lineage: “Our ancestral teacher Wang Chongyang said there are five classes of immortals. Ghost immortality is not worthwhile. It is not necessary to talk about human immortals. Earth immortals remain in the world forever; spiritual immortals go from being into nonbeing. Those who can disappear and appear unfathomably, have embodiment outside the body, and can double their bodies, are called spiritual immortals. Celestial immortals are ranked even higher than spiritual immortals.
“Students of the Way should not follow the mediocre and the lesser. They should study the principles of the supreme one vehicle, the supreme, ultimate, sublime Way, clearly understanding the yin and yang of heaven and earth, profoundly comprehending the creative evolution of the five elements. The principle of yin and yang is incomparably great; heaven and earth, sun and moon, and the five elements, all evolve from it. Once the Absolute has divided, clear energy rises, becoming images in heaven; opaque energy descends, becoming forms on earth. The essences of wood and fire produce major yang. The essences of metal and water produce major yin. Heaven and earth and the sun and moon develop from the influence of this bipolar energy.
“This bipolar energy is perpetually operating throughout heaven and earth, circulating everywhere endlessly, producing all species of creation. So a human life is born of a father’s sperm and a mother’s ovum, the yang energy of the sun and the yin energy of the earth, and a solar yang celestial soul and a lunar yin earthly soul, a fiery yang spirit and a watery yin vitality. So the creation of a human body is the same one energy as that of the universe.
“So heaven and earth are the great father and mother of human beings. Those who realize this transcend the universe and all its fluctuations, while those who miss this are trapped in an ocean of suffering in the midst of myriad forms. Those who are not constrained by the five elements or bound up by yin and yang are called celestial immortals of the highest rank.
“These statements express the supreme design. As people on earth see the courses of the sun and moon, they follow continuous cycles, each having its specific cycle. Speaking in terms of the sun, as the sun rises warmth increases and energy heats up; this is symbolized by fire. When the sun goes down, warmth decreases, and energy recedes; this is symbolized by water. When the sun’s course is farthest from the earth, warmth disperses and energy scatters; this is symbolized by wood. When the sun’s course is nearest the earth, warmth gathers and energy collects; this is symbolized by metal. When the sun’s course is parallel to the earth, warmth stops and energy rests; this is symbolized by earth. Thus from spring to summer to autumn to winter, and back again to spring, the five elements are inherent in the course of the sun, forming the cycle of the year.
“Speaking in terms of the moon, when the moon descends, warmth increases and energy heats up; this is symbolized by fire. When the moon ascends, warmth decreases and energy withdraws; this is symbolized by water. When the moon is on this side of the earth, warmth dissolves and energy dissipates; this is symbolized by wood. When the moon is on the other side of the earth, warmth gathers and energy collects; this is symbolized by metal. When the moon’s course is even, warmth ceases and energy rests; this is symbolized by earth. Thus the moon waxes and wanes, wanes and waxes; the five elements are inherent in the course of the moon, also forming a cycle, the cycle of the month.
“The method of training the Spiritual Jewel powers involves using the correspondences between the internal five elements within the human body and the external five elements in the sun and moon, and the external five elements in the earth, collectively cultivating the three realms of heaven, earth, and humanity, returning from nine to eight, from eight to seven, from seven to six, from six to five, from five to four, from four to three, from three to two, from two to one, finally returning to the Absolute. When the Absolute becomes a single sphere, then the work of the Spiritual Jewel powers is done.”
Now that Wang Liping had practiced cultivation of the three realms for some months, the old wizards introduced him to the supreme one vehicle. Following their instructions, secret methods transmitted from the founders of their lineage, Liping experienced the changes of the five elements in extremely subtle conditions within his own body, taking primal energies from the sun and moon to augment the primal energy in his body, gradually comprehending the pattern of nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. At this point, however, the work he was doing was transitional, and still required refinement.
One evening, as the full moon was rising, Wang Liping chose a spot amidst a luxurious, fragrant growth of plants and trees and sat there to exercise. Having tuned his body, breath, and attention, and gone into a state of stillness and concentration, he mentally gazed at the golden moon slowly rising in the eastern sky. He saw the moon drift closer and closer to him, gradually becoming larger and larger and brighter and brighter, like an uncanny ball of energy, radiating myriad beams of ethereal light, engulfing his whole body. Liping felt that his own body had also completely transmuted into energy and no longer existed corporeally—nothing in the world was there anymore. There was only a feeling, that of a body like a mass of energy, rising to merge and disappear into that vast energy mass of the moonlight. Time and space no longer existed.
