Lu said: "What is the principle of the great road that is difficult to know and practice?"
Zhong said: "It is easy to see merit by following the small methods, but if you want to gain more, you will teach them to each other, and they will not understand until death, and it will become a custom. And corrupt the great road. There are those who fast, those who rest, those who collect Qi, those who gargle, those who divorce their wives, those who cut off the taste, those who meditate, those who remain silent, those who keep thinking, and those who collect Yin , There are those who are convinced, those who maintain purity, those who have the mind to rest, those who are tired, those who are open-headed, those who shrink to turtles, those who are extinct, those who are readers, those who are smelting, those who are calm, and those who are guiding. There are those who breathe in and out, there are those who take tonic , there are those who give alms, there are those who provide offerings, there are those who help, there are those who go into the mountains, there are those who have awareness, there are those who are immovable, there are those who accept and uphold... The method cannot be prepared. To the extent that it is like gathering the flowers of the sun and the moon, the energy of heaven and earth, thinking about it, looking at the cinnabar, bending the body and straining, and seeking transcendence, entering more and exiting less, you can attack the disease. Think of the true fetal breath, and never forget it. It is said that nourishing one's nature can be done, which means that the Taiyi contains the true energy, and the golden gun cannot fall. The Yellow River flows backwards, and nourishes the life under the method. The shape is like a gaunt tree, and the heart is as gray as death. It is a small skill to gather the spirit. However, the ancient and modern people who follow Taoism are suffering. If you pay attention, you will often worry about it. How can you get good fortune if you use the throat fluid as medicine? How can you get good luck if you gather Qi as elixir? If you refer to the liver as a dragon and the lungs as a tiger, how can you achieve intercourse? If you think of Kan as lead and separation as mercury, how can you get it? Do you need to add water? Water at all times, and hope that the yellow buds will grow. You are determined to seek great medicine. The year is wrong, the month is wrong, and the day is messed up. If you don’t know the roots of the five elements, how can you know the three talents? Looking for branches and leaves to confuse future generations. . As a result, the road is getting further and further away, heresies have arisen, and customs have arisen. Those who have lost the original intention of the ancestors have to learn through hearsay and oral education.
This article is excerpted from "The Collection of Zhonglu's Teachings"
Lu Dongbin: "The Great Road" Why is it so hard to know and do? "
Lu Dongbin and Zhongli Quan
Translation
Zhongli Quan: " People often use side methods that are easy to produce results, and they also teach to each other, and they never realize the truth until they die. This has become a custom among the people and corrupted the Tao. These methods include fasting , fasting, cutting off food, collecting Qi, rinsing the throat, severing the relationship between husband and wife, not eating five flavors, meditating, not talking, contemplating, collecting Yin, subduing Qi, maintaining purity, resting the mind, eliminating fatigue, opening the top, and shrinking the penis. , extinction, reading, burning, steady breath, guidance, breathing and breathing, collecting tonic, giving, making offerings, relief, going to the mountains to practice, awareness, immobility, acceptance... There are too many side methods to mention. .
Like collecting the essence of the sun and the moon and the energy of heaven and earth, forming cinnabar with thoughts and ideas, bending the body and body to seek detachment, and breathing more in and out less, these can cure diseases.
is like fetal breath, cutting off thoughts and not speaking, which can nourish the nature, and can be called Taiyi containing the true energy; practicing until the golden gun can't fall, and the Yellow River flows against the flow is just a basic skill to nourish life; the shape is like a gnarled tree, and the heart is like ashes, it is just gathering God's little trick.
However, those who believe in the Tao from ancient times to the present have been diligently paying attention to it. How can we achieve good fortune by using the saliva from the throat as medicine? How to gather Qi into elixir and keep it in the body? If the liver is a dragon and the lungs are a tiger, how can they have intercourse? If you think of Kan as lead and Li as mercury, how can you extract Tian? Water at all times of the year, hoping to grow yellow buds. Unable to give up, he wanted to seek great medicine. It completely messed up the rules of year, month, day and time. If you don't understand the fundamentals of the Five Elements, how can you know the creation of heaven, earth, and people? These are all superficial behaviors, which will only confuse future generations; causing them to stray further and further away from the Tao, and heresies and heresies will become customs, losing the original intention of the ancestors, all because they believe in the doctrines heard by hearsay. Ignorant people teach each other, there is no rules at all, and it is chilling. It’s not that I don’t want to preach the great truth to the world, but that the world has many sins and few blessings, doesn’t believe in heaven’s secrets, values wealth more than life, and wants to be a ghost. "
Thoughts
Zhong Liquan's words also illustrate the problems of contemporary people's spiritual practice. There are countless Taoist priests on the Internet with many sects. They publicly lecture on alchemy and other immortal cultivation theories. They all think that they are decent and abuse each other. In fact, the content is limited to Small techniques such as meditation, bigu , breathing and breathing, make people think that this is what spiritual practice is.
In the Internet age, the tendency of people to tell each other and teach each other has become more serious. Everyone can give some advice on how to practice Taoism online, which is quite confusing.
I only adhere to one principle in practicing Taoism, read the classics of the sages thoroughly, and ignore everything else.
