Daoism Series 11:
慧光法
Wisdom Radiance Method [Excerpt 1]
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The Wisdom Radiance [hui guang 慧光] watches over you, gives you compassion, and shines its own light of compassion on your body. It manifests as a result of focus and visualisation, and can also appear spontaneously as a reward for one’s cultivation. It can also be induced by a technique called the Sun & Moon in Complete Union [ri yue he bi日月合壁], which will be explained in detail below.
The Wisdom Radiance is a mental state which is hard to describe in words, since one ought to focus only very lightly on it:
似有似无。
It is as if one attends to it and does not attend to it.
The Sun and Moon in Complete Union is a method that can initially be used to pull back and expel distracting thoughts and to retrieve one’s Qi. This is like tying up the Monkey of the Heart-Mind at the tip of one’s nose.
The light produced by the unification of the sun and moon is manifested in the Three Elixir Fields, which together make up an energetic field that can be likened to a lotus flower which has three small children inside its petals. There are too many experiences and visions that a practitioner may have to cover all of them here. Overall, you should not concern yourself with what you may encounter, but just remain in stillness and naturally allow the phenomena and manifestations in the Three Elixir Fields to occur – Return to the Great Stabilization. In general, not to have seen the radiance or light after ten minutes to one hour is not an indication that the method is being practiced wrongly.
If the practitioner’s blood pressure is high, this first needs to be regulated. If one’s intention is kept in the Mud Pill for too long, the blood pressure can rise and make the practitioner experience heaviness, dizziness, and distension of the head, as if wearing a metal helmet or wok on one’s head. Li Shi Fu has stated that teachers will only transmit this method once a student has seen the Wisdom Radiance spontaneously, otherwise one would pursue it with too much effort, so it would not arise naturally:
急于求成。
Do not be anxious
and impatient for success.
In the fourth chapter of the《Essentials of the Shortcut to the Great Achievement》, entitled ‘Return of the Light and Reversal of the Illumination Heavenly Mechanism’ [hui guang fan zhao tian ji回光返照天机], it is explained that the term Wisdom Radiance has two meanings, the first of which refers to our thoughts, and the other to our eyes and their perceptions. The words Reversal and Illumination in the title of this chapter are represented by the characters Fan [返], which means to return or to revert, and Zhao [照], which is like the shining of a torch. When you cannot see at night, where is there still illumination? It is in the space of the Lower Elixir Field. The Returning Illumination of Wisdom Radiance should be practiced for a long period of time. When the monkey of the Heart-Mind runs away, grab it and pull it back. Concentrate the Spirit. You may wonder why some who have been practicing sitting meditation for a long time do not see the Wisdom Radiance, while others with less practice do see it. This is because you do not know where you are positioned in the hexagrams and how much you are lacking. The Wisdom Radiance manifests naturally and cannot be forced, though others can assist you and instill into you a little energy and Fire. Essentially, however, its creation depends on your own efforts, and you should not rely on external help, for if you continue not to put in enough effort, you will once more lose the thing that has been given to you from outside. When Li Shi Fu was asked whether the retrieval of the radiance was either a visualization or a thought, he responded that just to look inside was enough, and that while searching for it one must not look outside. Even the slightest deviation from this principle will mean that you have moved outside. You can enter the light or radiance from the nose or the head, so long as you return it step-by-step as laid out below.
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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).
Post-Post-Scriptum: the illustration of the Three Elixir Fields is by Vasco Daniel