As the east began to pale, the clouds over the horizon became visible, turning from black to grey to white. Then a thin layer of pale golden glow appeared below. In a moment, the sky was deep blue. The stars vanished, the moon had set in the west, a new dawn had arrived. Scarlet light spewed from the east, announcing the rising of the sun.
As the shining golden orb of the sun rose over the earth, Wang Liping still sat unmoving. He had already sensed the sunrise. Opening his eyes, he looked directly at the sun for a moment, then closed his eyes and gathered in spiritual light, which he sent down into his body, so that a golden sun was now revolving within him. As Liping bathed in the sunlight, the miniature sun in his body was bright and lively as a newborn baby.
By now, Wang Liping was able to sit unmoving for days and nights on end. While sitting, he minutely examined the patterns and laws of movement and the shifting of the celestial bodies, finding out the corresponding changes in the subtle conditions within his own body, gradually coming to a realization. As he found, the workings and transformations of the human body correspond to the workings and transformations of heaven and earth. When there is external movement, there is always internal reaction; when there is reaction, there is sensing; with sensing there is knowledge. There is knowledge, that is, but no further reversion. This sort of accomplishment is already quite profound from an ordinary perspective, but Liping was still far from meeting the requirements of the old wizards teaching him. He had to know and yet also revert back, return from nine to one, going back to hold to oneness in quiet stillness, thus to reach the Great Way. This method of reversion is something that needs practice to accomplish.
While Liping was in the process of cultivating the three realms, his mentor also taught him some of the ordinary concepts of Taoist practice and hygiene.
Hygienists consider heaven and earth to be the greatest things, and humankind to be the most intelligent of beings. The human body is a microcosm, a miniature universe, having within it a sun and moon, yin and yang, and the operation of the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—fostering each other and overcoming each other, taking advantage of each other and dominating each other, thus achieving balance.
The numbers associated with the five elements were already established three thousand years ago in the “Universal Model” chapter of the Classic Documents: “One refers to water, two refers to fire, three refers to wood, four refers to metal, five refers to earth.” It also illustrates the natures of the five elements: “Water refers to moisture and descent, fire refers to heat and ascent, wood refers to curvature and straightness, metal refers to adaptation and change, earth refers to sowing and reaping.” In The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine there is more detailed discussion of the five elements. The “level energies” of the five elements are described in these terms: “Wood refers to expansion and harmony, fire refers to rising and illumination, earth refers to completeness and transformation, metal refers to alignment and leveling, water refers to quiet and obedience.” “Insufficiency” in the five elements is described in these terms: “Wood refers to combination, fire refers to subdued light, earth refers to close supervision, metal refers to adaptive change, water refers to evaporation of flow.” “Excess” in the five elements is a illustrated in this way: “Wood refers to explosive growth, fire refers to intense daylight, earth refers to richness, metal refers to hardness, water refers to overflowing.” The way to lengthen life is to become thoroughly familiar with the natures and relationships of the five elements, as well as the correspondence of the five elements in the body with the five elements of the universe, fostering and nurturing true energy. The most significant relationship with the operation of the human body is that of heaven and earth. Crudely defined, heaven and earth consist of the earth, the moon, and the sun. The rotation of the earth takes a day and a night; in terms of its correspondence with the operation of the human body, this is the morning–evening cycle. The revolution of the moon around the earth, in terms of its correspondence to the operation of the human body, is the minor cycle. The revolution of the earth around the sun, in terms of its correspondence to the operation of the human body, is the major cycle. These cycles are different periodicities in the operation of life. Even uncultivated people know enough to work and rest in accord with the cycles of operation of heaven and earth; this is called conformity. Cultivated people consciously accord with the cyclic operations of nature by attuning the yin and yang energies in the body; this is conformity as practiced in the highest vehicle of Taoism.
Those who are highly cultivated use the pure energies of the external five elements to nurture pure energy inside the body, opposing the operation of nature to rise above it, combining water and fire, producing and culling medicine, crystallizing the alchemical elixir and incubating it, thus becoming immortals.
The Hundred Character Tablet by Ancestor Lu (Dongbin) says,
Nurturing energy, forget words and guard it.
Conquer the mind, do nondoing.
In activity and quietude, know the source progenitor.
There is no thing; whom else do you seek?
Real constancy should respond to people;
in responding to people,
it is essential not to get confused.
When you don’t get confused,
your nature is naturally stable;
when your nature is stable,
energy naturally returns.
When energy returns,
elixir spontaneously crystallizes
in the pot mating fire and water.
Yin and yang arise,
alternating over and over again,
everywhere producing thunder.
