Chapter 3: Principles of Dual Cultivation of Self-Nature and Physical Body

¹ Dual cultivation of one’s self- nature and physical body, as mentioned in the last chapter, is the fundamental method of cultivation, as passed down in China from generation to generation for over 4,000 years.

¹ 前講最後所談到的「性命雙修」，是四千餘年來中國正宗一脈相傳的基本修煉方法。

² While speaking about one’s nature and physical body, we must first understand that there is a distinction between “innate” and “acquired.”

² 談到性命，首須瞭解性命有先天、後天之分。

³ From the time of their parents’ union, humans are endowed with a small amount of perfect qi, which has been given a physical frame. This perfect qi is innate and has no physical form or substance.

³ 人秉父母交成一點真氣而受形。此謂之無形無質的先天之性。

⁴ The sperm of the man unites with the ovum of the woman to form a fetus, which is the acquired body. It is physical and it is made of substance.

⁴ 男精和於女血而成胎原形體，這謂之有形有質的後天之命。

⁵ While in the mother’s womb, the perfect qi and the acquired body are originally united. As it is said, “without one’s own nature, life cannot exist; without life, one’s nature cannot become.”

⁵ 蓋人在母胎未生之前，本來性命合一，所謂「命無性不立，性無命不存」。

⁶ After ten lunar months, the developed fetus has sufficient qi. As soon as the fetus leaves its mother’s womb, they separate. Thenceforth, one’s nature loses sight of the physical body, and physical body loses sight of one’s nature. This division persists from youth to middle age and continues through old age, until death.

⁶ 到十月胎圓氣足，一出母體，而性命到此則分為二。從此性不能見命，命不能見性。少而壯，壯而老，老而死。

⁷ Thus, ancient Daoists put great emphasis on one’s self-nature and physical body. They proposed dual cultivation of one’s self-nature and physical body. They proposed to return to the source, by tempering jing, qi, and shen,^[19] in order to remake the self-nature and the living body.

⁷ 所以上古道家極端重視形體之性命。主張性命雙修，返本還原，鍛煉精氣神，重造我性命。

⁸ They also said: “To cultivate only the physical body but not one’s nature is a fatal flaw; to cultivate only one’s nature but not life sets the spirit adrift for a thousand eons, with no hope to enter the sacred.”

⁸ 並說：「只修命、不修性，此是修行第一病；只修祖性，不修天人教主，萬劫陰靈難入聖。」

⁹ The life of a person in an acquired body can exist solely depends on the three treasures: jing, qi and shen.

⁹ 人之所以能生於後天者，端賴精氣神三寶。

¹⁰ Qi is refined out of jing, and when jing is full, qi will be replete. When qi is replete, shen becomes sufficient.

¹⁰ 氣由精化，精滿則氣充。氣充則神足。

¹¹ When shen and qi become sufficient, a person will become quick-thinking, acute of hearing, sharp in vision, and sound of limb.

¹¹ 神氣足則人思想靈敏，耳目聰明，四體強健。

¹² The mating of male and female is the worldly Dao. The dual cultivation of one’s self-nature and physical body is the immortal Dao.

¹² 男女交合，此乃凡道；性命雙修，斯為仙道。

¹³ The worldly Dao follows nature’s course, which allows people to be born and thus there is life and death. The immortal Dao is the reversal of the worldly Dao. Cultivation that reverses the flow attains the Dao, so that existence would span a myriad eons.

¹³ 凡道是順，順行生人則有生有死。仙道是逆，逆修成道則萬劫常存。

¹⁴ Humans eat the five grains, ^[20] which are converted to yin jing [essence]. Un-tempered jing accumulates and creates disturbance in the body. Thus sexual desires arise and create havoc for the mind and spirit.

¹⁴ 人吃五穀化為陰精。不經鍛煉，精滿後，便在身中作怪，而發生性慾，擾亂心神。

¹⁵ It is said that when a person is warm and fed, lustful thoughts will arise. Because life energy is limited, indulgence without restraint is sure to cause an early death.

¹⁵ 所謂飽暖思淫慾。由於人生精力有限，縱慾過度，不加節制，必然速死。

¹⁶ Ancient Chinese Daoists had a great wish to temper spirit and flesh, to go beyond restraints of the physical world, in order to gain life without death. This is why Daoist cultivation begins with “purifying the heart and reducing desires.”

