三步修行 Three Steps of Cultivation

三步修行
Three Steps of Cultivation
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The three steps of cultivation are firstly, the Refinement of the Self and Retrieval of the Heart-Mind –sometimes called the Illumination of the Principles – secondly, the Completion of Inner Nature, and thirdly, the Full Comprehension of Life-Destiny.
The first step entails the cultivation of one’s character and conduct. This should be based on an understanding of the principles and the path of the Dao, for which one must seek out a teacher. The Refinement of the Self is a process of restraining and stilling the monkey-mind and is of utmost importance. Once this has been achieved, it will be very easy to enter deeply into cultivation and one’s progress will be swift. Yet Li Shi Fu often uses the metaphor here of holding an ice-cream cone in one’s hand, which after a time begins to melt – in the same way, cultivators may grip firmly onto their aspirations at the beginning, but this can quickly dissipate and fall away. What matters is not the proclamation of one’s intent, but how pure one’s thoughts have become. This first step involves the acquisition of discriminating insight, an Illumination of the Principles in which one learns to comprehend and apply them.
Proper cultivation, however, is to put these principles into practice, which is the second step. This is the Completion of the Inner Nature, in which the monkey-mind is thoroughly locked up and restrained. At this stage, the cultivator has to undergo and endure humiliation, in order to subdue the Heart-Mind to the utmost extent and to develop the ability to perceive the Radiance of the Inner Nature, which is the Wisdom Radiance or the Divine Void.
The third step is to grasp hold of one’s life. This is called the Full Comprehension of Life and its aim is to dissolve the question of life and death. At this stage the Wisdom Radiance ceases travelling on its designated trajectory inside your body. Finally, you will encounter the Opening of the Portal:

我命在我不在天。
My life rests with me
and not with Heaven. [1]

This concerns the degree to which you have sublimated yourself and progressed to a higher level.
To advance from being illiterate to being able to write and read is also a kind of progression or sublimation. How far do you want to take your sublimation? What is the goal of this sublimation?
Li Shi Fu has stated that it may take around thirty years for the Illumination of the Principles to be achieved, and then seventy years for the Refinement of one’s Inner Nature, but only one to three years after that for the Full Comprehension of Life to be attained.

[1] This passage is reminiscent of a line in a poem from the lost Script of the Turtle Shell [gui jia wen 龟甲文]:

我命在我不在天，还丹成金亿万年。
My destiny rests with me and not with Heaven.
Reverting the Elixir turns [it] into gold, [lasting] millions and millions of years.

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Post-Scriptum:
This article will appear in the appendix of Purple Cloud Press’ forthcoming publication of 《The 49 Barriers of Cultivating the Dao》 by Xing De/Li Shi Fu, a manual for refining one’s Inner Nature based on Liu Yi Ming’s 50 Barriers. Li Shi Fu is abbot of Five Immortals Temple (www.fiveimmortals.com).