White clouds assemble on the peak,
sweet dew bathes the polar mountain.
Having drunk the wine of long life,
you wander free;
who can know you?
Sitting listening to the stringless tune,
you clearly understand the workings of creation.
The whole of these twenty verses
is a ladder straight to Heaven.
When the sun rises at dawn, the air of the eastern direction rises in temperature, exposed to the sunlight; its volume expands, and it slowly rises. This is considered the productive energy of minor yang. At noon, the hot sun is overhead; the temperature of the air increases, its volume expands, and it rises rapidly. This is when things grow most strongly; this is considered the growing energy of major yang. At dusk, the sun sets, the heat in the air disperses, its volume contracts, and it slowly descends; now things begin to withdraw. This is called the gathering energy of minor yin. At midnight, the sun is gone and the night is deep; the air cools, contracts, and sinks. This is called the storing energy of major yin.
The energies inside the human body correspond to this process. Liver energy is the productive energy of minor yang. Heart energy is the growing energy of major yang. Lung energy is the gathering energy of minor yin. Kidney energy is the storing energy of major yin. At midnight, energy arises in the kidneys; at dawn, it reaches the liver. At noon, energy reaches the heart; accumulated energy in the heart produces fluid, which reaches the lungs at dusk and gets to the kidneys by midnight. Kidney energy is like water, heart energy is like fire, liver energy is like wood, and lung energy is like metal. Water is wet and flows downward; fire flames upward. When fire and water do not balance each other, we do not live long. When the work of human refinement is mastered, water is above and fire is below; water and fire balance each other, so life is extended.
When Wang Liping worked on the minor cycle, or the cycle of the moon, by inner concentration and plenitude the energy broke through the three passes in his coccyx, midspine, and the back of his head. When it reached the “gate of heaven” at the top of his head, however, he needed a mentor to attend him.
Around the aperture on top of the head there are always four flashing points of brightness; the ancients called these the “four great spirits of the gate.” Their adamant guardianship makes it hard for the pure energy inside the body to burst through here. It is necessary for a teacher to move these “four great spirits of the gate” before the “gate of heaven” can be opened.
What impressed Liping as most novel in his new experience came after completion of the minor cycle, when he could feel something warm and moist inside his body slowly rising up his back to his head, then descending slowly from his face downward. The whole process took exactly one lunar month, corresponding to the cycle of the moon, this occurring completely naturally and spontaneously. Even if he was shut up in a dark room for several days and nights, he could still determine the trajectory of the moon accurately and know what day of what month it was.
The earth revolves around the sun once in a year. The Chinese divide this into twenty-four seasonal energies. For the purposes of Taoist exercises, the four points considered most important are the spring and autumn equinoxes and the summer and winter solstices. Heaven and earth are represented by a human being: the heart is heaven, the kidneys are earth, the liver is the position of yang, the lungs are the position of yin; “energy” is yang, “fluid” is yin. On the winter solstice, the sun, coursing in the south, begins to turn north; people in the Northern Hemisphere of earth perceive this as yin culminating and yang arising, with the kidney energy in the body beginning to grow. On the spring equinox, kidney energy rises to the liver. On the summer solstice, the sun, coursing in the north, begins to shift south; people in the Northern Hemisphere perceive this as yang culminating and yin arising, with the yang energy in the body rising to the position of the heart, where accumulated energy produces fluid, and the fluid begins to descend. On the the autumn equinox, the heart fluid reaches the lungs, thence to reenter the kidneys on the winter solstice.
On the key days of transition of seasonal energies, the solstices and the equinoxes, Wang Liping closely examined the subtle changes in his body, under the careful guidance and protection of his mentors.
Lao-tzu says, “The valley spirit undying is called the mystic female; the opening of the mystic female is called the root of heaven and earth. Though subtle, it does exist; its use is not strained.” This opening of the mystic pass fits cosmic space. A Taoist scripture says that there are 84,000 miles between the heights of heaven and the depths of earth, so the center of heaven and earth is 42,000 miles up. If the human body is a miniature heaven and earth, and the heart and navel are 8.4 inches apart, then the center is 4.2 inches from each. This opening is right in the center, where all channels connect, an empty opening with a tiny pearl hanging in space. This is the true center of the universe in the body, the aperture where the original generative energy is stored. Therefore the master teacher Chunyang said, “The mystic female, the mystic female, the true mystic female; it is not in the heart and not in the kidneys. Find out the beginning of life where energy is received; do not think it strange the celestial mechanism has been divulged.” From this the importance of that aperture can be seen.
In cultivating refinement to this point, Wang Liping also experienced minor death several times.