¹⁶ 我國古代道家因有鍛煉精神肉體，以超越物質世界之束縛，而達長生不老、長生不死之大欲。所以道家修煉的基本要求，必先從「清心寡欲」入手。

¹⁷ All in all, the inner refining of jing, qi and shen, which is realized through a gradual learning process, is normally divided into three stages based on practical experiments: refining jing into qi, refining qi into shen, and refining shen back to emptiness.

¹⁷ 大體說來，內煉精氣神，根據學理實證，通常分為三個階段：就是煉精化氣，煉氣化神，煉神還虛。

¹⁸ However, according to orthodox Daoist cultivation techniques, it is divided into five stages:
1) Preserving jing, qi and shen
2) Stabilizing jing, qi and shen
3) Nurturing jing, qi and shen
4) Replenishing jing, qi and shen
5) Transforming jing, qi and shen. Finally, there is the replenishment of jing, bone marrow and brain [to nourish the spiritual body].

¹⁸ 但照道家正規修煉方法，應分五個階段：
①保精、保氣、保神。
②固精、固氣、固神。
③養精、養氣、養神。
④補精、補氣、補神。
⑤化精、化氣、化神，最後則是還精補髓補腦。

¹⁹ During cultivation, if we can follow these five stages, it will help us at least get rid of illness and extend our lives. With modest level of attainments, we can reverse the aging process (recover the pure yang bodies of chaste youth).

¹⁹ 如能依此五個階段循序進修，小則可以祛病延年；中則可以返老還童(還童貞之純陽體)；

²⁰ With higher levels of attainment, we can gain everlasting life. When the body and the spirit have been transformed, we smash the void and become one with nature.

²⁰ 上則可以長生不死，形神俱化，粉碎虛空，回歸自然。

²¹ Of course, it has never been easy for one while in the chaste body of youth to nurture his primal energy by bypassing worldly passions. Should he follow this method of cultivation, he can yield results very quickly. He could bring great attainments within three years.

²¹ 當然，童貞之體，看破凡情，養真葆元，自古難得。如能修煉，收效極快，三年必有大成。

²² Most middle-aged people are physically compromised. Their blood and qi are failing, and their bodies are depleted. They must hurry to adopt a practice that will allow them to graft on or restore that which has been lost.

²² 中年人多已破體。血氣衰敗，身體虧損，必須早行栽接之功；

²³ For the elderly, this is even more difficult, so they must begin by replenishing their jing, qi and shen:
1) Do not have outflows of jing, qi, or shen
2) Do not injure jing, qi, or shen
3) Do not agitate jing, qi, or shen.

²³ 老年人更為吃力，須從補精、補氣、補神做起：
①不漏精，不漏氣，不漏神。
②不傷精，不傷氣，不傷神。
③不搖精，不搖氣，不搖神。

²⁴ Though your external yang may be in abeyance, it could still be regenerated through tempering so that you could recover the pure yang body you had in your youth, and continue cultivating from that point on.

²⁴ 由外陽不生，煉到外陽再生，返回童貞純陽之體，再加修煉。

²⁵ Compromised bodies, as stated earlier, need to replace what had been lost. This refers to a yin-yang union of the acquired body within you, going back to what is innate. It is the joining of ‘lead’ [yang] and ‘mercury’ [yin]. Do not get the wrong idea that I am speaking of sexual practices.

²⁵ 上面所說已破之體宜早栽接，是指自己身中後天返先天之陰陽交，鉛汞接。切莫猜到女人(異性)身上。

²⁶ Whether the joining is done spiritually or energetically through qi, this is a concept that ordinary people are not sure about. To talk of replenishment by joining with the opposite sex is a deception, and an affront to higher truth and reason.

²⁶ 不論神交氣交，凡夫那有把握，都是傷天害理，欺人之談。

²⁷ The genuinely transmitted Daoist style of Chinese Original Quiet Sitting, which is discussed in this book, is a matter of holding true yin and true yang in one’s own body.

²⁷ 本書所談道家正宗靜坐，主要[是要]把握本身之真陰真陽。

²⁸ To merge the true water and the true fire in one’s body is up to oneself to bring them into alignment. There is absolutely no need for yin or yang from somewhere else. In no way can it be replenished by someone of the opposite sex.

²⁸ 自己身上的真水真火，自己去栽接，自己去調和。絕對不要身外的陰陽，絕對不要存採補之心。

²⁹ In urban setting is not the right place to induce your qi by guiding it through visualization. It is imperative to control your present bodily envelope to keep progressing continuously.

²⁹ 在城市之中，絕對不可運氣用意導引。務須控制現實軀體自強不息。

³⁰ Paying attention to labor on tempering the mind and sweeping it clean of all delusive or vulgar thoughts. Going into a trance-like state and letting the workings of qi proceed naturally. In this way, we can become in accord with the workings of the heavenly body.

³⁰ 多做煉心功夫，一切妄想俗念，概行掃除盡淨。渾渾噩噩，聽其氣機自然運行，以合天體。

³¹ God’s creation of the universe is through natural laws.

³¹ 上帝創造宇宙是有其自然規律的。

³² Some scientists claim that the universe was created 280 million years ago.

³² 科學家說宇宙起源於二千八百萬年前。

³³ Recently an American astronomer found that the space containing the universe is constantly expanding, not shrinking. Thus stars of galaxies throughout space will never collide, and the universe will not be destroyed.

³³ 最近美國一位天文學家發現，大宇宙大空間是在不斷擴張，不是收縮。所以大空間銀河系的星球永遠不會相撞，宇宙不會毀滅。

³⁴ These wonderfully profound laws of nature happen to be the same fundamental principles by which Daoists cultivate self-nature and physical body simultaneously.

³⁴ 這些極其奧妙的自然法則，其實就是道家性命雙修的根本法則。

³⁵ A few years ago the Central Daily Newspaper printed an editorial: “Work to Save the World with a Spirit That Transcends the World.” In it is a passage that confirms what I say about the dual cultivation of self-nature and physical body.

³⁵ 幾年前中央日報曾有一篇「以出世的精神作救世的事業」之社論。恰好有段話可做為性命雙修之印證。

³⁶ The occasion for the editorial was when President Jiang Jingguo [aka Chiang Ching-kuo], received leaders of various religions. The passage said:

³⁶ 社論是為蔣總統經國先生接見各宗教領袖而寫，其中一段這樣說：

³⁷ “Albert Einstein once made this pronouncement: ‘However great the inventions of the future, they cannot leap beyond the sphere of social morality and spiritual life.

³⁷ 「愛因斯坦曾預言：『將來最大的發明，總跳不出道德社會和精神生活的範圍；

³⁸ Because our study of science has advanced to the natural laws outside our bodies, we should turn about and search for the inner laws of life.’

³⁸ 因為我們對於科學，既已走上了身外的自然律，就應當回頭去尋找我們那內在的生命法。』

³⁹ The inner laws of life are spirit, our own spirituality and our moral codes. These are also the principles of seeing into one’s original nature, of embracing the Dao and upholding benevolence to others.”

³⁹ 內在的生命法即是精神、靈性，和道德律；也就是明心見性，抱道宏仁的法則。」

⁴⁰ This shows that when science backs itself into a corner, we need inner cultivation that lifts us to a higher spiritual realm.

⁴⁰ 由此證明科學走到絕境時，便要求內心修養，提高精神境界。

⁴¹ When Einstein spoke of the “inner laws of life,” perhaps he meant that the human physiology, psychology, spirit and flesh must be in harmony with each other. Their development should be in balance so that there is harmony between spiritual and material life.

⁴¹ 所謂「內在的生命法」在愛因斯坦當時的想法，可能是指人身生理和心理，精神和肉體，須要達到適切的配合，平衡的發展，促使精神生活和物質生活，得能維持和諧。

⁴² This is the highest ideal of the Chinese people: the union of heaven and mankind.

⁴² 這也就是中國人天人合一的最高理想。

⁴³ The great Dao has always been perfectly even-handed, and does not allow selfishness.

⁴³ 本來大道至公，不許個人自私。

⁴⁴ Through the ages, people intented on studying the Dao have climbed mountains and forded streams, wandering like clouds in the sky and seeking out enlightened teachers.

⁴⁴ 但歷代有志修道之士，跋山涉水，雲遊天下，參訪明師。

⁴⁵ Sometimes they were fortunate to find a lofty person who would instruct them and impart to them some memorable verses. Sadly, often they begin diligently, but tire in the end. Without a tough regimen of cultivation, all their earlier efforts would be in vain.

⁴⁵ 偶而有緣遇到高人指點，透露一二口訣，惜其自己始勤終怠，不下苦功修煉，亦屬徒然。

⁴⁶ This is why the personal rewards of quiet sitting can only be savored by oneself, according to the extent of one’s own effort. They cannot be described with words.

⁴⁶ 所以靜坐的心得，只應由各人憑自己用功的深淺，自己去體會，根本無法以言語來形容。

⁴⁷ And that is the idea behind the saying: “The drinker of water knows if the water is warm or cold.”

⁴⁷ 所謂「如人飲水，冷暖自知」，即是此理。